Proserpina

I waited in the doctor’s clinic, feeling my anxiety grow. The doctor who had been with me through my pregnancy with Claude was not available; he was out of station said the nurse politely. Instead, I was directed to a woman who looked at me over the top of her spectacles severely. She had white hair in a short, neat style and thin, unsmiling lips.

When she began to examine me and asked me the regular questions, I could see she was taken aback to know I had had three children.

She looked at me again, sharply as though to be certain I was not joking.

Frowning, she looked...