Slaughter and Feast, (continued)
In the morning, Bayarma sits out on the front steps, playing with the clean, white anklebones of yesterday's sheep.
She rolls the bones like dice, playing a game that generations of Buryats have
played before her. After each roll, she looks for bones that have fallen on identical sides,
then thumps one into another with her forefinger. Beside her is a small cardboard box
holding dozens of these bones, the last remnants of the many sheep that have sustained
her and her family over time.
