Latter-Day of the Dead (5 page)

I was ordered to put all unhappy wives on anti-depressants. Almost all wives became depressed at one point or another. Whether it was the addition of a new wife affecting the original wives, or reassignment to a new husband, there was always something I had to step in and help deal with. Half of my prescriptions were given for these reasons.

The prophet was fulfilling God’s plan with our ordered marriages, so wives that refuted these orders were declared crazy. I mean, how could someone in their right state of mind refute God’s plan?

A tactic used to keep the women of the compound in their place was to set a public example of those acting out. A few women that openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the life were committed to a mental hospital in Arizona. Everyone seemed to find their contentment and happiness after that.

One of the things I didn’t have to deal with as the doctor was child birth. All of the wives helped each other through the birthing process. I would merely check on the child after birth. Bearing children is the most important thing a woman can do for our group. It was something that was celebrated by all. The women that had trouble getting pregnant were the other half of my anti-depressant prescriptions.

These pieces of the job were minute compared to the biggest ordeal I had to tackle for our group. Our small population holds the world’s highest incidence of fumarase deficiency, an extremely rare genetic condition.

If I had to describe what causes fumarase deficiency in two words I would probably use:
kissing
and
cousins
.

The marriages of blood relatives within our group have brought on an outbreak of this disorder. Before I started diagnosing our people there were maybe a dozen cases worldwide. Needless to say, that number is much, much higher now.

Fumarase deficiency means there is not enough fumarase in a person’s cells, resulting in brain malformation, seizures, and mental retardation. One of the physical signs is it creates unusual facial features, so you’d be correct in assuming that Benjamin’s kid teeth and Verdell’s stained face mean they are fumarase deficient. Most everyone here is. But who’s to let a little compound-wide disorder get in the way of God’s plan, right?

Stepping off the front porch, I saw a group of girls huddled around something in the dirt road. As I made my way over I could see who the girls were. Four of them were brother Sterling’s daughters: DaLinda, DaRhonda, DaVonna, and DaLonna. They were with three of Brother Mason’s daughters: LaRhonda, LaVonna, and LaDonna. If I had to describe what Brethren of the Last Days’ members like to start their children’s names with in two words I would probably use:
La
and
Da
. With so many large families it is hard to keep names straight, and the fascination with using
La
and
Da
at the start doesn’t make it any easier, but I am getting pretty good at it.

The girls expanded their circle to allow me in. They were all hovering over a dead squirrel. Mixed looks of uneasiness and wonder could be seen on the girls’ faces.

“It looks like it got chomped on by somethin’, Brother Elias,” DaLonna explained.

I looked at her without trying to stare at her ear. She had her hair pulled back, so you could see what was just the ear canal and lower lobe of the ear. She was born without the top-half of her ear, and yes, her parents Brother Sterling and Sister JoDell are first cousins.

I knelt down to look at the torn mess that used to be a squirrel. It actually did look like it got chomped on by somethin’. Picking it up by the tail, I whipped it into some nearby bushes.

“A coyote must have gotten to it,” I surmised, although coyotes don’t come this far down near our houses usually.

“Oh coyotes just give me the willies, Brother Elias,” explained DaLonna. “Do they scare you?”

“No, coyotes don’t scare me,” I assured.

“He’s not scared of nuffin’,” shouted Brother Mason’s four-year-old LaDonna, “he’s a doc-toc-tor!”

The other girls laughed at her still underdeveloped speech and the loud volume in which she speaks.

“Doc-tor,” I pronounced slowly, “and I am scared of plenty, just not coyotes.”

“What are you scared of?” asked DaLonna, not to be confused with LaDonna. I remember it this way: DaLonna – half an ear; LaDonna – can’t talk so good.

“What am I scared of? Well, let’s see, I don’t like peeking my head into dark open spaces.”

The girls giggled in unison.

“I have an attic at my house,” I continued, “that first moment when you have to peek up in that big dark room head-first and defenseless gives me the willies like coyotes give you the willies, DaLonna.”

“That’s silly,” she teased.

I laughed, “Yeah, it probably is.”

“He finks dare is ghost-es,” La Donna said entirely too loud. The other girls all laughed again.

“You’re scared of ghosts, Elias?” an approaching voice asked curiously.

I looked up to see a smiling Keturah Dawn. My face could not hide the embarrassment as it turned red while I scrambled to recover. The girls now pointed their unified laughter back at me.

“It’s okay, I don’t like ghosts either,” Keturah explained.

“How are you, Ms. Keturah?” I asked in a quick attempt to change the subject.

“I am enjoying another day in His glory.” She looked to the clear blue sky and took a deep breath of country air.

Keturah Dawn was named after the second wife of Abraham in the bible. The name Keturah means
sacrifice
. She was olive-skinned with beautiful long brown hair.

She was so uniquely gorgeous that the only two words I would use to best describe her would probably be:
uniquely
and
gorgeous
.

I have known Keturah her whole life. She was just a few years younger than me, and was going to be turning 16 later in the week. I had prayed often that the Lord would see it fit for the two of us to be wed. I knew in my heart she would be the perfect first wife and would bear many wondrous children.

Sometimes it seemed like maybe Verdell had not received the word on who Keturah was to wed because the Lord wanted me to concentrate on my medical studies. Most of the boys and girls our ages were already sealed and had already begun their families. With her sixteenth birthday approaching, I felt the time was coming. This thought brought me much anticipation and anxiety.

“I heard B.G. left the compound again,” Keturah said as we took a walk down the dirt road.

“Oh, well…you know B.G.” I tried to refrain from gossip.

“What’s it really like out there, Elias?” she asked, having never been off the compound.

“It’s a wasteland of evil. The people…they’ve lost their way. They no longer have a conscience to guide them down the correct path.”

“That is so sad,” she said. “I pray for them, I do. I give thanks everyday that I have been protected from those that do not follow the true faith.”

“We have been blessed,” I confirmed.

Our walking had brought us all the way to the prophet’s house. Verdell was sitting on his porch with a mason jar filled with lemonade in his hand. He motioned us over.

“Hello, my children,” he greeted. “Am I hearing correctly that we have a celebration that needs to be planned for later this week?”

“I will be sixteen!” Keturah gushed.

Verdell stood and framed her face with his old hands. “You have grown into a magnificent woman. The Lord is so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

“Now run along. I would like to speak to Brother Elias in private.”

“Yes, sir. Goodbye, Brother Elias.”

I raised my hand to acknowledge her departure. The prophet and I watched as she retraced her steps back. Verdell turned and saw how I was looking at her.

“You look troubled, Brother Elias. What’s on your mind, son?”

“I’m not troubled. I just wonder…well…I know it’s not proper for me to speculate about God’s plan, but with Keturah turning sixteen….”

“We should always be curious about God’s plan, do not feel guilt about that, Elias. And in fact, it will please you to know I have an announcement to be made at our Glory Session this evening in regards to your friend.”

“You have received word about Keturah?” I asked excitedly.

“In a vision just last night,” Verdell answered.

“This is fantastic news.” I nodded in agreement with myself.

Verdell responded with a nod of his own. “Indeed.”

chapter four

R
ight before sunset every evening we would all gather in the center of our makeshift town for Glory Session. It was an opportunity for us to give praise and thanks to the Almighty before supper. We always had supper together as a group.

People were beginning to gather as I walked up. There was a small altar that had become quite weathered through the years of desert heat. In front of it were many pieces of chopped tree trunks that were used as seats for all the males. The women and children would stand behind the patriarch of each family.

Off to the west of our gathering spot were two long lines of picnic tables. The women were putting out all of the food so we could eat directly after Glory Session. Every wife pitched in to make sure we had a proper feast nightly.

As the last few members trickled in, Verdell made his way to the altar. I looked across the way to find Keturah standing with her family. We made eye contact and I warmly smiled to her. She retuned the same warm smile.

I put my hand down on my father’s shoulder, who was sitting on the slab of timber in front of me. I said, “Today’s session will be a memorable one.”

“Why is that?” he asked with no enthusiasm.

“You’ll see,” I answered, looking back to Keturah.

After the group participated in two hymns, our prophet read scripture to his flock. This was the structure of every Glory Session, but today it seemed to be taking entirely too long. I was too eager to hear the announcement and begin the next chapter of my life. I could not restrain myself from continually glancing over to Keturah. It would fill me with great pride to call her my first wife, and to have her with me for eternity.

The dragging time was torturous. I barely survived through another hymn. An elbow to my ribs was thrown by my little sister when she saw me not singing along. It snapped me out of my daydreaming. I smiled and nudged her back.

“Pay attention,” she quipped.

“Sorry…sorry.” I began to move my mouth to look like I was singing along.

My little sister was eleven years old. She was born to my father’s third wife Martha. Her name was Sariah, which means
princess of the Lord
. She was named after the wife of Lehi. In the ancient times Lehi and Sariah traveled from Jerusalem across the ocean to the Promised Land here in America, confirming that we are the chosen ones, descendants from Jerusalem. That’s all I really know about that.

If I had to describe my little sister in two words I would probably use:
girly
and
tomboy
. And I suppose it wouldn’t seem like you could use both of those descriptors for the same person, but it was accurate. She had strikingly blonde hair and carried herself in a very feminine way in public settings like this Glory Session, but out playing with the boys is where you could really see her in her element. It wasn’t seen often since that type of behavior from a girl was frowned upon, but I had seen it enough to know.

“Sariah,” I whispered, “can I tell you a secret?”

She continued singing and looked at me through the corner of her eye. “What?”

“It will be announced today that I am to be wed.”

Sariah stopped singing and turned directly to me. “Oh, Elias, that pleases me very much.”

My father turned around and looked at the two of us from his stump. We both looked forward and returned to singing. Sariah threw another elbow into my side, this time with gentle care. We both smiled.

Once the song ended Verdell looked over our entire group before beginning, “Brothers.”

He always only addressed the men at Glory Session. Everyone quieted down.

“My brothers, I have once again received His word.”

A low buzz of chatter rolled across the group. There was always high anticipation when the prophet would receive revelation.

“The Lord spoke to me, my brothers. He has once again praised us for our righteous ways, and blessed me with the next directive of his plan.”

The men nodded with pleasure. Some of the women hugged their children in the background, thankful for this new blessing. Now that we were getting close to the announcement, I was too nervous to look over at Keturah. I began personally thanking the Lord. He has blessed me throughout my life, but in no greater way than today.

“The Lord has ordered another celestial pairing,” the prophet bellowed. “Our child Keturah Dawn has been asked to wed.”