Chapter thirty-one
Z Burger
4321 Wisconsin Ave NW,
Washington DC
Garcia
"I need an opinion." Susanna said. "Do my dresses look frumpy?"
It was Saturday. Penelope had shooed Reid away long enough to have a girl's day with Henry's best friend, as he still insisted. She was starting with introducing her to the best burger joint in the neighborhood. Her first cheeseburger, it was adorable. "Who said that?" She asked.
"Holly's friends, they're sighted. Do they?"
"Kind of, but if they make you feel comfortable and confident that's all that matters. Do they?"
Shannon frowned. "I don't know."
"Okay. Why did you buy them in the first place?"
"I wanted something like what I wore at home, something comfortable."
"Okay, so comfort is a thing here. You do feel comfortable?" Susanna nodded. "This is good. What was the point of those uniforms anyway?"
"Some of the leading women in the church said we were supposed to look girlish and really feminine, that was the way to attract the right kind of men."
"Yeah, like pedophiles. Those dresses look like they belong on twelve year olds."
"Which was the other point of it; you were supposed to look very feminine but also hide your breasts and hips so you wouldn't tempt your brothers into sin."
Oh! Oh! Ew! "Please tell me you don't mean literal brothers."
"Well, yes…."
"Ew!"
"I know."
"Okay, when you say tempt into sin what do you mean exactly?"
"They said it was to keep them from having any lustful thoughts, because if they saw you and they did it would be your fault. But that doesn't make any sense. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6. That's usually taken to mean that you don't need a priest or an intercessor, everyone goes to God on their own, for good or ill. So if a guy is thinking lustful thoughts, isn't that going to be his responsibility, not mine? Of course then there's the thought of not making it hard for the guys but my sisters got a copy of this modesty survey that went around the church on one of their trips, and it seemed like anything could tempt at least one guy, so what were you supposed to do? Then they said it would prevent rape…"
"Which is doesn't." Penelope told her. On that point she finally felt on solid ground.
Susanna sputtered to a stop. "It doesn't."
"Nope. If anything it's the opposite, Unsubs look for shy little mice, they're easier prey. No, what you need to do is avoid high risk behavior and go out into the world feeling very confident. Unsubs avoid confident women, they tend to put up a fight and Unsubs hate to work hard."
"So the whole thing they taught us about taking smaller steps and keeping your head down and not walking with too much pride…"
Penelope felt her anger flare. "Yeah, they were trying to make you into victims, not keep you from becoming one."
Susanna was quiet a long moment. "They always said that the girl who acted the most submissive would be the one who would attract the most truly Christian men. Their words."
"I don't care what religion they are, that's the best way to attract the abusers and the skeezy pervs. Really strong guys, like Reid and Rossi and my Derek aren't intimidated by strong, confident women. They prefer them because they enjoy the company of equals."
Susanna was quiet a moment more. "I never felt submissive. I always kept quiet to avoid my father's strap, but sometimes it was quite an effort."
"Sweetie anyone who reached out the way you did is in no way submissive."
"So how do I go about showing that? How do I make how I look reflect how I feel?"
Penelope chuckled, "Now that I can help you with."
From: Office of Pastor Bryan Goodwin
One Seminary Rd.
Mineloa, TX
To: Miss Susanna Holman
C/O Dr. S. Reid
FBI Headquarters
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
Dear Miss Holman,
This is to inform you that you have come under church discipline. The following contract must be met to fully restore you to the church and to bring you back into communion with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Reasons for the need for discipline:
• Communicating with strange men without the permission of your headship
• Lying to your family about said contact
• Staying alone in a motel with a strange man
• Wearing the garb of men
• Exposing yourself to strangers physically
• Removing yourself from the umbrella of protection of your headship
• Sharing private church business with outsiders
• Destroying the bonds of family and placing your sisters and younger siblings at risk
Plan of Discipline:
• You will present yourself at the church main office effective immediately for proper chastisement and discipline
• You will no longer have any communication with anyone outside of the church
• You will turn over any funds or documents you have received outside the church to church leadership
• You will write out a detailed chronology of any sins you have committed prior to or since leaving your father's umbrella of protections, especially all sexual sins.
• You will share that list of sins with Pastor Allan and Mrs. Lydia Driscoll and submit to the plan they prepare for further education and correction
• You will confess to this list to the church body as a whole and beg forgiveness
If these conditions are not met promptly the church will have no choice but to enact further disciplinary measures against you.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Allan Driscoll for Pastor Bryan Goodwin
Van Ness-UDC Metro Station
Corner of Veasey Terrace NW & Connecticut Ave NW
Washington DC
Spencer
On the day after Garcia's insistence on a girl's day with Susanna, they had been called in to a case. As a result of which, even though he had spoken to her on the phone a number of times (okay, nightly) Spencer hadn't actually seen Susanna since she agreed to wear the tracker. He certainly hadn't seen her in what Garcia insisted was her amazing new look. Not that he had any idea that anything was wrong with her old look. The complicated relationship between women and clothing and shoes was something he'd never understand.
She wasn't easy to miss anymore. She was heading his way from the Starbucks, using her cane to find the way. She still had a big hat to shade her delicate skin from the sun, this one with some kind of floral decoration, and a properly British school bag, but Garcia had replaced the hardware with something brass and ornate. She had also replaced the big, cheap, plastic sunshades Susanna had been wearing with round sunglasses with leather shades on the side to block out any UV rays that would cause more damage. A long, full denim skirt and simple white shirt completed the look, but something was suddenly giving her a very attractive figure under that shirt. Huh.
She still looked pretty, with her pale skin and long, pure white hair, but she no longer looked otherworldly. She looked better now, more confident as she strode across the plaza. But more than that, she looked interesting, like she had new and different thoughts in her head. She looked like someone he would like to meet and get to know better, but that he would be too intimidated to approach if he didn't already know her, a feeling compounded by not being the only man watching her walk. Okay, Henry was getting that new dinosaur set. "Susanna!" He called to her.
She instantly corrected course and headed for the sound of his voice. "Spencer?"
"Yes."
She stepped easily into his arms, stretched up to give a gentle kiss to his cheek. "Welcome home." She said. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." As he held this bright, confident woman in his arms he thought of the letter in his bag and wanted to laugh with the sheer hubris of it all. "Come on, let's go somewhere."
"Where?"
"Come on."