I tried to remain calm. Having no idea what to do, I kept focusing, albeit I was confused because the Bariba tended to dress modestly. Oh, the hazards of being friends with a writer! I had no viable model for marriage, so I listened to your stories like a captivated anthropologist, noting skills I might carry with me should I ever enter that foreign country. Futilely, I tried to dig into it. In her stories, she is always the victim, and if her children did not submit to her version of a story, she punished us. I walked toward the fields with my camera and just as I reached the border between the bush and the village, two girls called out to me.
I loved being pregnant. When enough snow had been cleared that it was possible to get my car down the hill without sliding and crashing into a lamppost, I made the annual drive north to my hometown, Rochester, New York. I needed to take charge. I was determined, however, to be comfortable with a naked body because artists were comfortable with naked bodies—not that I would have called myself an artist. I said nothing so I could save his face, spare him from looking at his own demeaning words. I will guard those girls and honor them.
