Nabulungi is the only one who Elder McKinley feels comfortable telling everything to.
Yes, it's a strange friendship, but she's a surprisingly good listener and gives great advice.
It all started on a day Elder McKinley felt particularly upset, and no matter how much he tried to turn it off, his face betrayed him.
Nabulungi walked right up to him and handed him a piece of paper. "I just sent you a text. Read it."
Just to humor her, Elder McKinley glanced at the paper. It said "You look sad. Do you want to talk?" He looked back and Nabulungi and saw that she really did seem to want to hear what he had to say. "Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Great! Come with me!"
Elder McKinley followed her back to her hut, where she handed him a cup of what probably was supposed to be tea. It smelled disgusting, so he just let it sit there.
"So," she urged, sitting across from him. "Talk."
"Well…" he began. As soon as that word escaped his mouth, all the other words rushed to be told, too. Soon, he'd told Nabulungi his whole story—everything from Steve Blade back in fifth grade to now, with Elder Price.
Nabulungi waited until he was done, taking in every syllable of what he said. Then, she asked "If you love Elder Price, why don't you just tell him?"
He shook his head. "It's…it's not that simple."
"Well, it should be. You need to tell people how you feel. Like this: I feel like you would be much happier if you just told him."
Elder McKinley considered this. "You know what, Nabulungi? You just might be right."