The Rule has gone from my life.
THE POLICE WERE GOOD at finding things out. Hazel, the policewoman, asked me if I had anywhere to go.
‘My brother and sister are in Wellington. My cousin as well.’ I told her their names. ‘I think they went to a worldly relative, but I don’t know their name.’
Worldly. I was worldly now.
Hazel said, ‘I’ll see if there’s anyone by the name of Pilgrim in the Wellington phone book. Wait here, honey. I’ll be back in a tick.’ She returned soon, pressing numbers into the phone while she said, ‘Four Pilgrims in the Wellington area. The phone’s on speaker so you can hear too. Hello? Can you help me? I’m wanting to speak to Daniel or Miriam Pilgrim, or a girl called Kirby.’
‘No one here by those names, sorry.’
I was losing hope by the time she tried the fourth number and a man’s voice answered.
‘Daniel Pilgrim speaking.’
‘Daniel! It’s me, Rebecca!’
Much of the rest of the conversation was lost to me, because I couldn’t stop crying. I did, though, hear him say, ‘Tell her everything will be all right. We’ll book her a plane ticket immediately. Tell her we love her.’
Hazel finished the call. ‘Rebecca, we’d like you to tell us about the Children of the Faith. Don’t leave anything out. Not a single detail. Will you do it?’
I nodded. I was too tired to wonder why she’d asked. She squeezed my shoulder. ‘Hang in there. I’ll bring you a cuppa.’
To speak about the Children of the Faith to worldly people is to take a step along the pathway to eternal damnation.
What did it matter? If Elder Stephen preached the truth, then I was dead and damned already.
When Hazel came back, she brought tea, sandwiches and two uniformed policemen. Their names didn’t stay in my mind but their eyes were kind. ‘Tell us about the religion,’ they said.
But I didn’t know how. I couldn’t think what they might want to know or why they wanted to know it.
Hazel said, ‘Start with Elder Stephen. You left it pretty late to run away. Talk about all that.’
I found it easy enough to tell them about him. They asked questions. ‘Did he touch you? Is that why you were frightened of him?’
I shook my head. I didn’t understand why they appeared worried that he had. But their questions seemed to set my voice free, and for the first time in my life I spoke to worldly people about the Children of the Faith, the Rule and the Elders, even though damnation might be waiting to consume me.
They wrote it all down. They asked more questions. ‘What was the name of the man you were supposed to marry? Has anyone else other than Malachi run away? Kezia? What is her full name? Why did she run?’
‘They made her marry a man without honour. She had a baby. One day she disappeared and I found her under a tree with a knife in her hand.’ I told them about Mrs Lipscombe, and that reminded me of Nurse Katherine. May the Lord forgive me, but I told them what she’d said about Elder Stephen. You watch out for him — he’s a randy old goat. Eighteen children, not eight.
I thought the questions were over, but Hazel asked one more. ‘This Ira — why do you say he’s a man without honour?’
I told them about his lies. ‘We found out later he’d used the time to look at worldly magazines.’
The older officer asked, ‘What sort of work does he do?’
‘He works in Elder Stephen’s office. He does the accounts on the computer.’
When the questions were done with, Hazel patted my hand. ‘I’ve finally worked out why you look so familiar. You and your twin sister — you were the girls at the market.’
Yes, that was us, long ago and in a different life.
THE TWO POLICE OFFICERS took me to the airport in the afternoon. I was worried the Elders would be there, but there was no sign of them. I’d never seen an airport before, but Hazel reassured me she wouldn’t leave me on my own, and helped me get my ticket. She stayed with me till it was time to go.
I knew people were looking at me, at my clothes, and whispering as Hazel walked me to the gate. Maybe the police had told the airline crew about me, because they were kind. ‘You’ve got a window seat,’ a uniformed woman told me. ‘It’s a clear day — you’ll get a good view.’
A girl a bit older than me sat in the seat beside mine. She gave me a grin, took two magazines from her bag and held one out to me. ‘Want to read it?’
I shook my head. ‘Thank you but I want to look out the window.’
‘Ever flown before?’
‘No. This is the first time.’
She glanced at my dress. ‘Figures. Don’t worry if we hit a few bumps. It can be a bit interesting flying into Wellington.’
I smiled at her, but she’d opened her magazine. I wasn’t afraid of bumps or damnation. I was too tired to care.
WE DID HIT BUMPS, but we landed safely. I followed the girl with the magazines from the plane and across the tarmac. My skirt and plait blew sideways in the wind.
‘Rebecca!’
They were embracing me, all three of them — Daniel, Miriam and Esther. They kept their arms around me, leading me up stairs, along corridors, down stairs and out again into the wind.
Miriam kept saying, ‘You’re safe now. It’s okay, you’re safe now.’
Esther said, ‘Hate to say it, Rebecca, but that’s one god-awful dress you’re wearing.’
‘Gently, Kirby,’ Daniel said. ‘Watch your language for a day or two.’
‘Sorry, kid,’ my cousin said.
I wanted to tell her it was all right. I wanted to tell her how much her ideas had helped me. Tomorrow. It could all wait until tomorrow.
‘We’re taking you to our aunt and uncle,’ Daniel said. ‘They’ll help you like they helped us.’
‘They’re truly good people, Rebecca,’ Miriam said.
I couldn’t take their words in. I was too tired to make sense of anything.
Daniel drove. It felt like we were back in Wanganui, with him at the wheel and Miriam sitting in the back seat with me.
It was bliss to have my sister’s arm around me and my brother’s steady hands guiding the car. We soon left behind the flat land to follow winding roads up a steep hill. Eventually, Daniel pulled up outside a house with a little tower on top. The girls helped me out. A man and two women came hurrying out. Daniel told me they were my Uncle Jim, my Aunt Nina, and Esther’s mother Ellen.
The women took one look at me and bustled me away. ‘Sleep,’ Ellen said.
Nina turned down the bed. The nightdress she gave me had tiny blue flowers printed on it. ‘I’m sorry we haven’t had time to get you anything of your own yet,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid this will be too big.’
‘It’s pretty. Thank you.’ It must have belonged to her. She was taller and sturdier than me.
I slept.
Miriam woke me some time later, stroking my face and crooning, ‘Wake up, little sister. You can eat, then sleep some more.’ She helped me put on a pale pink dressing gown.
I ran my hand over the fabric. ‘It’s so soft. Magdalene would …’
Miriam put her arms around me. ‘I know, Rebecca. Believe me, I understand.’ She took me to the bathroom. ‘I’ll come back for you in a minute.’
I looked around the first bathroom I’d ever been to in a worldly house. It wasn’t so different, except for the mirror. I wasn’t ready to look in a mirror.
Miriam was waiting for me. She led me to the dining room. Daniel said grace, a short and simple one Father wouldn’t have approved of. ‘We give thanks for food, friendship and family. We welcome Rebecca and give thanks she is with us. Amen.’
I was still dazed with tiredness. Somebody put food on my plate and I found I was hungry.
‘Back to bed with you,’ Esther’s mother said as soon as the meal was over.
Miriam and Esther took me back to the bedroom, helped me out of the dressing gown and tucked me up as if I was Zillah’s age.