The good wife

 “Astrid has so much to teach us! She has really opened my eyes to so many fallacies we grew up believing,” she leaned forward, as if about to impart a national secret to him “Did you know that the reason why God did not kill Adam and Eve after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was because Eve was better favoured by God than Adam?

"Eve was tempted by the Devil, and when God found out that she had been the one, he did not kill them. Astrid says that surely God would have struck them dead without a moment’s hesitation if it had been Adam that had been weak."

“God made Eve to balance Adam out. He made Eve so Adam could be sacrificed for her wrongs.”

 Hank, a devout and humble Christian man, spluttered at what he heard, aghast that his wife could so easily be turned from what he knew she knew was right.  He suddenly wondered who Astrid Roth was, and who gave her the authority to teach these broken women such nonsense.  He decidied it was of paramount importance to find yout what her agenda was.

 The opportunity to confront Astrid Roth did not come though. Something always seemed to happen just when he decided to go to her house to question her. 

 His truck broke down and he had to walk the seven miles from the farm to town to get the parts he needed. He ended up sleeping in the truck as he could get no one to come fetch him and by the time he reached the truck with the parts it was growing dark and he could not see to do the repair. 

 Then Bill Rogers disappeared. A search party was formed and they tracked for two days through the woods, only to find his body mutilated and with flesh ripped from it and his face set in an expression of pure horror in the woods behind his house.   He saw Bill’s wife, Tina as they dispersed after the search. And the look in her eyes make his hackles rise.  Never had he seen a look of such pure joy on a woman’s face.

 It made him wonder if she could have killed Bill, but he discarded the thought. Tina was as dainty as a fairy and he knew that Bill hadn’t abused her.  He was convinced even further of her innocence when Maryanne told himthat Tina was expecting a baby.

 “Thank God that she’s had Astrid to help her over the loss of her mother. I doubt she would have been able to deal will Bill’s passing so valiantly otherwise.” Maryanne murmured that night in bed.  Even after a lusty romp, the poor man’s terrifying demise was still uppermost in their minds. 

 Maryanne turned to Hank. “I heard one of the sheriff’s boys’ say it looked like Bill had been savaged by an animal.” 

 The words hung heavily in the air between them, enriched by the shock Hank felt at her interest in something so macabre, and his anger at the foolish boys for speaking where the women could hear them. He too had hard the coroner say thy bite marks were from some kind of animal, but to him they had looked all too human.  When he finally spoke he chose his words with care.   “I don’t know how that poor man died, but all I can hope is that he did not suffer too much.” 

 “Oh, but Astrid says that a man’s suffering cleanses his soul. She says-”

 “I do not want t hear another word of what that woman has to say!”  Hank fumed and  jumped up off the bed and stalked over to the window. He stood in silence there for a moment, staring at nothing in particular.   His eyes focused on his wife’s reflection in the small square pane of glass. Her face was a study of shock and surprise at his wild outburst.  Slowly her features melted into the petrified face of Bill Rogers.   He could only imagine the pain and terror the man had experienced. 

 He left the house early the next morning and on a whim stopped at Astrid Roth’s house.  Hank did not care that it was barely six o' clock in the morning.  He needed to tell the woman to stop filling his wife’s head with garbage.