Chapter 6 Summary

The owners of the Indian Store, who are from India, live in perpetual fear of losing all they have worked for, through theft by the locals and confiscation or eviction by the government. Their families live in a fortified enclosure, with fences, roofs and dogs protecting them from trespass. They allow local blacks to shop of course, since they there are the store's main customers, but only under close scrutiny. Black laborers are also allowed to fix holes in the fence to keep their own kind out. Still, there is a helpless feeling against the inevitable, in the form of a government official with the power to shut them down and evict them for good. They hope the money paid constantly towards lawyers will keep the officials at bay.

Bismillah paces the outside perimeter to check for any holes and then goes in...