‘I can’t sleep without you,’ he replied quietly.

‘What?’ she heard him but she wanted to hear it again.

‘I said I can’t sleep properly without you.’

‘I’ll be home soon.’ She wanted to take his hand but the clipboard was between them.

‘Good,’ he replied, looking at her blood work results one last time.

•

Nala shouted into the phone. It was a long-distance call to Australia; their weekly ritual that gave her peace of mind for the next seven days. She only spoke to her daughter for ten minutes: any longer than that was charged at a higher rate and was too expensive for Rajan, who still saved money like the impoverished villager his mother raised him to be.

‘Please don’t overdo it, Amma. Dhara says you’re healing well but you need to rest. Shall I come back? I can help with the packing,’ Priya said.

‘No, mahal, it’s fine, the packing is fine,’ she replied. ‘We can manage. Ayah is helping us. Dhara and your Appa are fussing over me constantly. I’m going mad resting.

‘We’ll only bring the essentials. We can ship one load this time and I’ll bring the most important things in my camphorwood chest. I don’t know how I’m going to choose which belongings to take. Your father can’t reasonably expect me to leave so much behind. He’s only agreed to pay the excess luggage for one chest, but I really need at least two. Anyway, everything else will wait until later.’

Later. She didn’t know what would happen later, she kept it undefined and sequestered in a distant future.

‘What have you decided about the house? Siva and I—we really think you should sell it, Amma. You could use the money in Australia. It’s an expensive country and you will be here for … a while.’

‘No.’

‘I wish you’d listen to me—’

‘No, mahal, I said no,’ Nala tried not to raise her voice. She didn’t want to fight again but she was keeping the house. ‘For now, Shiranthi’s parents will rent the main house. Vani has agreed to move out of Kotahena—what’s left of it. She’ll move into Nandan’s flat upstairs with Dhara. They’ll be protected in this house if the Pereras are here with them. Appa says the mobs won’t stay out of Colombo 7 forever.’

‘And Kamini mami—how is she? When is she leaving?’ Priya asked. Nala’s younger sister had escaped the riots, hiding in her neighbour’s home. But her house—their father’s house—in Wellawatte had been burned completely.