Chapter 31 Summary

After all this time on the island, Nhamo suddenly decides not to stay any longer. She remembers Crocodile Guts talking about plugging holes in his boat with sap from the mutowa tree. Nhamo decides to quit trying to build a new boat and instead repair the old one. At least it will get her off the island and to the shore.

Nhamo manages to navigate the boat down the river until she comes to a village that looks very much like her own. She finds being with people so odd after all this time. The women of the village feed Nhamo and tell her how to get to Zimbabwe without encountering the border patrol or the land mines. Nhamo hopes to spend the night in the village, but she makes the mistake of mentioning how she would talk to her mother and to...