Lena Jones 02 - Desert Wives

hatred toward Earl. “She had a bad night,” she said. When Earl turned his eyes toward her, she pretended great interest in the worn linoleum, but her expression didn’t change.
    “Sister Pearl, you fetch Sister Cynthia,” Davis commanded. “Now.”
    “Certainly, Brother Davis. But I might need a helping hand.” Her eyes flicked toward me. “Perhaps Sister Lena…?
    I took my cue, noticing with interest that the woman knew my name. “Certainly I’ll help, Sister Pearl. Where is she?”
    “Follow me.”
    She led me down an unpainted, dark hall lit only by a single bare bulb dangling from a cord, and finally stopped before a cheap pine door.
    “Don’t be surprised at anything you see,” she said, her voice flat. “Our husband isn’t the gentlest of men.”
    When Pearl opened the door to the bedroom, I saw that what I had done to Earl Graff had been revisited a hundred fold upon Cynthia. The girl’s beautiful face had been battered almost beyond recognition. Both eyes were swollen shut. Teeth marks covered her cheeks and neck.
    “Brother Earl likes to bite,” Pearl said, matter-of-factly. “You probably don’t want to see what’s beneath the covers.”
    I felt sick.
    Pearl studied the wrecked room, the broken lamp, a shattered mirror, and a million feathers from shredded pillows. “Looks like she put up a fight, never a good idea with Earl. Those of us who’ve been around here awhile know it’s better to just let him do what he wants and get it over with as fast as possible.”
    Maybe so, but I couldn’t help but hope that Cynthia had taken a piece out of Brother Earl where it really counted.
    I walked over to the bed and leaned over the girl. “Cynthia, it’s Lena. Brother Davis just annulled your marriage to Earl. I’m here to take you home.”
    Cynthia forced her swollen eyes open, and I could still see burst capillaries in both of them. The whites had turned to blood. But her voice sounded strong. “I’m not sure I can walk.”
    “We’ll help you, dear,” Sister Pearl said, slipping an arm under her.
    As Sister Pearl raised the girl up, the covers fell away. We both gasped. Bite marks sprinkled Cynthia’s breasts and abdomen. Fist-sized bruises covered her entire body in huge, dirty polka-dots.
    “My dress,” Cynthia whispered. “Please.”
    Pearl reached for the torn garment at the foot of the bed, but I stopped her.
    “No! I want them to see her. I want them to see what they’ve allowed to happen to women in Purity!” Turning back to Cynthia I asked, “Do you have the courage?”
    Her poor, battered face contorted. “Let them see me? But I’m so ashamed.”
    “The shame is his, not yours. Let them see.
Let everyone see
.”
    Pearl put her hand on my shoulder. “Sister Lena, are you sure about this? After what the poor child has been through it seems cruel.”
    “Cruel? Let me tell you what’s cruel, Sister Pearl. Covering up situations like this,
that’s
what’s cruel! I’m so sick and tired of everyone pretending they’re living in Paradise. There’s plenty of snakes in this so-called Garden of Eden and I want them rooted out. I want…”
    I forced myself back under control. What I wanted was the entire compound wiped off the face of the earth, the women and children sent to shelters and the men to prison—but not before I’d found Prophet Solomon’s killer and removed Rebecca from harm’s way.
    I swallowed my rage as best I could. “Sister Pearl, I’ve talked to Brother Davis about the problems some of the women are having here, and he agrees with me that something needs to be done. If he sees how bad things really are, I’m sure he’ll take steps. But…” I turned back to Cynthia. “But he has to
see
first! He has to see what happened to you. And the other men on the Council, they have to see, too.”
    Cynthia groaned. “No man has ever seen my body, I mean, until Brother Earl…”
    Then Sister Pearl surprised me. “God created your body, dear, and God does not create anything of which we need to be ashamed.”
    Cynthia lay quietly for a moment, then took a deep breath and nodded her head. “You’re right, Sister Pearl. If you think it’ll do any good, I’ll do it. My body’s no different than any of the other bodies I’ve been studying in my anatomy books. Those men out there are all married, aren’t they? They’ve seen it all before?”
    “Yeah, they have.” I would have hugged her for her courage, but I was too afraid I’d hurt