The Book of Zion: Dusty
By D.T and Mr Stepford
Dusty 2
“Why in the hell did I agree to this” Dusty thinks to himself has puts on his cloth for the lesson. Looking down he see’s the Book of Zion in the same place as it was yesterday. Last night he was to busy reading the latest issue of the DC Multiverse crossover “At least in comics the make believe superheroes go around blowing things up rather then making you wear suits and dresses”. Just then the doorbell ring “Oh great...well lets get this over with” Dusty said to himself as he walks to the door unaware of the fact that he tucked in his Mega Death T shirt.
This time Grace and Caroline were accompanied by five teenage boys each carrying two paper grocery sacks. “I hope you don’t mind that I got you some basic supplies,” Caroline said. The aroma of freshly baked bread clung to her like a perfume. Her hair was in a neat braid, a style that made her face seem more delicate. Her knee-length dress had a blue background that matched her eyes and a pattern of pink rosebuds.
Dusty didn’t understand why but he was quite taken by her today. “Good morning sir” each boy said as they walked past him “Man, even the the teenagers” he thinks to himself as he looked at their attire. Each boy was wearing a suit and at least judging from the smiles on their faces they didn’t seem to mind. “How can they go around looking soooo....well groomed...no I mean....respectable...No! I mean stupid....their teenager they should be.....modeling their behavior after their elder.....NO!....they should be rebelling against them” The eternal struggle in his head was interrupted by Grace gentle hand touching his shoulder.
The boys set the bags on the kitchen table. Caroline thanked them and they took their leave heading off to school. It didn’t take her long to clean up the remnants of Dustin’s pizza dinner, but it saddened her to see that the box had come from one of the town’s less healthy pizzeria. Caroline enjoyed the occasional slice of pizza herself, but she used only the freshest ingredients to make them. As she set about putting the supplies away she overheard Grace talking to Dustin.
“Did you have a chance to read any of the material we left for you?” Grace asked. “Do you have any questions for me?” “No I haven’t” Dusty looked down and to his surprise he noticed he was holding The Book of Zion. “To be honest I really think you lady are wasting your time with me” “I’m sorry you feel that way,” Grace said . “But since part of our mission is to prepare to be good wives to our husbands, I hope you will allow Sister Caroline and myself to tidy your living room.”
“We can do it while you have breakfast,” Caroline said from the kitchen doorway. Behind her on the table Dusty could see a plate of French toast. She’d made it using bread she’d prepared with her own hands. While an excellent cook all around, everyone who had tasted it agreed Caroline made the most delicious bread. She had made some for the sandwiches that the Center provided in its soup kitchen. Most of them managed to tune out whoever was reading Scripture during the meal, but the ones who ate Caroline’s bread had actually paid attention.
While Dusty ate Grace and Caroline tidied the living room humming “Sisters in Zion”. The more obvious trash they bagged up for disposal but Caroline wasn’t certain what to do with his magazines and comics. At first Dusty was mildly annoyed by the humming. “How can they like that music” He thinks to himself " it is so.....Inspiring...No....HOLY.....NO!.....it’s Boring.....My music is ....Negative...NO!!......Demonic.......NO!!!!!". Just as he finished up his meal he looked up and saw Grace standing next to him holding one of his comic’s and Caroline by her side holding a Book of Zion. “I see you like superhero” Grace said “Um.....Yeah?” He replied “Well the Book of Zion has many superhero in it. If you like Sister Caroline can read you a story about one?".
Dusty tried his best not roll his eyes in front of the Sisters, but he was inside his head “oh brother....be nice dusty and try not to sound to much like a dick when you tell them......” “.....Um...Sure” he said much to his surprise Caroline opened her own copy, but in fact she needn’t have bothered. She had this particular story memorized. “Within a generation of landing on the new shore, the tribe began looking to the natives of the new land and emulating their ways. Some of the Elders favored this but the others spoke against it citing the sins of the ancestors as the reason they had been forced to flee the Holy Land. The dissension threatened to fracture the tribe even as Israel and Judea...”
“In these perilous times there was a woman called Mari whose father had conceived her in sin. In his weakness he would not own her. Her mother took no husband but laid down as a wife with any man who would pay, and Mari was left to run wild with none to care for her.” Caroline couldn’t repress a shudder at this part. Grace reached over and gently squeezed Caroline’s shoulder to encourage her to continue.
“When she grew to womanhood Mari began to whisper against the Elders and the Law. She spoke of the other tribes of the New Land where women ruled and men served. Her words spread like pestilence through the tribe. “’We must kill this young woman who threatens to overturn God’s Holy Law’ some of the Elders proclaimed. ‘Already she turns daughter against father, wife against husband. She will bring our people to desolation and ruin.’
“But the priest Elazer saw differently. Himself an orphan, adopted into the household of a scribe saw that Mari was but the pawn of the Adversary who had infected her heart. ‘Give her into my keeping,’ he said. ‘She may yet be turned from this downward path.’ “Elazer was held in such esteem for his piety and wisdom that the Elders agreed and Mari was brought to Elazer’s household. Upon her arrival his wives stripped her of the men’s clothes she wore, bathed her and dressed her as befitted a virgin of Zion. Elazer laid hands upon her and prayed that she would no more be a mouthpiece for the Adversary. In that moment, Mari was struck mute.
“Forty days and nights she lived as a daughter in Elazer’s home learning womanly virtues from her foster mothers and sisters. When she rebelled, he chastised her flesh as prescribed by God’s Law. Over time her rebellion lessened until she was a humble handmaiden of the Lord. One day when a man assailed her in the market thinking her a whore, Elazer rebuked him.
‘It is men such as you, weak and enslaved by the appetites of the flesh, who corrupt virgins and then blame them for becoming what you make them who are bringing ruin to our people. Would you plant a tree, neglect it, and then wonder why it fails to bear good fruit? I can only hope that this Daughter of Zion will forgive me for not doing my duty earlier.’ Turning to face Mari he said, ‘Had I taken you in when your earthly father abandoned his duty, you would not have suffered to grow up as you did, Mari.’
“In that moment the young woman’s heart was purged of its bitterness. The Adversary could no more make use of her and departed. Free of his taint she saw clearly the life Heavenly Father decreed for her. ‘Call me Odelya,’ said she dropping to her knees before him, ‘for I will thank the Lord every day of my life for delivering me unto you, who have been my father and shall be my husband.’” Caroline closed the book.
“So what do you think of that story” Grace asked Dusty was ahew struck not just because of the blatant historical inaccuracy of the story but of the pure sexism it promoted. “How can you as women be for this?” he asked he could understand men reading this story with glee while it rekindle the long extinguish myth of Male superiority, but why would women. “Because it is Heavenly Father will” Grace replied “That it!....Her I get” pointing at Caroline “She grew up in this, but you how did they brainwash you” Dusty expected at least some change of expression on Grace part but she just kept smiling. “Your right I have been brainwashed” Grace exclaimed Dusty was shocked by this admission. “But it was blessing.....when we wash something it is because it was filthy and before I was introduce to the TRUTH of the ONE TRUE CHURCH my mind and soul was filthy like Mari I was corrupted by the adversary and lead astray by men like her father, men like the man in the market, men like you Dustin” “Like Me!” Dusty exclaimed
“How many women would do what I did in my sinful past if men like you had not encouraged it?” Grace tried to speak matter-of-factly but was unable to keep a note of bitterness from her voice. In the three days following her conversion she had wept and raged against the men who had begun and then encouraged her corruption. On the third evening Brother Matthew, her spiritual father had called her into his study.
“Grace, I understand your feelings about your former trainer and manager. In many ways I share them, but I cannot allow you to wallow in them or you will be worse off than before. Unlike them, I shall not shirk my responsibility to chastise you when you need it.” Afterwards Grace had thanked him for loving her enough to discipline her and together they had prayed that she would continue to grow into being a humble handmaiden. Recalling that moment she bowed her head. “My apologies, Dustin,” she said. “It is not my place to judge you.”
A strange sense of power came over Dusty. Strange in the sense that it felt quite natural “I feel....” the thought wander in his mind “strong.....No...strong like Elazer......NO!” “No worries....I just think it unfair for you to come here knowing so little about and call me weak” Dusty said “But I am weak....” the thought pop into his mind “NO!.....Weak like Mari father.....NO!.....Weak like the Man in the Market.....NO!........My Weakness Corrupts Women......NO!”
“Dustin, are you all right?” Caroline asked laying a hand on his arm. “I could make you some tea, if you want. Please tell me what you need me to do.” The nurturing sound of her voice sent a warmth through his body “Yes....um....Tea would be nice” In what seemed a matter of moments Caroline brought him a cup (or rather a mug since he didn’t have proper tea cups) of the special blend of tea her mothers made for her father when he verged on being overwhelmed.
“A wife is called a helpmate because that her purpose,” Mother Kelsey had once said to Caroline’s Sunday school class. “The greater the authority, the greater the responsibility, and the greater his need for solace. It is a wife’s task to provide that solace for her husband, to make his house into a home and sanctuary where the tribulations of the world cannot intrude. “Here.” Caroline knelt before him the way she’d seen her mothers do and held up the mug for him to take. As Dusty grab hold of the mug he looked into her eyes her Deep....Blue...Eyes....He was struck with a sudden desire to protect and care for her it felt so Natural. “Thank You...Sister”
“It’s my pleasure to serve you,” Caroline replied. She felt a reluctance to stand. It seemed like the most natural thing for her to be on her knees in front of him. With almost every other man, except her father, she knelt out of respect for their patriarchal authority, but this felt more intimate somehow. “Well we let you enjoy your tea while we gather your laundry” Grace said “My Laundry?” Dusty replied “Yes, from the looks of its, it been needing taken care for sometime. We will have done and back to you tomorrow”
Caroline was grateful she’d brought extra laundry sacks. Some of his undergarments were past hope, only fit for burning and would have to be replaced. When the Sisters were ready to leave Caroline said, “I made a chicken casserole and put it in your refrigerator. It’ll only take ten minutes to warm in the oven.” She hoped he wouldn’t put it in that microwave contraption since she was sure it would ruin the food.
Dusty was impressed to see how the Sister handle bags of laundry as they walked away and felt ting of guilt for not helping them. As he showered the strangest of the morning gave way to the thought of what was to come with the rest of his day. As he applied the body wash he notice a scent he hadn’t smelt before which lead he to look at the bottle. “Heavenly Scent?....I didn’t buy this” he thought. Once he dried off he walked over to the mirror to run a comb through his hair. He couldn’t be sure but his hair seemed shorter and....and....“when did I shave?”
After a second upsetting encounter with the old man with the scraggly beard, Caroline set to work fixing Dusty’s wardrobe. Some of his things were so worn out they weren’t even fit to be rags. This section of the Mission Center had once been a Laundromat. The barbershop next to it had been taken over by Brother Matthew who’d expanded it to include shower facilities. Grace had gone there to confess her slip-up this morning.
Once she was finished here Caroline would head over to the Barracks to help prepare dinner for the bachelors in the Nephi Brotherhood. Let’s see, she said as she began to sort through the mountain of dirty clothing, wash, scrap, wash, scrap, burn, wash, burn... Granted working at a comic book store wasn’t coal mining. But having to monitor endless nerd debates like who is better Marvel or DC can take its toll. When Dusty got to his door he noticed that it was unlocked. Since only one other person had a key he rolled his eyes and sighed “Shit...not tonight’ he walked in and Freddy was at the table eating the meal Caroline had prepared for him
“Hey, babe,” she said with her mouth full. “When’d you get so domesticated, huh? This is some seriously good shit.” He didn’t know why but he was turned off by her using profanity and the fact she talked at with her mouth full. “I...I bought it...one of those pre made meal....where have you been....or more like who have you been with?” Freddy laughed and slumped in her seat. “That’s none of your damn business.” This time tiny globules of food sprayed over the table Caroline had polished to a high shine. “Oh, come on, Dusty, baby,” she said reaching up to pinch his cheek, hard, “you look like you’re not happy to see me.”
“I’m still soar from the last time you where here” Dusty replied as looked at her, that passage from the book of zion flashed in his head. “When she grew to womanhood Mari began to whisper against the Elders and the Law. She spoke of the other tribes of the New Land where women ruled and men served. Her words spread like pestilence through the tribe.” “Oh, I see you got a visit from these wackjobs,” she said holding up the brochure. She’d taken the time to blacken the prophet’s teeth and draw several harsh, angry lines over his eyes. There was something downright creepy about those eyes. “Do they even know what century it is?”
“Oh their harmless” Dusty said it feeling strangely protective of them. He looked at Freddy with her tattoos and dreadlocks and wonder for a brief moment what she would look like if she dressed like them and then another passage invaded his thoughts”Upon her arrival his wives stripped her of the men’s clothes she wore, bathed her and dressed her as befitted a virgin of Zion. Elazer laid hands upon her and prayed that she would no more be a mouthpiece for the Adversary. In that moment, Mari was struck mute.”
“Hey,” Freddy leaned forward and lightly (for her anyway) slapped him across the face. “You keep zoning out on me.” “Jesus Again with hitting” Dusty felt odd using the lords name in vain. Freddy set the empty plate on the table and hopped to her feet. “Come on. I wanna fuck.” Dusty had no time to object as Freddy grab his hand and lead him to the bedroom. She grab hold of his shirt and pull in and bite his lip then threw down on the bed and jump on top of him.