The Birth House

Mrs. Ketch comes to visit Dora on the first of August, with her face bruised and nose broken by Brady. At first Dora is afraid she wants to take Wrennie, but she still invites her in for tea. Dora asks about Tom, and Experience tells her that Tom died in the war, “blown right up in the trenches” (282).

Experience says that she has come because she is pregnant. She does not want to see Dr. Thomas because Brady doesn’t know, and she has done everything she can to terminate the pregnancy. She then tells Dora that her mother “had three baby girls names Experience” and that she is Experience Hope, the only one who survived (283). She asks Dora to help her get rid of the baby.

Dora wants to refuse but recalls how Miss B. said: “I’m here to deliver women from their pain. Simple as that” (283). She agrees. Experience is almost three months along, which is almost the threshold beyond which the Willow Book says it is too late to terminate. However, Dora knows she is desperate and treats her with the slippery elm oil-coated candle, telling her to burn it for three days.

Experience doesn’t want “the witchery,” and Dora says she can also give her Angel Water, but that is more dangerous and would require her to stay the night (285).