The early days of Anne's life were also those of my becoming a worker, one who contributed to the community of Hirta in addition to gaining from the contributions of others. I was not yet strong enough to do much in the way of carrying, though it seemed at the time that I was required to carry the heaviest objects, such as a pail full of milk, for the longest distances that could be expected of me, but I was learning many skills, firstly those of the home and soon after those of snaring puffins and salting the birds caught by the men so that their meat might be preserved over the winter.
More interesting than any of these, however, was the sight of Mary caring for Anne. I experienced this almost every day, visiting the house that Lachlan had built until Mary tired of my presence and, with kindness but in a way that made argument impossible, bade me return to the home where I still lived with our parents and brother. My particular fascination was with how Mary fed the baby. It was not that I did not already know that mothers, having granted their newborns the gift of life, sustained that gift with the milk of their own bodies. This was no secret, any more than there would have been a reason for secrecy, and although I did not see it happening in other families I could remember my own mother doing it for Alexander, and of course the same thing was common among our sheep and cows.
Yet it was different now, and the reason may easily be guessed. I have mentioned that I had started to notice changes in myself. I grew hair where there never was hair. My chest swelled, and became tender. My hips widened, and when I sat there was more of me to sit on. These were all matters of embarrassment, almost of shame. I wanted to hide them, though they would not be hidden, and to be sure I did not want to talk of them to anyone, yet in the company of Mary as she fed Anne my curiosity about the future motherhood they implied overcame my other feelings.
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