by Nina Smith
Magda grinned.
Kat ignored the both of them. “We kidnapped a teenager being abused by the Congregation and left her in a hospital. Hence the stress, Adam, so please focus.”
His eyes went wide. “Did you really?”
“Yes. Now tell me where you’ve been.”
Adam winked at Magda. “You like bossy women? You’re going to have your hands full with this one.”
Kat dropped her head in her hands. “I swear to God, Adam, this is serious. I need you to tell me what’s been going on. Have you received any threats?”
“Threats? No sweetie. Who’s threatening me?”
“The Congregation are going a little psycho out there,” Magda said. “We were worried they might have targeted you. Preacher seems to be blaming you for everything I’ve done.”
Adam shrugged. “Preacher’s a closet homosexual, just like your ex-husband, darling. That many years of repression will do things to a person. Trust me, I’ve seen it before.”
Magda giggled. “I always thought John should have married him.”
Adam looked from her to Kat, suddenly serious. “I’ve got a problem.”
“I need coffee. Mags?” Kat got up and went to the coffee machine. Magda nodded at her.
“You’ll need something stronger after you hear my problem!” Adam called after her.
“So stop bitching and just tell us!” Kat slammed two mugs onto the bar. The coffee machine bubbled in the silence.
Adam groaned and rubbed his head. “Kat darling, bring me that bottle of vodka would you?”
Kat scowled, put the bottle under her arm and returned with two mugs of coffee. She scowled more when Adam poured liberal doses into both his and Magda’s coffees. “I need her sober,” she said.
“I’ll be fine.” Magda breathed in the familiar vapour. The throbbing subsided to a dull ache.
Only when he’d finished his coffee did Adam finally get to the point. “There’s this girl,” he said.
“Girl?” Kat paused with her cup halfway to her mouth.
“I know. See yesterday, after you two lovebirds left, I went down to the bar as usual, and I was having the loveliest–er, conversation–with a big muscly bricklayer. He had long hair and the tightest-”
“Get to the point,” Kat snapped.
“Keep your knickers on darling. I went off for a minute to serve some customers and when I came back he was gone. There was this girl at the bar who said he had to leave suddenly. Then she just stayed, even though she wouldn’t drink anything except orange juice. I told her I was gay, but it didn’t put her off. She just kept talking at me. I felt sorry for her, she seemed lonely. So I had a drink with her. Just one. I mean, I might have had a few throughout the day, but I swear to you I wasn’t the least bit drunk. But the next thing I knew I woke up here with a total blank on the previous three hours. I was starkers. In bed. With her.” He shuddered.
“Huh?” Kat said.
Magda put down her coffee cup, thinking maybe the vodka was too strong and she’d heard wrong. “Huh?”
“Please don’t laugh at me, it was the most horrible experience of my life.” Adam clenched his hands around his empty cup. “And it got worse.” He put down the cup, went to the bar and came back with cigarettes, a lighter and an ashtray. He offered the packet to Magda and then lit one himself. “Sorry Kat darling, I can open a window if you want, but I’m really stressed.”
Magda lit her cigarette. Kat opened a window. “Go on,” she said, after she’d sat down again.
“Well, I woke up, and you can imagine my reaction,” Adam said. “I screamed. Then she burst into tears and said she knew I’d enjoyed it. I couldn’t get away from her fast enough, but she followed me, with all her woman bits flopping about, insisting she was just trying to show me what it was like to be a real man. She kept crying and carrying on, it was just awful.” He took a drag of his cigarette.
Magda leaned forward. She had a horrible, sick feeling in her stomach. Her left eye throbbed. “Are you saying she raped you?”
Adam winced. “I don’t even remember. I don’t even know how she got me home. I never even saw her before. But all I can think of is she put something in my drink, and then looked in my wallet to get my address. It’s just all so beyond wrong. It took me hours to get rid of her, and the only way she’d go is if I promised her she could come back today. She said she just wanted to talk, but not while I was upset. I figured I could be out of here before she arrived and go get a restraining order, but by that time it was really late and now I’ve overslept. God, she could be here any minute. Hey, how about I get dressed, we’ll sneak out the back and all go to Pantheon?”
“How about you get dressed because I can’t stand that shade of pink you’re wearing? Then we’ll talk.” Kat got up and paced the room, something Magda had never seen her do before.
“Fine, but I have a shirt this shade and I’m going to wear it.” Adam shuffled back into his room.
As soon as his door was closed Kat put her hands on the back of the sofa on either side of Magda’s shoulders. “Is she one of them?”
Magda looked at her fingers. Her nails were ragged. “It’s not the way Preacher works,” she said. “But I don’t know. If he’s really sanctioned drugging people at the outreach centres, maybe he would send someone out to target Adam like that. He’s just twisted enough to think some random girl could make a gay man straight.”
“I think we need to see her,” Kat said.
“See who?” Adam returned, wearing a pair of too-tight black jeans, a leopard print shirt and a hot pink necktie. He grinned when Kat rolled her eyes at him.
“Your girlfriend,” Kat said. “I want to meet her.”
“Will you scare her off for me?” Adam sounded plaintive.
“I will.” Magda got out of her seat and returned the coffee cups to the bar. She tilted her head at the two of them when they looked skeptical. “Trust me, I know the type.”
“Fine, I’ll leave her to you two, but can I leave please? She scares me.”
“No,” Kat said. “You need to get her up here.”
The doorbell chimed through the room. The three looked at each other.
Adam rolled his eyes. “Fine. Make yourselves at home. I’ll just go put my head in the lion’s mouth for you.” He stomped down the stairs.
Magda and Kat sat on the couch together. Magda watched Kat. The tic behind her left eye fascinated her. If she could just focus on that tiny movement, and the way Kat’s eyelashes curled out at the end, then maybe she could ignore the persistent throb in her own head and the horrible sick feeling in her stomach that Preacher had gone completely insane.
She wondered if this was what they’d done to Jonah Sand.
Voices floated up the stairs. Two sets of footsteps hurried closer. Adam burst back into the room like a slightly desperate leopard kitten. “God I need a drink,” he said.
“Gosh Adam,” said the woman behind him. “I’ve got some really interesting things to tell you about the damage alcohol does to your body and even your soul.”
Magda dropped her head in her hands. “Oh, fuck,” she said, but she raised her head quickly, because she didn’t want to miss Amanda’s face when she walked in the room.
“Can’t wait sweetie,” Adam said. “Oh I hope you don’t mind, I’ve got a couple of girlfriends here. A pair of the loveliest little lesbians you ever saw. Amanda, meet Mags and Kat.”
“I’m not a lesbian,” Kat snapped.
Magda grinned.
Amanda stopped dead in the doorway. “Oh my God,” she said.
Adam leaned around to look at her. “Which one? Mags, does she think you’re God?”
Amanda took a faltering step into the room. “Magdalene what are you doing here?”
Magda shrugged. “Smoking and drinking. You?”
“Not smoking and drinking,” Amanda said through her teeth.
“Do you know this girl?” Kat looked Amanda up and down and looked distinct
ly unimpressed.
Magda was a little surprised. Amanda had abandoned the Congregation uniform for a short skirt, stilettos and a low cut top. “Preacher hired her to try and cure me of my hell-bound ways,” she said. “I got her drunk, took photos and blackmailed her into going away.”
Adam burst out laughing. “That was her? God I feel better already!”
“You kissed me!” Amanda’s face flamed bright red. “I spent days praying for guidance, until I saw you on the news pointing a gun at Preacher. God took my hand and led me back to Preacher and I confessed everything!”
“You kissed her?” Kat sounded put out.
“I needed blackmail material,” Magda said. She patted Kat’s hand. “You I kissed because I like you.”
“Oh.” Kat grinned.
“You really are lesbians?” Amanda’s voice rose and broke on the last word. “I can see God has led me to this place. Preacher gave me the task of leading Adam to God. Show him what it’s like to lie with a woman, he said, and God will forgive you. God has seen fit to reward my success with a greater challenge.” She turned to Adam and pressed her hands together as if in prayer. “Thank you, thank you for arranging this, and giving me the opportunity to be the salvation of Preacher’s daughter. God will help lead you all away from your abhorrent ways.”
“You’re fucking twisted,” Kat said.
Amanda blinked at her. “Please don’t curse.”
“Jesus Christ,” Adam said. “I really need a drink now. Who’s with me?”
Magda put her hand up. So, to her surprise, did Kat. Adam poured three shots of vodka.
“Stop!” Amanda squeaked. “What are you doing? We have such an opportunity here!”
Adam downed his shot. Magda followed suit. Kat sipped at hers and made a face.
Amanda’s hands trembled. “I forgot how difficult you could be Magdalene,” she said. She dug in her bag and came out with a bright pink phone. “I’m going to have to call your father. He did say to alert him if anyone saw you, and I think I need guidance in this situation.”
Magda moved quickly over to where Amanda stood. She removed the phone from her hand, walked over to the window and ditched it as far as she could. It smashed on the driveway.
Amanda uttered an outraged squeal. “Magdalene!”
Magda went back to her. The throb behind her left eye had gone from being simple stress to building anger. She pushed Amanda in the chest.
The girl stumbled backward and put her hands against the wall for balance. “Preacher’s right. You’ve got Satan in you.”
“Preacher’s a religious nutcase. You’re not much better. Now I’m going to ask you some questions, and if you don’t tell me the truth, I’m going to show you exactly how much of Satan I’ve got in me!” Magda pinned her to the wall with both hands and tried to ignore the feeling she’d crossed the line. Adam and Kat gaped.
“You can’t hide from God,” Amanda said in a trembling voice. “He’ll lead Preacher back to you.”
“Shut the fuck up. Tell me why Preacher wanted you to do this to Adam.”
“He wanted Adam to have the opportunity to turn to God,” Amanda said. Her lower lip trembled. “He wants everybody to have that opportunity. Especially you.”
Magda closed her eyes and thought of happy things, like vodka and Amanda converting to Rastafarianism. “What did you give him?” she said through her teeth.
“I gave him the greatest gift a woman can give a man,” Amanda said. “I gave him my body. I’ll even give him my hand in marriage to make our union sacred. That’s how committed I am to Adam’s soul.”
Magda saw Adam drink from the bottle out of the corner of her eye. She kicked Amanda in the shin.
The woman yelped. “Ow! What did you do that for?”
“You drugged him,” Magda said. “What did you use?”
“I would never!”
“You fucking drugged him!”
Amanda pouted. “I did not. Preacher gave me holy water. He said anybody who drinks it falls under the power of God and is open to being saved by committed Christians. He said I should put it in his drink while he wasn’t looking, so I did. I didn’t know he was going to pass out like that.”
“You believed that pack of lies?”
“Preacher doesn’t lie.”
Magda let Amanda go. She wiped her hands on her pants as though she could get rid of the feel of her. “You’re all fucking insane. You’ve been brainwashed, Amanda.”
“No I haven’t.” Amanda straightened her clothes and looked at the three of them. She watched Adam take another swig from the bottle and light a cigarette. “Adam, tell them to leave your house. I can see Magdalene is a bad influence on you.”
“Look sweetie, I think you’re just going to have to accept that I’m gay, she’s gay and we’d all much rather go to hell where it’s warm than spend one second with you and Preacher in heaven,” Adam said. “You’re like my worst nightmare. What are you even still doing here?”
Amanda burst into tears. “But we made love!”
Adam threw the empty vodka bottle against the wall. The smashing glass echoed through the room. Kat instinctively covered her head. Magda winced.
“Whatever you did, you did without my consent!” Adam yelled. “That’s rape, you twisted little bitch! Get the fuck out of my house before I call the police and have you removed!”
Amanda cried even harder. “How can you say such things? You were pretending when you said all those nice things yesterday!”
“I was trying to get you out of my face!”
“You’re evil!” Amanda yelled at him. “Preacher was right, it was you who corrupted his daughter!” She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “I’m going to go and pray for both of you. And you, whoever you are,” she added, with a glance at Kat. “I forgive you all for everything, and so will God, when you finally turn to His light.” She shouldered her bag and walked out.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Adam yelled.
They waited in silence until the front door slammed. Then a car started and disappeared down the street.
The three breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Adam looked a little shamefaced at the broken glass. He fetched a broom from beside the fridge. “Sorry,” he said. The broom shook in his hands.
“You sit down. You’ve nothing to be sorry for.” Kat took the broom from him and swept up the glass. “Christ, I can see why you’re so messed up, Mags. She’s enough to drive anyone to drink. Are they all like that in the Congregation?
“Not completely,” Magda said. “But she’s one of the ones who went through my ex’s little bible bashing clinic. I’d hate to think that’s how they all come out the other side.”
“Bible bashing clinic?” Adam poured water into two glasses and handed one to Magda. “It’s a bit early in the day to be drunk, sweetie. Let’s just dilute it a bit.”
“We went into one of Preacher’s Outreach Centres yesterday,” Kat said when she rejoined them. “They’re putting drugs in holy water, same as that bitch did to you, and then brainwashing them. Oh, and did I mention my office got trashed? They’ve started a war, Adam, and the three of us have made ourselves prime targets.”
“Holy shit.” Adam rubbed at his temple. “Should we tell the police?”
Magda shook her head. “Preacher actively encourages the young men in the Congregation to go to the Academy,” she said. “That’s why there’s such a high percentage of Congregation people in the force. Kat’s got one friend on there, but I don’t think we can really trust them as a group.”
“I agree,” Kat said. “I went straight down there last time Magda got yanked into a car. I told them everything and they wouldn’t lift a finger. So we’re on our own. Oh, except for several hundred upset citizens who read my news page about it all and organised a street protest.” She grinned and completely failed to look modest.
Adam perked up. “Protest? I love protests!”
&nbs
p; “You’re not going,” Kat said. “You’re too much of a target for their thugs. I want you to hide.”
“Thugs shmugs. What are they going to do? Let’s get out of here.”
“That one I agree with,” Magda said. “Since Amanda’s probably run straight to Preacher to tell him where we are.”
*
They went back to Kat’s house first to fetch cameras and check on the news feed. The comments number had quadrupled, but neither Magda nor Kat stopped to read them. Magda couldn’t sit still long enough. She suspected Kat couldn’t either, so it wasn’t long before the three of them piled back into Kat’s car and drove into the centre of Hailstone.
This protest wasn’t confined to the Square; they parked at the edge of the city and walked in through thickening crowds. Magda had never seen this many people on the street at once in Hailstone, not even during the last two protests. She ducked her head a few times when she recognised a face from the Congregation, but for the most part it was everybody else out to protest.
“This’ll be in the history books one day,” Kat said. “They’ll call it the alcohol wars.”
“How about the week Gaylstone took off its pants and did a pole dance at church?” Adam suggested.
Magda sniggered. Kat gave them both scathing looks. “We’re here to record this, alright? If anything goes wrong I want it on camera. Mags do you know how to use this?” She took the video camera bag off her shoulder and handed it over.
“I’ll figure it out.” Magda slung the strap over one shoulder and got the camera out. It was small enough to hold in one hand. She flipped open the screen and played with buttons until she knew what she was doing. She liked the idea of recording history.
“Adam! Adam!” A group of youths bolted across the street toward Adam. One young man slung an arm around his shoulder.
“We were hoping you’d be here,” a girl exclaimed. “We need someone to speak. Come on!”
“Mags get me on camera!” Adam yielded to the hands tugging at him.
“Go with him,” Kat said. “I’ll catch up.”
“You’re the boss.” Magda ran after Adam and his friends. They pushed their way through an increasingly dense crowd; she kept a wary eye on the police officers milling around the edges, but they made no moves to break anything up. She brushed past youths wearing all black, a tall woman with tattooed arms and two men wearing torn jeans and no shirts. Everybody she saw was happy and excited. It was like they were out for a carnival, not for a protest against a cult.