Free In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

I have friends who do not think that.”
    “I have never thought you were nothing,” protested Mma Ramotswe. “You have no right to say that.”
    Charlie looked to the younger apprentice for support, but there was none forthcoming. “All right,” he said. “Maybe you do not think that. But I’m telling you, Mma, my life is going to change. It’s going to change very soon, and then…”
    They waited for him to finish speaking, but he did not.
    “You are going to get married?” suggested Mma Makutsi. “That is very good news! Marriage is always a big change for people.”
    6 1
    “Hah!” said the apprentice. “Who said anything about marriage?
    No, I am not going to get married.”
    Mma Ramotswe drew in her breath. The time had come to be direct, and to see what response she could draw. “Is it because that girlfriend of yours, that rich lady, is already married? Is that it, Charlie?”
    The moment her question had been posed, she knew that her instinct had been correct. There was no need for Charlie to tell them anything further. The way he had stood up and bumped his head on the bottom of the car made it abundantly clear that the question needed no answer. It was answered already.
    THAT EVENING, Mma Ramotswe made sure that she and Mr
    J.L.B. Matekoni returned to the house on Zebra Drive wellbefore five o’clock, something which seemed to be becoming more and more difficult. Both of them had busy working lives— she as a private detective whose services were increasingly in demand, and he as one of the finest mechanics in all Botswana. Both of these positions had been attained through hard work and a strict adherence to certain principles. For Mma Ramotswe the principle which governed her practice was honesty. Sometimes it was necessary to resort to minor deception—but never anything harmful—in order to get at the truth, but one should never do this with a client. One’s duty to a client was never to mislead: if the truth was unpalatable or hurtful, then there were ways of presenting
    the truth in a gentle way. Often all that one had to do was to get clients to work out conclusions by themselves, merely assisting them by pointing out things that they might have found out for themselves had they been willing to confront them.
    Of course there was more to Mma Ramotswe’s success than that. Another reason why she was so popular was her sympathetic
    6 2
    nature. People said that you could say anything to Mma Ramotswe,
    anything, and she would not scold you or shake her head in condemnation (as long you did not show an arrogant face; that she would not tolerate). So people could go to see her and tell her frankly of things that they had done wrong—things which had landed them in difficulty—and she would do her best to extricate them from the consequences of their selfishness or their folly. A man could go into Mma Ramotswe’s office and confess to adultery,
    and she would not purse her lips or mutter under her breath, but would say, “I am sure that you are sorry, Rra. I know how difficult
    it is for you men, with all your weaknesses.” This would reassure them, without giving them the impression that she was condoning what they had done. And once the confession was made, then Mma Ramotswe would often prove resourceful in finding a solution, and these solutions usually avoided too much pain. It seemed as if the forgiveness which she was capable of showing was infectious. Competitors and enemies, locked in pointless feuds, would find that Mma Ramotswe would hit upon a solution that preserved dignity and face. “We are all human,” she would say. “Men particularly. You must not be ashamed.”
    And as for Mr J.L.B. Matekoni’s reputation, again this was built on that most simple and immediately recognisable of human virtues: decency. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni would never overcharge
    nor allow shoddy work to go out of the garage (which brought him into frequent conflict with his feckless apprentices and their slipshod ways; “These boys will