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films, or going out to Flower Drum for dinner.” Amrith, like Selvi, honed in on all the things Mala loved. “No chili crab, anymore.”
    Mala tried to look superior, but she was beginning to wilt under the reality of what being a nun would mean.
    “But most of all,” Selvi said, grinning at Amrith, “you can never-ever have a boyfriend.”
    “Yes-yes,” Amrith chimed in, “no Suraj Wanigasekera for you.”
    “Chee
, but what are you both talking about?” Mala cried in horror. “Suraj is going to be a priest. He told me so.”
    They shrieked with laughter. Suraj Wanigasekera was one of the unruliest boys in Amrith’s school, always in detention and seated outside the principal’s office.
    “Yes,” Mala cried. “At the last Catholic Students’ Union meeting, Suraj told me this.”
    “Oh, Mala,” Selvi said, shaking her head, “you’re so gullible. Suraj just said that so you would like him.”
    “He did not, he did not.”
    They cackled with derision at the thought of Suraj Wanigasekera as a priest.
    And yet Amrith, even as he laughed, was beginning to feel bad about what he had done. Though Mala’s ambition was silly, at the same time she had shared a precious dream with him, a dream she was still too shy to share with anyone else. He should have respected her secrecy.
    With Selvi, he knew just how far he could go. Being two years older, she looked down on him with the superiority of the senior sister, the akka, and she tried to boss him around. When he resisted, tempers would flare, but a good quarrel would clear the air. Mala, on the other hand, regarded him as an older brother, even though they were the same age. She worshipped him, and he knew that hehad the power to wound her in a way he could never do with Selvi. He frequently took advantage of this power.
    Before tea, Amrith gruffly invited Mala up to the terrace to help him feed the birds. She went eagerly, ready as always to forgive him.
    That evening, there was a meeting of the Catholic Students’ Union in the courtyard. Boys from Amrith’s school and girls from Mala’s.
    As Amrith passed by them on the way to his room, they were making plans for a shramadana at an old folks’ home, which would involve cleaning, gardening, painting, and entertaining the residents. Suraj Wanigasekera was present, of course. He was a few years older than Amrith, stocky and powerfully built. He was popular with the boys for his debonair, don’t-care attitude. As captain of the rugger team, he had scored the winning goal that had garnered for the school the prestigious Sir Hugh Clifford shield.
    As Amrith went by the group, Suraj made a suggestion for the shramadana and Mala replied with a little superior laugh, “Oh, Suraj, that is such a silly idea.” She gave him a coy look and he grinned with happiness.
    It puzzled Amrith that Mala, who was flat-chested and dark-skinned, had such a popular senior boy interested in her, while Selvi, who was fair-skinned, pretty, and well shaped, had no one. Suraj was not the only admirer. Other boys, particularly bad boys, were drawn to Mala. They jostled for her attention at parties and the right to dancewith her; they tried to hold her down in conversation after church and during school society events. These other suitors had withdrawn, now that Suraj had staked his claim.
    The flirtation between Mala and Suraj would go no further. Aunty Bundle and Uncle Lucky did not want Amrith or the girls dating until they were eighteen. Their teenage years were a time to experience many things without being tied to the obligation, the narrowness, of a relationship. Amrith and the girls obeyed this rule. It was a great privilege that their parents sanctioned dating at any age. Their friends and classmates envied them this future liberty. Most of them would have arranged marriages. Others might be allowed to date in their twenties, if the partner was first vetted to be of the right caste, class, religion, and race, with good