Monstrosity

Old lady Olifonsa told me she found babies along the river banks and brought them to my mother. 

 

Aunt Mariana told me something different. 

“You put a piece of meat in a pan and cover it with another and then leave it for a day.  The next day, you uncover the pan and find a baby.” 

 

My brother was born two months premature.    It was not until I was much older that Mother told me he lived 10 months before dying.

They didn’t let the meat sit in the pan long enough.

 

Father made Mother pregnant with that early brother. 

I do not know how.  I never looked into their bedroom while I lived with them. 

They were both awake when we went to sleep and were moving about when we got up in the morning.

 

When Mother was pregnant with this tiny brother, she never looked sick. 

Only sad. 

There was no reason for her to be sad.

 

Mother sat, with bulging belly, on the dusty gravel ground,

her back resting against the fence. 

Father sat across from her, his jaw clamped tight.

He did not look angry.

No argument to speak of. 

 

Father rose from where he sat, never dusting the earthly bits clinging to his pants,

clinging to his boots.

He stopped and stood in front of Mother. 

 

He lifted his foot and placed it on her swollen belly, pushing down with all of his weight. 

 

Mother said,

“My, you are brainless.” 

Father did not respond.