Stealing Flowers

by Edward St Amant

  “Don’t set this girl into their hands, officer,” Una pleaded, “that would be a bad mistake. Can you not see that something is missing from them?”

  “Who are you?” Officer Woods, the sleepy one, asked in an unfriendly manner.

  “Una, the housekeeper of three decades,” she said. “I practically raised this teenager and I can tell you that she isn’t herself. Just leave her with her parents and ask these folks out there to leave.”

  “We’ll see what we can do,” Officer Allen said. “I’ll phone in to get advice, that’s the best I can do on a domestic dispute like this.”

  She looked at the police officers and nodded without enthusiasm. “What’s wrong with my advice?”

  They both laughed, and to be honest, so did I. She seldom loses her cool, although that night she later would. “Una, let us do our job,” Officer Woods said, “and you can go do yours.”

  I saw that Sally was going to be released into the hands of her assaulters and anxiety washed through me. The officers returned to the cruiser for some moments and then came back.

  “Here’s what we’ll do, Mr. and Mrs. Tappet, Christian, and Una,” Officer Allen said. “I can see you are all truly troubled. If you agree to immediately take Sally to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, we’ll accompany you, but you must adhere by the doctor’s decision, whatever it is. You’ll see that this is in the girl’s best interest.”

  “We already know what is in her best interest,” Una replied, “to stay in her home with her parents and the people who love her.” Una looked at them defiantly.

  “If I don’t get out from under Satan’s thumbs tonight,” Sally said and began to cry, “I’ll be lost forever and see the eternal flames of hell. They don’t love me, they love Satan!”

  “She assaulted us tonight,” Una said, rubbing her jaw, “what if we were to press charges.”

  “We don’t place anyone under house-arrest for assault,” Officer Allen said glibly. “She’d be definitely taken out of the house then.”

  Stan, Mary, Una and I huddled for one last try. “Sally, remember at Mike Yardly’s place in Denver,” Una said, “You thanked us for rescuing you from the compound. You said that you loved us and that you were raped by the Elders. You asked us to forgive you and said that you were sorry. Remember the video’s we played for you about David Moses and the books you have upstairs? Please, dear, try and remember.”

  “Satan had control of me then,” Sally said with little emotion, almost robotically, “now I’m free of his influence.”

  Una began to cry and I immediately followed suit, as did Mary. The police took Sally to Essex County Grace Hospital to be evaluated. Una, Mary, and Stan, followed in their car. I went and got Andy and followed in mine.

  After a substantial wait, the resident psychiatrist, introduced herself as Doctor Chancy Hershey. She was a big woman, only slightly less than Una, but stood shorter and younger. Her hair, cut boyishly short had been dyed blond with wild purple streaks, but her dark roots showed as well. She looked like a freak and I instantly hated her. I knew we were in trouble. She wore a great amount of make-up and I noticed that the way she looked at Stan and Mary probably meant she recognized who they were, and more importantly, she looked at Sally with great sympathy and I knew she’d soon be back with the cult unless I intervened.

  Chancy and the police conversed behind closed doors for some minutes. Una stayed close to Sally, but I told Andy that when they released her, we might have a fight on our hands. He phoned Kurt, and Kurt promised to come with Abbot and Bandar, two huge tough East Indians from the Bronx. Sally refused to meet our eyes or to answer Una’s questions. Mary tried to hug her, but she shrugged her off. Chancy came out with the two officers and glanced at Sally, and when she looked over at Mary, Stan, Una, and I, a great annoyance crossed her face.

  “What is your name?” she said to Sally in a dramatic loud voice.

  “Patience Hosanna.”

  “This is your name in the Family of Truth?” Sally nodded. “How old are you?”

  “I’ll be nineteen on September 23.”

  “Do you want to return to your friends in The Family of Truth or do you want to stay with your biological parents?”

  “My parents are dead,” she answered, “they are of Satan.” It was as cruel as can be and there’s nothing I can say to soften it. She was clearly brainsick. “I want to return to The Family of Truth,” she added.

  “Are you crazy?” she asked.

  “I’m trying in my own way, to serve the Lord full-time, 100%.”

  Chancy turned and looked at the two police officers. “Why did you bring her here? We’re so busy. I’m not committing this young healthy adult. There’s nothing wrong with her.”

  “Are you crazy?” Una growled, using Chancy’s same expression, but in an opposite tone of voice.

  Stan stepped over to Chancy. “What do you know about brainwashing?”

  “Enough not to believe in it. There’s nothing clinically wrong with your daughter, Mr. Tappet. It’s you and your family who seem upset. I think perhaps you are the ones who need counseling.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. Keep us both. Don’t turn my daughter loose to those monsters. They’ve raped her and God knows what else they’ve done to her.”

  “Raped by the Jesus People?” she said and raised her eyebrows in a skeptical manner. She turned to Sally. “Is this true?”

  “My father’s lying,” she answered, avoiding his eyes. “He’s of Satan and when the Black Satan kidnapped me, they tortured me to make that story up.”

  “I heard it from her lips just three days ago,” Una said. “No one touched her. Sally, what are you doing? We were there when you told us that five Elders raped you, and you named them!”

  Chancy looked at Stan and ignored Una. “Mr. Tappet,” she said, “I know who you are. I’m the admitting doctor and your daughter isn’t being committed just because you have money. This is a constitutional issue and it isn’t being decided in the psychiatric ward of a public hospital.”

  The officers talked to Stan out of our earshot for a minute. When they both made to go, I was hoping they’d made a deal, but the doctor said again, “I’m not admitting her. I’ll take her to her friends myself.”

  “You know what you are?” Una said, raising her voice and stepping threateningly near Chancy, “you’re a person removed from the genuine, when you see another counterfeit out-of-the-tree zombie, you see a soul-mate.” The volume of Una’s voice increased, now more of a growl with a acute edge of anger. “You’ve been analyzed out of your soul and anyone who is a real person is an affront to you. You don’t see anything wrong with that girl, then look in the mirror?”

  “Una!” Mary said sharply, drying her eyes.

  “If your evil-trade never existed,” Una continued even louder, as angry now as the day when she’d pulverized Mr. Vondt, “the world would be a better place; psychiatry is a lie just as much as The Family of Truth!”

  “Una,” Mary said, even sharper, “that’s enough!”

  Chancy smiled, and without saying a word took Sally away. That bitch was a real mean twenty-mule team and even waddled like one. I signaled to Andy with my eyes and we raced out of the hospital. We found Kurt waiting for us and he took us directly to the parking lot where the bus people waited for Sally.

  I was truly excited. It had been ages since I’d had a legitimate reason to street brawl and I was itching to pay the bus-people back for the humility they served us back in July. I nodded to Abbot and Bandar, and we busted in on them even as The Family of Truth was cheering Sally’s arrival. I sucker punched Silent Peace, the one with the purple birthmark, striking and flattening him; it was an excellent shot. I jumped on him and gave him three quick hammer blows to the head. He was out and bleeding from his nose. I went after the fat bearded guy next, Holy Truth–one of Sally’s rapists. He was the only one amongst the bus-people that I’d seen with any extra weight.

  We’d caused muc
h confusion and Kurt had single-handedly dragged Sally kicking and screaming to his large old El Dorado. Holy Truth was a coward and timidly covered his face to dodge my blows and didn’t fight back, but I managed several good ones before he ran to the bus. The presence of Abbot and Bandar, the way they indiscriminately punched both sexes with unrestrained blows, was absolutely essential to our complete success. The bus people soon scrambled bleeding and terrified into their bus and left without Sally. They’d come all the way to Jersey to retrieve her, probably out of fear that she’d talk and because her presence in The Family of Truth was worth a fortune. They expected wealthy Northeastern liberals, an obedient alienated housekeeper and the cowed son of famous industrialists, not parents who were home and willing to fight for their daughter, a housekeeper holding their catch back, and the son, a streetwise orphan ready to physically fend them off.

  My first inclination was to phone Rick Edwards, and indeed, I tried, but his wife, Janice, said he was on one of the major news networks that night and would be late; I found out which one, and rang off. After thanking Kurt, Abbot and Bandar, for their help, Andy and I took Sally to Una’s cottage. I sat in the back with her and held her hand as Andy drove.

  When we arrived, I phoned Una. “You have my Sally?” she asked before I got a word out. I told her the story and this is what she said, I’ll never forget it, “The best thing that ever happened to the Tappets is you stealing those flowers from our garden for your mother.” She paused. “Is she okay?” I let her speak to Sally for a few minutes. She was only half responsive, and when I took the phone from her, Una said, “I’m on my way, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  I knew Mary and Stan would come too. I turned on the television to the news show Janice had referred to, and within a minute, the three of us were watching Rick Edwards on Nightly Review debating the cults, especially The Family of Truth, with Senator Al Stevens, Ashbury Farm’s head-elder’s father. When it was over, Sally had regained some poise and I made us all hot chocolate. To my relief, Sally took it from me and smiled. I knew that no matter how slow the recovery, she would make it, and as soon as Mary, Stan, and Una arrived, Andy and I went to bed; and I think they weren’t long after.

  Chapter Ten

  In the next few weeks, Sally and I visited Rick Edwards and his family, had supper with them, and went to a deprogramming. Stan had sent a sizable check with me to help with his fight against cults. It was wonderful to see Rick Edwards again, and for the second time, I realized, that like Stan, he was a real life hero, however, while it was good for me, it was incredible for Sally. She was thinking of suing The Family of Truth for the assault, and Rick Edwards, while cautioning her that it would be hard and perhaps dangerous, encouraged her to seek counseling and legal advise; and especially to forgive herself for getting on that bus. His wife and children were wonderful, and the night was magic. He took us to a deprogramming with him, a seventeen year old who had be recruited by the Brotherhood, and although it seemed easier than what Sally had gone through, I could tell that it effected her positively.

  The following weeks Sally returned to university at NYCU and I returned to Princeton. That year, we both received excellent grades and graduated in Bachelor Arts. Sally and I both wanted to start our careers with Tappets, and after conferring with Una, scheduled a formal meeting with Mary and Stan. They turned us down flatly over the wishes of Una, and both of us were told we had to specialize in accounting and business courses for two more years, maybe three, and depending on our marks, would be put on a fast-track to Tappets’ management. Together, we decided to do Harvard business school and our marks over the next two years were impressive enough for Mary and Stan to concede. I had started to work out and in these two years and lost much weight, over twenty-five pounds, and my build in general, was one that I was more satisfied with. By the time I graduated business school, I had managed a few romantic relationships. I can’t say that they were great, or that there was much love, but I developed confidence as a lover. I told Sally nothing of these interludes, and she told me nothing of hers, if she had any; I suspected that she didn’t.

  In July of 1984, we both started with Tappets full-time. I was placed, to my complete surprise, at Poss Fast-Discs under the tutelage Hiroyuki Nakamura, the number two man in Tappets. Sally started with Mary, in management and I was very jealous of this, but before we actually began, we learned of Rick Edwards’ murder. A knock came to my bedroom door the day before I was to start at Poss. Una entered. She’d her expression of bad news. I thought for a second Clara had passed away. I’d been in to see her a couple of times this last week, she was across the hall, and she looked quite frail and didn’t recognize me. Una turned on the television in my bedroom to NBC news.

  “Rick Edwards was killed this morning,” she said. I rose in shock; I’d been sitting at my desk working at my computer. “A group of five gunmen armed with AK-47s killed him at home,” she continued, “and seriously injured his twelve year old son.”

  I immediately thought of The Family of Truth. Rick Edwards had told Sally and I during the night we’d flown to LA that they now had a hostility branch. “Have they caught them?” I asked.

  Una shrugged and rubbed my head. “It’s the damnest thing,” she said. “Such a fine man. It’s true what they say, that in life, courage is often paid for with your life.”

  Soon after, Mary and Sally arrived home and we watched the television together that night, but there was little new information. I remember that I was stunned at Sally’s appearance that night. She wore an elegant red dress and was so obviously readying to become a mature modern business woman, yet still gorgeous, provocative, and even alluring. I hid my feelings even though she made eye contact with me all night and smiled like an enchantress. I wanted badly to respond, but was afraid of my own longings. Why reopen that wound? Stan phoned Janice Edwards, but there was nobody home and he had left a message of our condolences.

  Before we had heard the news, we had planned on having a family conference tonight, with everyone including Isaac, Dad’s assistant, but I seriously wondered if it would be canceled. I didn’t know it at the time, but already Stan believed that The Family of Truth was behind Rick’s death and wished Sally would drop her plan of suing them.

  Una cooked one of my favorite dishes, macaroni and beef pie which was like a shepherd’s pie, but with ground-beef, pasta, and tomato sauce. It was scrump-delicious. Afterwards, we congregated in the living room. Isaac dressed in a light golden silky shirt with black dress pants. He looked fabulous from his shining black shoes to the tip of his blond-streaked hair. He was tanned and smiled naturally. For the first time since knowing him, I thought I might seek his counsel on a new wardrobe for work.

  “So here we are,” Mary said when we had sat down, “all together and healthy. Thank goodness. Cheers.”

  We saluted with our glasses of Chianti and I felt full of love for everyone at the table, but especially Sally.

  “Congratulations Sally and Christian,” Mary continued, raising her glass. “As you must by now be aware, the company was restructured recently. Consolidation will take place in two areas, management teams and between overseas and continental investments. Sally is being trained on the oversight management team and by Lloyd Mills in investments. Starting tomorrow, Christian you’ll report to Lloyd at Tappets Electronics, and soon, with Hiroyuki Nakamura, you’ll be studying business under the finest man known to Tappets, excepting your father, of course. I expect, a fast rise into the Tappets Electronics and Poss enterprises, and we’ll go from there. Let’s say in a few years, you can work with your dad, which I know is what you really wanted, but the thought of you two working together, voting together, and planning your future with Tappets so concerned Una and I that we vetoed it. Some day, I think you’ll see the reasoning behind it. Remember, with a business organization, patience is one of the key elements of success, and following instructions! Right Una?”

  Una winked at me. “Christian will get along
just fine with Hiroyuki Nakamura, in fact, they are much the same temperament.”

  “Thank you so much,” I said, completely hiding my disappointment and the table erupted in laughter, and like a fool, I joined in.

  It wasn’t until well after our meeting, I had a chance to talk to Sally alone and congratulated her. I caught her in the kitchen, and I desperately hoped we wouldn’t be interrupted.

  “You’re so beautiful, Sally,” I said, “I know what I did when I first became a member of this family was wrong and I’m sincerely sorry.”

  I saw my words made her cry and I hugged her, then she kissed me on the mouth and held me like not a second had gone by since our last sexual embrace. It was like she had slapped me in the face with a force that woke me up. I pushed her away and stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, my heart pounding in fear for my life. Despite my bewilderment, and the stress I felt, I slept well in my own bed and left early for work.

  Tappets Electronics worked out of a building sold to them by IBM. I imagine this was before they knew the Nexus and Fast-Disc Divisions were going to build personal computers and business machines. We weren’t using our in-house name, which was Mary’s usual practice, and we were importing many of our parts from the Sursheita Company in Japan.

  When I caught sight of the cluster of box-like low-rise buildings, The Carewell Complex, my heart sank. It was so low-rise, that because of so many apartment structures near West-Eleventh and Hudson, I wouldn’t be able to see The Twin Towers, the statue, Seagram’s, or any modern architecture. I’d have used the tunnel but decided to take the transit the first few days and walked from the main corner to the front gate. It was a fine summer morning, although the noise was bothersome. Lloyd was as lean and tall as ever, but I hadn’t seen him in a few months. He was attractive enough, but I found his hair too short, his face too narrow, and skin too pale.