Tarun smiled lovingly at Silent Sunny. He didn’t smile back. He couldn’t because he was a lizard. And lizards don’t smile. Not even if they are fantastically happy and have eaten a fantastically full meal of a full housefly.

Silent Sunny didn’t even know he was called Silent Sunny. Tarun didn’t know if Silent Sunny was a he at all. Tarun didn’t even know if Silent Sunny was the same lizard he saw last week. All any lizard ever did was lie flat against the wall, near the tube light in Tarun’s room, waiting for insects. All Tarun ever did was smile at him.

Since you have now been formally introduced to the lizard, let’s tell you a bit about Tarun. Two bits, actually. Tarun was eight years old. Tarun desperately wanted a pet. If you want to know why, you need to know about his best friend, Joey. Joey and Tarun were in a race. They were both the same in everything. Same height. Same age. Same class. Same marks in their exams. Same cuts on their knees from falling off a wall – at the same time, into the same ditch. Same howls while their same-cuts were being same-cleaned. Same...

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