Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

Siobhan’s Baby is a short story written by Rory McJoy about the dangers of working at a farm for a little girl like Siobhan.

Bang! Siobhan woke up with a start. The house was dark, but a sliver of moonlight illuminated a portion of the house. She looked over to the door, which was swinging back and forth with the wind. The sound that woke her up must have been that. It was only three o’clock in the morning, which was too early for her mother to begin the household chores.

Confused and still groggy with sleep, she stood up awkwardly and slowly walked towards the door in order to close it. But then she saw a faint figure a short distance away, with a bundle in her arms. Her baby! It must be her baby wrapped in that bundle! She was quite sure that the woman who was carrying the bundle was the woman who helped deliver her baby a few hours ago. She was fourteen years old, and her hips were not yet fully developed to allow for smooth delivery. After a long and difficult birth, she slowly drifted off to sleep and didn’t know what happened next.

Where was the woman taking her baby? Why did her mother give her baby to the woman? These were the questions that came into Siobhan’s mind, as she furtively followed the woman to wherever she was going. Under the cover of night, and guided only by the light of the crescent moon, Siobhan followed in her tracks, and soon after, Siobhan could smell the sea. Ignoring the slight trickle of blood that ran down her thighs, Siobhan darted this way and that, hiding in the shadows lest the woman notice that someone was following her.

Siobhan worked on Kildonnan Farm, as did many of the members of her family. The older children in the family were also employed on farms, in order to bring more food to the table. When she was younger, Siobhan’s task was to gather shells, seaweed, and berries. She favoured the latter, as the boys on the island would often tease the girls who came to gather shells and seaweed.

It was kind of an unspoken rule that the boys would have unlimited access to the shore, and the girls could only gather shells and seaweed when the boys were not around. But then Siobhan’s friend, Mary, died because she accidentally ate some poisonous berries. Siobhan almost died too, but was lucky enough to have survived. Some years after her near-death experience, Siobhan’s mother said she had to go and work on the farm.

It was perhaps not a good idea of her mother to send Siobhan to work on the farm. Siobhan was like a radiant flower and a delight to behold, and susceptible to the compliments of the boys on the farm who worked as shepherds and ploughmen. She’s a forbidden fruit ripe for the picking. The boys and men on the farm desired to possess her. Many young girls of Siobhan’s age would disappear for months, and then mysteriously come back to work again. Siobhan didn’t know where they went during the period of their disappearance. All she noticed was that the girls had become “fat” before they stopped working.

A farmhand named Hector called Siobhan over to the barn, so that she could watch a cow give birth. Excited by such a prospect, she followed the boy to the farthest end of the barn. There on the ground lay a pregnant cow. Siobhan was quite puzzled, as the cow didn’t show signs of giving birth, and was just lying there, asleep. She turned to Hector who said, “A will show ye hou a cow like yu gets pregnant.” And with that, he grabbed Siobhan, and laid her on the straw ground of the barn. “It will be our own little secret. Ye canae tell anyone else.”

Siobhan didn’t understand what was happening when the boy pulled down her undergarments, and touched her where blood effused every month. She felt uncomfortable, but he had promised to give her biscuits the next time they met, if she allowed him to continue touching her. And with that promise, Siobhan readily agreed. 

The boy did more than just touch her. By then, Siobhan was unable to say no because of the promise of some tasty biscuits. Siobhan had been hungry all her life, because food was scarce on the island. She did not know whether what the boy was doing was right or wrong.

Later, the boy rewarded her with some biscuits, vegetables and eggs, as he also worked in the garden, and with the hens on the farm. Siobhan and her mother were only too happy to receive such sorely needed gifts. 

Siobhan welcomed further visits to the barn, and even started to enjoy the warmth and sensations of his vibrant boyish body.

But one day he became distant towards her when he noticed that her stomach was getting bigger. He became scared (Siobhan didn’t know why) and stopped working on the farm. He found work on a farm on a neighbouring island, the Isle of Muck.

Siobhan’s mother was alarmed when she noticed the changes in her daughter’s appearance. She soon realized that her daughter was pregnant. Her mother then formed a plan in her mind that most mothers on the island did for their young pregnant daughters. She talked to Roisin, who everyone on the island knew was able to ‘take care’ of unwanted babies. 

Siobhan was in her ninth month of pregnancy. On the day she was about to give birth, Roisin came to their house to help deliver the baby. Siobhan came out of her reverie when the woman, whom she realised was Roisin, reached the seashore.

Siobhan hid behind a clump of grass as she watched Roisin place the baby on the beach. Roisin started to dig a hole in the sand, she then placed the baby inside the hole. She covered the baby with sand, while Siobhan was watching her, appalled by the sight she had just witnessed.

Roisin stayed there for a long time, and then went away. After making sure she was already far away, Siobhan crept to the makeshift grave and started to dig frantically with her bare hands. After a while, she lifted her baby into her arms, now dead.

With tears flowing down her cheeks, she gently rocked her baby, all the while saying, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” This continued for a while until the sun started to break the dawn. Looking down on her child, she kissed it gently on the forehead. “Fly free, ma little angel. Let the shore no be yer grave. Let the sea embrace ye wi its lovin arms.”

And with that, Siobhan gently threw her baby into the sea. She watched it for a while until it slowly sank to the bottom. With the sun’s first rays touching the shore, the baby was seen no more.

Postscript:

Refer to the section in Part III, “Dead Babies on the Beach.”