There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby
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Just in time.
Her mother, blinking from the light, peeked into the room. “Dear God, what a terrible dream I’ve just had: a pile of earth in the corner, and from it some roots were growing . . . and your hand,” she said tearfully. “And it was stretching toward me, as if asking for help . . . Why are you sleeping with your scarf on? Is your throat sore? Let me cover you up, my little one. I was crying in my dream . . .”
“Mom,” the girl replied in her usual voice, “you and your dreams. Can’t you leave me alone? It’s three in the morning, for your information!”
On the other side of the city a woman vomited up a handful of pills and washed her mouth thoroughly.
Then she went to the nursery where her fairly large children, ten and twelve years old, were sleeping, and rearranged their blankets.
Then she got down on her knees and prayed to be forgiven.