I watched as the car set off, with Alex’s camera and tripod in the back, and I suddenly felt so alone. Jonas had warned me that he would be going away from time to time, as it was his job as a freelance journalist to write the stories while Alex captured the scenes on his camera. Ping Li had gone to the store with a box of her dresses, so I decided to go into town and look around the shops. It was late afternoon when I dropped into one of the cafés for a cup of tea and was surprised to see Lorna-May sitting at one of the tables. She waved me over. ‘I’ve had such a hard day with shopping,’ she said, pointing to the pile of packages at her feet, ‘so I just dropped into the nearest place for a cool drink.’ I was also feeling the heat, as it was an unusually warm autumn day, but Lorna-May looked cool and unruffled and not in the least hot and bothered. ‘I should have brought the car with me, but I find the streets so crowded with people and carts and rickshaws that it’s too much of a bother.
