Ingredients:
• Wild garlic leaves from your neighbour’s garden, finely chopped
• Your husband’s seed
• A knob of butter
• A dash of cream
• A contract, signed in triplicate
• A broken heart
Method:
1. Gather the wild garlic leaves. If you are too afraid to go yourself, send your husband. Persuade him to climb the wall, pick his way through thorny vines; once, twice, thrice. Pretend you will die unless you can taste them, unless he brings them to you.
2. Rinse the garlic leaves in cold water to remove any clinging particles of soil. Tell yourself it is not really theft. Tell yourself the old woman has more than she needs.
3. Toss them in a little butter and cream. Pause as your child squirms in your belly. Breathe deeply and let the smell of the dish soothe your craving.
4. Keep the pan on the heat only for a moment, and let the leaves wilt. Shut yourself away when your neighbour comes knocking, hurling her accusations in your husband’s face. Later, after she is gone, hurl your own bitter words when you learn what he has agreed to give up.
5. Serve the wilted leaves immediately, knowing you have little time. Watch the clock hands move, spinning faster than you would have believed possible, day after day after day, until there is no escaping it.
6. After she is born, hold her close for as long as you can; smell her head, already crowned in golden hair. Whisper to her the name that you would have given her, had your husband not betrayed you both. It will not be long before she is taken from you, to the tower girded by wild garlic and thorns.
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