May 30. “Don’t. Please. I get tickled easily under my feet.”

“That’s the purpose. I love tickling you under your feet, Button. Dost gets easily tickled there too.”

“Where was he the whole day?”

“He had a meeting in Pune. It was nearly 10 when he got back bushed.”

“So the three women were left to themselves today? Did you do anything worth talking about?”

“Not really. I went to our other house for a bit, cleaned my cupboard shelves, read some magazines and, basically, chilled. Tried taking a nap in the afternoon but that did not happen.”

“The heat is just too much. I’ve lost my appetite as a result.”

“I agree. Shimla, a hill station, where it is cool throughout the year, recorded a temperature of 33 degrees Celsius yesterday—the highest recorded temperature in 150 years!”

“It’s crazy. What are some of the other planets like? Is it cooler there?”

“My younger daughter and I were talking about this today. They have found Mars a perfectly habitable planet. What if, someday, we deserted earth and moved to other planets?”

“And use spaceships to make the transition!”

“Something like that.”