Olivia opened the door to her house and listened for the sound of Adal’s voice, but it was very quiet, too quiet, so she ran up the stairs to her parents’ bedroom. The door was shut and she heard muffled voices coming from inside the room. She listened with her ear to the door to the unmistakable sounds of sex. Adal was having sex in her parents’ bedroom. Olivia stood with her arms crossed, fuming as each minute passed. When the door opened, she grabbed Adal by the arm. “Hey, loverboy, that’s disgusting. You’re having sex in my parents’ bedroom. How many women do you take in there every day? That woman doesn’t look too happy. Are you sure you know what you’re doing… when it comes to sex, that is?” The woman inside the room was facing away from the door, pulling her long skirt down as she stood.
“Woman, let go of me!” Adal forced Olivia’s hand from his arm and walked off, but Olivia was right behind him.
“You’re not fooling anyone. I grew up here, in this very house, and every cult leader in the country tried to put down roots right here in Horseshoe Hills and just about every other town in Utah.”
Adal spun around and grabbed Olivia by the wrists. “This is not a cult. We are the chosen ones.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “They all said that, every damned one of them. But, tell me, how committed could they have been? Do you see any of them around here now? No, they get all the free sex they want, and from children too, but after a while the IRS comes looking for them, and they scurry on out of town.”
“Woman, I cannot speak for those you may have known. I can speak only for those who have been chosen. And, I do not share my bed with children.”
Olivia followed him down the stairs as he tried to get away from her. “Chosen, you say? Chosen for what, to be your concubines and slaves?” He stopped, turned to her, and started to raise his hand again. “Do it, and you’ll be out of here so fast you won’t know what happened.”
Adal was seething with rage. How dare this woman challenge him? The woman who had shared his bed stood at the top of the stairs with the soiled sheets in her arms. She was silent as she watched Olivia challenge the man to whom she belonged. She would never think of challenging his words or actions, for she knew the punishment for such an act. So young, she thought. She remembered when a young woman named Caroline had joined them. She had an untamed spirit much like Olivia. The chosen ones had not said a word to her about her actions. They had treated her with kindness and acceptance and after a while, she had succumbed. Clara decided that she would do the same for Olivia. When Adal leaves the house, I as well as the others will show her nothing but love, the woman promised herself. She sat down on the top step as she waited for the arguing to cease.