Banji returned home in the late afternoon to find Kambirinachi on her hands and knees on the kitchen floor. She was cushioned by a mound of towels and blankets, a plastic jug of cold water stood by her face, and by her side a few feet away, sat a large bowl of steaming water. Banji looked at his wife, stunned. It took a moment for the scene to arrange itself with meaning so that he could make sense of what he was seeing. The splotches of bloody fluid on the kitchen floor brought it all into clear focus.
