- Koly likes her new place and friend Tanu. Each morning, Maa Kamala wakes the women up and hurries them off to work.
- Koly shares a room with Tanu and three other widows. Maa Kamala takes half of their wages to help pay for food and the house, but they get to keep the rest.
- Tanu already works in the bazaar stringing marigolds onto garlands, so she teaches Koly what to do.
- At first Koly is slow and some of her flowers fall off the string, but before long, she gets quicker and makes beautiful garlands.
- Their boss is always freaking out about something, like when jasmine is delivered instead of marigolds one day.
- Koly suggests they tie the flowers together on one garland, which the client loves and makes the boss happy. Good thinking, girlie.
- At lunch the girls buy some food in the bazaar and chat while looking at all the stalls.
- They see a stall with beaded bracelets and wish they could afford one for themselves. The guy in the booth says he knows their boss and hears they do great work, then he makes them a deal: They can string some beads into bracelets, and if they work hard enough, he'll let them each keep one of the bracelets.
- Koly and Tanu are thrilled. They work super hard each night after work making the bracelets and show off their own by the end of the week.
- Most nights after dinner, Raji comes by the house and hangs out. He's saving up to be able to move out of the city and back to his village, where his family owns a farm.
- His parents are dead, and he doesn't have enough saved yet, but he will soon. Pretty quickly, he and Koly become good friends.
- One day, Raji comes by as Koly is reading a poem from her book about a homeless bird. Everyone stops to listen to the poetic language; even Raji loves it.
- When Koly asks Raji if he wants to read one next, though, he gets embarrassed. He can't read.
- No problem, Koly says. She'll teach him in no time. Each night after dinner, she goes through the letters and words with him to help him master it.
- Sometimes he brings her a sweet treat from the bazaar, which she enjoys, and before long she finds herself thinking about him all the time. Hmm… Sounds like puppy love to us.
- One day Raji asks her if she wants to go on a walk to a stream about thirty minutes outside the city, away from the hustle and bustle.
- She's excited to go because it reminds her of her village. She's much happier now, but sometimes the city makes her a little stir crazy.
- Raji tells her that he will be looking for a wife soon. Koly doesn't know what to say because she doesn't want to be too forward, but she will miss him if he gets married and moves back to his farm.
- After that, Koly doesn't see Raji every day anymore. She thinks she hurt his feelings, but she's not sure why.
- Maa Kamala announces that the lady who owns the widow house will be visiting soon, so the ladies clean everything up.
- When Mrs. Devi arrives, she's dressed very plainly. She asks Tanu and Koly to give her a tour of their room and loves the quilt that Koly embroidered.
- In fact, her seamstress friend has been looking to hire an embroiderer, and Koly is a real artist. She promises to take Koly to meet her friend tomorrow.