Mark brought his other girlfriend to meet us. Ann was totally unlike Elizabeth, and we liked her immediately. She was down to earth, outspoken, a little loud, friendly, funny, outgoing. It was impossible not to love her. She was not refined and cultured, but she was real, genuine, human. Yahweh told us right away that this was the true Patricia that Mark was supposed to marry. She and my mom quickly became the best of friends. Ann was fun, she liked kids; she also knew Mark far better than Elizabeth had, loved him openly and with abandon. It hurt her that she had to compete with another woman, but he meant the world to her and she was ready to fight for her man. We all rallied to her cause, told her it was Yahweh's will for her to marry Mark and vowed to help her however we could.
Meanwhile, Mom received a prophecy detailing the exact day on which she would conceive the baby prophet Eliyah. She strolled into the bedroom with an air of triumphant expectation. We were a little grossed out at the idea of Denis/Eliyah having sex with anyone, but we did hope we'd get a baby brother, so we hoped it'd work.
On weekends, we went to the Assembly of Yahweh in Spokane. They were far more mainstream than we were. We saw them as being too comfortable with the status quo to answer Yahweh's true calling. Yahweh told us that they were the church of Laodicea. Also, women had too much influence in their Assembly, a clear sign that their group was in Satan's clutches. After attending the service, we'd drive around aimlessly looking for West Branch road while Denis/Eliyah became increasingly irritated with us for being unable to hear Yahweh clearly enough to find the land he was going to give us.
The fall was coming and we were afraid. We had to be out soon. Mark had allowed us to stay the summer, and in return we'd graveled his driveway and done work on his place, but summer was nearly at an end. Rentals were scarce. We looked at a place or two, including a little cabin in Coolin, on the east side of Priest lake.
The dirt driveway took us to a little shack of a house. We tumbled out of the truck and ran off in all directions to explore the place despite Mom's protestations regarding danger and wild animals. There were big trees. The cabin was made of logs, with a few rows of horizontals, and then vertical logs. The chinking had fallen out in a lot of places; reportedly, the cabin had been built in 1912. it was a funky little place with a lot of glaring flaws and I loved it. The floor had linoleum which had been joined right in the center of the floor and nailed down crudely; the juxtaposition of the pattern created a huge blue zigzag down the middle of the floor. The cupboards were tilting and looked as if they might fall right off the wall at any moment. The bathroom was especially nice- it had old magazine pictures collaged all over part of one wall and wrapping around the corner to part of the southern wall. They were quaint and charming. The first bedroom was in the north eastern corner of the house and so it had logs for two of its sides. It was dark, lit only by a single window. There were old rags stuffed all around the window, apparently to stop drafts. There was a tiny, leaky pantry area. The kitchen, pantry, first bedroom, and bathroom comprised all of the original cabin. The remainder of the house was a more recent addition. It had a larger living room with unfinished drywall and a large picture window and another bedroom which was quite a bit nicer than the first one. This bedroom had cedar paneling and engulfed us in the woody fragrance. It also had at least two good sized windows. I stepped out the back door. The chimney was leaning precariously away from the house, held in place only by a length of chain fastening it to the house. All around me was a thick patch of wild roses full of ripe rose hips. I stood and munched on the rose hips and decided that I liked this place. It was right. It didn't have working plumbing, water, electricity, or insulation, but it was better than a tent or a trailer. Also, there were 10 acres for us to roam around on. I walked back to the front of the house. Sarah and Rachel were saying that the place was a dump, that we should leave already. Raphah and I were excited, even though he didn't like the place half as much as I did. It had its own swamp. It had a meadow and trees. It even had a funny little box with a lid standing about 40 feet away from the house. I mentioned this to Raphah and he started laughing.
"Yeah, but did you see what's in that box?" he guffawed. I went and looked. Old poop and toilet paper. How odd!
Denis/Eliyah thought that the place was far beneath his royal dignity, and Mom agreed. I seemed to be the only one who really liked the place. I argued with them all the way home.
"Where else are we going to live?"
"Yahweh will provide for us. We are his people," Mom replied.
I sat back in defeat. Why were they so willing to dismiss this place when it was the only one we'd seen that was even remotely within our means? I couldn't understand it. Did they honestly expect Yahweh to drop a 40 acre farm with a nice house right into our laps? Not that that wouldn't be nice......
They kept ordering us to pray and seek answers from Yahweh, and they told me that they weren't happy with the answers I received because they didn't answer the question. My answers always told us not to worry, to have faith and to sing songs, etc....because I didn't have any real answers. One day I got tired of being asked. They had sent me into Mark's room to pray, instructing us not to come out until we had answers. I had no idea where the other kids were praying. I closed my eyes and looked for that calm place within me. The answer came to me. Of course that little cabin wasn't the place he wanted to give us! It was a place for us to live until he gave us our true place. The prophecies about the place on West Branch weren't false, but the timing was off. We had to live in the little cabin until he would give us our true home. I wrote all this down with flowery, 16th century English and presented it to them. And just like that, we moved into the place.
Meanwhile, Mom received a prophecy detailing the exact day on which she would conceive the baby prophet Eliyah. She strolled into the bedroom with an air of triumphant expectation. We were a little grossed out at the idea of Denis/Eliyah having sex with anyone, but we did hope we'd get a baby brother, so we hoped it'd work.
On weekends, we went to the Assembly of Yahweh in Spokane. They were far more mainstream than we were. We saw them as being too comfortable with the status quo to answer Yahweh's true calling. Yahweh told us that they were the church of Laodicea. Also, women had too much influence in their Assembly, a clear sign that their group was in Satan's clutches. After attending the service, we'd drive around aimlessly looking for West Branch road while Denis/Eliyah became increasingly irritated with us for being unable to hear Yahweh clearly enough to find the land he was going to give us.
The fall was coming and we were afraid. We had to be out soon. Mark had allowed us to stay the summer, and in return we'd graveled his driveway and done work on his place, but summer was nearly at an end. Rentals were scarce. We looked at a place or two, including a little cabin in Coolin, on the east side of Priest lake.
The dirt driveway took us to a little shack of a house. We tumbled out of the truck and ran off in all directions to explore the place despite Mom's protestations regarding danger and wild animals. There were big trees. The cabin was made of logs, with a few rows of horizontals, and then vertical logs. The chinking had fallen out in a lot of places; reportedly, the cabin had been built in 1912. it was a funky little place with a lot of glaring flaws and I loved it. The floor had linoleum which had been joined right in the center of the floor and nailed down crudely; the juxtaposition of the pattern created a huge blue zigzag down the middle of the floor. The cupboards were tilting and looked as if they might fall right off the wall at any moment. The bathroom was especially nice- it had old magazine pictures collaged all over part of one wall and wrapping around the corner to part of the southern wall. They were quaint and charming. The first bedroom was in the north eastern corner of the house and so it had logs for two of its sides. It was dark, lit only by a single window. There were old rags stuffed all around the window, apparently to stop drafts. There was a tiny, leaky pantry area. The kitchen, pantry, first bedroom, and bathroom comprised all of the original cabin. The remainder of the house was a more recent addition. It had a larger living room with unfinished drywall and a large picture window and another bedroom which was quite a bit nicer than the first one. This bedroom had cedar paneling and engulfed us in the woody fragrance. It also had at least two good sized windows. I stepped out the back door. The chimney was leaning precariously away from the house, held in place only by a length of chain fastening it to the house. All around me was a thick patch of wild roses full of ripe rose hips. I stood and munched on the rose hips and decided that I liked this place. It was right. It didn't have working plumbing, water, electricity, or insulation, but it was better than a tent or a trailer. Also, there were 10 acres for us to roam around on. I walked back to the front of the house. Sarah and Rachel were saying that the place was a dump, that we should leave already. Raphah and I were excited, even though he didn't like the place half as much as I did. It had its own swamp. It had a meadow and trees. It even had a funny little box with a lid standing about 40 feet away from the house. I mentioned this to Raphah and he started laughing.
"Yeah, but did you see what's in that box?" he guffawed. I went and looked. Old poop and toilet paper. How odd!
Denis/Eliyah thought that the place was far beneath his royal dignity, and Mom agreed. I seemed to be the only one who really liked the place. I argued with them all the way home.
"Where else are we going to live?"
"Yahweh will provide for us. We are his people," Mom replied.
I sat back in defeat. Why were they so willing to dismiss this place when it was the only one we'd seen that was even remotely within our means? I couldn't understand it. Did they honestly expect Yahweh to drop a 40 acre farm with a nice house right into our laps? Not that that wouldn't be nice......
They kept ordering us to pray and seek answers from Yahweh, and they told me that they weren't happy with the answers I received because they didn't answer the question. My answers always told us not to worry, to have faith and to sing songs, etc....because I didn't have any real answers. One day I got tired of being asked. They had sent me into Mark's room to pray, instructing us not to come out until we had answers. I had no idea where the other kids were praying. I closed my eyes and looked for that calm place within me. The answer came to me. Of course that little cabin wasn't the place he wanted to give us! It was a place for us to live until he gave us our true place. The prophecies about the place on West Branch weren't false, but the timing was off. We had to live in the little cabin until he would give us our true home. I wrote all this down with flowery, 16th century English and presented it to them. And just like that, we moved into the place.
posted by chamoisee at
4:43 PM
1 Comments:
We had to live in the little cabin until he would give us our true home. I wrote all this down with flowery, 16th century English and presented it to them. And just like that, we moved into the place.
Bravo! Girl was catching on!
Is Dennis still living? I find myself hoping he eventually suffered a lingering, painful death.
--Bink
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