God's Country

Part Nineteen

'We don't see the Bible as it is itself. We see it in relation to a lot of people who surround it. And because we don't care for some of them, we think we shouldn't care for it.'

Susan Glaspell

Elizabeth Buckingham blinked against the light and breathed heavily through her nose as Miss Scott unzipped her tight sleeping gown and freed her head. It was just another morning at Broomwaters. Elizabeth and her father had been guests of the Harrington's for almost three months and she well knew the routine. Miss Scott took one girl at a time. Normally in no particular order, and that morning was the very first to be woken up and released. As Miss Scott gently helped her to stand up, removed her nightdress and started to unlace her night corset, Beth could see Henrietta and Georgina still in their tight cocoons on their beds. She stretched luxuriously as Miss Scott lifted the corset off her, completely ignoring her soiled diaper. No one else seemed to care about such things, and ten hours a night in her sleeping gown was too long for her bladder. In a few more moments, she was in the shower, with the diaper off, and Miss Scott hosed her down before wrapping her in a towelling robe whilst the guardian cleaned her teeth and combed out her long brown hair. Miss Scott was quick and very efficient, so Beth was soon dry, back in her muzzle and mittens, ready to be dressed for the day ahead. Once they were all ready she knew that they would be given breakfast through their feeding tubes, usually some sort of fruit smoothie, and then they would be set to their lessons for several hours. They would all be expected to remain quite still and concentrate hard on earning God's love. Miss Scott would watch them closely all of the time. After lunch through their tubes again, they would either receive visitors or go out themselves. If they went out they would wear their thick cloaks, mantles and veils. Such was a maiden's life at Broomwaters. They were expected to dedicate themselves to God and prepare themselves for marriage. Nothing else seemed to matter, and their guardian was there to make sure that they behaved. Beth had begun to wonder whether her world still existed. She knew that she ought to be back at school but no one mentioned it. She knew that her exams results had to have arrived weeks before, but her father had not told her anything about them. So she wondered if that world was just a dream, something she had imagined, before Miss Scott got her focussed on earning God's love.

However, apart from when she was studying one thing Beth did have was time to think, and she had been thinking a lot about the so-called modern renaissance. Pastor Winstanley often mentioned it in his lessons, and she had heard him preach about it on several Sundays. She was beginning to think that was why she and her father were in Meadvale. As far as she could make out the Pastor wanted to reject modern life altogether. In fact, that seemed to have been the whole intention behind Meadvale, to create a place where the faithful could hide from the ravages of the modern world, but all of a sudden the Pastor wanted to reach further afield and save all the lost souls he could find, including her. She could still hear the endless words in her head, even as Miss Scott was lacing her into her day corset.

"God created man, and only out of man came woman, and woman created sin. Our blessed doctrine, taken from the bible itself, was to remove the opportunity for sin, to protect and cherish our children, and especially our women....to deliver them from evil in the love of our Lord...and for over twenty years we have done so, rejecting the temptations of unnecessary progress and building our own private paradise. But although we thrive, and grow at our own pace, we have built walls between us and those who have not seen the light...we put our own safety and happiness first, we looked after our own and closed ourselves off from the rest of the world as much as we could, for fear that their sickness and perversion would contaminate us, and bring sin back into our lives. I believe we have hidden away for long enough...we are close to God and we carry his message. It is time to reach out and give our heathen brethren a chance to banish sin from their lives. Remember the facts, because these are all reasons to reach out and help others to save themselves...no divorces within the First Congregation, no sex outside marriage, no drink or drugs problems, no transmitted diseases, no runaways, no police records....good grief, we have only had one speeding ticket in the last five years, and that was just because Mr Andrew Holding was hurrying his good wife to the hospital for the birth of their third daughter!" Beth smiled at that thought, even as Miss Scott pulled on her laces, remembering the laughter she had heard in the packed congregation even through her headphones; all male laughter, of course. "Our holy mission now is to translate this amazing success story to others. Instead of shutting out the rest of the world, for fear that they will contaminate us, we need to open our arms and our hearts and embrace others in the belief that we can cleanse them...I call this our modern renaissance. Your elders have already authorised several initiatives to encourage more of our second and third congregations to embrace First Congregation practises...a college program for maidens, so that they can be protected and still further their education is one such initiative...because as we grow we need new guardians as well as more women properly prepared for marriage. It is no use pretending that because we do this ourselves at home, others can do the same. We need to make it easier, and we need to help people to help themselves. We are helping with the costs of conversion for just this reason...free muzzle fittings based on Church attendance, support for parents, a sharing of best practise. We have invested in good local schools but they are already full, and we are increasing the levels of religious education for all pupils. And we are campaigning for our beliefs and creating our own political movement to fight for policies that will make this whole country a better place to live. Mr Charles Buckingham will lead the new Christian Democratic Party at the next election...we will take our policies to every voter in every constituency in the land and we will explain why God's love is right for everyone."