“If that is so, he was wrong and will apologize. But from what I hear, Josh was attacking Karim’s heritage—his ethnic heritage. And that must stop. I’m sure you agree with that.”

Cameron Chandler nodded. “Of course, we do. Unfortunately, boys will be boys. Josh, come in here.”

Josh was inches taller and twenty pounds heavier than Karim. He had a badly split lip.

Cameron took charge. After a few blunt questions elicited what was prob- ably very close to the truth of the episode, he ordered the boys to shake hands and forget the whole thing. Jenna wasn’t sure she agreed with his method, but it seemed to work.

“Want to shoot some baskets?” Josh asked Karim. “Sure. Can I, Mom?”

“Just for a little while.”

The two scurried away from the council of adults. Feeling at loose ends, Jenna gratefully accepted Carolyn’s offer of coffee. Cameron joined them with a drink in hand.

The Chandlers didn’t exactly pry, but Jenna soon found herself reciting the fiction of her past, so well rehearsed now that it seemed almost like the truth. About her hosts, there seemed to be little to learn. They were what everything about them proclaimed them to be: old Boston society. Cameron was an investment banker; Carolyn devoted her spare time to tennis and charities. He was aggressively friendly, she cool and diffident.

Jenna intuited a certain distance between them, something in their body language. Perhaps they had argued over Josh’s behavior.

“So, you’re a psychologist,” said Cameron. “Yes.”

“Of course!” said Carolyn, suddenly animated. “That’s who you are! Why didn’t I make the connection?”

“Who?” said Jenna, almost afraid to ask.

“You have a book out, don’t you?” Carolyn bubbled on. “I’ve been meaning to buy it. I saw a very nice review of it somewhere. Ancient …”

“Ancient Chains Jenna said with relief. “I’ll bring you a copy if you’d like.” The book had been a sweet surprise. A reworking of her doctoral dissertation, it had been published in a print run of a thousand by a small university press in the Midwest. There it might have died like countless other scholarly monographs except for a brief but very positive notice in the New York Times Book Review. Now it had sold thirty thousand copies, and there was talk of a paperback.

“Chains,” said Cameron. “Sounds kinky.”

“Some of my colleagues agree—too Jungian. The publishers chose the title.” “What’s it about?”

Jenna sighed. “The relationship, in psychological terms, between male dominance mechanisms and female survival strategies in selected cultures over time.”

“Yow!” said Cameron. “Does it come with English subtitles?”

Even Jenna had to laugh. “Sorry. It’s hard to explain in one sentence. Let’s just say it’s about the ways women have adapted to various forms of discrimination and abuse.”