Ram knew it was more complicated than that. “Karak-ji? You have seen this land before?” Karak looked at him. They both realized that Ram had caught him in a lie.

“I wanted you to come and see.” Karak held up his hand. “With an open mind.” In response to Ram’s silence he said, “It’s true. I came here for a short time about one month back.” He avoided meeting Ram’s eye.

Ram felt a small bubble of anger, then it burst and fizzled away. He allowed himself to feel flattered. After all, Karak had only wanted to show him something.

Karak pointed to a small structure a quarter mile away. “That’s the shack that Eggenberger built to prove the homestead to the government. So much land is still open, but we are foreigners. We cannot do the same.”

“Eggenberger isn’t a foreigner?” Ram asked.

“He is from Switzerland, bhai. That is different.”

Ram looked at him.

“Oye!” Karak sucked his teeth to show he did not really mind. “That is the law. In Punjab, we keep the city families away from the farming districts. It is the same, isn’t it? One can understand, of course. And what does it matter? We can farm and make a profit and grow rich. What do you say, Ram?”

Ram did not understand what he was asking. His heart began to thump inside his chest. “Bhai-ji?” he said.

“Come and work with me. We will grow cotton. Everyone says there will be war in Europe soon. The cotton market will be high. We Punjabis know how to grow it. You will have too much, Ram! Too much money to send to your uncle, you will have to spend some here just for entertainment! At home, everyone will be celebrating your name and honoring you.”

Ram felt a constriction in his chest. His wound began to burn. He had not earned much in the fifteen months he had been in Hambelton. And he dreaded going back. But to farm again, to earn enough money for his uncle to purchase land, how many harvests would that take? How long until he saw Padma and his son? “I want to go home in two years, bhai,” he said. “That is my only wish.”

“Yes, yes, you go home in two years.” Karak nodded. “Well, make it three,” he said. “We will take a three-year lease from Eggenberger.” Karak picked up a stone and threw it a distance, fast and hard. It bounced in the dirt near the shack. “You wanted to return in two years when you arrived. It has already been more than a year.”

Ram felt like a boy. He could not disagree.