“I’ll pay the Kazakhs to look after them,” was the answer that came back. Father grabbed the dog’s bowl at his feet and hurled it away. The aspen-wood bowl flew across the dshele, across the pile of ashes, and broke in two as it landed. Brother Galkaan brought it back, and we saw that it had cracked through the middle. Father didn’t have time to glue it back together. He leapt into the saddle on the black horse and trotted away with a suddenness that shocked us. Had we done the same, we surely would have been rebuked.

Father truly did not have much time to spare in those days, as we had to prepare for winter. He had only just mucked out the hürde, taken the dung to the winter camp, and carefully stacked the cowpats as fuel for the winter. Now he made hay on Sara Ortuluk, an island at the meeting of the two big rivers. In the morning he rode off before sunrise, and in the evening he came home after sunset. One day he took Brother and Sister along to help him gather up the hay. My job was to stay home and look after the lambs and calves. I did as I’d been told and ended up without a moment’s peace all day.

Grandma and Mother had their hands full as well. They had been sewing school clothes for Brother and Sister, a quilted coat and a long winter robe for each. Each also got a bag—yes, yes indeed, a shoulder bag like the darga’s, although theirs were made from cloth and had a red five-pointed star at the center of the top facing out. Sister Torlaa’s things were all green, while Brother Galkaan’s were blue. That is what the school uniform of the day was like. Finally, they both got their boots resoled, and even their felt insoles replaced.

The hay gatherers did not return until darkness had fallen. Brother and Sister were euphoric and talked of many beautiful things. I had nothing new to report. My day without them had been long. The next day Father, too, stayed home and beat a couple of sheep skins. He beat them until the compressed wool flew apart and sprung up again like the wool of an animal just slaughtered. Then he rolled up the skins and packed them into the travel bag, to which the two felt tons, the two school bags, and the spare underwear were later added.