18I left a lettuce leaf in the middle of Ibrahim’s room while I waited for Inang Choleng. I’d forgotten to feed her for some time. She wasn’t in the habit of going without food for long. I was really anxious. I found her under the computer table, dried up inside her broken shell.
Inang Choleng had died – that silent, patient creature that was so good at listening and never complained. That morning was so sad. O God, you alone know how much I wept. Who could console me? Who would understand why I was crying over her? When Ibrahim came back from work he saw the sadness on my face. I didn’t tell him about the tortoise when he asked me. What was the use of talking about something he wouldn’t understand? I left him in the main room and escaped to the bathroom. I turned on all the taps in the b
