Seven

Momma roughly shook me awake. 

“I need help with these children,” she said.  “They’re more than we can handle, and you’re too weak for the fields.”  She bustled back to the kitchen.

The smell of roasting meat wafted to me, and my stomach rumbled loudly.  I sneaked in the kitchen to see what she was doing.

                “The meat is for the master and mistress’s noon meal,” said Momma, slapping my hand away.      She gave me more mush and another biscuit.  “You need to eat though.”

I saw the granny rocking in the corner was holding a swaddled infant.  She was surrounded by at least a dozen other children, all different ages.  A girl younger than me held another infant in her arms, but the baby was throwing its head back, kicking and screaming.  Two boys wrestled on the floor, and a third lay on the floor watching them.  Two children sat up against the wall drawing with a stick on the dirt floor.  I looked around and saw four young girls whispering in the corner, each one with a stick doll wrapped in cloth.

I sat down on the floor with the 3 year olds and smiled at their dolls, but they turned their backs to me.  I only wanted a doll of my own, but the granny from the chair in the corner pressed the screaming infant into my arms.  The swaddled one she had held first was asleep on the floor.  Momma brought some more mush and a spoon.  She slapped my face when I started to take a bite. 

“Feed the baby,” she said.  “You’re going to have to learn to keep these children quiet.” 

After I fed the baby, I took a sock from the mending pile, filled it with dirt from the yard, and sewed the end together.  We all laughed as we watched the children hit the odd-shaped ball back and forth with sticks like Akin and his friends.