Chapter 11

I changed Sasha’s diaper again, and this time I managed to get her to drink the entire bottle. She fell asleep. I was so tired, my poor thing. She had cried and kicked until she couldn’t take it anymore, so much so that she didn’t care that I was the one carrying her.

We left the hotel after noon. Before taking the bus, I stopped by the pharmacy.

Around three in the afternoon, I started to have a fever, and the pain in my ribs intensified. There was nothing else to do except swallow paracetamol beyond the limits of what was dangerous for a human being, and endure. I felt the bandage wet, sticky; I tasted the intense, ferrous smell of blood. I planned to sleep when we got to Prince Rupert, or at least try to. If everything seemed safe, I would take a nap. We had to stop at an inn in Whittier and spend the rest of the day locked up there; I didn’t want to wander around the city with the kids until it was time to go to the port. I wanted as few people as possible to see us.