Lucifer’s favourite day is Monday. Blue, black and red are his favourite colours. He is the EA deity of the Sumer. Many cultures refer to him as EL. His prime constellations are Capricorn (the incarnation of a goat) and Aquarius (water utensil). His stars are Uranus and Venus. His directions are east and south. The most important day of the year for him is 23 September when the sun is in the first house of Capricorn. Capricorn is the tenth constellation and the first ascent brings the sum to eleven. The day after the one when the sun reaches its zenith during the winter season is the day of Satan and every true believer should celebrate it.

When Aymal looked at Yusuf after completing what she had to say, he observed, ‘I cannot understand a lot of these things but …’ He paused and looked at the tamarind tree outside the window. The wind was still. The snake had felt the stillness more than them. Some words came to Yusuf’s throat and stopped right there. Aymal’s tongue was going to instinctively ask ‘What?’ but she stopped herself. They sat in silence. This silence was irritating the snake. It was as if the darkness around the car was restlessly trying to seep into the car through the windows. All the light of the world that emerged from the womb of darkness one day had to go back to its own truth. Yusuf lit a cigarette and took a puff. Aymal took a drag as a formality and slowly released the smoke from her lungs. This act pleased Yusuf. Aymal passed the cigarette to Yusuf. He took it and while putting it to his lips uttered, ‘You’re my Lucifer, and I worship you.’

Aymal kept laughing and in the process opened the door of the car and stepped out. The intensity of Aymal’s laughter made Yusuf happy. Albeit he was not able to understand why Aymal was laughing so much. He finished the entire cigarette trying to answer this question. The laughter had caused tears to come out of Aymal’s eyes. When she stopped laughing, she proposed to go and have some tea. Yusuf gestured to the boy sitting at the counter of the restaurant and said, ‘Yaar, bring two cups of special tea with ginger!’

He smoked one more cigarette till the tea came. Aymal kept staring into the darkness, the sleeping trees in the darkness and the patches of light that could be seen from far.

They reached the bungalow at around 8.30 p.m.