Summary

The man asks Ma why Renu dislikes Milly. Ma replies that Renu may be jealous of Milly’s family. Renu was married, but she left her husband, potentially because he was abusive. Ma adds that Renu has a daughter with whom she does not seem to be close. The man secretly goes to the slum where Renu lives, and he is saddened by the bad conditions he sees there. Later, Renu says that a bottle of fish sauce has gone missing from the kitchen; she says that Milly must have stolen it in order to show it to people in her neighborhood and claim ownership of it. The man and Ma do not believe this accusation. The man thinks with sadness of the brutal, violent ways in which people in India sometimes punish suspected thieves. The next day, Renu says that the fish sauce...