Mary came in. “They’re asking us to dress warm and come to the orchard and pick fruit this morning. Then this afternoon we women will be knitting and you and Rich can help mending a fence for the cows”.
“I’m not dressing up in black and I’ll pick fruit in the nude if I want. Mary, can’t you see these people are demented. They want to regiment us like they do themselves. I want my gun back and I’m not doing anything until I get it. Why are you so eager to please these idiots?”
“Why, they’re our hosts and we just got here. What put you in such a bad mood? You sound like a grumpy, little boy”.
“I’m not grumpy. I’m extremely disappointed. We find a few living humans and they’re this, the worst possible exemplars of the human race. Go to your knitting circle. You can sing hymns and look like an old maid in your black clothes and white bonnet, sitting on a rocking chair like a Quaker, just waiting to die and too stupid not to off themselves and get it over with and get to their invisible heaven. I want my rifle back. I think I’ll go hunting today and if I shoot the farmer by mistake, too bad”.
“Jack, you seem extremely upset, your talking nonsense. But I do see your drift. I was just trying to be compliant with these people. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we should leave. They do seem to have a lot of rules. They told me we shouldn’t bathe like we did this morning. They wash separately in the washroom.
“You won’t be the only one who wants to leave. I talked to the girl, Sandy. She wants to get away also. She came to me here. She says they hit her. She showed me a bruise under her sleeve”.
“What do you mean, spank her, for what?”
“For the slightest infraction of their totalitarian rules, for a dress not properly buttoned up, or not sitting up straight at table”.
“But we saw her playing ball with the boy when we drove in. They seemed happy”, Mary said, with a deepening look of concern.
“Yes, precisely. They play with a ball from three to three thirty, everyday, and they only play ball, like it or not, the children’s hour. And if they play till three thirty one, that’s a sin and they’re punished. I’m not staying. Go get Tina and Rich. They have to hear this”.
Mary fetched them and I repeated my story. They were shocked. Then I went to the lodge and found Sandy alone in the kitchen washing dishes. I pulled her away from this task and brought her to the trailer where the others were in deep conversation. She showed them the bruises on both upper arms and told them she had others on her backside. She said they hit her with a belt, almost daily. This sealed our decision to leave. There’s no arguing with a bruise, no negotiating. She was leaving with us. Tina gave her a tight hug.
One thing we did ask her, what about the boy?
“No, his mother’s here, Claire. And they don’t beat him, hardly ever. He’s not bad like I am. He always does what he’s told”.
“Your not bad” Rich said, patting her on the head. “But I think I’m going to be bad in a few minutes”.
Just as he said this the so called doctor knocked on our trailer wondering what was up. The farmer was already in the field and the women were off milking the cows and feeding the chickens. The one smart thing that Rich had done the night before when we handed over our firearms was to stash his Bowie knife in his sock. Now he drew it out and held it to the doctors throat.
“We want our guns back right away”.
“We can’t do that. We threw them in the river last night when you were sleeping. Weapons are evil”.
With this Rich pushed him down hard on the floor, kneeling on his chest and holding the knife closer to his neck. He was furious.
“You’re the one who’s evil and I think I’m going to throw you in the river. And who’s the one that beats this little girl, or do you all take turns?”
The man sputtered back, “The women sometimes have to discipline her for disobedience. She’s unruly”.
“Well we’re relieving you of that duty right now”.
Rich wanted to kill the man right then but we restrained him. We tied him to a chair with the sheets and left him there, while the women quickly gathered up our belongings and got in the back seat of the car with Sandy between them.
Rich had run to the lodge while we were packing. He came running back and off we set, back to the highway and heading south again, driving fast. He had a grin on his face but said nothing. As I looked into the rear view mirror I could see smoke billowing from the roof of the building.
