"Try not to associate bodily defect with mental, my good friend, except for a solid reason." With the wan lightbulb that flickered overhead, Kaĉjo had to squint to make sure he had read the words correctly. "What is this?" he demanded. Lya turned to see what he held, and she recognized the grey canvas cover with faded blue lines of her favorite book. "It's David Copperfield by Charles Dickens." With a scoff, Kaĉjo shook his head. "I know what it says it is, but it's not," he

Mendilya Kirksey was born under unusual circumstances - at least for her time. Her mother isolated herself, nursed herself through a pregnancy, went to a midwife, and delivered the child in a quiet, secluded room. So, unusual. Fiara Kirksey did not report her pregnancy to the local authorities, as required by law. She didn't let them extricate the fertilized egg and transfer it to an artificial womb. The child didn't spring into existence in a lab, a result of egg harvesting