Third Girl Born Knotted; Doctors Halt Research

A third infant has been born knotted to a family in the South. This rare genetic abnormality has flummoxed the medical community.

The first woman, Eleanor X, was born a knot in 1947. She gave birth to two sons (unknotted), and a daughter who carried the knot. Her births were not compromised by the knot. In fact, in all three women, the womb is located at the base of the deformity, providing a clear path for birthing.

Her daughter, Deborah X, also delivered one daughter and one son. The daughter, Cassandra X, was born a knot. The son, again, was born unknotted.

This very rare gene resides on the X chromosome. Doctors have determined the knots are largely a cosmetic issue, potentially rendering the women outsiders in society. The impact is largely emotional, rather than physical. Doctors have decided to halt their inquiry into its cause after years of inconclusive research.

I don’t hear the footsteps of my mother.

“You should be cleaning. What are you doing?”

“Just looking at your old magazines.”

But she catches a glimpse. Today, she is vicious. Her brown eyes flash then froth, rabid. She slaps the journal to the ground. Then her palm stings across my cheek in a quick flash of red.

“Some things are private!”

Her body disappears into the blackness of the doorway. The attic goes silent.

Face red, I look at the ground where a single photo has fallen from between the pages of the journal.

It is a picture of us together.

I am swathed in more fabric than usual. My brother clenches an arm around me. My mother wears a flowered dress, her own knot hidden. My father stands off to the side as if he has been sold a bad car. We are all squinting beneath a bright sun that is just out of frame.

WEEKDAYS, I GO TO SCHOOL. I WALK THE mile. The school is green with a pitched roof.

Most days, no one minds me. I stay quiet to keep it that way.

I keep track of the facts, though.

In my classes, I learn about the human body and history and the human brain, deep seas, jungles, islands, and the distant cities beyond our town and the distant planets beyond our world.

◆An octopus has three hearts, nine brains, and blue blood

◆Female lions do 90% of the hunting for their pride

◆The heart of the blue whale is so large that a human could swim through its arteries

◆One square centimeter of skin contains roughly 100 pain sensors

◆The sun will only get brighter before it collapses

WHILE I’M IN SCHOOL, MY FATHER AND my brother work the meat from the quarry with their hands and their shovels. That’s what my brother says.