We stay in this guesthouse, each in a separate room.
Pemba’s from the Congo -- Lubumbashi, in fact. He’s here to size up Kamina and see if he can find a job. He’s been unemployed for some time now. It’s unclear what, if any, connection he has to my host. (No doubt Pemba often has the same thought about me.)
Pemba speaks mainly French, and I speak mainly English. We take all of our meals together, except breakfast, which I sometimes eat before Pemba rises. Given our linguistic challenges, the conversation can be a bit thin -- like Pemba.
Yesterday, Pemba embarked on a rare expedition beyond the walls of our guesthouse. He took a few photos of some building or other, and was promptly arrested and hauled down to the police station. They told him they saw him walking with a white man the other day, and they suspected that the two of us were spies.
When I heard about this, I wondered: Is it a good idea for spies to be the two most conspicuous people in an entire city? Also: What secrets, exactly, could the town of Kamina have? Both questions have obvious answers, but if you think about them a little more, it gets interesting…
A call from our host (now in Kinshasa on business) ironed out the misunderstanding in a hurry, and Pemba returned to the guesthouse unscathed -- and no more talkative than before.
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