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Two days later Sister Helen appeared at the stockade. Carl first heard her arguing with the
Marshal standing guard. 'Sorry Sister, Mr. O'Grady says them men in there are in solitary confinement. They can't see no-one.' 'And I'll tell you what I told the others, Buford. I've got permission from Miss Elizabeth Bluemud to be here.' 'Mr. O'Grady says Miss Elizabeth should keep her nose out of where she isn't wanted.' 'Are you sure it's O'Grady, Buford, or is it that green arm-band going to your head?' The Sister voice rose a pitch. 'I am a religious woman, Buford. I have been saved from the worst fate that can befall a woman. Those men in there have hardly room to sit. It's my duty to look after them.' Her voice rose some more. ' You see this little finger? When they were going to drag me off for a fallen woman, I pointed it at them as I'm pointing it at you now and I said: I'm a religious woman; I pray for your souls that you may be saved and die fighting in God's service. But if you soil your hands upon a religious woman, if you stand in the path of His great purpose, your souls will wither and crumble into dust. Then the Demons of the Past will come and take you for their own, to wander with them, lost forever in the wilderness. Do you want that, Buford?' This argument was apparently sufficient to persuade the Marshal as he allowed the Sister in and she came, tapping on the low cell doors, calling 'Is any one there? I've brought some food.' 'I can't believe it's you, Sister!' Carl called out to her. 'I thought you were gone forever.' 'I can look after myself, which is more than you can, Carl, it seems. I never thought to find you here.' Sister Helen sounded very confident. 'Here, have something to eat.' 'It was Mr. Bluemud who put me here, Sister,' said Carl sadly as the Sister pushed food through a small gate in the bottom of the door. 'I thought he might have treated you better since you delivered all our people to him, ' said the Sister sarcastically. She sat down beside the door. ' At least now you understand, Carl, that the Devil does not reward those who perform his work for him. To think that even now our people might be gaining God's love instead of working for this... this monster!' 'I think I understand now that Mr. Bluemud isn't a Pastor,' said Carl slowly between mouthfuls. 'But I can't believe he's a monster. The men haven't been treated badly.' 'Not treated badly?' The Sister almost screamed. Then she lowered her voice so that the Marshal wouldn't hear her. 'How can you say that when we have been tricked?' 'We have been tricked?' Carl felt sick. 'Are the women not alright?' 'Well, yes, they are happy enough. They work in the fields and they have their small cottages in the village. They eat. There are no men in the village as there are no women in the barracks and that is good,' she spoke the word 'men' most contemptuously, 'but, what is all that if their souls are in danger of being lost? If their morals are utterly corrupted? You know, Carl, there are two ladies who live with me. Their names are Veronique and Dora. Nice ladies! And they have three children. Tom, who's three and Lizzie, two, both belong to Veronique and baby Michael is Dora's child. Vera's been here four years at least. She and her Henry came in with Mr. Bluemud himself and, apparently she's one of the few ladies with more than one child, though Henry's dead now. But let me tell you something terrible, Carl: Henry was only the father of Tom!' 'What's wrong with that? If Veronique married again after Henry died?' 'She did indeed marry again after Henry died,' said the Sister triumphantly, 'only she's got TWO husbands now! One's a miner and one's a Marshal. Dora's only got one but she's expecting to get another one next year. They say that all of our women can expect to have at least three husbands in the end!' 'I don't understand how that can be, ' said Carl. 'I would hope that you cannot, Carl,' said the Sister primly. 'But I will tell you exactly how it can be and what they tried to do to me. They took us to the village and, once we were settled in they brought us all to the village hall. Muriel was there: she's the head woman. Everyone hates her. And of course, Miss Elizabeth was there. Have you seen Miss Elizabeth? I don't suppose you have.' The Sister voice took on a respectful air at the mention of Elizabeth. 'She's Mr. Bluemud's daughter. You didn't know a Pastor could have a daughter, did you, Carl?' 'He's not a Pastor, Sister. Foreman Johnson told me that.' 'Of course he's not!' she said irritably. 'Though I didn't know it then. Anyway, she welcomed us all to the village. She said they were all happy to see us and that we'd be happy and that our duties would be to work to produce food for the men who work in the mine and have children for the future. She did say we might find that some things were a little different than we were used to but she promised that she would do everything in her power to help us understand. She has too! And she didn't look happy about things. I'm sure she wasn't. 'Well, there was this man called Vincent there. What a horrible man he is! He read this announcement to us. It was lucky I was there, otherwise nobody would have understood what he really meant, though I got a copy of it afterwards, just to prove it to you, if I ever saw you again. Here... ' she slipped a paper beneath the door. Though there was sufficient light for Carl to read, to his great frustration he could not, as the Sister well knew he would not be able to. She said triumphantly, 'You see? It's written in the Bible language. That proves that he's the Devil! Here, pass it back. I'll read you the important bit. It says: 'By Order of The Community of Granite Gorge... and so on... here it is! All past marital relationships are hereby dissolved! Following tests for suitability, new female members will be assigned mates on an annual basis. Mates will be chosen for them by the community. Couples will be expected to produce one child each after which the relationship will be dissolved. Do you understand that, Carl? It means nobody's married anymore and they're all going to be getting new husbands and Mr. Bluemud is going to decide who they're going to be and tell them what children they can have!' 'Well, Sister, the 'Men Apart' have always been... ' 'Nonsense, Carl!' The Sister was uninterested in arguments that might rebut her case. 'Naturally, everyone was very upset about this! They were shocked! Then Muriel says that it takes at least a year to qualify a man so that he can be a husband. That means there's no chance of any of our people getting their own men back because Mr. Bluemud wants them to start having children right away!' The Sister shuddered visibly at her recollection. 'That Vincent confirmed what she said: Mr. Bluemud's policy is one of selective breeding so that future generations of workers would have more strength and vitality! His words caused an uproar. I would have torn his eyes out if I could have got to him.! They had to hold me down. Poor Miss Elizabeth! To have to deal with people like that! She tried to put the best face on it. She said her father had saved us from a terrible death. That he was a wise man who knew what was best for us and that one day we would see him as our savior and benefactor. She said he wanted everyone to have children and wanted the children to have the best possible care and to be educated and grow up to a better life.' 'I don't see what's wrong with that,' said Carl. 'What else could she say? With a father like that? And people like that Muriel and Vincent around her?' the Sister spluttered, trying unsuccessfully to keep her voice low. 'That Vincent chimes in: Mr. Bluemud believe we've been isolated for too long. That we're inbred. I said: What does that mean, inbred? Miss Elizabeth said: Well... it means... unhealthy. Can you imagine that? That's what they think of us! I couldn't stand it any more. I shouted: The people of Dentonsville aren't unhealthy! They are proud and strong in God's mercy! Muriel said it was the only way to save ourselves. I said, the way to save yourselves is to gain God's love, to die in His service, fighting for the things He loves the best. Then Miss Elizabeth even argued with that! The poor thing! According to her these people she called the City People have cruelly exploited us and driven us towards extinction, whatever that means, and that they were the ones who invented selective breeding for themselves so they could build a stronger race. But I don't believe a word of it. I've never met one of those City People.' 'That's what Mr. Bluemud is,' said Carl. 'His daughter, Elizabeth must be one as well.' 'What nonsense,' said the Sister. 'They're the ones who mean to exploit us! They want to take away our right to fight and die for God! I said, Leave us alone! Let us go back to the War! We don't want to become Demons of the Past!' Helen paused triumphantly. 'That was enough for them. When they saw I was going to go on telling the truth they threw me out of the meeting. But that poor Miss Elizabeth. I felt sorry for her, I really did, and of course, when she found out who I was she came to see me and then I forced her to tell the truth. Mr. Bluemud's not a Pastor. Just an ordinary man, she said. Have you ever seen an ordinary man who looks like that?' 'No, Sister, I haven't' said Carl wearily. 'I don't understand it.' 'Well, I understand it, Carl. Do you know there's no Church of any kind at Granite Gorge and Miss Elizabeth said they don't believe in religion? Who else can Bluemud be but the Devil? I've decided that God has sent us here either as a terrible punishment for some awful sin we have committed - so bad that He doesn't want us to die in His service fighting for the things He loves the best - or, that we have been sent, as the Pastor told me he was sent to Dentonsville - as missionaries - to do God's work in the pit of Hell. Yes, I believe it must be that. And if it is so, we must all be conscious of our purpose here. And I'll say one thing for Miss Elizabeth, she's not a bad girl. At least she had the decency to agree that she would respect my position so that I wouldn't have to take a husband. 'The Sister shuddered again. 'Otherwise I would have had to kill myself. She promised to find me work. I wanted to be a nurse but they've got two of those already. I said I would open a church but she wouldn't agree to that, of course! In the end she said I could come down here until she finds me something better. She's not forgotten me. And now,' said the Sister brightly, getting up. 'I must be going. I'll talk to you later, Carl.' During the five days Carl spent in the stockade, Sister Helen visited him every day and he learned much from her so that it became clear to him that, whatever the correctness of her interpretation of the situation, she was fast blossoming. |
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