In the Midst of Tribulation (17 page)

"That might be a little difficult as we live in the same house." Jay stomped upstairs.
Doggedly, Doris followed her. "You need to respect my decisions regarding my daughter."
"Frankly, I'm finding it hard to accord you any respect at all." Jay pulled open one of the doors to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of tequila. Pouring herself a shot, she downed it with a cough.
"That's fine coming from someone with a drinking problem."
"I don't have a drinking problem. I have a problem with you and I'm drinking. Big difference."
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Martha stepped out of her bedroom and looked between the two women.
"Oh, your sister seems to think that letting her daughter be alone with me will either kill or corrupt her." Jay poured another shot. This one she savored with her eyes closed.
"Hey, is that Patron?"
"Yeah. You want some?"
"Damn straight."
Jay giggled. "No, that's why we're having issues." She pulled out another shot glass and filled it with the pale liquid. Pushing it across the table, she grinned at Martha.
"I don't think that your drinking is going to solve anything," Doris hissed.
"There's only one way to solve this and, until that happens, my drinking might just be what saves your life."
"You'd threaten me?"
"No. No threats at all." Jay raised the bottle and an eyebrow at Martha who shook her head. She recapped the bottle and put it back on shelf. "I've tried to be patient and give you the benefit of the doubt, Doris. But you seem bound and determined to make the lives of everyone else around you miserable."
Looking at her sister, Doris asked, "Are you going to let her talk to me like this?"
"Shut up, Doris."
Jay nodded a thank you to Martha. "I'm tired of these almost daily clashes. I get that you're not happy but that's no reason for poisoning the air for the rest of us."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that from now on you need to apply yourself to the principle that if you don't have something nice to say, you say nothing at all."
"You're silencing me?"
"Since you don't seem to have the ability to do it yourself, yes."
"You can't do this."
"You're right. I can't. You have to." Jay glared at her. "And if you don't, I'm not sure I can be held responsible for my actions. You've already had a taste of what happens when I lose control."
Doris stood staring at her with her mouth open. Taking the two empty glasses, Jay dropped them off in the kitchen before she headed out the door.
In her wake, the two sisters just looked at each other. Martha waited for Doris to blow up.
"I can't believe you just stood there and let her say those awful things."
"Doris, I can't protect you anymore. You promised me when we last talked that you'd try to get along. I really haven't seen that you're making any effort at all."
"I am trying. It's just so hard." Doris started to cry. "All of you are against me."
Martha stood fast. "No, we're not. We're all in this together. You are the one keeping yourself apart."
"But I have to."
"Why?"
"Because my eternal soul depends on it."
"Sister, you've lived with me and mine. You've seen the love in my life. How can you possibly think that I'm not made exactly the way God wanted me to be?"
"Because the bible says so."
"Exactly where? After the passages about it being okay to sell your daughter into slavery? Or the one's about it being okay to rape someone if you offer to marry them afterwards?"
"Homosexuality is an abomination."
"So is eating shellfish and getting tattoos but I've never seen you turn down an oyster and that rose on your shoulder isn't exactly invisible."
"I just know what I've been told," she wailed. "I don't want to go to hell."
"What you've managed to do is make this a hell on earth." Martha clasped her hands together. "Please, leave the judging to God."
Doris threw herself into her sister's arms. "Don't hate me!"
"Sweetheart, I don't hate you. Life is hard enough without hate." Martha patted the sobbing woman's back. "Just try to be a little more tolerant."
"I don't mean to..."
"What you mean doesn't matter," interrupted Martha. "The results are all that concern me. You have to accept that no one here shares your particular belief system."
"I feel so sorry for them."
"Don't worry. Believe me, they are filled with as much pity for you."
"How dare they?"
"Knock off that holier than thou attitude." Stepping away from her, Martha pointed a finger at her sister. "From this point forward, no more snide remarks, no more baiting, and absolutely no more boundless accusations.
"I don't know if I can."
"Well, if all else fails, why don't you simply try to keep your distance from Jay?"
"If you say so." Doris wiped her face. "Um, Martha?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't think we should have alcohol left out like that?"
"Like what? She put the bottle back in the cabinet."
"There is no lock. Think of the children."
"I trust the kids."
"There's no need to put temptation into their way."
"It's not like they're ever left alone in the house. I don't think you need to worry about it."
"That's the difference between the two of us. You don't worry enough and I worry too much."
"No, the real issue is that you tend to worry about things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things. We're working for our very survival here, Doris. We don't need to waste our time getting wrapped around the axel with something that doesn't matter."
"Are you saying that my caring about my daughter means nothing?"
"No, just that you need to start caring about more important things." Martha began to pace. "We need to make sure that we have enough food to feed us through the winter and enough firewood to keep us warm. An open bottle of booze is not the end of the world."
"It's how things start. Don't you get it? The same thing happened in the country. Every blessed person willing to turn a blind eye to sin."
"No. The way things started is that some people refused to accept that they aren't the center of the universe. Just because you're white and hold as truth a particular version of the bible doesn't give you the right to force your ideas down everyone else's throat."
"You can't tell me that you don't believe that there aren't moral absolutes."
"Not really. I believe that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, everything else is relative. I've stolen to feed my family and I'll kill to protect them. I guess you could say that my ethics are situational." Martha pinched the bridge of her nose. "We've gotten a little off topic here. Your issues with the state of our souls notwithstanding, I want you do your fair share without us having to tell you and I expect that you'll keep a civil tongue in your head."
Gritting her teeth, Doris nodded. "Fine."
"Good. Now, how about you come with me to chop the rest of the log out front? We need to get that area cleared so that we can bring another log down." Martha led her sister out of the house and into the sunshine.
Chapter Fourteen - A Mighty Fortress is Our God
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
Words & Music: Martin Luther, 1529
"Oh, man. You should have seen it!"
"Seen what?" Susan asked. She came out of the kitchen to see Piper and Martha roughhousing in the living room. "What are you two doing?"
"You're looking at two of the baddest hombres on the mountain." Martha boasted as she got the other woman in a headlock.
"Really? What have you done now?"
"We just brought down that mondo log."
"What?"
Piper blew a raspberry on Martha's side and grinned when she was released. "Yep. It's over by the pond. We couldn't get it any further on our own."
"I thought we were going to leave that one until everyone to go up and help bring it down."
"Help? We don't need no stinking help," cried Martha in a bad, Spanish accent.
"You two are in amazingly high spirits for people who are about to get a lecture on safety and teamwork," Susan stated as she set plates down on the table. "You're lucky that I don't even know where to begin the lecture."
"Well, you could just forget about it," Piper said hopefully.
Susan shook her head. "No way. I'm not just going to ignore your doing something potentially dangerous and extremely foolish. Now sit down for lunch."
In a small voice, Martha asked, "Are you really mad at me?"
"I'm a little disappointed, darling, but I'm sure we'll work it out." To erase the sad look on her lover's face, she leaned over and kissed her soundly. She then had to wipe her lips with the back of her hand. "Wow, you're salty."
"It feels good to be active again."
Flexing her arms, Piper kissed each of her biceps. "I'm so glad the rains stopped and we could get out there and use these babies."
Jay took her place at the table. "What are we going to do with you two when winter hits?"
"Oh, God. I hadn't even started to think about that." Susan shook her head.
"May I make a request?" asked Doris.
"Um, sure." Jay looked curiously at her. She had been very quiet for almost a week.
"I would appreciate it if you would refrain from using the Lord's name in vain."
Trying not to roll her eyes, Susan agreed. "Sorry, I just don't know where my head was."
"Thank you. I've made every effort to keep quiet but there are just things that I can't turn a blind eye to."
"Right. We'll try to watch our language." Martha said. "Right, guys?" She received a round of agreement from everyone sitting at the table. Trying to change to subject, she asked, "So, how's the soil turning going?"
"Why don't you ask Doris?"
"Pardon?"
Susan cleared her throat. "We were making good progress on the field until we lost one of our workers."
"Why are you all picking on me? I've been doing what you've asked me to do."
"You know this stuff needs to be done. We shouldn't have to ask you to help."
Martha put her head in her hands and worked on breathing deeply. She was almost at her wits end in dealing with her sister. "Doris," she started to say.
"I can't believe that you're taking their side without hearing mine." She pushed her chair back and stormed out the French doors.
Piper stood up. "Let me go and talk to her." As no one else wanted the job, she was on her own when she left the house in pursuit.
Catching up with her at the woodpile, Piper asked, "So, you want to tell me your side?"
"You don't really care."
"If I didn't care, I wouldn't have followed you out here."
"You're just like the rest of them."
"Unfortunately for you, I don't find that to be a insult." Piper leaned against the pile. "What can it hurt to talk to me?"
"It won't do any good. You stick together like some lesbian club."
"It goes with the secret handshake. Now, it seems to me that you're just defensive because you know you're in the wrong." When Doris didn't respond, Piper went on. "Cat got your tongue?"
"I never!"
"No and that's one of your problems. You've cut yourself off from one of the most fabulous experiences on the planet."
"You are so full of yourself."
Her smile full of dark promises, Piper licked her lips. "To hear my partners tell it, I've got every reason to be so."
"You've got nothing that I would ever want," Doris hissed vehemently.
"I think the lady doth protest too much."
"What are you saying?"
"Just that I don't think that you'd have such a problem if you'd just get laid properly." Piper straightened up and stalked toward the other woman.
"I beg your pardon?"
Taking hold of Doris' upper arms, Piper leaned forward and whispered, "You heard me."
"You're disgusting and you better get your hands off me!" Doris's eyes were wild as she looked into Pipers eyes.
"Shut up while I kiss you." She proceeded to do so, putting her entire body into the interaction. Piper moved her left hand up to cradle the back of Doris' head. The dark hair felt heavy under her fingers as she concentrated on the feel of warm flesh beneath her lips.
"What the fuck!"
Both women took a step back from one another. Martha's shouted question was like a bucket of cold water thrown into their faces.
Reacting without thought, Doris' hand flashed out and she slapped Piper. "I can't believe you did that."
"Oh, like it's my imagination that you were responding to me." Rubbing her cheek, Piper grinned at Doris.
"I think even you are familiar with the phenomena of rape victims physically responding to their attackers." The words from Doris' mouth were coated in ice.
Piper looked like she'd been hit in the gut. Her face lost all color and she swayed slightly. Putting out a hand, she flinched when Doris knocked it away.
"Don't touch me."
Stepping between the two women, Martha asked, "What the heck just happened?"
Doris hissed, "I don't want to talk about it."
Shrugging her shoulders, Piper kept her attention on the ground.
"Speak to me," Martha demanded.
"I've got nothing to say to you or anyone else. Just leave me alone."
"Okay, why don't you stay out here and cool off for bit while I take Piper inside."
"No."
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't want to be around any of you right now." Doris was shivering. She rubbed her hands on her bare arms. "I need to get out here."
"Well, I don't like the idea of you wandering out there by yourself." Martha was really worried about her sister. She had never seen her look so upset. Turning toward the house, she mutely begged Susan to do something.
Stepping outside, Susan called. "Why don't you go with Jay? She won't let you get lost but will let you get as far away as you need." She studied the pale face of Piper. "I think a little distance will do both of you some good."
Jay was standing at her shoulder. "Are you out of your mind? You want me to go with her?" she asked in a whisper.
"She shouldn't be alone right now."
"I don't think that I should be left alone with her."
"You just have to go and keep her out of trouble."
Shaking her head, Jay disagreed. "How do you know she'll be in less trouble with me?"
"You're the local and you've got the survival skills. Face it, Jay, you're the only choice."
"There's got to be a better way."
"No. You have the least invested in this."
"I don't think you should trust me," Jay whined. "Susan, she drives me crazy."
"Please? Do this for me?"
"Don't pull that face on me. It might work on Martha but I'm immune."
Susan stood looking at her with her arms crossed. She slowly blinked her ex lover and allowed her bottom lip to quiver ever so slightly. Eventually, Jay threw up her hands. "Whatever. But know this, if I come back without her, it wasn't my fault."