Chapter 46

"Oh, let me see, let me see!"

"Just a minute, let me clean him up a bit first."

Angela was craning forward, trying to see past Marcia-Belén to the struggling, screaming bundle in Rosalba's arms.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God!"

"What? What? What's wrong?"

"There's nothing the matter with him. He's just pissed all over me, that's all."

"Sorry, Rosalba," Angela said, and then became lost in wonderment, gazing at the baby, as Rosalba finished wiping him and put him in her arms.

"You've no need to apologize. You didn't do it. And anyway, I've been pissed on by more babies than you've had hot dinners." She finished drying her hands and turned to Marcia-Belén. "Now for the last bit."

They spread the afterbirth on the stone floor and inspected it closely.

"What are you doing?" asked Angela, momentarily distracted from the baby. It looked like they were engaged in some mystic divination rite.

Rosalba looked up, her face flushed, and pushed back her hair with the back of her hand.