The Pull of the Stars

by Emma Donoghue

If a lesson’s not learnt, I said, blame the student. But if it’s not taught right — or not taught at all — blame the teacher.

I didn’t have it in me; I was dead on my feet. That flip phrase made me wince. My aching awareness of every muscle was so entirely unlike the blankness of death.

This is where every nation draws its first breath. Women have been paying the blood tax since time began.

I’d never believed the future was inscribed for each of us the day we were born. If anything was written in the stars, it was we who joined those dots, and our lives were the writing.