right?â
âAnd the sailorâs my son. Sarabethâs a nurse, Alexandraâs an engineer, Toni teaches American Lit at BYU, and Gordon is chief petty officer on the
U.S.S. Enterprise
. Gordonâs out in the Persian Gulf right now, but we still manage to keep in touch.â He motioned to a small tape recorder that sat on a side table. âWe make recordings and send them back and forth to each other. I never got the hang of email, but the tape recorder still beats letters. Uh, before you ask, my kids only have one spouse apiece, but Iâm happy to report that between them, theyâve given me fifteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren!â His elation vanished as quickly as it had arrived. âSure wish they lived closer.â
Besides the modern tape recorder, I noticed several other items that conflicted with Virginiaâs description of Purityâs homes.
âSaul, you have a telephone, a big-screen TV, and a stereo! Right out here in the living room! I thought those accouterments of Satan were supposed to be locked away from us dumb, impressionable women.â
He patted the TV, obviously his pride and joy. âEven in my beginning days out here, before it all went sour, I never paid much attention to that kind of stuff. I leave the telephone out so Ruby can call her family any time she wants, not that the girls are always allowed to talk to her.â His voice lowered for a moment. âIâd be careful about using it, if I were you. The Circle of Elders knows too many details about my own phone conversations, and I donât think itâs because Rubyâs spreading the word. She likes to eavesdrop, but sheâs pretty loyal.â
I lowered my voice to match his. âAre you warning me the telephoneâs tapped?â
âI wouldnât be surprised, and donât look so shocked. Do you really think the people around here care about legalities? So, ah, if you need to contact that partner of yours, youâd better ride into town with me when I go for supplies.â
He began to speak normally. âMost of the men here tell their wives and kids that television is dangerous if not managed properly, but I donât mind if you and Ruby watch it every now and then. Just donât go tuning into Oprah or CNN and getting any dangerous ideas about a womanâs proper place.â
The thought of Oprah and CNN being dangerous not only took my mind off my anxiety, it made me smile. I bore little love for the boob tube, but knew the polygamists feared that too much exposure to what they termed the Outside would tarnish the blissful ignorance of their plural wives. Especially the younger ones. Speaking of plural wivesâ¦
I stopped smiling. âWhereâs Ruby? Iâd like to meet her.â
Saul and I had agreed earlier that Ruby should be kept in the dark about my true purpose in Purity, so meeting my âsister wife,â as the polygamistsâ wives called each other, promised to be an interesting experience.
Just as Saul prepared to answer, I heard the squeak of a door down the hall, then soft footsteps advancing toward us.
âSister Ruby? You come on out here, hon. Iâve got someone I want you to meet!â
I tensed, remembering that I was supposed to play the part of a fairly uneducated woman. I didnât see any problem with fooling the compoundâs men, but fooling a woman might prove more difficult. Even when a woman had little formal education, she could easily spot insincerity in another. I braced myself for a dangerous encounter, but when Ruby finally shuffled into view, pity washed away all my apprehension.
If a human being could truly be said to look like a whipped dog, Ruby did. Her coarsely featured face appeared oddly distorted, as if it had been taken apart and then put together again by inexpert hands. Her brown-and-gray hair was twisted into a tight bun as dull and lifeless as broom straw. We did have
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