Carolyn Jessop; Laura Palmer by Escape Page B

were rude, none of them obeyed the rules, and she was tired of reminding them day after day of what was expected in class.
    After that, suddenly the rules in sewing class applied to the nusses, too. It was the only classroom in the high school where that was true. (But Mrs. Johnson got some serious heat for the way she treated Ruth. In an effort to make amends with Merril’s family, she invited one of Merril’s other wives, Barbara, to honor our class by teaching us dance aerobics, which was a real hoot.)
    I was one of the people the sewing teacher liked. She let me use her personal sewing machine and would allow me to leave class early if I had finished all my work.
    Since sewing was my last class of the day, this was a real blessing when Brigham began following me home from school.
    I didn’t know Brigham at all. We had never been in school together, plus he was a year ahead of me. But at the public school, we had a class together and for whatever reasons, he decided he liked me, so he began to follow me home.
    On days when I could manage it, I’d leave sewing class early and run home as fast as I could. The minute I got home I ran to my bedroom, breathless but safe. I always tried to study before I had to help Mama with dinner. One day I had only been there a few minutes when Annette bolted into our bedroom. She was laughing so hard she could barely stand up.
    “Annette, shut up, this is not funny!” I said. “I had to nearly run myself into the ground to escape him.”
    Annette was rolling around on the floor in laughter. “Yes, it is funny. The look on his face when he got outside and couldn’t find you was the funniest thing that I have ever seen in my life. He was in such a panic when he realized you were gone. He got on his bike and rode as fast as he could. We were dying with laughter.”
    But this was serious. I said to my sister that I knew I couldn’t outrun him every day, and if our father found out that a boy was walking me home from school he’d yank me right out.
    Only Annette could think this was so funny. She was slapping her hands on the floor of our bedroom, still laughing. Words were not getting through. I grabbed a pillow off my bed and threw it on her and yelled, “Annette, shut up! I am in terrible trouble. He could make it so I can’t go to school. I have fought so hard to get my high school diploma and now this dumb boy could destroy everything.”
    For the next six weeks he kept trying to follow me home, and eventually someone reported to my father that we were walking home from school together.
    My father called me in and said I was disobedient in the ways of God. I should be saving my affections for the man I’d be assigned to in marriage.
    I pleaded with my father and tried to explain that I’d been trying to ditch him. Annette came to my rescue and insisted to my father that I was telling the truth. This saved me. My father believed her and told Brigham’s father to make him stop bothering me. I felt deeply relieved. Now I knew I was really going to graduate and, I hoped, continue on to college.
    I knew my parents wouldn’t let me go directly to college. My goal was to start at the community college and then move on. I had been on the honor roll my senior year of high school and had made mostly straight A’s.
    I was so excited about graduating by the time May arrived. This was the biggest achievement of my life. Since we were the first graduating class of Colorado City High School, nearly the entire community turned out. Our accomplishment was an accomplishment for everyone in the community. Once again, FLDS children were getting a high school education, after nearly a seven-year lapse.
    We were told to arrive two hours early for picture taking and goodbyes. As the time drew near, we all lined up to march across the stage. Nothing happened. More time elapsed. Still nothing. I asked someone why. “We’re waiting for Audrey.”
    After what felt like an interminable wait, the