Chapter 42

Kim sat with Jamil on the veranda listening to the high, fluting sound of the crickets. Most of the time he didn't notice them. It was just background noise. But every so often it would stop abruptly. All of them stopped at the same moment, as if at some signal that only crickets could hear. And then he noticed the silence. Then, when he had forgotten about them, they would start up again, just as inexplicably, all at once.

"I can't stay, you know," Kim said. "No matter what anyone thinks."

Jamil leaned forward to protest and Kim put up his hand for silence.

"No, it's no good, Jamil. I will not stay. This is no longer my home. I do not want to work in the civil service. I am a scientist. I have important work to do at home. And I do not want to marry a woman I have never even met because my mother considers her to be a suitable match. I want to marry the woman of my own choice."

Jamil gasped with horror. "You have met someone you want to marry? You never said."