“Oh no!” Jomo suddenly stood up holding his stomach. He dashed out of the tent.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked Bonang.

“I don’t know.” Just as she spoke, I felt my stomach turn. I looked out at the audience and people were popping up all over. Suddenly standing and then rushing out of the tent.

“I don’t think I feel well,” Bonang said.

“Me neither,” I said.

We both stood and rushed into the house to use the toilet. Inside, we found her mother coming out of the toilet.

“Are you feeling unwell too?” Bonang asked her.

She nodded. “I guess the doctor’s charms didn’t work.”

I looked out the open door and saw queues of people at the port-o-toilets. I used the toilet and when I came out I found Amogelang waiting.

“I think something’s happened, maybe with the food,” I said.

“I’m on it! I’ve taken samples of everything and I’m taking it back to the lab just now,” Amogelang said.

Bonang came out of the toilet just as Jomo came inside the house, followed by Gideon.

“I so hoped the traditional doctor had sorted everything out. Now look! My wedding will be a disaster tomorrow! Everyone is sick!” Bonang said, slumping down onto the sofa.

I sat next to her and rubbed her back. “I’m sure this is nothing. Just a bit of food poisoning. We’ll all be sorted by morning.”

“Food poisoning? How is that good?” Bonang cried. Jomo sat next to me and put out his hand, thinking Bonang couldn’t see. “What do you want from Lola?”

Jomo looked at me and then at Bonang. “Your ring.”

“My ring? Why does Lola have my ring?” Bonang asked, getting increasingly frantic.

“She was holding it for me. Show her, Lola,” he said.

“I don’t have it,” I said.

“Sure you do, don’t play. We’re all feeling like crap, we want an early night,” Jomo said.

“It wasn’t there.”

“What does she mean, it wasn’t there?” Bonang screeched.

“It wasn’t at the florist.”

“Why would my wedding ring be at the florist’s?” She was now at def-con level of upset-ness.

“I thought I’d dropped it there. Lola went to find it and she didn’t. It means it must be at my house. Come on, Gideon, let’s go find it.”

Gideon held his stomach. “Okay,” he said weakly and followed Jomo out.

Bonang turned to me, her tears starting up again. “My wedding’s going to be a disaster, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not. I promise.”

“We’re all sick. It’s the wedding curse, nothing can be done.”

“Amogelang is going to figure out what happened.”

“I have no wedding ring. What kind of bride gets married without a ring?”

“We’ll find it. Don’t worry.”

I walked her back to her bedroom and helped her into bed. “You’re getting married tomorrow. Everything is going to be perfect.”

“Do you promise, Lola?”

“I do.”

But as I made my way home, I wondered how I was going to keep that promise.

*****

It had been a rough night, waking up often to rush to the toilet, but despite that I woke up feeling pretty good – that is until I remembered the ring. I called Jomo.

“So, did you find it?”

“No, I think we must just accept it’s all part of the wedding curse. What can we do?”

“Oh, Jomo, don’t you fall for that now too! There is no wedding curse. The ring has got to be somewhere. Did you check the car?”

“Yep, not there. I thought in the meanwhile I could use a piece of wire. I’ll buy another ring later.”

“A piece of wire? You know Bonang – she’ll have a fit. We need to find that ring.” Then I remembered Jomo was also getting married and he was probably nervous too. “But don’t worry; I’ll take care of it. You just worry about getting married. By the time you need the ring, it will have been found. I promise.”

“Okay, Lola, thanks. You’re great!”

Jomo hung up and I realised I was very good at making promises; I wondered how good I’d be at keeping them.

There was a knock at the door. “Come in!”

Amogelang came in and sat down on my bed. “I found the culprit.”

“For last night’s food poisoning?”

“It wasn’t food poisoning. Someone put a very large amount of laxative in the food.”

“Laxative in the food? Who would do that?” I asked.

“Maybe someone wanting to ruin the wedding.”

“But who would want to do that?”And then I remembered. Kukie had been around all day. She could have put the laxative in the food at any time. She seemed pretty angry at the rehearsal dinner. Could she have wanted to ruin Jomo’s wedding? I couldn’t think of anyone else with a motive to do that. I’d have to keep an eye out for her today. I needed to talk to her.

“Did you see a woman in a blue dress at the back of the tent last night, sitting alone?” I asked.

“I did. I wondered about her. She kept glaring at Bonang and Jomo.”

“That’s Jomo’s ex-girlfriend. Her name’s Kukie. We need to keep a look out for her today. You need to help me. If she shows up, we need to stop her. I think she may be the one wanting to sabotage the wedding. Can you help?”

“You know me, Lola, I’m always ready to solve a crime,” Amogelang said.

***

Tell us what you think: Do you think it’s the wedding curse or is Kukie behind the rehearsal dinner disaster?