Stealing Flowers (27 page)

Stan and Mary got out of the first car, then
Una and I. I watched in total shock as Sally stepped out on the
open porch of the house. She’d lost a good twenty pounds and had
her hair very long, her breasts had disappeared and all the color
of her face was gone. I knew something horrible had happened to
her. Immediately, she spotted Una.

“What’s this?” she asked rather naturally
and smiling at Una and I. I was emotional and could feel the tears
on my face, but did not wipe them, in fact I did nothing so hungry
was I for my old Sally and shocked at seeing a new woman in front
of me.

Una stepped up and hugged her, but I noticed
that Sally didn’t really return her embrace. Sally radiated
listlessness, and also, as I drew up to hug her, she stunk of
body-odor and had bad breath, but she smiled and kissed my
cheek.

“Come down and say hello to your Mom and
Dad,” Una urged.

Sally turned back and looked at the silent
group of onlookers of five men and three women, who’d come timidly
out to the porch just behind her. They dressed in a similar manner,
t-shirts and blue jeans. My pity swelled as my glance drifted to
them. They were so young and had Sally’s silly smile fixed to their
faces, it made me want to cry and give them hugs. Una nodded and
put on her best smile. Her great broad frame stood steady and cool
in the sun. She looked like a goddess; she took Sally’s hand and
led her nearer to her old life. Mary embraced her, following Rick’s
instructions on what to say. “God bless you. We’re so happy to see
you.”

“Yes,” Stan said, “we’re sure happy to see
that you are okay.”

Stan hugged her and pointed to the porch.
“These are your new friends?”

He was perfectly calm, and only I looked
nervous, but my tears hid it all very well. “They’ve been
tremendous,” Sally said, getting choked up herself and holding my
hand. She waved for them to come down and I realized we really
didn’t want that. “This is Sure Isaiah, Divine Love, Love Israel,
Leviticus Logic, Joshua Dedication and Faith Renewal,” she said. I
realized that Love Israel was the blond girl from the bus who had
the Marilyn Monroe-type build and Divine Love was the tall pretty
one from whom I’d copped a feel. I shook their hands. Every single
one of them gave me a handshake that was limp. One of them had
remained on the porch, a heavy set man, slightly older than the
others, and Sally pointed to him. “That’s our team’s Elder, Holy
Truth.”

I saw fear in her eyes when she looked at
him and I realized he’d somehow hurt her. He was a brawny guy and I
didn’t know if I could take him. Una watched Holy Truth and nodded;
he nodded back but without friendliness. It all sounded like a
cartoon, and the vacant smiles became a real worry. They looked as
looney as their wacky names. My attention returned to Sally.

“Bless you,” Stan said and slowly edged her
over to the car. “I’ll write you out a check and you can get your
stuff out.” Then Stan stopped and turned around pretending to write
a check. I looked at the German Shepherds who were just then coming
up the road with the guards. I watched as Stan opened the door,
then I took a run at Sally from behind and pushed her forward with
a violent thrust into the car.

“Kidnapping,” Sally shouted, physically
resisting me and trying to break free of my grip, but Rick’s hands
shot out of the back seat and seized her with a strong pull. She
hit her forehead as I gave one last push and followed her in. Stan
slammed the door behind me and Una jumped into the driver’s seat;
we were off.

I watched out the back window as Stan rushed
to the other side of the second car; cult members surrounded him.
He raised his mace toward their eyes, but it seemed to me that his
weapon didn’t work. I was worried. Peter jumped out of the back
seat of the car, I could see him as we sped away, clothes went
flying in every direction. He took one member out with a kick to
the stomach, and hit another in the face with his fist. I so
admired him and Stan at that moment.

“Faster,” Rick urged.

A huge angry German Shepherd lunged at Peter
and he shot it point-blank; everyone backed off and this made a
clear path for Stan. I lost sight of them as we sped out of the
compound and past the gates. Sally swirled and thrashed beside
me.

“You black Satan!” she screamed at Rick.

She punched, scratched and tried to bite
him. I looked through the back window again. Stan and Mary followed
us in the second car and relief washed over me. We’d done it, and
when we reached the third car, Una pulled over and allowed Rick
into the driver’s seat, getting into the other car. Mary and Stan
got in the backseat on either side of Sally; I rode shotgun.

“You’re not my mother and father,” Sally
shouted upon seeing them, “you are demons sent by Satan.” Mary and
Stan didn’t respond to this taunting, just as Rick had instructed
them. Sally pointed at Rick “I know him. He’s the black Satan who
beats you until you renounce the Lord.”

Rick laughed. “I’m glad to see my reputation
still scares David Moses. When it precedes me, then it’s easier to
perform a deprogramming.”

“What are you talking about?” Sally
asked.

“I think you’re afraid.”

Sally spit at him. I could tell, she was,
indeed afraid. She fell silent after this and we sped straight to
the donated home in Denver, and every minute or so, I would sneak a
glance back at her. What had happened to her? How had they changed
her so completely? We pulled into the driveway of a house in a
well-treed residential neighborhood of Denver. The double garage
had a basketball-hoop above the door and the landscape was strictly
middle-class, shabby compared to the Tappet mansion, but excellent
compared to the downtown residences of Jersey.

Rick rang the front doorbell and everyone
else remained in the cars, but I’d a good vantage point. A tall
clean-shaven young man with a defined upper body answered the door.
He wore a tight fitting white t-shirt with the logo, Broncos, and
dark dress-pants. His short wavy brown hair looked conformist. I
could tell that he wanted to hug Rick but settled for an
enthusiastic handshake; Rick waved us all in. Una held Sally’s arm
in a vice grip, pulling her forward. “Mom and Dad are gone,” the
young man said, “but they were delayed and I haven’t had time yet
to nail down all the windows and gather the telephones.”

Sally stared at him with outright resentment
and I could see the pity in his eyes for her. “Let’s get everybody
inside,” Rick returned, “and I’ll introduce you, then, you can
continue.”

We stood in a large foyer which broke into a
living room on one side and a dining room on the other, and after a
little confusion, we gathered in a large kitchen where a few other
people joined us. Una still clutched Sally. “You’re hurting me,”
she said in a childish voice.

She patted Sally on the head like she was a
puppy dog. Stan’s eyes had lost their alarm and I knew that the
worse was over, or at least I thought so at the time.

“I’m Rick Edwards,” Rick said to Sally,
“this is Mike Yardly. I met Mike sometime ago in the same manner
that I met you this afternoon. From the same place, from The Family
of Truth, although back then, they were known as The Children of
Moses.”

Sally looked angrily away. “Was there any
trouble?” Mike asked.

“This is Christian,” he said by way of
introduction, “and he practically picked his sister up and
delivered her into my hands in the backseat. This is his dad, Stan
Tappet, and Mary, his mother, and Una, a close adviser and friend
of the family. He introduced Peter Burgess, his daughter, Ashe, his
partner, Ray Veld, and Andy. Sally avoided looking at all of us,
but I could tell she was particularly embarrassed by Ashe being
there. They were nearly the same age and of course knew one another
quite well; and for the first time I understood, why indeed, Ashe
was there at all. Sally must have suddenly felt like a criminal.
“This is Mulligan Shirer,” Rick continued. “She works for The
Catholic National Review, and they’re doing a story on
deprogramming and cults.”

Ashe, Ray, and Peter Burgess shook hands
with Rick Edwards. Peter rubbed the top of Sally’s head. “Good
luck,” he whispered to her, catching my eyes.

It looked like Sally would have like to spit
at him as well; perhaps her mouth was too dry. Una kept her close.
I caught the odors of lavender and other air fresheners; the house
was characteristic of a middle-class home and exuded comfort.
Everywhere hung pictures of Mike’s relatives. I could see his
mother collected Royal Doulton figurines and other useless junk. I
appreciated that Una and Mary had foregone collecting stuff like
that. The distinct wallpaper looked new, but I thought it ugly. The
muted light made the place unappealing.

“She needs a shower desperately,” Una said
to Rick, speaking about Sally and waving her hand under her nose as
though to ward an odor away. Sally frowned. “I wonder what the
house would look like with the curtains opened,” Una added.

Everyone laughed except Sally who Una
hugged. I saw that Sally didn’t push her away. “Despite my
excitement about seeing you,” she whispered to her, “you make me
sad. Please, cheer up, and I’ll try too. It will be fun for you to
be away from those funny people. It’ll be quite exciting. If you
hurry up and get well, we can go out and have a Jamaican style
party and then we’ll have a holiday together.”

Rick gave her an ornery look. Keeping Sally
firmly by the arm, she moved her into the dining room and watched
her face from out of the corner of her eyes. Rick returned from
down the hall. “I’ve put a padlock on the bathroom and taken out
anything that could be used to escape or hurt herself. I need to
set things up downstairs, so she has time to take a shower, but
someone needs to supervise her, then she can remain locked up there
for the time being.”

“I’ll look after her,” Una said firmly.

A tall slim woman, who I guessed to be
twenty-eight or nine, walked into the room.

“This is Elaine Spam,” Rick said. “She’s
also an ex-cult member.”

She looked quite good to sleep with as well.
I was beginning to see that I needed to get laid very soon. Una
shook her hand and took Sally to the bathroom. Andy locked the door
behind them and apparently was on guard outside. I saw tears in
Una’s eyes when she came out and this horrified me to no end.

When Sally was let out, she was taken to the
basement. All the windows in the house were nailed shut. I saw that
the newswoman, Mulligan Shirer, already filmed, took pictures and
recorded opinions. Sally’s time was close at hand and she tried to
pray. Her eyes looked around for a route of escape and everyone
gathered around her in the basement; she looked like she was
preparing herself for martyrdom and I nearly laughed at her.

“Una and Andy, I need you to prepare
supper,” Rick said. He stood beside me with Stan on the other side
and Sally in the middle. “Come and sit,” he said to her. “Let me
tell you what’s happened to you, Sally.” We sat on a cozy
golden-colored couch. I looked at the walls, and noticed of all
things, a crucifix. It was very perplexing that they should have
missed it, and maybe they hadn’t. “I don’t know what you’ve heard
of me,” Rick said, “but I’ve removed people from all sorts of
cults. You were mentally abducted by one of the worst ones. Your
parents have gone to much trouble and left their other pressing
concerns behind. Are you listening? Guru Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna
or Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church are also the worst
offenders in brainwashing, but many other organizations use their
techniques: L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics and Scientology, Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation, Guru Maharaja Ji’s Divine
Light Mission, Bhaghwan Shree Rajneesh’s sannyasins, and Werner
Erhard’s est, to name just a few. I know what you’re thinking.
You’re saying to yourself that you’re an adult of legal age and
abducting you is like a transgression. Am I right?”

Sally tried to slap him but he was ready for
her and grabbed her arm. I saw the shocked look on the face of
Stan. “If you try that again,” Rick said, “I’ll tie you down for
the duration. You think that you got on that bus willingly, but you
didn’t. Think back. They all smiled, openly stared, and repeatedly
touched you. They asked if you believed that Jesus was your savior,
then they quickly repeated the process, and again and again very
quickly. Remember?” He passed Sally books and assorted documents.
“As we proceed, you can read,” he suggested. He caught Sally’s
eyes. “Stay with me,” he almost shouted. “Most normal religious
conversions are dependant on rational persuasion combined with
faith, charity, hope for the future and the afterlife, and other
important matters such as proof of God’s existence and the
historical record of the religion under consideration. A small
percentage is based on what one could call spiritual propaganda.
What some organizations are able to do is quickly tap into the
teenage conscious processes, like yours, hone in on the vulnerable
spots, get them to come along to the apartment, out to dinner, on
the bus, in the car, to the church, to their basement, to their
commune, or in this case, to their farm, and then begin the more
permanent processes of depravation such as lack of sleep or food,
or haranguing, which can set the mind into a form of manageable
chaos; then they can graft the new belief-system on the more
malleable mind.”

His words were riveting and he spoke for a
half hour or so, explaining to her, what in so many words, he’d
already told us. I could tell Sally desperately wanted to run away
screaming. I knew Rick would pin her down soon; she looked like a
frightened kitty.

“We’ve set up a VCR and we want you to look
at something,” he said at length.