" After the lake everywhere Beth looked there was light. Dad, face bent over her, wore a halo. A tree was on fire with white cockatoos. The dam wall shone like a bride's skirt. The star-covered lake moved inside her. In the car our faces glowed. The sky pressed its bright face to the window.

At home our mother noticed the stain on her shorts, and in the toilet even the blood on her underpants shone.

'Do not be afraid,' whispered Nanna at the toilet door.

She said the prayer for young girls who are menstruating.

'I'm not afraid,' said Beth. "

― Karen Foxlee , The Anatomy of Wings