The Calcutta Chromosome

New York: sometime in the future. Antar is ill and knows he will have to cancel dinner with Tara. She will be at work now caring for the 4-year-old child of a stockbroker. The mother, though, insisted that Tara carry a beeper with her in case Tara needs to contact her. Antar sends a message to Tara via the beeper, saying he regrets having to cancel their dinner.

Tara was always grateful for the help that Antar gave her in finding a new job after she had been let go because she did not have the right papers. He hadn’t really done anything; he had just lent her an old laptop and had run a cable from his apartment to hers so she could go online, where the best jobs were posted. Though the International Water Council would disapprove, Antar thought he’d be able to rig it without them knowing. He also offered to help her with a few lessons on how to use a laptop, but Tara declined, telling Antar she would have Lucky, the young man from the Penn Station newsstand, help her. Lucky’s help apparently paid off, as Tara got a new job within days.