It's not a game," Rohin said. "I'm having a competition with a boy at school. We're competing to
memorize all the capitals. I'm going to beat him." Miranda nodded. "Okay. What's the capital of India?"
"That's no good." He marched away, his arms swinging like a toy soldier. Then he marched back to Laxmi's
cousin and tugged at a pocket of her overcoat, "Ask me a hard one."
"Senegal," she said.
"Dakar!" Rohin exclaimed triumphantly, and began running in larger and larger circles. Eventually he ran
into the kitchen. Miranda could hear him opening and closing the fridge.
"Rohin, don't touch without asking," Laxmi's cousin called out wearily. She managed a smile for Miranda.
"Don't worry, he'll fall asleep in a few hours. And thanks for watching him."
"Back at three," Laxmi said, disappearing with her cousin down the hallway, "We're double-parked."
Miranda fastened the chain on the door. She went to the kitchen to find Rohin, but he was now in the
living room, at the dining table, kneeling on one of the director's chairs. He unzipped his knapsack, pushed
Miranda's basket of manicure supplies to one side of the table, and spread his crayons over the surface.
Miranda stood over his shoulder. She watched as he gripped a blue crayon and drew the outline of an
airplane.
“It's lovely," she said. When he didn't reply, she went to the kitchen to pour herself more coffee.
"Some for me, please," Rohin called out.
She returned to the living room. "Some what?"
"Some coffee. There's enough in the pot. I saw."
She walked over to the table and sat opposite him. At times he nearly stood up to reach for a new crayon.
He barely made a dent in the director's chair.
"You're too young for coffee."
Rohin leaned over the sketch pad, so that his tiny chest and shoulders almost touched it, his head tilted to
one side. "The stewardess let me have coffee." he said. "She made it with milk and lots of sugar." He
straightened, revealing a woman's face beside the plane, with long wavy hair and eyes like asterisks, "Her
hair was more shiny," he decided, adding, "My father met a pretty woman on a plane, too." He looked at
Miranda. His face darkened as he watched her sip. "Can't I have just a little coffee? Please?