He was, as Lettie had once said, quite a fat and shiny catch. And as I watched him with friends-listening more than he talked, smiling more than he frowned, self-deprecating and considerate, tactful and attentive-I had to admit to myself that he was a very likeable man. And, strangely, I felt sorry for him. A few years or even months before, I would've been jealous that he was such a likeable man-such a very nice guy, as more than a few people said to me when I'd asked them about him. I would've hated him. But I felt nothing like that for Ranjit Choudry. Instead, as I watched him, remembering too much of what I'd felt for Karla, and thinking about her clearly for the first time in... a long time, I felt sorry for the rich, handsome media baron, and I wished him luck.

For half an hour I talked across the table with Lisa and the others and then I looked up to see Johnny Cigar, standing in the wide doorway and gesturing to catch my eye. Delighted to have an excuse to leave, I turned to Didier and drew him around to face me. "Listen, if you're really serious about going to Italy for three months-"

"Certainly, I am-" he began, but I cut him off quickly.

"And if you're really serious about needing someone to look after your place for you while you're away, I think I've got just the guys for the job."

"Oh, yes? And who are they?"

"The Georges," I replied. "The Zodiac Georges. Gemini and Scorpio."

Didier was appalled.

"But these... these George people... they are, how can I say it?"

"Reliable?" I suggested. "Honest. Clean. Loyal. Brave. And, above all, the most important qualification for situations like this, they're absolutely not interested in staying in your apartment for a minute longer than you want them to. In fact, I'll have a damn hard job talking them into it in the first place. They like the street. They won't want to do it. But if I let them know they're doing me a favour, they might agree. They'll do a good job of looking after your place for you, and they'll get three months of safe living in a decent place."

"Decent?" Didier scoffed. "What do you mean, decent? My apartment is without parallel in Bombay, Lin. You know that. Excellent, I can understand. Superb, I can accept. But decent-non! It is like saying that I live in the fish market and, er, what do you say, whoosh it out every day with a water hose!"

"So what do you think? I've gotta go."

"Decent!" he sniffed.

"Come on, man, will you forget about that!"

"Well, yes, perhaps you are right. I have nothing against them.

The George from Canada, the Scorpio, he does speak some French.

That is true. Yes. Yes. Tell them I think it is a good idea. Tell them to see me, and I will speak to them-with very careful instructions."

Laughing as I said goodbye, I joined Johnny Cigar at the doorway of the restaurant. He pulled me close to him.

"Can you come with me? Now?" he asked.

"Sure. Walking or taxi?"

"I think taxi, Lin."

We pushed our way through the breaking waves of walkers to the road and found a taxi. I was smiling as we waved the taxi down and climbed inside. For months, I'd been trying to find a way to help Gemini and Scorpio George that was more meaningful than the money I gave them from time to time. Didier's holiday with Arturo provided the perfect opportunity. I knew that three months in Didier's apartment would add years to their lives: three months without the stress of street living and with the secure good health that only a home and home cooking can provide. And I also knew that, with the Zodiac Georges in his apartment while he was gone, Didier would worry just enough to make his return to Bombay a little more likely, and a little sooner.

"Where to?" I asked Johnny.

"World Trade Centre," he told the driver, smiling at me but clearly concerned about something.

"What's up?"

"There is a problem at the zhopadpatti," he answered me.

"Okay," I said, knowing that he wouldn't say anything else about the problem until he thought the moment was right. "How's the baby?"

"Fine, very fine," he laughed. "He has such a strong grab on my fingers. He will be big and strong-bigger than his father, sure.

And Prabaker's baby, from the sister of my Sita, Parvati, that baby is also very beautiful. He is very much like Prabaker... in his face and his smiling."

I didn't want to think about my dead, beloved friend.

"And how's Sita? And the girls?" I asked.

"They are fine, Lin, all fine."

"You'll have to watch out, Johnny," I warned him. "Three kids in less than three years-before you know it, you'll be a fat, old guy with nine kids climbing all around you."

"It is a fine dream," he sighed happily.

"How's work? How are you... how you doing for money?"

"Also fine, very fine, Lin. Everybody pays taxes, and nobody likes it. My business is good. Sita and me, we decided to buy the house next to ours, and make a bigger house for the family."

"That's fantastic! I can't wait to see it."

There was a little silence and then Johnny turned to me with an expression of worry, almost of torment.

"Lin, that time when you asked me to work for you, to work with you, and I refused-"

"It's okay, Johnny."

"No, it is not okay. I want to tell you, I should have said yes, and I should have worked beside you." "Are you in trouble?" I asked, not understanding him. "Is business not as good as you said it was? Do you need money?"

"No, no, everything is fine with me. But if I was with you that time, watching you, maybe you would not still be working for all these months at the black business, with those goondas."

"No, Johnny."

"I blame myself every day, Lin," he said, his lips pulled wide in an anguished grimace. "I think that you asked me to work with you, to be your friend, because you did need a friend at that time. I was a bad friend, Lin, and I blame myself. Every day I feel bad about it. I am so sorry that I refused you."

I put my hand on his shoulder, but he wouldn't meet my eye.

"Look, Johnny, you've got to understand. What I do, I don't feel good about it, but I don't feel bad about it, either. You do feel bad about it. And I respect that. I admire it. And you're a good friend."

"No," he murmured, his eyes still downcast.

"Yes," I insisted. "I love you, man."

"Lin!" he said, grabbing my arm with sudden, urgent concern.

"Please, please, be careful with these goondas. Please!"

I smiled, trying to put him at ease.

"Man," I protested, "are you ever gonna tell me what this damn trip is about?"

"Bears!" he said.

"Bears?"

"Well, actually, you know, only one bear is our problem. You know Kano? Kano the bear?"

"Sure I know him," I muttered. "Bahinchudh bear-what's happened?

Has he got himself put in jail again?"

"No, no, Lin. He is not in the jail."

"Good. At least he's not a recidivist."

"Actually, you know, he escaped from the jail."

"Shit..."

"And now he is a fugitive bear, with a reward price on his head, or his paws, or any part of him they can catch."

"Kano's on the run?"

"Yes. They even have a wanted poster."

"A what?" "A wanted poster," he explained patiently. "They took a photo of him, that Kano, with his two blue bear-wallahs, when they arrested them again. Now, they are using that photo for the wanted poster."

"Who's _they?"

"The state government, the Maharashtra police, the Border Security Force, and the Wildlife Protection Authority."

"Christ, what did Kano do? Who did he kill?"

"Not killed anyone, Lin. The story, what happened, the Wildlife Authority has a new policy, to stop cruelty to the dancing bears.

They don't know that Kano's bear-wallahs, they love him so much, like a big brother, and he loves them also, and they would never hurt him. But the policy is the policy. So, the Wildlife-wallahs, they captured Kano, and they took him to the animal jail. And he was crying and crying for his blue bear-wallahs. And the bear wallahs, they were outside the animal jail, and they were also crying and crying. And two of those Wildlife-wallahs, two watchmen on duty, they got very upset about all the crying, so they went outside, and they started beating Kano's blue men with lathis. They gave them a solid pasting. And Kano, he saw his two blue men getting that beating, and he just lost his control. He broke down that cage and made an escape. The two bear-wallahs got a big feeling of courage, and they beat up the Wildlife fellows and ran away with Kano. Now they are hiding in our zhopadpatti, in the same hut that you used to have as your house. And we have to try to get them out of the city without getting captured. Our problem is how to get that Kano from the zhopadpatti to Nariman Point. There is a truck waiting there, and the driver has agreed to take Kano away with his bear-wallahs."