This secondment was meant to be a promotion of sorts, an acknowledgement of his ability to spot the unwanted shadows. My mother didn't think much of it however. She found it difficult to make friends amongst the wives of the customs officials, who she thought were a rough lot. She disapproved of their drinking alongside their husbands of a Friday night and kept herself aloof from their raucous joking and coarse language. In the four years we'd lived there, she had never been invited for morning coffee and in turn, she had never invited anyone herself. She said we five kids kept her more than busy enough, thank you.