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1 " Alive. That was the first thing.A daughter. That was the second.They knew this without being told, without searching the newborn's features for some telltale sign. If the child had been a boy, the Mothers would have emerged empty-handed. They would have filed quietly from the house, leaving the family to their disappointment. A boy was simply another mouth to feed, another body to keep warm during the winter. A boy might wield an axe or trap a bird. He might mend a roof or skin a rabbit. Such things were useful; there was no denying it. But a daughter? A daughter could do those too, and much more besides. "
― Meg McKinlay , A Single Stone
2 " The smallest seed of doubt could grow so easily, split a girl open. "
3 " They watched as the bird disappeared, until the only sign it had been there at all was the quivering of branches, a handful of leaves falling quietly to the forest floor around them. There was no need for either to say what they were thinking. They had done a wrong thing, a right thing. They would tell no one ever. "
4 " Her heart pounded, a caged thing beating wildly in her chest. "
5 " The lightest finger-touch, a whisper all its own. "
6 " There were always signs, if you cared to read them. "
7 " It felt like she was unraveling. Things she had thought long forgotten were all of a sudden right there, bright fibers of memory unspooling. And she had seen how this worked, how it began with one frayed corner, a single loose thread. It seemed harmless at first because it was just this small strand, so you tugged it a little, and before long you were pulling and pulling, unstitching the very fabric of things. "
8 " These things could not be undone, but the passage of time had softened the transgressions of the past. "
9 " This was the beginning of panic. She had seen it before - had watched it grow from a moment’s weakness and then spiral on and on, feeding on itself until it was beyond any control. "
10 " It was possible, after all, to be too close to a thing. By standing in the center of it, to make it invisible. "
