Page 105 of Kiwi Sin
“Daddyisawesome, though,” Grace said.
“Yeh,” I said. “He is. Because he’s his own man, and he does the right thing.” I wanted to say,It’s not easy to be the son of a man like that,but I didn’t, because I thought Jack might be figuring that out on his own.
Afterward, I went home and took a shower—after scrubbing the bath, because Rowan and Duncan’s moment of housekeeping responsibility had begun and ended with Oriana’s midnight visit—thought about touching Oriana on our bench last night and how she’d started kissingmyneck now, and wished I’d been at the beach with her. I wanted to see her naked, but seeing her in her togs would work, too.
It would probably work a bit too well, based on how my body was reacting to the thought of it, so I got dressed, climbed into the ute, and went over to Dad’s.
Patience opened the door to me, as usual. The flat smelled good, like meat, but not as good as Gray’s house had last night, after Oriana had cooked chicken breasts marinated in lemon and lime juice in the kitchen I’d built. She’d served the chicken with a sort of relish made of avocado and mango, plus green beans and little tomatoes from the garden. The sweet had been a chocolate pavlova spread with cream cheese and topped with cherries and blueberries that had been cooked down a bit to make them tender. I’d eaten too much of that, probably, but it had been hard to resist.
Oh. Patience. She sparkled all over her face and said, “Hi. You’re the last one. I was afraid you weren’t coming, but luckily, here you are! Can I get you something to drink? It’s so hot.”
I said, “I’ll get it, thanks,” felt stiff and—well, dull—as usual, decided that that was better than sparkling back at her, if I’d even known how to sparkle, headed into the kitchen, and stopped short.
There were one too many people around the table. Mum and Dad, Raphael and Radiance with their baby, Uriel and Glory with theirs, Harmony …
And Valor.
My face felt like it had frozen. His hadn’t. He smiled at me—mockingly, which I could see clear as day, so why couldn’t anybody else?—and said, “There you are, cuz. Thought you weren’t going to turn up. Off with somebody more interesting than us, maybe.”
“Yeh,” I said, and couldn’t think how to go on. What I wanted to do was hit him, and then kick him down the stairs again, but I couldn’t, not in my father’s house. He was still smiling. Not calling me “Peter Pious,” because Dad was here, and Valor always had a different face when he was looking at authority. I thought,Jack, if you saw me now, you’d realize how I know about people thinking you’re dull,and just … stood there. Being dull, or controlling my temper.
Dad said, “Reckon we can finally get started, then. Go on and serve us, Constance.”
Mum and Patience did, and then they sat down, pressed even closer than usual with so many around the table, so I felt Patience’s thigh against mine and her shoulder against my arm.
I thought,This has to be because Dad’s got the house, which means there’s no more putting off telling him where I stand,and looked at Raphael. He shrugged a bit and raised his eyebrows, so he probably didn’t know for sure, either. As for Uriel, he looked like he was barely holding himself back. Excited or angry, I couldn’t tell which, but probably angry. It probablywasthe house, then.
So why was Valor here?
The usual stilted conversation as we ate. When we’d finished, though, Dad cleared his throat and said, “Valor says he has something he’d like to share with us.”
If it’s a get-rich-quick scheme,I thought,I’ll pass.
Valor said, “The Prophet is going to be making big changes at Mount Zion, and he asked me to let all of you know first, as he values you so highly. Uncle Aaron, of course, but the rest of you as well. He doesn’t much care that Daisy and her sisters are gone—good riddance, really—but you’re different.”
Dad asked, “What sort of changes?”
“He received a revelation,” Valor said, “that it was time to reorganize. Time to open Mount Zion to the outside world.”
He could have said,Time for Hell to freeze over,and I wouldn’t have been any more surprised. He kept talking, though, and I thought,What?And then, as he went on,No.
I would never have thought I’d do this, but I was doing it anyway. I reached into my back pocket for my phone as inconspicuously as I could, then started typing under the table, cursing my big hands.
Gray’s number, because I didn’t know whether Daisy was working today.Come to Dad’s now,I typed.Bring D & girls.I thought a minute, then typed,Urgent,and hit theSendbutton.Patience glanced at me, and I was sure she could tell what I was doing, but I knew she’d never question me. She wasn’t allowed to, and suddenly, I was filled with such fury, my hands actually started to shake. I set my phone on my thigh, tried to control my breathing, and waited.
Valor was still talking, of course. “It was the right thing, before, to set Mount Zion apart from the sins of the world, but now, it’s time to be that shining city on a hill, an example to follow. Wages will be paid, also, which you’ll all be glad to hear, as you were so worried about that.”
“I don’t think we’re the only ones,” Uriel said.
“Quiet,” Dad said. “Go on, Valor.”
“He’ll be opening Mount Zion to visitors, too,” Valor said, “encouraging them to ask questions and learn more about us. There’s no shame in what we do, and there should be no secrecy, either. There’s going to be a gift shop and a tearoom, and tours of the alpaca processing sheds and the lavender and honey operations. A chance to see the community at work, so everybody can see the happy kids, the smiling faces of the women, and know that this is no slavery, it’s the contentment of people who know they have a place in this world, and in the world to come, too. We’ll have men’s work for sale as well, instead of just women’s. Cutting boards, boxes and bowls, kitchen tools, and so forth, all made of New Zealand woods, showing what real craftsmanship looks like. It’s a growing place, Wanaka. A popular place. There’ll be classes in knitting and woodworking at the weekends, taught by experts, and paid for on that basis. You’ll like that, Aunt Constance. Instead of a few women coming to an out-of-the-way knitting shop on a Saturday, you’ll have a roomful of them every day, learning our ways, God’s ways. If we get tour buses, and we will—how much more will that bring in? Enough not only to pay those wages, but to attract new brothers and sisters to our community. Here, I’ll show you his plans. Uncle Aaron—the Prophet asked me particularly to show you the plans for the new buildings. He hopes you’ll join him to make all this happen, because nobody can do it better than you.” He pulled out some sheets of paper and passed them around. To the men, naturally, not the women.
“Suddenly,” Raphael said. “All of this. Because of a revelation.” He said it skeptically, which more than surprised me. Raphael normally waited for Dad to speak, and “skeptical” wasn’t exactly his middle name.
“At the beginning,” Valor said, “the community needed to close ranks against hostility and husband its resources. Now, we’re nearly six hundred strong, and strong in our faith, too. We can afford to invite the world in. There are heaps of people everywhere who are sick of the diseases of modernity, people longing for quiet and peace and a return to structure, to traditional values and a community based around God’s word. It’s time to let them in—from all over the world—and to grow even more.”
The others were looking at the papers, then at each other, murmuring things. The women, I saw with a quick glance, had their hands in their laps and their eyes downcast, except for Glory, who was looking at Patience. Saying what with that look, I couldn’t tell. Dad stared at them both in turn, they dropped their eyes, and I thought,All these months here, and it switches off just like that?At the very thought of going back, because what else is this all about?
