Read The Sleeping Baobab Tree for Free Online Page A

the Little Tick Child
could
have been buried there, if she had ever existed. But I still think Sister made that part up for dramatic effect.
    While I was looking it up, Madillo came in. Well, she didn’t just come in, she bounced in like a rubber ball.
    “Fred just sent you a message,” she said, holding up my phone. Nokokulu is taking him, this Saturday, to Ng’ombe Ilede. Can you believe that? I sometimes wonder if she and Sister Leonisa are in cahoots, or maybe they exist on the same astral plane.”
    She showed me the text, oblivious firstly to the fact that the phone is actually mine and she shouldn’t be reading my messages, and secondly to the fact that there is no such thing as an astral plane.
    “Coincidence. That’s all. They happen all the time,” I said to her. “And he’s pretty lucky to be going to a place of such significant archaeological interest.” I had just read that on the Wikipedia page and it sounded pretty good. But Madillo didn’t seem too impressed.
    “Coincidence? I don’t think so. On exactly the same day that Sister tells us that particular story, and Nokokulu hears us talking about her abducting people, she announces that she wants Fred to come with her on a little drive. To an ancient burial ground! That’s more than a coincidence, that’s creepy. Why would you take your great-grandson on a trip to visit graves? There’s something wrong with that.”
    “People visit graves all over the world,” I argued. “It’s an interesting thing to see how old the people were who died, and when they died.” I was trying not to wonder about the coincidence.
    Madillo looked at the computer screen. “And, you see: Ng’ombe Ilede. Right there. On the computer. How weird is that?”
    “Not one bit weird. I looked it up, as I always do when Sister tells us a new story. Mainly to find out how much of it is true.”
    Madillo shook her head. “No. If you add in the fact that Fred had one of his premonitions this morning, this is not looking good, Bul-Boo, not good at all.”
    My phone beeped and Madillo looked at the message.
    “Fred wants us to come to the hedge to talk about it,” she said. “Let’s go.”
    When Madillo is a little bit scared about something she gets excited at the same time. Maybe both those things happen in the same part of the brain. Dad showed me these pictures in
New Scientist
once where they took scans of the brains of people eating chocolate. When they ate the first bits of chocolate the happiness part of the brain lit up on the scans. Which makes sense. But as they ate more and more, other parts lit up, the parts that were trying to tell them to stop. Which also makes sense. I suppose you can get sick of too much chocolate, although in our house we never get the opportunity to try that theory out.
    I must remember to put into my black notebook this fact: The happiness part of Madillo’s brain lights up just a little bit when she’s scared.

BULL - BOO
Roaming Ancestors and Sacrifices
    When we got down to the gap in the hedge between our houses Fred was waiting for us.
    “Now do you believe me when I tell you about my premonitions?” he asked me.
    I didn’t answer, mainly because I didn’t want to upset him by saying no.
    “I don’t want to go with her on my own. We’re leaving on Saturday morning at eight o’clock and she’s planning to go for the whole day,” he said, looking worried. When Fred looks worried you feel really sorry for him. It’s something about the way he wrinkles up his forehead.
    “Can’t you tell your mum and dad that?” Madillo asked.
    “I did, but Dad said it would be interesting and that it’s always good to know where you come from, even though I don’t come from there.”
    “Don’t your dad and Nokokulu come from the Northern Province, when Ng’ombe Ilede is in the Southern?” I said.
    “Yes, but try telling Nokokulu that. She just rubs her hands together and tells me that her ancestors roamed all over the