Excerpt from my novella Band of Flesh--

From my novella Band of Flesh, about conjoined twins--first published in The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine in 1997.  Editor Avery Rome liked it so much she commissioned a full page illustration for it, and I was paid $700.

"My mother says from the time we were born, Yang was bigger and cried more lustily. 

As the Burmese saying goes, the baby who cries gets more milk. 

I, Ying, she said, was always fine and delicate. 
She always had to make sure I got enough.

When we were younger, the band was shorter.

It had not yet been strained to the limit by fat Yang’s constant pulling away. 

Even then, people said, it was a logistical impossibility for my mother to feed both of us simultaneously. 

She had, of course, two breasts. 

They say her breasts were always overflowing with milk. 

We each had a hungry mouth, but we both faced forward--"

Copyright Kyi May Kaung
4-20-2014
www.kmkaung.com