My Grandmother's StoryDespite the fact that the surface of the water was slithering with leeches, the bank was filled with small animal tracks and the sun had begun to slide under the crooked line of the horizon, she stepped into the river and walked in until the brown liquid seared her lips. With the palm of her hands, she scrubbed her body, scratched the delicate surface until she felt the sting of the water entering her cuts, and only then did she stop. She opened her mouth slightly, letting rivulets of the murky brownness enter her mouth. It twirled round and round over her tongue, the sides of her cheeks. She swallowed, but the taste of them would not leave her flesh. Looking up, she saw that stars had come out, splattered over the long sky, and she knew that she had to go back soon. She had been gone too long and she would be punished. The squat gray building stood out in the dark, the rows of windows that glowed with yellow lights and she saw the Sisters reading their Bibles, their black heads bowed, their small mouths moving. Joanna knew that they'd seen. The water clutched at her, wanting to pull her down, but she moved her legs, forced them one at a time to follow each other back onto the bank. She could see her beige panties poking out between the clumps of grass where their bodies had wrestled while a slow ladybug traced a skinny line over the sand. Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children will burn! She walked to the edge of grass, dug a hole in the damp sand and buried her underwear. The grass was crumpled with body shapes, the sand indented with bum marks, elbow holes and heel imprints. She knelt down on these prints and let the water drip over them, knowing that the nuns were watching from the window while they pretended to read. She peed on the sand, the hotness dribbling down her leg, the burn between her legs a red agony, which made her crumble. The sand cradled her body, spooned her. She liked the feel of the sand on her cheek, a graining coldness that soothed her, made her tired. She pressed her body into the earth, inhaled and exhaled slowly and watched the sand pop up and down under her breaths. Joanna picked up her brown dress, wrapped it around her like a shawl and walked up the embankment, back to the school.