Assignment to Sin (2 page)

When
I drove onto the farm on my next assigned day I saw Leah working in the garden
again. Shaking my head, I pulled up in front of the porch to have a word with
Prudence before joining Leah.

“Leah
is in the garden,” Prudence reported as soon as she opened the door.

“Yes,
I know. I saw her as I drove in, but I wanted to have a word with you before
joining her,” I replied. “Do you mind if I come in for a minute?”

I
could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t very happy with the request.
“This is the kind of interruption that I was referring to in our initial
conversation. We have a strict schedule in our family and little interruptions
can prevent us from getting our work done.”

This
lady was really starting to piss me off. “Look, I’m here to help you. I’m not
here to fight with you, and I have some questions that an elder or you need to
answer.”

Shaken,
Prudence stepped aside and motioned for me to enter. “No, don’t go bothering
anyone else,” she stammered. For some reason her voice seemed to have taken on
a nervous quality. “I will do my best to answer any questions that you have as
long as you don’t try to pry too much.”

“Well,
it’s like this. The main purpose of this project has been to find a resolution
to the problem of this community’s dwindling numbers. I must admit I’m a little
confused as to why it has taken all of this time to figure out the answer to
your problem. After spending only one day here with one person it’s clear to
see what the answer is.” I didn’t want to mess anything up with the
university’s status with this community and I certainly didn’t want to do
anything to cause Professor Bryant to be mad at me, but this lady and the
adults of this community really could not be this dense.

The
blank look on her face indicated to me that I would have to spell it out.
“Young people like to have time to do enjoyable activities. They like to have
opportunities to come together and have fun. That’s not possible when their
days our filled from daylight until dark with chores and Scripture studies.”
Prudence’s neck was beginning to glow and I could tell that I had struck a
nerve.

“You
obviously were not trained up properly. Therefore, you wouldn’t have any
interest in the chores required for the upkeep of a farm or the study of
Scripture. As a matter of fact, our Scripture study guides us in our daily activities.
Idle hands are the devil’s work,” she added with the emphasis on the word
devil.

That
devil’s work bit must have been one of their favorite quotes. “Yes, I know that
you scare your children into thinking that they’re going to go to the devil if
they have a little fun. I heard the idle hands quote from Leah yesterday,” I
reported.

“As
you should have if you were trying to pull her away from her chores,” Prudence
stated matter-of-factly. “You were warned on your first day here that if your
interaction with our youth interfered with chores you would not be allowed to
come back. I’m warning you again, for the last time, that if you try to
convince Leah that she and the other youth are unhappy here because of chores
you will not be allowed back. Consider yourself warned and I’m watching you.”

Oh
no, I had to think fast. The last thing I needed was for her to report back to
the University that I was doing something wrong here. If Professor Bryant found
out that would be the end of any hope I ever had of us hooking up.

I
put the biggest smile on my face that I could muster. “I’m so sorry ma’am. I
think you may have misunderstood me. I wasn’t trying to convince Leah not to do
her chores. I merely suggested that we go for a walk and she advised me that
that wasn’t permitted. So, you should be proud of her. I guess she’s just living
the life that you taught her to live and if that’s important to you and to her
than so be it.” I was back-stepping out of my little tirade as fast as I could.

Prudence
moved away from me. “If there’s nothing else, Lorin, I need to get back to work,”
she said.

I
was dismissed. What a bitch.

~~~~~

Leah
smiled, leaning on her hoe when she saw me walking between the bean plants.
Bless her heart. Her hands were red from rubbing up and down on the hoe handle.
Seeing this made me feel even worse.

“I
saw you drive in and was kind of surprised that you went straight to the house.
Is everything okay?” Leah asked, looking worried.

“Oh,
sure!” I said, just a little too fast. I didn’t want Leah to know about the
conversation that had taken place between her mother and I, so I changed the
subject. She seemed genuinely glad to see me again. She recounted all of the
chores that she had already performed since she got out of bed that morning. I
was a little reluctant to get started with my interview questions, but that’s
why I was there, so I began.

After
only a few questions I decided to veer away from the format a little. “Leah, is
there anything in your life for you to really get excited about?” I sat on an
overturned pail, studying her face.

Her
face turned a slight shade of red. “Well, there is one thing that I have to
look forward to.” She smiled, shyly, and put her head down.

“Well,
don’t keep me in suspense, silly,” I teased. “Let’s have it.”

“I’m
to be married after the harvest. His name is Jacob and we’ve been betrothed for
some time,” Leah blurted out.

This
was an interesting revelation. The poor girl was set to get married in a few
short months and probably wasn’t even allowed to spend any time with her
fiancé. “Congratulations! Why didn’t you tell me about your fiancé yesterday?
That is exciting! How long have you been engaged? Have you known your fiancé
for long?” I hoped I wasn’t throwing too many questions at the poor girl at
once.

“We’ve
known each other since we were children. We’ve only been engaged since we
turned 18. When young women here turn 18, the elders begin to arrange
marriages.” Leah looked away when she finished speaking, appearing a little
uncertain about her arranged marriage.

I
wasn’t uneasy approaching the subject. “I didn’t realize that arranged
marriages were a modern-day institution. So, someone other than the two parties
involved decided that you two would be married?”

“Well,
we had to agree to the marriage and this arrangement was only reached after
many weeks of meetings,” Leah said.

That
didn’t seem so bad. At least these two weren’t forced into being married. “What
is your fiancé like? Do you get to spend much time with him? I know you said
you’ve known him since you were children, but have you had much interaction
with him since you’ve been engaged?”

Leah
took a moment to construct her response. “We get to sit together in church
every week and our families have a big dinner together once a month,” Leah
said, smiling.

She
seemed a little bashful when speaking about Jacob, but after talking at length
about what type of person he was and the qualities he had, I realized that it
was more out of apprehension than anything else. Leah really hadn’t had much opportunity
to spend any time alone with Jacob. This situation was really going to make
their marriage, and especially their wedding night, seem rather awkward.
Realizing this, I had an idea.

“Leah,
I think it would be really nice if I could get to meet Jacob and maybe we could
work on arranging some time for you two to be together alone.” Leah’s wide-eyed
countenance betrayed her alarm.

“Oh,
no! That would not be permitted! Any time that Jacob and I spend together must
be sanctioned and approved by the elders,” Leah exclaimed.

I
could see this wasn’t going to be as easy as I had first thought. “Okay, we
won’t plan on that then. But, do you think it would be possible for me to get
to meet Jacob?” There had to be more than one way to get around the elders
strict rules.

Leah
thought for a moment. “Now that I think about it, Mama did want me to deliver
some jams to their farm later today. Jacob will probably be working on getting
their new barn raised. We might be able to see him then.” She still wasn’t
certain about our little plan, but she was more relaxed with things this way,
than with actually trying to arrange a meeting.

After
Leah finished her chores, and we had a quick lunch, she gathered the jams to
carry over to Jacob’s farm. Since she wasn’t allowed to ride in my car, we had
to take the horse and buggy. I could tell that Leah was nervous. I wasn’t sure
if she was afraid that I would say or do something to embarrass her, or if it
was just that being around Jacob always made her nervous.

Sure
enough, as we drove up the drive to Jacob’s farm, we could see the men working
outside on the barn raising. Leah pointed to a handsome blonde carrying lumber
towards the barn. “That is Jacob,” she reported, pointing to her fiancé.

Jacob
was quite handsome, with a stocky frame, and I could tell that he was very
muscular. “Nice. He’s quite handsome,” I replied.

We
drove around behind the farmhouse and went to the kitchen door to deliver the
goods. Jacob’s mother, Sarah, was a nice lady and much friendlier than Prudence.
She invited us in to sit at the table with her and have a glass of lemonade.
While we were sitting there, someone knocked on the kitchen door and our
hostess went to answer the door.

“Leah,
Jacob is requesting your presence on the porch,” Sarah said. “Lorin, would you
care to accompany her so that you may act as chaperone?”

Startled
by this request and new appointment I nodded and rose from my seat. Leah
stepped outside onto the porch and I followed. There on the swing was Jacob
grinning from ear to ear.

“Hello
Leah,” Jacob began, “this is a nice surprise.”

His
gorgeous blue eyes studied her face for a moment and then traveled to greet
mine. Jacob’s eyes quickly traveled up and down my body, taking in my attire.

“Who
is your friend and to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Jacob asked.

“Hello
Jacob. This is Lorin and she is the summer intern working on the University
outreach project. I had to come to deliver some jams and thought it would be
nice if she could meet you.” I could tell that Leah was tense and realized that
it was largely due to the fact that this little impromptu meeting would
probably be frowned upon by the elders.

I
stepped towards Jacob with my hand outstretched. He accepted my hand, pumped it
up and down one time, and quickly retracted. “It’s nice to meet you Jacob. As
Leah stated, I’m here in your community carrying on the research that was
started in previous summers. I hope to be able to interview you at some point,
if that’s possible.” I waited, checking his face for any signs of agreement. “I
understand that any interaction between you and I would need to be approved by
Leah’s father. Hopefully, I will be able to arrange this with him in the near
future and then you will be notified as well,” I said.

Jacob
rose quickly from his seat. “That would be fine, as long as you seek approval
from the elders for us to speak,” he replied. Nodding quickly in Leah’s
direction and then back in mine, Jacob turned and headed down the porch steps.

Confused,
I turn to Leah. “Did I say or do something wrong?” I asked.

“No,
it’s not that,” Leah replied. “Like most of the men here in the community,
Jacob is not used to spending any time with a woman, other than his sisters or
mother.”

“Well,
I hope that he didn’t take my offer to interview him as anything inappropriate.
We can even be accompanied by you or another adult if that would make him feel
more comfortable,” I told her. Good grief! The guy was acting like I was going
to jump his bones! Of course, he was probably taught to be scared to death of
women who weren’t in his family.

Leah
shrugged. “He just isn’t used to getting attention from a woman. I mean the
only time he’s ever around a woman other than family members as when he sits
beside me in church,” Leah reported.

I
thought about it for a minute and then realized that Leah was going to need
instruction in how to interact with men. Here she was marrying this guy and
they couldn’t even say more than a few words to each other. I looked her in the
eye. “If you want your marriage to be an easy transition and if you want to be
more comfortable you really should try to spend a little more time together with
Jacob prior to your wedding night.”

Leah
blushed. “What are you saying?” she asked. “We must remain pure prior to lying
together in the marriage bed. It would bring shame to our families and to the
community to do anything to spoil ourselves before our marriage,” Leah said,
shaking her head.

“I
am not suggesting that you fool around or anything. I’m only saying maybe you
could spend some time together in conversation. It really would make things
less awkward if you knew some things about each other before you start your new
life together.” I waited for Leah to reply.

“I
don’t know. The elders really wouldn’t approve of any meetings that they
weren’t in charge of or involved in,” Leah said. Her voice took on a wistful
tone. I knew that she wished things were different.