Dusty is more into death metal and superheros then choir music and God. That is until he meets the missionary from the Zionite Fellowship.
The Book of Zion: Dusty
By D.T and Mr Stepford
Dusty 1
He thought a loud death metal song as his alarm would be enough to get him out of bed. But a lead guitar blazing to lyric about how awesome Satan is was not enough to wake Dusty from his slumber. Laying half way off his bed anyways, he was in no danger of being hurt as the mound of dirty close laying on the floor would break his fall. As he crawl out of bed and threw on the cleanest cloth in the mound a slight pain ran through his neck “Why in the fuck did I decide to date a MMA fighter” Dusty thought to himself. His on again off again girlfriend Freddy ended their fight last night in the usual manner by placing him in a arm bar then walking out while bragging about the guys she was going to pick up at the bar. Dusty gave himself a quick sniff to see if a shower was necessary, after determining that it could wait another day he headed to the fridge for day old Chinese. But before he got there the doorbell rang.
As Caroline waited patiently with her partner Grace her mind drifted back to the letter she’d received that morning from home. Three of her mothers were pregnant again, although in Darling’s case that was hardly a surprise. Her older sister Jacqueline was pregnant and preparing to welcome a new sister-wife. The door opened and Caroline was recalled to the present by the soft gasp of her partner.
What the two young ladies were wearing was a quite the contrast to Dusty spider-man pajama bottoms and Slayer T shirt. The lady to his right was wearing a dress with a teal bottom and a top adore with teal and pink hearts. Her black hair was only slightly shorter then his hanging just below her shoulders. He could tell that she was at least particularly from Asian descent and although he couldn’t place it that moment he knew he has seen her before. With her long flowing brown hair the Lady to his left dress and carried herself well beyond her years. While most girls her age would be twerking in short short, she stood demurely in a black pleated skirt and a blue silk blouse that matched her extraordinary Blue Eyes. “can...can I help you?”
Not having grown up with any brothers or having seen her own father when he wasn’t meticulously groomed and attired Caroline was at a loss for words at his slovenly appearance. She knew that men’s work sometimes required them to get dirty but she didn’t think the man before her had that excuse. “Um, ahem, excuse me, we’re from the Zionite the Fellowship,” she explained holding out a brochure. “We are here to help you.” “Listen lady I know what your selling and I am not buying” Dusty said with a smirk “I am more into comics and death metal then bibles and choir music” he was seriously regretting opening the door and usually by now he would of slammed it in their faces. But no matter how badly he wanted to he just couldn’t do it and couldn’t stop looking at her and her blue eyes
Remembering her Aunt Kaitlyn’s advice Caroline didn’t argue with him. Woman was created to nurture, after all. “Well, will you at least let us clean up your kitchen?” she asked making it sound as though he would be doing them a favor. Of all her sisters Caroline was considered the least bold and most domestic, happiest when she was helping in the kitchen. Had she consulted only her own wishes, she would be at home in Covenant doing just that until her husband was ready to receive her. Caroline had no ambitions to be anything other than a good homemaker.
Last month when her father had called her to his office she thought he was going to insist she accept the job of cooking tutor at Mission College. She had been offered it when the dean had come to dinner one night and been told that Caroline had prepared most of it. Many new sisters struggled in the kitchen it seemed. For Caroline it was where she felt most comfortable. So when he told her that she would be going on a mission to Testament she’d been surprised. Many of her sisters, especially Emily and Loren couldn’t wait to go out into the sinful world and win converts, but Caroline had never shared their zest. In a moment of weakness she’d cried and begged to spared from what she considered a horrific ordeal.
Her father had held her while she wept and then reminded her that, until she married, he was charged with her well-being. “You’re a wonderful homemaker, my dear,” he’d said as he gently wiped her eyes, “and that is why you must go on this mission. The people of Testament need your help.” From what she could see of this man’s house, her father had been right, as always. “Well may we clean your house” Caroline asked. Dusty was baffled by this request but was even more baffled as to why he let them in. As they walked by him he got a look at their name badges Caroline and Grace....“Grace” he thinks to himself “where have I seen her before?”
Caroline nearly fainted at the sight of his kitchen. How could any human being live in such squalor? The floor might have one been a nice white and gold pattern but time and neglect had turned into something that looked like spoiled mayonnaise. The counter tops and tables were covered with dirty dishes, and the garbage was overflowing. For a moment Caroline thought longingly of the sparkling kitchen in the Bishop’s House where she was staying. Bishop Simon, or Uncle Simon as she’d always known him had been one of her father’s earliest converts and she’d been entrusted to his guardianship for the duration of her mission. He and his four wives had welcomed her with open arms.
Likewise the moment she’d stepped into that beautiful kitchen she’d felt right at home, not even needing to be told where anything was, but knowing intuitively where everything belonged. Well, standing and gawking would solve nothing. Glad she’d had the foresight to bring her own supplies she went to the sink and turned on the taps. Hopefully there would be plenty of hot water.
Dusty felt strangely out of place in his own place. Feeling like he would be in the way if he helped he sat on the couch and turned on the TV. He watched TV for a bit but the foul language in the show felt strangely inappropriate while his guest was here so he turned it off. He looked down at the pamphlet Caroline left on the coffee Table. Zion Fellowship Dusty was aware of the church and the inroads it had made in the community. They had practically taken over the east side or as people jokingly referred to it now as New Testament. He picked up the pamphlet as his eye locked on to the man on the cover. His was dressed in a blue three piece suit which match his eyes.“his eyes” Dusty thought to himself “those are Caroline eyes” “Who is this guy” Dusty said out loud
“That’s my father,” Caroline said from the doorway. She’d filled the sink and was letting the dishes soak a bit before she tried to scrape off the layers of gunk that had accumulated. “The One True Prophet and Restorer of the True Church on Earth.” As always Caroline’s voice warmed when she spoke of him.
“Well that explains the eyes” Dusty thinks to himself “Poor girl was completely indoctrinated into this bullshit. Why else would you believe this huckster with his slick and fancy......suit.....I...I...mean guy men in suits are.......respectable....no.....gentlemen......No......Righteous......NO!.....Their phony sellouts.....I mean......this how a Man of God should dress......Yes...NO!....this how I should dress......NO!!!!” “It’s hard to take in at first, I know” the sound of Grace’s voice drew Dusty out of the turbulent inner monologue “what?....sorry take what in ?” Dusty replied “The truth”
Caroline went back to the sink and the dishes and listened while Grace spoke to the man. Having been raised in the bosom of the church she had a more difficult time relating to sinners and non-believers, but she listened. “I didn’t want to believe,” Grace said. “It went against everything I’d learned growing up. If you’d told me a year ago that I would end up wearing a girly-girl dress and doing housework, I’d have punched you in the mouth.” Caroline cringed as she always did whenever she thought about Grace’s background. She heard the man snap his fingers. “I knew I recognized you from somewhere.”
“G-Shock that was your ring name right” said Dusty “Yes unfortunately” she replied “you fought my ex....my girlfriend Freddy and then you disappeared. What happen to you?"“I LET GO of my pride, SURRENDERED my doubt, and SUBMITTED to God’s Will,” Grace told him. Dishes done and put away Caroline peeked into the refrigerator and covered her mouth in horror. Even without the colonies of microorganisms growing inside it was full of things like expired milk, alcohol and old takeout.
Horror soon gave way to pity though. As Mother Darling had reminded her before Caroline had left to come to Testament, not everyone had been blessed with an upbringing like hers. Caroline had always considered Mother Darling’s anecdotes of growing up essentially an orphan as comparable to dark fairy tales. Not until she was confronted with it in person had she believed people could live this way. Squaring her shoulders she set to work to see what could be salvaged, and she resolved to ask Uncle Simon and Aunt Ruth about a grocery allowance for this man.
LET GO.....SURRENDER.....SUBMIT.....Dusty couldn’t seem to get these words out of his head as Grace read from the Book of Zion. The last time he saw her she was 145 pounds of pure muscle with a large tattoo on her neck that now was nowhere to be seen. “You see Dustin the Book of Zion shows the numerous blessing we can receive if we accept our God given gender role” “Did I slip back into the 50’s” he thinks to himself. Being a product of the post feminist age Dusty had been taught that such idea belong in the stone age and if there was some sort inherit right of traditional Manhood he has never seen it in himself. “Throw the lies of the media and the government the adversary has emasculated generation of men and deprived them of their true strength” Grace continues as she leans in a touches Dusty knee “But Heavenly Father can reignite that strength in you, if you let him”
As she set to work cleaning the stove and oven Caroline tried to imagine how Dustin would look dressed in the same style of suits her father wore. She suspected that he would be rather handsome. He was just the right height for her to rest her head on his shoulder and feel his strength supporting her...
The warmth of Grace’s touch shot through Dusty body correcting his slacked posture. His grip on the pamphlet seem to get stronger “strength”the word rattle through his mind. “Dustin I know this strength lie within you and deep down you know this to be true” “TRUE” her words repeated in his head but the voice he heard was his own. “Your density” “MY DENSITY” “Does not lie in this sinful world” ‘SINFUL WORLD” “it lies in the glory of the One True Church” “ONE TRUE CHURCH” “Where you shall be molded into a leader” “LEADER” “leader of men” “LEADER OF MEN” “leader of your wives and children” “LEADER OF MY WIVES AND CHILDERN....wives????” “Oh hey” Dusty interrupts “look at the time I have to get ready for work”
Caroline stepped back and surveyed her handiwork. The kitchen was spotless and she’d managed to make Dustin a healthy breakfast of orange juice, a cheese omelet and whole wheat toast. “I’m afraid I used up the last of your milk,” she said as Dusty stood in the doorway gawking in what she feared was dismay. “Um...Yeah....that okay” Dusty was at a lost for word as he stared at his spotless kitchen. “How did she get all this done so fast” He thinks to himself
“Well, you should eat up while it’s still warm,” Caroline said and then blushed at her own boldness. Her mothers sometimes spoke that way to her father, at least the senior among them did. Her father was so focused on doing God’s work that he’d been known to skip meals. Some of Caroline’s favorite memories of her father were the times when it was her turn to bring him lunch and they would eat together just the two of them.
“We’ll just leave this here for you,” Grace said setting a copy of the Book of Zion by his plate. “And if you’ll let us, we can come back tomorrow and help out some more.” Dusty should of said no before tasting the omelette. The glorious and simple taste seemed to effect his senses and judgement “sure why not”
The rest of the morning didn’t go quite as well for Caroline. Of the next five houses she visited at two nobody answered the door, two took the brochures and then slammed the doors, and at the last one an overweight man with long hair and a scraggly beard chased them off with abusive language. Caroline was still shaken up when she arrived at the Mission Center to help prepare lunch. Uncle Simon and Aunt Ruth took one look at her and took her into a small sitting room. They sat her between them on the sofa. Simon put an arm around her laying her head on shoulder while Ruth rubbed her back.
Caroline, they had been cautioned, would need special care. “I fear I have sheltered her too much,” the Prophet had said when he’d spoken to Simon about Caroline’s mission. “She is as meek and obedient a daughter as anyone could wish, and I cherish her as I do all my children. But she has always been able to hide in the shadow of her sisters and so she has yet to fully blossom. I’ve prayed on it and Heavenly Father tells me she must go to Testament. I think she would be an excellent candidate for Sister Kaitlyn’s Domestic Mission program.”
Simon nodded in agreement. Sister Kaitlyn had devised a program aimed at men living alone based on the theory that a man’s divinely appointed authority would assert itself with frequent exposure to proper examples of modesty and femininity. The sisters were not to argue with them or do anything that could be construed as “nagging”, but to use their domestic skills to help wear down the resistance and defiance of these men so that they would be more receptive to the truth. If necessary, the brothers of the Church would provide the iron hand. The sisters were to be the velvet glove. And whether she knew it or not, Caroline was indeed a perfect candidate. Her modest, ladylike behavior inspired gallantry in both brothers and sinners alike.
“How did it go this morning?” he asked. “We had only one he.....he....” Caroline could not finish her sentence “I know him” Grace said as she walked into the room “His girlfriend is abusive and denies him his rightful authority over her. A position I fear he has been in most of his life” “You should’ve seen his house,” Caroline said drawing strength from her aunt and uncle’s affection. “It was awful.”
“Well, dear, I’m not all that surprised,” Aunt Ruth said. “Women’s work doesn’t come naturally to men and they tend to be, at best, mediocre at it.” Ruth herself was only about average in the kitchen. That is, average by Zionite standards which was why she’d been even more thrilled than Simon to welcome Natalie as a sister-wife into their family. In fact Natalie and Caroline had a lot in common. Natalie didn’t feel called to be a leader of women in the church and she wasn’t as involved in it as her sister-wives. Instead it was her vocation to be the homemaker, and Ruth suspected the same was true of Caroline.
“It sounds to me like Heavenly Father guided you to his door in this man’s hour of need,” Simon said as Caroline sat up. “Even though he may not be aware of it, his need is great. He’s probably wondering how he ever managed without someone like you in his life.”