Kathy D's offering from the 1939 book reminded me of a passage from a book
I'm reading right now that I'd HAD to read aloud to my husband, and thought
you'd get a kick out of. The book is "Angel Walk" by Katherine Govier, a
wonderfully talented Canadian author. It's set during the second World War
and the main character, Cory, is a single mum trying to get work in an
explosives factory in Ontario. She's in a long line-up, with her baby,
waiting to put her name in for a job:

Tyke began to cry; her breasts began to ache in response. She could feel the
hot trickle leaking into her blouse, chilling in the layer of air betwen her
flesh and her clothing.

"It's the cold air hurting his lungs," she said. "Can I just bring him in
the office for a minute?"

He moved aside uneasily. Cory knew now tht men mostly panicked in front of a
crying baby. They'd do just about anything for someone to get him to stop...

"You don't mind if I just sit here?" Cory said, and pulled oneof the
typist's chairs around behind a cabinet. They were all girls or young
married women from Parry Sound in the office...

Cory undid her coat and lifted her sweater. She pushed Tyke under in the
general direction of her left nipple. He was a voracious nurser.

"Jesus, Ma'am, we're making explosives here," said the manager, averting his
eyes.

"He has a problem emptying his bowels," said Cory, with the candor of an
absorbed mother. She rounded her eyes and engaged the man with her little
problem aping the innocence of more enthusiastic mothers. Of course, he'd
want to know all about her baby. "Once he gets on the breast, though, he
loosens right up." The manager reddened.

Loud sucking sounds began to emerge from under Cory's blouse. She heard
Tyke's familiar grunts. His lips popped on and off her nipple as he pushed
and grimaced. She lifted the sweater. His face had gone the sudden livid
purple that presaged a bowel movement. Then it came. With a blubbering,
squirting honk, he shot it out into his diaper.

"Jesus Christ, who let her in here?" the manager stormed through the door,
away from all the tittering stenographers. Outside, cold and anxious faces
strained to see through the frost on the window.Cory switched Tyke to her
other breast...

The manager apeared in front of Cory, braced for anything. "Are you nearly
finished?"

"If you put me on the list I'll go home now," said Cory.


Breastfeeding as a negotiation tool!  I'm always thrilled to see
breastfeeding mentioned in novels, and seem to be reading more and more
references. I started collecting them and really should keep that up. I
belong to a book club where, of course, everyone knows how important
breastfeeding is to me. I know as they read a section where breastfeeding is
mentioned, they're thinking, "Oh, Leslie will be pleased."  <g> Small victories.

Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River, Alberta, Canada