The neighbor looked at the bills resting on the table. He squinted at them under his flashlight and then started laughing so hard he nearly dropped his light.

"We must take drastic measures," Chooty Malli declared, standing tall. "From now on, we live like the ancestors. No lights. We sleep when the sun goes down. We wash only with the morning dew. We will save every cent!"

"We are saving the world from the Light Bill and the Water Bill," Podi Malli said solemnly from the shadows.

In the small garden of a modest house, Chooty Malli was peacefully sipping a cup of ginger tea. He was halfway through a deep thought about why mangoes fall down instead of up when Podi Malli burst through the front gate, waving two slips of paper like they were burning his fingers.

Chooty Malli froze. The ginger tea turned cold in his hand. "Both? At the same time?"