15. 15
15
The muffled cackling of old crones made Chastity’s eyes flit open. She stretched and mumbled, “This place is like a geriatric denture convention.”
She threw her legs over the side of the bed, snatched her phone from the nightstand, and did a double-take.
Three p.m.
Are you fucking kidding me?
She wondered how that could possibly be accurate.
She fell asleep bingeing the prior season of Summer Love , a cleverly edited elimination-style reality TV show filmed every summer where half-naked hotties hooked up in will-they-won’t-they show-mances followed by a whirlwind of drama and sex.
She thought she might have dozed off somewhere around midnight, just before Tawny, a double-D-silicone-breasted bitch, was finally voted out of the beach house. But… if that was the case, why had she slept in so late?
After weeks of piss-poor sleep, that had to be… what? Fifteen hours of snoozing? Surely, that couldn’t be right.
Bible study was in full swing in the living area just a little beyond her door. Every word felt like sandpaper in her ear, grating on her sanity, grinding her paper-thin patience to a pulp.
Chastity trudged to the dresser and snatched out a clean black bra and green panties, quickly changing into them before throwing on a tight pair of leggings and a cherry-red, low-cut V-neck that said, ‘ Don’t be a prick ’ with a small waving cactus printed on the right breast. She scrounged two socks at random and sat to put them on.
One woman’s words trickled in through the gap beneath her door. “So… she got kicked out of the university?”
“No! Didn’t you listen? She flunked out,” another old biddy said.
“Why? Why wouldn’t she just take the semester over?” asked yet another voice, one belonging to a woman old enough to have signed Jesus’s birth certificate herself.
“Well, I guess it’s not that much of a stretch. I heard the poor girl was already on academic probation.”
Another gasped. “Oh my! For what ?”
“My sister-in-law’s daughter is on the board down there. She said that Chastity was caught with a half-naked boy in the women’s dormitory—”
“No!”
“—And they were smoking reefer .”
Chastity almost snorted at the outdated term. She threw on her boots and grabbed the doorknob, hesitating to open it.
“That’s a shame. She had so much potential.” She heard the woman make a tisk sound.
“Weed is a gateway drug,” another voice chimed in.
“I can’t believe she’s on the pot . Such a shame. You know, I knew she’d seemed off since she’s been home.”
“It would explain some things.”
“I should say this quickly before Maggie comes back, but she told me that something is really wrong with the girl. She’s been seeing a therapist. He put her on medications and everything .”
“Oh, my.”
Chastity stepped back from the door.
Her mother told them?
When her mother couldn’t pray the bipolar away… she, what? Told people about it?
That wasn’t her business to tell!
Chastity listened to these women drone on about her. As if any of them had ever really known her at all. A void opened inside of her, swallowing up all sense, her anger building into a righteous rage.
“It’s always the good parents that get tasked with the most difficult-to-love children. God gives his greatest battles to his strongest warriors,” said that damned first voice again.
“I was just reading this book about a girl who was possessed by a demon. I wonder if Chastity has been playing around with a Ouija board.”
Chastity’s eyes welled with tears threatening to overflow.
“Lucifer was an angel, too, once. Such a shame. I’ll be keeping Maggie and Pastor Erikson in my prayers.”
“Me, too.”
“What are we talking about ladies?” Chastity recognized the voice as her mother’s.
“Oh, just last Sunday’s sermon,” one said quickly.
“Well, I brought some cheese cubes and crackers out in case anyone was hungry.”
Chastity threw open the door and stomped into the living room. She fought to control her anger.
“Afternoon, ladies. Having a productive Bible study, I see.”
“Chastity! It’s lovely to see you!” One woman said, swallowing nervously, wondering how much she’d overheard of their conversation. “I didn’t realize you were home! I thought for sure you’d be at work… or the shelter. Your mother’s told us you do volunteer work over there sometimes.”
Chastity’s eyes were wild, tone carefully clipped. “I don’t have a Ouija board.”
The women all looked horrified.
She’d heard everything.
“I’m also not possessed, I do smoke pot occasionally to take the edge off, and the boy in my dorm was fully naked, not half-naked.”
One woman gasped and clutched at the collar of her dress.
“Be-cause we had been fuck-ing.” She emphasized the words. “And after we finished the joint, we were going to go for round three.”
“Chastity!” Maggie yelped. “What is going on?!”
“Ask them! Ask your posse of chatty little hens, all clucking about my issues like they give two shits about me!” She looked around the group of women. “Not one of y’all know me, so keep my damn name out of your mouths, you gossiping… old… hogs .”
The women stared back at her blankly, unsure what to say.
“Well, I never!”
“Yeah, you probably have never done a lotta things, you old codger.”
“Chastity, stop! You cannot just barge into my Bible study and berate our flock while you live under my roof!”
“Ohhhhh, fuck your flock !”
A second woman gasped this time.
“You want Bible study? Why not look at some passages that are applicable to you, huh?”
Chastity waltzed up to one of the women and snatched the Bible off her lap. She flipped through pages wildly until she found the first passage. “Let’s see, James chapter one, verse twenty-six says, ‘ If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. ’”
Her eyes flitted to one of the women. “I saw your son’s name in the paper a while back. Got arrested for possession. Had a… what did the paper call it? Oh yeah, a dealer’s amount of crystal methamphetamine in his car down at the Loaf ‘n Jug right there by the junior high. But, hey, according to this , I should probably mind my own business on that one, shouldn’t I?”
The woman didn’t even blink. The others watched Chastity’s furious flurry of page-flipping.
“Ephesians chapter four, verse twenty-nine says, ‘ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ’”
“Enough!” her mother screamed. But Maggie’s plea fell on deaf ears.
“No, no, I got another one. Psalm chapter one-hundred-and-nine, verse three. This one you’re gonna wanna highlight, flock. ‘ They encircle me with words of hate and attack me without cause. ’ Hmmm… Ladies? Sound familiar?”
“I said that is enough!” Maggie rose from her seat, though her shout never phased her wayward daughter.
“Guess that theology class you insisted I take is biting you in the ass now, ain’t it, Mother?”
“Chastity, I swear…” Maggie was at a loss for words, fuming.
Chastity closed the Bible loudly and pointed to one of the ladies. “Where is your husband, Anne? I’ll tell you. He’s shacked up with a girl half his age that he met two months ago at The Alibi . And, Mary-Jo, everyone knows you pilfered proceeds from last year’s church carnival to buy that Kors purse because Herald cut you off.”
Maggie stomped her foot. “Chastity Marie Erikson, I want you out of this house!”
“Suit yourself.” Chastity shrugged as if her plans had not just been knocked into a complete tailspin. “Well, ladies, that should give you plenty more to jabber about. You’re welcome .”
Chastity started out of the room, stopped, and turned. “I’ll get my things when you’re at Sunday service. Don’t worry. From now on, you won’t have to see your disgrace of a daughter anymore. Maybe consider adopting some needy African orphan or something so you can mold them into the wholesome version of whatever it is you expected me to be.”
Chastity turned so hard that her rainbow hair swung. She stuffed a few items into an overnight bag and hurried out to her car, leaving the stunned group of God-fearing women in silence.