When the morning comes, her dress i

When the morning comes, her dress is wet from dew.Cecilia rubs her hands over her belly. Did something change?It seems like there is something small and heavy laying in her body, something as secret as the Mother Stone. But is it something beautiful, like a baby?Cecilia gets up. She has to return to the village before the crowing of the roosters. She looks for her coat and her cogs and runs away without looking back.On the outskirts of the village there’s light burning behind the shutters of one house. Old Jeanne comes outside with a lamp in her hands. She kneels between the herbs in her garden. With her bare hands, she digs out a plant that has a wig of green leaves. A root looking like a belly and two little legs dangles beneath the wig.‘Ah, good morning, Cecilia.’ She gets up while smiling. ‘Did you sleep well?’Cecilia remains silent. She looks at the plant in Jeanne’s hand. It’s just as if she pulled out a child from the ground.‘Now you know the secret of the women. You know where we get our children.’ Jeanne pinches her cheeks with a muddy hand.‘Now hurry back to Sebastian, before he wakes up.’Cecilia nods. She runs back home like the devil is chasing her, with a secret in her belly that Sebastian knows nothing about.She will never talk about this with anyone.