‘Have you both taken the day off?’ he asked.

‘We’ve got some news for you, Jai. Come and sit here, please,’ said Rajan.

Jai’s heart sank. He hated things being sprung on him. Such as acrobatic mice leaping out at him in kitchens. Or bullies pouncing on him in school hallways. Or his parents flinging this ‘we’ve got news’ thing at him in living rooms.

What were they going to say? An alarming array of lurid possibilities raced wildly through his mind. Please don’t let this be the announcement of a baby brother or sister. With his luck, it would turn out to be a complete nuisance. Or then, were his parents getting a divorce? Was it about that fight he had overheard after that party they had attended last week? His mother had seemed very upset that his father had complimented Mrs Arora on her sari and not noticed that she, his wife, had had a haircut. Not a trim—a proper haircut—from shoulder-length to a bob. At which, his father had gone on about how a man had no peace—no peace at all—and was constantly terrified of saying anything—anything at all. And then his mother had said that if he wanted ‘peace’ so much, he was most welcome to leave and go in search of it. Was this what they wanted to discuss with him?

Jai’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his mother talking.

‘ . . . and so, both Papa and I thought that it would be a good idea if I went for two months . . . ’

Oh God. They are getting a divorce, thought Jai. He could feel a knot forming in the pit of his stomach.

‘I know it’ll be hard for you, Jai. But Papa and Badi Ma will be here with you,’ continued Arathi.

‘And besides, you can go and visit Ma whenever you like,’ Rajan added.

Jai looked at his parents. ‘Do you have to get a divorce?’ he asked, his voice faltering.

His parents looked at each other in bewilderment.

‘Who said anything about a divorce?’ exclaimed Arathi. ‘Is there something I don’t know, Rajan?’ She clenched her jaw and her voice dropped to a menacing rumble. ‘Have you been having an affair with that wretched Anjali Arora whom you can’t stop paying compliments to?’

Rajan looked entirely baffled. ‘Wha—where is all this even coming from? What divorce are you talking about, Jai?’

Both of them looked at Jai, trying to recall if they had ever dropped him on his head when he was a baby.

‘Er . . . why is Ma going away?’ Jai asked finally.

‘It’s for that software assignment that I’ve just been telling you about. It’s only for two months, but it’ll be a huge promotion for me at work,’ said Arathi.

‘Oh, okay. Where will you be going?’ asked Jai.

‘To London. Haven’t you been listening to a word of anything I said?’ replied his mother, rather exasperated. ‘Anyway, as I was saying, since you have your summer holidays soon, Badi Ma, Papa and you can all come over for a short break—unless Papa prefers to stay behind and lavish compliments on Anjali Arora’s wardrobe, of course.’