Jade’s pale face looked even paler as I bound her tiny feet. I held her ankles tightly just as my mother had done to me and my sisters.
“Do not move,” I cautioned my daughter. She was my only daughter, and I loved her for that. All of my sons had grown out of the women’s chamber and had moved on with more serious studies. Jade however, was still mine.
I looked at her swollen, purple mess that were supposed to be feet. “You have not been walking on them enough,” I chastised.
My sister in law pouted her thin lips. “She was unwrapping them last night. She is a very unruly daughter.”
I slapped Jade’s legs. She knew the severity of the foot bounding process. If she wasn’t careful, she could get an infection.
I cleaned her feet and molded them into the perfect shape. Her resistance was strong, but my love for her was stronger. I would not let her feet turn into clumpy stubs like sister in laws.
Four days later Jade met my elder sister. Their stubborness led them to the same fate, six feet under.