My breasts are still small. I put sports tape on the nipples so they don’t stick out through my T-shirt. If you use the tape too often, though, you get a rash.

After her friend’s gone, Krista asks me to chop up salad ingredients with her. She always wants us to prepare food together, but she has these strict rules.

I hope she won’t undo her shirt buttons for me. To be on the safe side, I decide to tell her a story.

‘Once upon a time, a sheep gave birth at the manor house,’ I begin. I don’t let on immediately what kind of story’s going to follow.

‘Really?’ Krista asks, snipping a cucumber into slices with a knife. Her slices are thick, and she cuts them by holding the cucumber diagonally. She thinks that gives the best result.

‘One evening, a leg and half a head were hanging out of one of the sheep’s bums.’

Krista laughs.

‘Auntie Annu tried to help and gave it a bit of a pull. But the lamb had got stuck. Its leg was folded and its elbow was bent and it didn’t have enough room to get out.’

‘Did you call a vet?’

‘No, Annu fetched Dad. Then they tried to pull together. Annu held the lamb like this, Dad was pulling the lamb out, and every time he tugged, the sheep cried like this: Baa! Baa!’

‘And Dad let you watch?’

‘It was a bit like a toy with a string you pull. Baa! Baa!’

‘That’s bad.’

Krista tips the thick, slanting slices into a bowl. Then she takes an avocado, cuts it in half and opens it up. She smacks the seed hard with a knife and turns the avocado over.

‘The tugging took so long that it got quite dark. I held the torch and lit the sheep’s bum up. In the end, Annu phoned some man, who explained how the lamb had to be pushed back and turned round into a better position. Guess what, Annu’s hand went into the sheep this deep!’

I stretch out my arm and point to my elbow.

‘Then Auntie Annu began shouting like this: “Ouuuuch!” Dad and I got frightened ’cause we didn’t know what was going on.’

Krista stares at me and my arm.

‘Are you having me on?’ she asks, looking unsure.

‘No. The sheep’s bum closed up and Annu’s arm got stuck inside.’

‘Like a contraction?’

‘Yes. They say it hurts a lot. Then, when it was over, Auntie got her arm out. And then the lamb’s leg went into the right position and it was born. It was really slimy.’

‘Wow,’ Krista says, going to wash her hands. ‘Pekka’s never said anything about that.’

‘If your baby gets stuck, maybe they’ll do the same to you.’

‘Hardly.’