Madeleine did not give us any other details. She went on to announce, however, that within a year or two certain things would happen inside my body; I should have my ‘whites’ and then I would bleed every month and I should have to wear some kind of bandage between my thighs. I asked if these emissions would be called my ‘reds’, and my sister was worried about how she would manage with all those bandages: how would she make water? These questions exasperated Madeleine; she said we were a couple of ninnies, lifted her shoulders in an expressive despair, and went off to feed her chickens.
