digging

The day after her 9th birthday, her father told her she was going to have a brother or sister soon. She was a big girl now; she had to help Amma he said. She shouldn’t ask to be fed and carried. She would have to share things with the new baby. She nodded in agreement, kissed them goodnight and went to her bedroom. On the bed lay the largesse of her friends and family. That night as her parents and unborn sibling slept in their bedroom she tiptoed downstairs dragging a bin bag bulging with Barbies and red shiny balls in one hand and a plastic spade in the other. She silently opened the door to the garden and got to work.