Ma says my love for life must come from my will to live. Ever since my birth I have fought death. Ma had her first litter, with Amadi and Naira, and when she had her second, she prepared to abandon it. All female Pikas abandon their second litter if their first survives, so do not be horrified at my mother’s actions. But, as it was, I was the only one born alive, unlikely as it was. It was unlikely because I was the runt; the smallest, the puny one, the one least likely to survive. All the same I survived, and Ma thought that she could keep just one more, and so I live.
As a family we gather hay and let it dry for bedding and food in the winter. We rely on it. When it becomes too hot out we go below the surface to cool down. Father says we are temperature sensitive, but I’m not sure what that means. Perhaps I shall know when I am full grown.