hand has been shredded. Stuffing from both covers the floor like an obscene snowfall. All my hard work, gone in an instant, and I won’t have time to make a new quilt before winter.
Everything in my home has been opened and torn apart. Clothes lie everywhere, the small chest of drawers is smashed and broken. The old battery-powered clock on the wall is destroyed. Even the wooden pallet frame that raised the mattress off the floor is a splintered ruin.
Nothing of mine has been spared, not even my Bible. Pages lie scattered, and the cover hangs, sad and empty, off the edge of the shelf. I notice that even the cover has been ripped apart, and the note my father had written to me on the inside is destroyed. They’d never have dared to desecrate what they thought of as a real Bible, but mine carried all the ‘pagan superstition’ and ‘heathen apostasy’ of the Apocrypha. It was the only thing I had left from my father, and now it’s gone too.
My eyes slowly fill with tears as I try to make some sense of the destruction around me, and I take a deep breath. No. This is good. I have nothing left to lose here any longer. My heart hardens with a new resolve. Right. I don’t care how, but I will get away from this place. Away from these insane people. Willing away my tears, I brace and glare at the two people standing in the middle of my ransacked home.
“Why?” I ask, proud of the steadiness in my voice.
Jeremiah looks away, but my mother stares back at me, stepping closer. From this distance, the insane sparkle in her eyes is even more disturbing. What happened to you, Mom? Was this something that was always inside you? Or did Emmanuel do something to you to bring you over to the dark side?
“We know,” she says, so softly I hardly can hear her. “We know everything. Just tell the truth, repent now and I promise Father Emmanuel will make it all better.” The sweet pleading in her voice is meant to be reassuring, but overlaid with that fire glowing in her eyes, it’s only more disturbing.
“Mother,” I say, hiding my anger and fear under the calmest voice I can manage. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Don’t you lie to us, woman!” Jeremiah finally speaks, and I shake my head in despair.
The tiny room is silent for a few seconds while I wait for him to say more. He bides his time, but my mother runs out of patience first and gives me a hint, “Nathan saw it all !”
“He saw all… of…” Oh, Daniel, I begged you to be careful. What did you do in public?
“He saw you stealing from us!” Jeremiah yells.
I’m so lost in my private terror for my husband that his words don’t register immediately, and when they do I have to fight to keep the puzzled look on my face. Finally. They’re talking about money. The little shit saw me making change and pocketing dollar bills. I’m ready for this. Oh, I’m so ready for this. If I wasn’t talking with crazy-Mom? If it was good-Mom here with me, or at least not-as-crazy-Mom, I would have had a hard time fighting back a smile.
Of course, I’ve squirreled away money, and of course, I’ve stolen it from you. I’ve been keeping back a few dollars here and there, saving toward the next time I ran. I’m not stupid, though. I don’t keep it here in my home, and I don’t set it aside when anyone is around to see me doing it!
“He saw me do what, now?” I ask. I’ve already got a plan in place to deal with this one, so let’s just get it over with. I need to get my mother calmed down, and then I need to find something to sleep on.
“I saw you put money in your pocket,” Nathan is standing by the door behind me. He’s not alone. His mother is with him, holding a small bottle of water and some pills.
Rebecca pushes me aside, ascertains the condition of the room with a quick look around and walks past Jeremiah, shaking her head at him as if he was an unruly child. She reaches my mother and gives her the water with a pill to swallow.
Everything in my home has been opened and torn apart. Clothes lie everywhere, the small chest of drawers is smashed and broken. The old battery-powered clock on the wall is destroyed. Even the wooden pallet frame that raised the mattress off the floor is a splintered ruin.
Nothing of mine has been spared, not even my Bible. Pages lie scattered, and the cover hangs, sad and empty, off the edge of the shelf. I notice that even the cover has been ripped apart, and the note my father had written to me on the inside is destroyed. They’d never have dared to desecrate what they thought of as a real Bible, but mine carried all the ‘pagan superstition’ and ‘heathen apostasy’ of the Apocrypha. It was the only thing I had left from my father, and now it’s gone too.
My eyes slowly fill with tears as I try to make some sense of the destruction around me, and I take a deep breath. No. This is good. I have nothing left to lose here any longer. My heart hardens with a new resolve. Right. I don’t care how, but I will get away from this place. Away from these insane people. Willing away my tears, I brace and glare at the two people standing in the middle of my ransacked home.
“Why?” I ask, proud of the steadiness in my voice.
Jeremiah looks away, but my mother stares back at me, stepping closer. From this distance, the insane sparkle in her eyes is even more disturbing. What happened to you, Mom? Was this something that was always inside you? Or did Emmanuel do something to you to bring you over to the dark side?
“We know,” she says, so softly I hardly can hear her. “We know everything. Just tell the truth, repent now and I promise Father Emmanuel will make it all better.” The sweet pleading in her voice is meant to be reassuring, but overlaid with that fire glowing in her eyes, it’s only more disturbing.
“Mother,” I say, hiding my anger and fear under the calmest voice I can manage. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Don’t you lie to us, woman!” Jeremiah finally speaks, and I shake my head in despair.
The tiny room is silent for a few seconds while I wait for him to say more. He bides his time, but my mother runs out of patience first and gives me a hint, “Nathan saw it all !”
“He saw all… of…” Oh, Daniel, I begged you to be careful. What did you do in public?
“He saw you stealing from us!” Jeremiah yells.
I’m so lost in my private terror for my husband that his words don’t register immediately, and when they do I have to fight to keep the puzzled look on my face. Finally. They’re talking about money. The little shit saw me making change and pocketing dollar bills. I’m ready for this. Oh, I’m so ready for this. If I wasn’t talking with crazy-Mom? If it was good-Mom here with me, or at least not-as-crazy-Mom, I would have had a hard time fighting back a smile.
Of course, I’ve squirreled away money, and of course, I’ve stolen it from you. I’ve been keeping back a few dollars here and there, saving toward the next time I ran. I’m not stupid, though. I don’t keep it here in my home, and I don’t set it aside when anyone is around to see me doing it!
“He saw me do what, now?” I ask. I’ve already got a plan in place to deal with this one, so let’s just get it over with. I need to get my mother calmed down, and then I need to find something to sleep on.
“I saw you put money in your pocket,” Nathan is standing by the door behind me. He’s not alone. His mother is with him, holding a small bottle of water and some pills.
Rebecca pushes me aside, ascertains the condition of the room with a quick look around and walks past Jeremiah, shaking her head at him as if he was an unruly child. She reaches my mother and gives her the water with a pill to swallow.
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