She sat down. Mondo crawled into her lap, Alejandro pulled him away.
You leave my house, he shouted, and swigged from the bottle.
Absurdly she thought of the new chicks, of the pig that was spoken for. Suddenly she felt so sorry for herself she began to weep.
Stop crying. I give you something to cry about.
She had her eyes closed, so she didn’t see the blow coming.
She must have passed out. The black came before her face; then, when she became conscious, the pain gave her something real to cry about, as he had promised, wiped away thoughts of chicks, of pigs … She held her jaw and tried to run to the bedroom. He blocked her way.
She ran outside and sat on the stoop. She heard him bar the door. She must run again to his mother, was her first thought. But another cramp put that out of
