Chapter 18 Summary

Even though the island is lush and green and there are no harmful animals, Nhamo chooses the safety of her boat for sleeping. She prepares food to take on her trip. She makes twine from bark. She imagines the people who once lived here, hoping they were happy and prosperous.

One night the waves are too big to allow her to sleep in the boat, so she fashions a shelter near her cooking fire. She is afraid to sleep, but she finally does. She has a dream about herself telling the girls in her village a story about a woman named Long Teats who ate children and gave birth to locusts. In her dream, she leaves the girls' hut to go outside and when she tries to return, the hut is gone, replaced by the Portuguese hut. Long Teats comes out of the...