Isakki left the clock tower and walked through the bazaar toward the tamarind-tree junction. He felt a sudden urge to stop by Dhamu’s shop. He could find out the latest developments, learn what new serpents were surfacing and from where. When he reached the tamarind tree, he stood, half hidden behind the tree, and observed Dhamu’s shop for a little while. The place was packed. There was a crowd of bicycles parked outside. He surmised it was the day for cigarette distribution. He spotted Chellappan standing next to the steel safe. He was wearing a golden khaddar silk shirt and was smoking a cheroot. “Look at that! Someone’s doing well,” Isakki muttered to himself.

Dhamu didn’t seem to be around, which disappointed Isakki. He couldn’t decide where to go next, so he stood looking around aimlessly for a bit. And his eyes landed, by chance, on Khader’s store. There was not a soul there. A man sat hunched in a corner, writing accounts. The place looked old and lackluster, as if dusk had cast its darkness over the store. Who knows what thoughts passed through Isakki’s mind at that moment? He slowly walked toward Khader’s store.

“Brother, how are things? Are you well?” he asked loudly and in a solicitous tone.

The way the bookkeeper raised his head and looked at him had that quality of a machine’s first movement.

“I am all right. Same old, same old. No good and bad days for this donkey.”

Laughing at the remark, Isakki asked him, “Is the boss here?”

The bookkeeper didn’t say anything in reply. Instead, he simply jerked his head toward the ladder.

“Upstairs?”

“Yes.”

“Sleeping?”

“At midday?! No. Why would he sleep at this hour? It will stir up the bile.”

“He really keeps to himself these days, doesn’t he?”

“Well, when you have fallen out of grace, that’s the end of you, man . . . You got any snuff?”

Isakki pulled a packet out of his left pocket and offered it to him.

“We can do something to bring some good cheer, annachi. Don’t worry.”

“Cheer up who?”

“The boss.”

“And here I thought you were talking about me!”

“It’s not hard to cheer you up!”

“Hey, Isakki, you know that old widow who comes from Navakkadu? The one with the huge car?”

“Yes . . .”

“I hear she is worth ten lakhs! And they say she has no kids! Why don’t you ask her to adopt me? Come on.”

“All right. I’ll see what I can do!” Isakki laughed.