Page 139 - Leadership in the Indian Army

himself more upright, taking on a self-conscious air of menace. The

others followed his gaze.

Laila wished she hadn't said anything. What if they banded together?

How many of them were there-ten? eleven? twelve? What if they hurt

him?

Then Tariq stopped a few feet from Khadim and his band. There was a

moment of consideration, Laila thought, maybe a change of heart, and,

when he bent down, she imagined he would pretend his shoelace had
come undone and walk back to her. Then his hands went to work, and

she understood.

The others understood too when Tariq straightened up, standing on one

leg. When he began hopping toward Khadim, then charging him, his

unstrapped leg raised high over his shoulder like a sword.

The boys stepped aside in a hurry. They gave him a clear path to

Khadim.
Then it was all dust and fists and kicks and yelps.
Khadim never bothered Laila again.

* * *

That night, as most nights, Laila set the dinner table for two only.

Mammy said she wasn't hungry. On those nights that she was, she made
a point of taking a plate to her room before Babi even came home. She

was usually asleep or lying awake in bed by the time Laila and Babi sat

down to eat.