The Butterfly and the Flame by Dana De Young

Author:Dana De Young [Young, Dana De]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2000-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Emily sat on the bed in her hotel room and watched the falling rain outside. It had been over a half hour since Aaron had left to procure supplies to fix their tent. But it didn’t make any difference whether he was there or not. He hadn’t said anything to her since their fight last night.

She shook her head and felt a knot in her stomach as she thought of the last few days. It was so hopeless. Ever since they had left home, Aaron had ridiculed her with a never-ending string of insults. Every day it was something worse. He had called her selfish, a fake-bitch, and a sodomite. If he was calling her such horrible names now, what would he be calling in a year? At this rate, she’d be lucky if he didn’t resort to calling her Erik.

She seethed at the thought. No one had called her that name in almost seven years, but Aaron would do it just to get back at her for causing their exodus from home, and to make matters worse, she would have to endure it on a daily basis.

She wished she didn’t have to put up with this, but she had no choice. All her life she had been dependent on men for survival. First her father had provided for the family, and now she had to look to Aaron to start a new farm or find some kind of employment. After all, it was Aaron who was entitled to rights and privileges, simply because he was a man. He could own land, be employed, collect inheritance, gain an extended education, and become an Authority of the Law, if he desired.

According to the law, the only job that a woman should do was to be a mother and care for the children she bore—but Emily couldn’t even do that. Only in times of great emergency could the Fourth Pillar of Faith be relaxed and women be allowed to work.

That was the law, but it was randomly enforced. Seaton was home to the bishop and the parish council, so the law was strictly kept and many women spent their lives trapped within their homes. The only exception was the women who worked in the underground businesses. Her old friend Eliza Castillo had a lucrative job at the Reading Room, which hired a number of women as waitresses.

She had heard rumors through the congregation at church that within the larger cities women were sometimes hired out as maids to wash clothes and dishes for wealthier families or to become nannies to help care for small children. She’d even heard that it was possible for women to find jobs in textile mills as seamstresses, because there were few men who wanted a job that was universally considered women’s work.

She heard the sound of the train whistle from the railway station. She had always wondered what it would be like to ride a train and sit in comfort and luxury while the miles rolled past her.

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