‘When you put it that way, I’m the one who sounds mad,’ said Sharif.

Sharif had never planned a romantic weekend before, and was looking forward to it. It seemed so much more clean and natural than what he had done before, furtive fumbling in the shadows of the parks and the streets and the rooftops. He imagined bringing Candida breakfast in bed, and scenting his room with fresh flowers for her.

He was crushed when she called and tearfully told him that she wouldn’t be able to come. She said that her mum had been fine about her spending the weekend with her new boyfriend, but that her dad had gone absolutely uncharacteristically ballistic when he found out who she was seeing, and had forbidden her to see him again.

‘It was scary, I’ve never seen Daddy like that. He’s the most tolerant, easy-going person I know. He never gets cross or upset about anything,’ Candida told him. ‘I mean, maybe I should have mentioned to him sooner that I was seeing someone, but I normally don’t bother him about who I’m dating until it gets serious. Mummy knew about you, and she was shocked at how Daddy reacted too. He was perfectly cheerful about it until I mentioned your name, then he just blew up.’

‘Is he racist or something?’ Sharif asked, completely confused as to why a stranger would take such exception to him on mere mention of his name.

‘Well, he can’t be. He’s Bangladeshi himself, and you’re half-Bangladeshi, just like me. But he was going on about how he knew all about boys like you, and that you were no good, and that I shouldn’t date you, and all sorts of rubbish.’

‘He must be racist,’ said Sharif. ‘There are lots of Asians around who want to forget where they came from.He doesn’t want his perfect little girl dating an Asian boy; he wants you to go out with white boys and breed out all his brown genes and have nice white grandchildren …’

‘Oh, shut up, you’re as bad as him. You don’t know him at all, so there’s no need to generalize,’ said Candida crossly. Sharif stopped in mid-tirade, realizing that Candida would brook no criticism of her father. ‘I mean, I went out with Greg last year, and he was black, and Daddy didn’t have a word to say against him.’

‘Well, I don’t see how he could say all those things about me if he doesn’t even know me,’ said Sharif stubbornly.

‘Babe, I know. I asked him exactly that - I asked him to give me one solid reason why I shouldn’t go out with you,’ said Candida.

‘And what did he say?’ asked Sharif, holding his breath.