Lena Jones 02 - Desert Wives

in their own way. They only drag in the cops if there’s an Outsider around to take the blame.”
    Remembering that I was an Outsider made me so uncomfortable that I actually swept the floors to keep from thinking about it.

Chapter 9
    By the time I’d hurried through the housework, Saul was ready for the community meeting. The prospect of watching Purity’s leadership in action intrigued me, as did meeting the men who might have benefited from Prophet Solomon’s death—or even from that of the new prophet.
    I freshened up in the bathroom, making certain the top buttons on my long granny dress remained fastened. As I studied myself in the mirror, I noticed that the brisk housework had left my face flushed, making the scar on my forehead appear vivid. The only thing I needed to worry about was keeping my mouth shut.
    I joined Saul by the front door, only to discover that Ruby had finally left the kitchen and disappeared into one of the rooms.
    “Ruby! Time to leave!” Saul called as we waited.
    Silence for a few moments. Then footsteps. Ruby appeared from the hallway. “I can’t go,” she announced, in a grim voice.
    “What do you mean, you can’t go? Prophet Davis wants as many people there as possible.”
    She threw an accusatory glance my way. “Sister Lena didn’t sweep in the corners or vacuum the rug.”
    I protested. “The house is perfectly clean.”
    “No it’s not.”
    “Yes, it…” A firm hand on my shoulder stopped me.
    “Sister Lena, since she knows more about it, we’ll have to defer to Sister Ruby in these matters. Perhaps when we come back, she can show you the proper way to clean.”
    Ruby shook her head. “It needs to be done now, not later.”
    What a tyrant. Even more irritating was the fact that Saul deferred to her. Did that happen in other polygamy households? I tried some fence-mending. “Sister Ruby, I really want to go to the community meeting so I can better understand the way of life here. I promise that when I get back I’ll clean the way you want me to do.”
    “No. You do it now.”
    I finally understood. Ruby was First Wife, I was New Girl on the Block, and she was merely establishing the pecking order. If Saul let this behavior continue, though, it could damage my chances to find Prophet Solomon’s killer. An article I’d once read had theorized that housework expanded to fill the time available, and unless I was mistaken, Ruby planned to try out that theory herself, only using me as the lab rat.
    I had to nip her plans in the bud. Turning to Saul, I whined, “Oh, please, Brother Saul! I really do want to go to that meeting!”
    “And you will.” My obvious concern alerted him to the problem. “Tell you what, Sister Ruby. You finish the floors, and once you’re done, fix lunch. We won’t need anything fancy. Just put some meat on two slices of bread. With a little mayonnaise.”
    Ruby opened her mouth to protest then closed it again without saying a word, probably remembering that her husband spoke for the Lord, and if the Lord wanted mayonnaise, He’d get mayonnaise. After a second or two she tried again. “Can’t she at least clean the toilets now?”
    “The Lord wants
you
to scrub the toilets, Sister Ruby. He just revealed it to me.” With that, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out the door, but not before I saw a glimmer of fury in Sister Ruby’s eyes.
    Saul headed toward the Utah side of the compound, towing me behind him. “That didn’t go well,” he said in a disgusted voice. “If you want to pull this off, you’ll have to figure out a way to keep Ruby happy. Like the rest of the women around here, she may not have much formal schooling but she’s a long way from dumb.”
    Knowing he was right, I nodded. For the first time it occurred to me that Purity’s women lived an even more difficult life than I’d originally believed. Not only did they have to obey their husbands’ every whim, but they had to guard against their sister wives, too.
    Saul continued talking as we walked, trying to keep out of earshot of the other people scurrying across the compound. To the west, a long line of battered cars and pickup trucks streamed toward us on the dirt road.
    “Rumor has it that our new prophet is going to initiate some pretty heavy changes in Purity,” Saul said. “But I’ll believe it when I see it. The Circle of Elders, which is made up of the most conservative of the conservative, will dig in its heels. Davis is going to have