I run and touch the bird but it doesn’t move. Its eyes are closed and it just lays there.
I know I killed it, but I was just playing. I didn’t mean to.
What if Mama should die too now because of this thing that I did?
I drop the shanghai and run into the house.
“Mama,” I cry. “Mama.”
Mama is lying in her bed and she opens her eyes and smiles. Papa is sitting beside her and he stays there all day now.
“Mama,” I ask, “where are your stars?”
“Dear boy,” Mama says, and falls back asleep.
Then Yanti comes and takes my hand, and that’s when Mama opens her eyes and says to Papa,
“Be kind to the boy.”
I wait every day for Mama to come back. I know she wants to.
Chapter 35
Adi was having nightmares almost every time he closed his eyes to sleep now. In all of them, he was with his mothe
