CHAPTER 2
Somebody Telling Somebody Else
AUDIENCES AND PROBABLE IMPOSSIBILITIES
“I broke my hip!” Mrs. Croft announced, as if no time had passed.
“Oh dear, madame.”
“I fell off the bench!”
“I am so sorry, madame.”
“It was the middle of the night! Do you know what I did, boy?”
I shook my head.
“I called the police!”
She stared up at the ceiling and grinned sedately, exposing a
crowded row of long gray teeth. Not one was missing. “What do you
say to that, boy?”
As stunned as I was, I knew what I had to say. With no hesitation at
all, I cried out, “Splendid!”
Mala laughed then. Her voice was full of kindness, her eyes bright
with amusement. I had never heard her laugh before . . .
— JHUMPA LAHIRI, “THE THIRD AND FINAL CONTINENT” (194–95;
MY EMPHASIS)30