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Show in my father's house/ 262 I shook ray head and squeezed ray eyes to keep the tears back. In a moment I opened them and took a deep breath. "Jeanne, have you ever heard of the Principle of Plural Marriage?" She frowned and shook her head slowly. "It's also called polygamy. The Church used to practice it." "Wait, my mother said her great-grandfather, he's one of the Browns - lived plural marriage in the olden days. But I don't really know anything about it...." "My father lives it. He has several wives. Don't ask how many. Don't ask who. Aunt Helga is one of them. I have lots of brothers and sisters - more than you can imagine. And I love them. And my father will get sent to prison again if you tell anybody, so don't." Jeanne stared at me, her eyes round and disbelieving. Then she coughed and gasped, as though she had been hit in the stomach. In a moment the shine came back to her eyes. "So your mother and her twin are in the same family. They won't ever have to be apart." I shook my head. "Sometimes it's wonderful. Sometimes it causes problems. That's the real reason why we have to move." I told her about it. What a relief to talk to someone! "And he's a doctor, not a travelling salesman." "A doctor!" Jeanne breathed. As the afternoon waned, she asked all the questions anyone would ask, about what we believed and how the family worked. ("What number wife is your mother? How does your dad decide which one he's going to stay with? What do you call the other wives?" etc.) Then, questions and explanations exhausted, we sat on the lawn, watching the sun drift, hazy pink above the Lakeside Mountains. "I'm going to miss this place...and you, Jeanne." |