Ameen is seventeen when the war breaks out. One Monday, aftar supper, he announces he will go to war. Sonabhan shrieks in surprise, You want to leave me alone? " It won't take long," Ma, he assures her. "I'll be back soon after the training." That night Sonabhan cannot sleep. After sun-up, she opens the duck coop. The flock streams out, stretches and quacks around her for their morning meal. She takes longer than usual. She mixes water with rice husks in an earthen bowl and puts it down. They gobble it up in five minutes and head for the pond. Ameen has let out the chicken by then. He lifts his 12 -week- old cockerel, Moti and sits on the veranda. During his breakfast he doesn't strike up any conversation. Having noticed Sonabhan's puffy eyes, he knows not to mention last night's subject. He casts his glance to the side, down at the cockerel eating rice in silence. Today is haat bar, market day. Sonabhan has arranged the things Ameen will take to the bazaar to sell. Two dozen eggs, a sheaf of areca nuts, a bottle gourd. The bazaar is about a mile away.
