The Mute

My mom was a total nutcase. Ever since I can remember, she forced me to pretend I was mute.

She called me "son," bound my chest up tight with strips of cloth, made me pee standing, and kept me chained up at home like some kinda dog.

When I was eleven, the town mayor and four of his buddies came to my place to sleep with my mom.

The bed was rocking like crazy, and the mayor said, "Too bad this mute ain't a girl, or we could all have some fun and she could pop out babies for all of us."

That's when I felt this hot rush between my legs.

That’s how I got my period for the first time.

1

The woods were crawling with mosquitoes. I was covered in bites after gathering berries.

The village was all stirred up today. Betty and Sue were both having babies. By the time I got back they’d already popped out, two little wrinkly pink things.

The midwife held up Betty’s baby first. "It's a boy!"

Everybody cheered.

Then she held up Sue’s. "It's a girl!"

Old Man Peterson's face fell. He picked up the baby by her foot and looked her over. "Ugly little thing."

"Hah!" the mayor laughed. "She's from a $500 mail-order bride, what did you expect? I say we just drown her, save on feed."

Even the schoolteacher chimed in. "The only daughters worth anything in this town are the ones the crazy lady pops out. Too bad she messed up the last one, can’t breed anymore. Look at that mute’s eyes, though. They haven’t even opened up yet and she’s already got that same wild look her mama had."

He looked over at me, beckoning with his hand, "Hey, Mute, come here. Got somethin’ for ya!"

There were a bunch of white bread rolls on a picnic table by the town entrance. My mouth watered. I couldn't resist, so I walked over with my basket on my back.

The teacher shoved the crying baby at me. "Here, drown her and I'll give you half a roll."

2

It wasn’t the first time they’d drowned a baby girl in this town.

As the mayor would say, girls didn’t work much, ate too much, and by the time they were grown, all the feed you’d put in them cost more than a new bride bought from off-site.

Like my mom, who used to be a college student, and went for less than two grand. If you raised a girl yourself, from birth until she started having kids, just the food would run three or four thousand bucks.

And then those homegrown girls, they’d have to work from birth, out in the sun and elements, skin all rough and ugly, bad vibes, made them look old too fast. Never as good looking as the young, pretty ones you could buy from somewhere else.

That’s why there weren’t many girls in the village.

But there were exceptions. Like Betty, who got snatched with her five-year-old daughter. They said the girl was super cute, doll-like, and Betty’s husband spoiled her rotten. Wouldn’t let her lift a finger.

Then when she was a teenager, the men in town would come over and "play" with her.

Sometimes it was one guy, sometimes a bunch of them. Sometimes just her, sometimes they’d call Betty in too.

They a...