Chapter Nineteen
WHEN MORNING CAME, Tamsen was already heavy with child. She felt it more than knowing it. She felt it rooted inside the torn debris of her womb, taking shape within her, creeping and growing like a cancer.
The crab has got you now, white woman.
Tamsen looked up, startled to hear the voice of old Delta after so much silence. She looked toward the fireplace where the bucket once stood but she had burnt the bucket, hadn’t she?
I ain’t in no bucket, white woman.
Fear caught in Tamsen’s throat. It was just her imagination, she told herself. She had burnt the bucket and kept no water in the house. The witch was banished.
Ain’t in no house either.
Tamsen looked at the door.
Now you’re getting warmer, white woman. Come to the door. Look outside.
Tamsen cracked the door op
