4. The Question (cont.)

“Mommy?” I asked again, insistent. I knew about babies. Mommy had told me all about babies, how they grew inside their mommy’s tummy, how I had grown there, too. But now I suddenly realized that I didn’t have any idea how they got there, what made them start growing. And I needed to know...now.

“Mommy!”

And so, at last, she answered. She answered rapidly and low, without turning away from the stove, her voice flat. “They-take-something-out-of-the-father-and-put-it-into-the-mother."

They take something out of the father and put it into the mother? I considered that piece of information, turning it over and over in my mind.

“Is it an operation?” I asked.

“No,” Mommy said.

“Well, how do they do it then?”