Summary

Deraniyagala returned to Colombo in 2010, nearly six years after the wave. Her parents’ house was empty and she was able to visit it. She remembered how the house had been changed since she and her family moved into it when she was seven. There were still a few things, like the light switches on the wall in the living room, that made her feel close to home.

On the veranda, Deraniyagala remembered her mother and aunts telling stories and laughing. It was the first time in six years she had tried to pull the memories of her parents close. She had been too busy grappling with the pain from losing her husband and children.

She remembered that just before they had left for Yala the final time, her mother’s seamstress had made a parrot outfit for Malli. In the months after the wave...