Chapter 3, To Kill a Hoopoe, and Chapter 4, Trust Your Affairs to a Man Summary

In Chapter 3, Mma Ramotswe comes home after shopping to find her foster daughter, Motholeli, upset about something. Mma Ramotswe encourages the girl to talk and learns that the kids at school have been teasing her about not having a mother. This makes Mma Ramotswe recall her own troubles in school and the supportive talk her father gave her at the time. Drawing on this, Mma Ramotswe assures Motholeli that she still has a mother even if her mother is dead and that she, Mma Ramotswe, will be a mother to her in life. This seems to reassure Motholeli.

Mr. JLB Matekoni comes to Mma Ramotswe's home and goes straight to the garden to begin watering the vegetables. As he...