Henna eventually bustled in, looking very glamorous despite her age, in a cool-blue silk sari and enormous Gucci sunglasses. ‘Oh, there you are, Shona,’ she said a touch reproachfully, for all the world as though Shona was the one who had been late.

‘Hello, Amma,’ Shona said, getting up dutifully and pecking her on the cheek. ‘Omar’s asleep, he was shattered after the flight. Where is everyone? Where’s Uncle Aziz and Ammie? Are they over at the farms?’

Henna had seemed momentarily nonplussed by this perfectly normal question, but then seized on Shona’s suggestion too quickly for her answer to seem completely credible. ‘Yes, yes, they are at the farms. Let’s wake Omar; why must he sleep the moment he gets here? He must get that from the lazy Pakistani. We’ll have tea on the veranda now it’s a little cooler.’ She shouted out for the village girl in the kitchen, ‘É, Banu-Bibi!’ but this time, not one, but two, appeared, with similar gentle demeanour but not quite similar enough to be sisters. ‘Banu and Bibi, this is my daughter. We’ll have some more lemonade, and tea, with pooris and sweets.’ She said in an aside to Shona, ‘Omar likes sweets, I remember.’

‘I think it’s you that likes sweets, Amma,’ Shona said matter-of-factly, but lightly enough not to cause offence. ‘Why do you have two new girls? Where’s Osama, the cook?’

Henna deliberately pretended to misunderstand the question. ‘Well, you must always have two girls rather than just one, otherwise they get lonely and want to go back to their village, and you have to start all over again.’ She looked over Shona critically. ‘You had better get changed. You look like a crushed piece of old linen, and Shameela from my am dram group is coming for tea soon. We’re doing a Gilbert and Sullivan season. We all laughed when she suggested Trial by Jury - she’s married to a rich attorney, and is bringing her elderly, ugly daughter.’ She winked cheekily at Shona, as though to say, They’re not as good as us. We’ll have some fun with them.