Raza climbed into the boat, but before he could sit down the man in the rower’s seat swung an oar and knocked him into the water. He had barely enough presence of mind to throw his knapsack into the boat as he fell.
He emerged spluttering and bone-cold. The man with the oar held up a bag. ‘Clothes in here. Take those ones off. And use this – ’ he threw a bar of soap at Raza.
Despite the man’s urgency to get going he allowed Raza a few moments to float, naked, in the cold cold water, looking up at the expanse of sky.
I will never be the same again, Raza thought. He watched his vomit-slimed clothes float away, holding on only to Harry’s jacket and changed that to, I want never to be the same again.
On the rowing boat there was water and food and a shalwar-kameez only slightly too big for him. It was as much as he could bear – any further luxury would have been repellent.
Near dawn the boat reached shore. There, another blue and gleaming pick-up truck was waiting. This time Raza didn’t attempt to speak to the driver and armed guard inside. He kept thinking of the boy whose head had rested on his chest.
Beautifully paved roads lined with palm trees led to a private air-strip. A plane was on the runway.
One of the guards from the pick-up accompanied Raza up the steps and grinned as he opened the plane door. ‘Welcome to the zoo,’ he said. The sounds issuing from the plane were extraordinary.
Raza stepped in, cautiously.
A blue heron unfurled its wings white peacock snap-closed its fan-tail macaws squawked baby ant-eater fell off its mother’s back and protested shrilly African wild dogs bared their teeth winged things flew about under a black sheet  meercats sat up on their hind legs and watched. And to one side, a baby gorilla slept.
The guard pointed to the cage with the gorilla in it. ‘You’ll be travelling inside the monkey,’ he said.
And that’s when Raza realized his mind had definitely broken apart.
* This extract is from ‘Burnt Shadows’, Ms. Shamsie’s fifth novel and is reprinted here with permission from the author.
Kamila Shamsie is the author of five novels, including “Burnt Shadows” which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and translated into more than 20 languages. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London.
