An Unarmed Woman by John Bennion

Author:John Bennion [Bennion, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781560852766
Publisher: Signature Books
Published: 2019-02-27T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

I turned and stared out the side window and saw a rider just entering town. “You are incorrigible.”

She grinned and lifted her cup to me. I set mine down, rushed out the door, and trotted down the lane, arriving on the bishop’s porch just as he came out of the barn. He was dressed in his work clothes with knee-high boots covered with particles of dirt. He nodded toward me and J. D. “Please forgive me. All day long I been shoveling the cow shit away from the manger down in my fields.” I looked at his boots, which had only dirt on them.

J. D. stepped directly in front of him. “You have not been forthright with me. You and some others in the bishopric followed the deputies up the canyon after they left the cemetery. Were you at their camp when they were shot?”

The bishop frowned. “Who—?” He looked straight at J. D. Finally, he let his gaze drift elsewhere and he shrugged his shoulders. “After those unfortunate federal deputies have left my house, Brother Apollo, Brother Stewart, and Brother Alma, they come to me. When I see they have guns, I am grateful they never used them. I thought we escape serious trouble, but we do not. As you may guess, they were all crazy with anger. ‘We must kill them,’ Brother Alma said. ‘We must put end to danger and insult.’ He said we should run behind them deps and shoot them off their horses right then.” He shook his head. “Of course, I try to talk them out of such a murderous plan. But they wouldn’t listen, ya? Brother Alma said he must get his shotgun. He run to the smithy like a crazy man and came back empty-handed. Then he grabbed Brother Stewart’s gun from him, and Brother Apollo and him follow those deputies. Brother Stewart and I run after our brethren, calling for them to come back. Finally, we catch up and stop them. I describe what maybe would happen if the two deputies are dead. I told them it would ruin the town. We might be forced to abandon the principles of our religion. The four of us come back down. We each go to our homes. Soon after that I hear the shots. And so what I warn them will happen. Unless we find the miracle, this town will be ruined, ya? We will be so overrun with deputies that no one can obey Got.”

J. D. shook his head. “How long were you talking in the canyon?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes, maybe half an hour.”

“And all four of you came back down?”

“Yes. I want them all to come in my house with me. I want to watch them till I sure they don’t change their minds and go after the deputies. But—”

J. D. stepped forward until he was nose to nose with the bishop. “You said you wanted Brother Apollo and the others to come in your house. They didn’t?” Neither man looked away.

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