Meera stepped out of the car, feeling suddenly self-conscious. She hadn't actually been in the ocean before, despite living just half an hour from the coast. She'd bathed in the river at home, in a quiet section in the neighborhood where her parent's home was, but there one bathed in the river in full dress, soaking up to the neck while draped in cloth. Women would be washing clothes, children splashing into and out of the water. Now she had a two-piece in proper English style, and the beach was crowded with white bodies, gleaming with sweat and oil. She might have cast off her sudden shyness if she were alone, or alone among people she did not know, but with her uncle standing tall behind her and her father next to him, wrapped with their hair up and beards flowing free, white cloth draped from head to toe like two sentries while she and her mother and sister stepped out of the car, she felt both like it was far too much of a spectacle, and that she might meet the wrath of the two turbaned figures behind her. She timidly stepped into the sand, the white flowing over her toes in her sandals, and almost burning. Sand has a way of holding the heat even after the sun has gone, and now in the afternoon sun, it was just short of damaging to walk on. Her mother stepped out of the car behind her, sari blowing in the breeze, and she looked cool and comfortable, somehow, despite wearing more cloth than the entire rest of the beach. Meera sighed, and wished she'd opted for the flowing gown instead of 'Going English' as her father put it. Sama stepped out of the car next to her, promptly shrugged off the cloth that she'd had wrapped around her, and tore off toward the water without a thought. Meera thought the blue, white and red bathing suit looked rediculous on her sister's slim, dark body, but she said nothing. "Sama!" Their mother called, and the girl stopped for a moment and turned around, gesturing that they should follow her. "I'm going paddling! Come with me!" she shouted. Meera shrugged and unbuttoned her blouse, and shrugged out, leaving her in a two piece every bit as bright against her brown skin as her sister's, but fitting far better, not the twig-thin kid her sister was. She caught her uncle's glance, and couldn't tell if he was disapproving or not. Her father looked on, smiling softly, and she decided to go with it. "Come with me, mother?" Her mother nodded. They skipped across the sand as quickly as they could, the heat almost unbearable with every step. Meera wondered how her mother didn't perspire at all, then remembered the heat of days at home. This was a cool walk, a comfortable breeze compared to the wet slap that every step outside brought in Punjab. Sama was up to her neck. "You swim like an eel!" Sama stuck her tongue out at her sister. "I don't see you paddling. Come on in!" She waded in up to her knees, and tossed some water at her sister, who dodged it easily. "Mother, you too!" Their mother waded in, the gauzy cloth wrapped around her seeming to not notice the wetness at all, and instead of blowing breezily, it just washed breezily. They paddled a bit more, wading up the beach, away from the crowd a bit, and Sama swam and ran back and forth on the beach. They turned back, and just then they heard Uncle Ram's booming voice. "Sama! Come here!" She was running down the beach, topless, with another girl behind just the same. Sama stopped in her tracks and Uncle Ram's glare froze her in place. "Just what do you think you're doing?" "Going English! My top was itchy!" The other girl laughed at the expression. Ram glared at her. "Everyone does it here, Uncle Ram!" Sama explained, but she cut short as he glared more. He looked up and down the beach, which was indeed full of people sunbathing topless, and he scowled. "No neice of mine will go that far!" he roared, and peeled a layer of his robe off and threw it at her. "Put something decent on." Sama bit her lip to keep from crying and wrapped the rough white fabric around her. Meera shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, fully expecting Uncle Ram's glare to drop on her next. She looked to her mother and father, but neither one of them were looking at her. "Come. Let's go." Uncle Ram barely refrained from bellowing. He ushered them to the car and scowled at the whole beach as they left. Their mother and father said nothing the whole ride back to the house. ---- Sama pushed Meera's door open that night, and sat on her bed. "Meera. I have a problem." "What's that, sweetie?" "I'm afraid to tell Father and Uncle Ram something." "What's that?" "I have a boyfriend." Meera looked startled. "An English boyfriend? You who wants to go back to India so badly?" Sama nodded. "Uncle Ram might have a fit." "I know. I'm scared! If he's ready to drag us off the beach for me going English, and I'm really going English now..."