After the heat and the bitterness, and after the sixth of the month, After our enemies had rejoiced at her pain and said, “There is a stone in her tummy!” The stone is in their heads! And this overwhelms them. Go! O bearer of the news! Kiss them and tell them, “She has borne a son!”

But the lullaby for a newborn girl is:

When they said “It’s a girl!” - that was a horrible moment. The honey pudding turned to ashes and the dates became scorpions. When they said, “It’s a girl!” the cornerstone of the house crumbled. And they brought me eggs in their shells and instead of butter, water.

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The child can't sit still. Orphaned and abandoned, he was rescued by people who had an orphanage. But when the government said Christians can't do social programs because they might convert someone, the orphanage was abrubtly taken away from them and put in government control.

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The weather's gone cold. Without wood to heat her rented room, the walls feel clammy. But the cough has weakened her and she can't face the four flights down to get wood. Besides, it costs to buy wood. It's easier to reach for the vodka

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As our car pulled around the circle, she stood there on the sidewalk, as always, holding small bunches of autumn crocuses, selling them for pittance. She always caught my eye, as she looked just like my grandmother.

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