Summary

In the first part, titled “I. (NO),” the narrator, Radha, is 15 and his brother Arjun is 18. One day, Arjun’s girlfriend, Jyoti, breaks up with him for not listening closely enough to her. The narrator tells Myrna Semyonova that, before her, he could really only talk to his brother and the ghost.

At a school dance, Arjun brings his little sister Radha, while his friend Joe brings a girl named Myrna as a date. Radha is fascinated by Myrna and wants Myrna to kiss her. Myrna talks to Radha about the puppeteering school she attends. Myrna deflects a kiss from Radha and asks Radha about the book she was holding, which Radha translates from Hindi into a language Myrna can understand. When she returns home, Radha asks the ghost if she will stop seeing her after she has...