Boys from the l ycée begin trying to get money from Salim. Salim has lunch with them once a week at their flat. Salim befriends Mahesh and Shoba, a couple who own another shop in town and are also from elsewhere. Metty and Ferdinand become friends and are often out together drinking and picking up local women. Metty works for Salim in the shop, keeps house for him (badly), and keeps him company in the evenings. He charms the locals, who give him the name Metty, from the French word métis, meaning mixed-race. Ali arrives full of emotional tales of the uprising. One of their servants, a young man called Ali, has asked to be sent to live with Salim. In the meantime, Salim receives word that there has been a violent uprising on the coast and his family has dispersed. Zabeth has a son, Ferdinand, who will be at the lycée in the town, and she asks Salim to keep an eye on him. Salim begins his new life, makes friends with other expatriates, and meets Zabeth, a local woman who buys items from his shop to resell in her village. When Salim arrives, however, he discovers a town that has virtually returned to the bush. He has purchased a shop from an old family friend who has filled his head with images of a quasi-European sophisticated town life. Salim travels through the African bush, hundreds of miles to his new home.
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