‘No. It felt nice to think about you,’ she confessed while getting up. He looked at her attractive eyes. They were not just dreamy but were intoxicating at the same time. She came out on the deck. He stood still. He could not understand what to do or say. This confusion made him lie down on the bench that had a sheet spread on it. He could feel the warmth of Jamila Miss’s body on that sheet. He felt her through her closed eyes and entrenched her odour within himself. The smell had a faint, unspeakable sadness. He opened his eyes and kept the sheet aside. The orange, yellow and pink colours of the rising sun decorated the horizon. His mother, servants and uncle were having tea.

Jamila Miss looked at the rising sun with a sense of longing within her.

In half an hour, the boat was anchored near a small island spread over ten kilometres. The island had sky-kissing coconut trees. There were also amla, karvanda trees, squirrels, butterflies and chameleons. There was a well, constructed by the villagers, nearby. Asrar drew water from the well so that everyone could freshen up. Then his uncle brought out the gas cylinder, stove, sugar, tea leaves and a kettle for making tea.

Asrar told Jamila Miss that some years back a team of archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey had stayed on the island for some months. They had carried out digging at many spots. Asrar’s uncle joined the conversation and said that he had visited the island during those diggings. He had spoken to government officials who had told him that they believed that this area was part of a coastal kingdom called Paus and their king had his palace here. The team was searching for the remains of that palace. But the artifacts they found here culturally belonged to Sindh. Jamila Miss found all of this interesting, even though she had no prior interest in history or the history of cultures. She expressed her desire to see those excavation sites. Asrar said that he would show her around after tea. When they got up to leave, Asrar’s mother warned, ‘Do not go very far in. People say that there are a lot of snakes.’

He smiled and said, ‘We’ll return soon.’