“Why did you leave the cult?” Thaddeus asked.
I understood his curiosity on all the levels—curiosity about the cult, curiosity about why someone would shoot up my house. I chewed and drank my coffee and said, “I stopped attending God’s Cloud for several reasons,” I said. “One, when I inherited this property I fell into ‘sin and disfavor’.” I made the words a quote with my fingers and both men showed surprise. “This property, by church law, should have gone to the church upon John’s death, since he had no sons. But after Leah died, John and I were married by a judge, legally, under the laws of the state of Tennessee, instead of according to church law. And his will had been filed properly. I was his widow and I inherited.
“The church objected, but they lost in court. They had to pay the legal and court expenses too,” I knew that the men heard my satisfaction. I’d been practically blissful when the judge had ruled that the church had to pay my lawyer and all court costs.
“Reason two,” I said, “a proper churchwoman would have taken her deed to the land and gone right to the church and married according to her next male relative’s wishes or according to the will of the leader of the church.”
“What?” Deus said. “That’s not right.”
I smiled behind my cup at the statement but it faded when his father said, “There’s lot a things wrong in this world, son. It’s important to remember that others have troubles we don’t always see.” He was right. My problems were small potatoes compared to the problems of others.
Deus slurped nosily. “Mama’d a killed them boys.”
Thaddeus laughed. “Your mama is a pistol, boy, but she wouldn’t have killed some foolish children.”
“Okay. She’d a made ‘em wish they was dead.”
Thad laughed softly. “You got that right.” The men bumped fists. The coffee was strong and bitter but they drank it anyway. “You were saying,” Mr. Thad said.
“After John died, I declined to do anything they thought I should. Mostly, I declined to marry one of them,” I said, at last, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
“John and I attended services at the church on the occasional Sunday morning, in order to keep the peace, but when he got sick, and then passed, I stopped going altogether, even though that meant I had to sneak around to see my own sisters and mama.”
“And that’s why school children came to shoot up your house?”
“Land and property, patriarchy and hierarchy, are all important to them. Women aren’t. I’m never going back to the God’s Cloud and their punishment.”
Deus looked puzzled. “Punishment?”
Hope you enjoyed!
Faith