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Authors: Michael Wallace
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minutes before stealing Fernie.
“So what am I supposed to do?” Charity asked. “Live out my days in this motor home? It doesn’t even run anymore, hasn’t moved an inch in three years. I said I’d wait, I’d honor my covenants. But you promised when you got out we could move back to Zion. I could be with my friends, my family, see my sister wives again. What about that, Taylor?”
“I said you weren’t going to stay here, and I meant it. Get your things, put them in my car. We can be out of here in twenty minutes and never come back.”
“And where will we go then? Zarahemla?”
“What is that, a joke?”
“Jacob said he’d take me in. Eliza was kind, too. Fernie lives there, she would welcome me.”
“And live under Jacob Christianson’s thumb? I don’t think so.”
“The True and Living Church might take us in,” she said. “And Jessie Lynn said two of my nephews started a community north of Beaver. Do you know anything about them? Maybe Colorado City?”
“None of those places are safe,” Kimball said.
“What do you mean, safe? Is someone trying to hurt us?”
“It’s time for us to make our choice.”
He stood and walked ten or fifteen feet away from the fire to where he could better see the stars. It was a clear night, and they glittered overhead, thick as snowflakes in a wide band across the sky. A chill gust blew in from the higher desert, and Charity’s tarp flapped where it had come loose. Then the wind died and he could hear the fire crackling and popping once more.
Charity made her way to his side and took his arm. “What kind of choice?”
“I’d forgotten how bright the stars are. Sometimes they’d let us into the yard at night, but there were spotlights everywhere. The first two nights out I spent in towns where you can barely see Venus. But here they’re so close, it’s like we’re clinging to the skin of the earth and hurtling through the heavens.”
“Taylor?”
He turned, looked at her face, reflected in the glow of firelight. “Abraham is a fallen prophet, Charity. The Holy Ghost confirmed it in my heart. He’s like all the others and will be swept away at the coming of the Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord.”
“I don’t know about that, and I don’t care. I just want to go home.”
“He rebuked us. Cast us down. We have no choice but to take the side of his enemies.”
“What enemies? Will you be clear? I can’t understand any of this.”
“We’ll retreat into the wilderness to find the true path—that’s the only solution.”
“I already live in the wilderness, and I don’t want to find anything—I want to go home!”
He took her by the shoulders. “There is no home for us. Not yet, not until we claim it. And we can’t claim it until we’re pure and righteous. Taylor Junior told me that. He was right.”
Her shoulders slumped and she looked to the ground. He pulled her closer and she didn’t resist. She smelled sour, unpleasantly so, but he didn’t push her away. “You’ll see,” he continued. “It will be okay. Just trust in me and I’ll trust in the Lord, and we’ll go home to Blister Creek soon enough.”
“But not now.” It wasn’t a question, it was a resigned statement.
“No, not now. Now we’ll follow our new prophet into the wilderness.”
CHAPTER SIX
Jacob walked around the pickup truck, confused. It was a powder-blue Toyota 4x4, one of the older trucks from the ranch. Last time he’d seen it, the truck had been in Harmony, Alberta, but now it had Utah plates and dust had scoured the paint down to metal in places.
“You’re sure?” Miriam asked.
“Positive.”
David wiped his face and the back of his neck with a handkerchief. He wore a canvas hat and mirrored sunglasses. “Come on, Jacob, there have got to be a zillion trucks like that on the road. How do you know it’s his?”
Jacob squatted in front of the bumper. “I made this dent myself. I was coming back to the ranch one night and
“So what am I supposed to do?” Charity asked. “Live out my days in this motor home? It doesn’t even run anymore, hasn’t moved an inch in three years. I said I’d wait, I’d honor my covenants. But you promised when you got out we could move back to Zion. I could be with my friends, my family, see my sister wives again. What about that, Taylor?”
“I said you weren’t going to stay here, and I meant it. Get your things, put them in my car. We can be out of here in twenty minutes and never come back.”
“And where will we go then? Zarahemla?”
“What is that, a joke?”
“Jacob said he’d take me in. Eliza was kind, too. Fernie lives there, she would welcome me.”
“And live under Jacob Christianson’s thumb? I don’t think so.”
“The True and Living Church might take us in,” she said. “And Jessie Lynn said two of my nephews started a community north of Beaver. Do you know anything about them? Maybe Colorado City?”
“None of those places are safe,” Kimball said.
“What do you mean, safe? Is someone trying to hurt us?”
“It’s time for us to make our choice.”
He stood and walked ten or fifteen feet away from the fire to where he could better see the stars. It was a clear night, and they glittered overhead, thick as snowflakes in a wide band across the sky. A chill gust blew in from the higher desert, and Charity’s tarp flapped where it had come loose. Then the wind died and he could hear the fire crackling and popping once more.
Charity made her way to his side and took his arm. “What kind of choice?”
“I’d forgotten how bright the stars are. Sometimes they’d let us into the yard at night, but there were spotlights everywhere. The first two nights out I spent in towns where you can barely see Venus. But here they’re so close, it’s like we’re clinging to the skin of the earth and hurtling through the heavens.”
“Taylor?”
He turned, looked at her face, reflected in the glow of firelight. “Abraham is a fallen prophet, Charity. The Holy Ghost confirmed it in my heart. He’s like all the others and will be swept away at the coming of the Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord.”
“I don’t know about that, and I don’t care. I just want to go home.”
“He rebuked us. Cast us down. We have no choice but to take the side of his enemies.”
“What enemies? Will you be clear? I can’t understand any of this.”
“We’ll retreat into the wilderness to find the true path—that’s the only solution.”
“I already live in the wilderness, and I don’t want to find anything—I want to go home!”
He took her by the shoulders. “There is no home for us. Not yet, not until we claim it. And we can’t claim it until we’re pure and righteous. Taylor Junior told me that. He was right.”
Her shoulders slumped and she looked to the ground. He pulled her closer and she didn’t resist. She smelled sour, unpleasantly so, but he didn’t push her away. “You’ll see,” he continued. “It will be okay. Just trust in me and I’ll trust in the Lord, and we’ll go home to Blister Creek soon enough.”
“But not now.” It wasn’t a question, it was a resigned statement.
“No, not now. Now we’ll follow our new prophet into the wilderness.”
CHAPTER SIX
Jacob walked around the pickup truck, confused. It was a powder-blue Toyota 4x4, one of the older trucks from the ranch. Last time he’d seen it, the truck had been in Harmony, Alberta, but now it had Utah plates and dust had scoured the paint down to metal in places.
“You’re sure?” Miriam asked.
“Positive.”
David wiped his face and the back of his neck with a handkerchief. He wore a canvas hat and mirrored sunglasses. “Come on, Jacob, there have got to be a zillion trucks like that on the road. How do you know it’s his?”
Jacob squatted in front of the bumper. “I made this dent myself. I was coming back to the ranch one night and
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