Instead the day is bright and the lining, crisp, a scene accented only by the stray strands of sunlight filtering through a rustle of leaves. The outs...retched fingertips of an early winter comb through the treetops as a slender boy no older than 15 makes his way across the forest floor. He resembles a character from a Tim Burton movie I knew as a child, a solid colored sweater shrouding his pale, slender body, a gait so rigid it could have been stopmotion. You can hear him mumbling to himself,. ”I said a yes with a smile. Then she asked my name. I said, “Karthik aunty.. What is your name?” She said, “I’m not aunty.. I’m just 21 years old and my name is Vimala alias Vinny.” I said, “Oh.. Sorry! My friends told me that they have got me a seat beside an aunty and that’s how I decided that you were supposed to be so.” She said, “Nah. It’s okay.. Many tell me that I look like an aunty when I wear a sari. And by the way, your friends should have got you that seat because I saw one of them. They are expecting to be punished with their paddles 10 times. You can hit them once, and reserve nine for a later date, or you can use all of them now. It is your prerogative. If they complain, their punishment doubles. Remind them of this rule. It has been many years since I have had to enforce punishment on them. If they use foul language, for each inappropriate word they use, it is one misdemeanor. If they get to third misdemeanor, remind them the fourth one becomes a felony and I will be. “For a second I was afraid you weren’t coming,” he said. “No, I just got …” But before I could finish the sentence Matt took hold of my belt and pulled me into the living room. There was a blanket and a couple of pillows on the floor, and the same porn DVD was playing on the TV. Matt was still tugging me along, and I barely had time to kick off my shoes before he dragged me to the center of the blanket and started undoing my belt. “Here, I’ll do that,” I said. He let got of me, shucked off.