I bent a branch, but the wood was young and green, and I had to twist it several times before it snapped. ‘I hope nobody minds,’ I said, as I dropped the flowering branch to Kiran. ‘It’s nobody’s tree,’ she said. ‘Sure?’ She nodded vigorously. ‘Sure, don’t worry.’ I was working for her and she felt immensely capable of protecting me. Talking and being with Kiran, I felt a nostalgic longing for the childhood: emotions that had been beautiful because they were never completely understood.
