Sheila spent much of the afternoon and evening alone on her balcony, smoking and staring into the distance. Her husband could not figure out why but then Sheila went through these phases and he let her be. He had no way of knowing how dramatic and faraway her thoughts were.

Actually, not that far away. Her thoughts were on the young woman Binita next door, her father-in-law the Thakur and her own self. Sheila and her husband had taken the young couple new to town under their wing long back. And earlier in the morning Sheila had spotted the young woman impaled -- no, speared -- on her father-in-law as he pounded her like an animal.