The pains  came when she was lighting the fire.

She had collected the charcoal from the tin jar ; the last few flaky stubs; gathered the coconut husks with painful stumbling steps , and had struck a match with swollen, grime streaked fingers. A few sparks had danced among the kindle before settling into ash.
She had reached for the match box again when she had felt it.  The pains were  bad . As if a demon inside her abdomen had clutched her skin with knife-sharp claws.

She gasped , and moaned , clutching her abdomen before crawling backwards, away from the fire. The faded , ragged skirt she wore was already stained rusty crimson.

She closed her eyes, dry lips mechanically mumbling prayers. Oh, Almighty one, deliver me from this pain, save me, save my child….

A loud clatter forced her eyes open. One of their brass vessels had fallen. The slap of bare feet on stone tile. And a hoarse voice muttering, as always, a curse.

Her mother-in-law hobbled in . Figure bent and wrinkled ; as if someone had dunked her in water, and then wrung her out to dry; only she hadn’t quite dried . What had once been a long tress of hair dark as shadows was now a bundle of grey-white knots. Her teeth were furiously moving up-down as she crushed betel nuts between them. Their once pearly exteriors were stained a dull brown; the same color as the spit that flecked the crumbling walls of the hut.
As always, a curse on her betel-stained lips.

"What is it now, oh waste-of-a-woman? "

She paused abruptly. Taking in the swollen stomach and seeping blood.
And then she surged forward almost hungrily.

"It is coming, yes!" Her haggard face was suddenly lit up by a fire in her pitiless , clot filled eyes. " Answer me, child!"
The ‘child’ could only nod, and gasp as another wave of pain shook her body. 

The old woman was pottering in the ramshackle cupboard  now,  tongue lashing as fast as her fingers moved.  "Oh, that it had to happen now….Most inconvenient…..At lunchtime too…"
She had found the herbs , and now proceeded to stuff them up her daughter-in-law’s nose. 
The struggling woman automatically arched on her back, howling.  The old one cursed at her to be quiet. 

After that, memories were a tangled haze of images, nothing more.  Water sprinkled on her forehead  in the hope of revival. The coarse, banshee-like oaths of her mother-in-law. And pain…Pain as if hot oil had been poured on her bare skin…

And then…oh…the cries of a newborn…her new born.

She struggled up, gathering her strength, holding her hands out expectantly…

But instead of the velvety feel of a newborn’s skin, what she felt was the scald of a slap across her face; so hard she buckled and almost collapsed.

Her mother-in-law’s face,  twisted into a hateful scowl, swam before her eyes…

She screeched, “A  girl!"

The baby was lying on the floor , crying plaintively. Part of her longed to take it in her arms and touch it; wipe the sweaty strands of black hair from her face…because this was her girl, her daughter.
But the other part cowered in fear when faced with the old hag's rage.

  Another slap. "You are the bane of my existence, oh…no  boy you have produced! Wretched fool!"

A tear rolled down her stinging cheek. She turned , nudging herself along  with her calloused hands;  biting back sighs of pain as she edged towards her daughter.

For one beautiful second, the newborn’s eyes met hers. Amber eyes; the color of honey and  autumn leaves and sunlight on water. It was small, and damp, with mottled skin  .  She felt, suddenly, her cramps vanish ; the sting of the slaps fade, and she did not feel so weak. Her hand reached out longingly, of its own accord.

The old woman had been watching scornfully. Now, she uttered another curse ; and with one smooth movement kicked the baby ; her beautiful, beautiful daughter; away.
It ‘s cry of pain shattered her heart.

"I should not have let it live this long. " The old woman seethed.

She wept, and vaguely registered the old woman grab the child with a rough hand. She knew why, and felt her heart almost stop.

"No..please, no! This one is healthy! Please, no , not my child.."

 The sound of a bolt being drawn back, the creak of a door, and then a loud boom! As it slammed against the wall.

" Please , have mercy…"

She strained her ears, trying to commit the memory the sound of her daughter’s voice, even as it faded away.
.............................. .............................. .............................. .............................. ........
The next day,  in the newspaper ,squeezed in between the margin and an advertisement for furniture,   was a brief notice.

The corpse of a newborn baby girl has been found floating in the creek. She  died of asphyxiation due to drowning and acute hypothermia. Suspected to have been abandoned. Her parents, or relatives , are urgently requested to come to the police mortuary for the cremation.

The day after that, an even briefer notice was displayed.

Corpse of newborn baby girl found near creek (see notice pg.4 in previous edition) has been cremated. No news about parents. Police have concluded  it was a case of female infanticide.