It was always that she went out, and then landed where they kept her in. It wasn't just that she was expected to bear children and keep the blood moving. That too of course. But there are all those other children. The ones that tumble and screech beneath the young bride's feet, under her arms, around her shoulders as she sits, a welcoming turbulence, an initiation. What kind of aunt will you be? She learned all their stories, memorizing because she hadn't the ease of lived memory. Who was born when, which of the men were most respected, which of the women most cherished, who liked mashed potatoes and who couldn't stand raisins. She studied, became the scholar and receptacle of their lives.