Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 114820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“That’s quite a story,” she said quietly, not in a Christ, you’re fucked up way, but a go on way.
That was a relief.
He went on.
“When I was eighteen, the only means I had to get away and feed myself, I enlisted in the Army. My ex, we went to high school together. For three years in school, we were together, dated, but my parents never met her because I wasn’t allowed to be with her. They’d picked a girl for me from our church. Arranged marriages, now, that was a thing.”
“My God.”
That was a Christ, that’s fucked up, but still a go on.
He again went on.
“Yeah. Jenn saved me from that. She was normal. Her parents were great with me. They got it. They helped cover for me. Helped cover for me to do normal high school kid things. Helped cover for my brothers too. One was older, one was younger. Obadiah was older. He was getting close to being married off. He was flipping out. He didn’t want to get married at twenty to a girl he didn’t like. He knew her, had grown up with her. And I agree. She wasn’t a good person. That didn’t matter. What Pastor Rich said, went.”
“This is…”
She didn’t finish that.
“A lot, I know.” Rus finished for her.
But if they were going where he wanted them to go, she had to have this in order to make the decision if she wanted to go there with him.
So he kept giving it to her.
“Jenn’s parents let my brother live in their basement, got him a job. When he fully cut ties with the church, he changed his first name back to what he was born with. He changed it to Lucas.”
“Okay,” she said, talking softly, like she was snuggled in, listening.
This time, go on meant I’m interested in learning about you.
This was a relief too, and it felt good.
“I went into the Army. Our church was pacifist. Mom and Dad cut out Lucas. When I went to basic, they cut me out too. Jedediah, he kept his name, but not like I did. He changed it legally to Jeb, which is what we all called him when we weren’t around the church members. He got out too, with Lucas’s, Jenn’s parents’ and my help.”
“So, none of you talk to your parents anymore?”
“Not for a while. Jenn and I married at nineteen. Lucas got married to his first wife at twenty-two. Jeb was engaged. Mom was hearing stories. She was pissed she was missing out. I’m not sure she bought into the whole thing anyway. But she loved Dad and she was glad he wasn’t dead, not only because she loved him, but when he had his accident, she had two little kids, and one on the way. At first, I figure, she was happy to do anything as long as it made him happy. But she used to do things like sneak us sweets or a pop when we weren’t allowed processed foods. Or we’d fake feeling sick to get out of going to church, and we went to church Wednesday night, Saturday morning, Sunday morning and Sunday evening, and that’s a lot, and she’d back our play. She’d take us to places where we could watch TV, since we weren’t allowed to have one at home. Shit like that.”
“She broke free?”
“She told Dad it was her and her boys, or the church. There was some push and pull, but he picked her. And us.”
“That’s good.”
It was.
Very good.
“It took a while. Lucas, particularly, had an issue and he wouldn’t let go of it. He didn’t have a Jenn to go to so he had some normal. He was pissed Mom and Dad knew he didn’t like the girl they were marrying him off to, and Dad was adamant he go through with it. He wanted to play football. They didn’t believe in organized sports.”
Rus took in a breath and then kept giving her some of the shit of his life.
“Mostly, they didn’t believe in members spending time outside the flock. For kids, if you wanted physical activity, you worked for one of the church members’ businesses. For free. Even if it wasn’t about physical activity, if you weren’t in service to the church, starting at thirteen, fourteen, you worked for someone for free. Lucas is a financial advisor now. He has money, about twenty rental properties. Even when he was a kid, he’d fight with Dad, wondering why he was busting his ass to make someone else money. And asking Dad questions, like how someone made money off Lucas’s back, then they gave it to the church. Asked him why Pastor Rich had a ten thousand square foot house, we were living in a two-bedroom, and Pastor Rich drove a Mercedes, and Mom and Dad shared a Chevy minivan. And yet, Dad managed three branches of a local bank and made six figures.”