Beverly A. Burchett
orifice. She held onto the edge of the wooden cradle again and tried her hardest not to stare too closely into its small beady eyes, now staring back up at her. To her, it looked wretched. Asha quickly backed away feeling slightly nauseated; she tried desperately not to vomit. She made sure not to look at anyone in the room. She was afraid they’d ask her what she thought. Her thoughts were bleak. ‘Can we take it back and get another?’ she wondered, ‘Something more agreeable?’ She had seen cute ones before throughout the Degnal Kingdom villages, plenty of them running to and fro. She had even had opportunity to greet a few on occasion. They did not possess the ability of conversing with actual language, of course. They were too young, but she could stomach the way they looked and even showed them regard. She was obligated to do that much; they were her subjects, after all. However, now that she had seen this one, she realized how mistaken she was to think that all of them would come forth similarly, squishy, and plump. She couldn’t believe how naive she was regarding the business of birthing. 4