‘Now that, you can see she really meant,’ commented Omar, and Shona choked back a snigger in response. However, when she saw her mother sing back to her bandy-legged suitor, ‘Willow, titwillow, titwillow,’ so gently and softly, and when she saw her dance with the chorus in bare feet, her toenails gleaming like polished pearls, her face transported, Shona wasn’t sniggering any more. This was what her mother had lived for, to perform; perhaps if she’d been able to become an actress or a dancer in her youth, she would have been less of an actress at home with her family. She felt a little sad that this was what Henna was trying so hard to protect - her place in Dhaka society, her place in a well-regarded little amateur dramatic group, which performed to friends and family, coerced spectators who made jokes at her expense while they watched the performance. It seemed so little to show for her mother’s life.

In one of the lazy afternoons that followed, Shona was guiltily awaiting a call from Dermot that she planned to take in her father’s old, abandoned study. She checked her watch; almost ten minutes. She thought she might seem a bit suspicious hovering so closely to the phone, so she wandered out to the dining room, where Omar had books and papers out, writing notes for his next year’s work. ‘I didn’t realize you were studying linguistics,’ Shona said in surprise, seeing a tome by Chomsky open at his elbow.

‘I’m not,’ said Omar, drinking some pomegranate juice that Bibi had sweetly whizzed for him in the blender. ‘It’s for a philosophy paper that I’m taking on innatism. You know, nature versus nurture, what’s naturally in us, like natural morality, versus what we’re taught.’

‘Oh right,’ said Shona nodding. ‘So I guess language is an example of something we’re taught.’

Omar shook his head. ‘You know, that’s what I would have thought too. In fact, according to this, language is an example of something that’s innate. I think the idea is that you can’t really teach someone their first language, as they’d have to understand the language in the first place to be taught it. So children must already have this innate structure that’s ready to accept any language they’re first exposed to, and they sort of discover it, or invent it for themselves.’ Omar frowned with frustration. ‘Well, at least that’s what I’ve copied out. I’m writing it all down, but I don’t quite understand it. That’s the trouble with me and philosophy - you can’t just learn it, you have to … get it, too.’ He smiled disingenuously. ‘I guess I’m just a bear of little brain.’