Part 30 (1/2)
”Or so he thinks,” Carma said. ”Sarah was a hundred and fifty years ago. I think he over-romanticizes her.”
”Tell them the story,” Awan said, eating.
Carma sighed and sat down at the table with a mug of coffee. ”Back in the 1860s, Utah wasn't a state, but it was the gathering place for all Mormons worldwide. Lyman's parents converted in London, and traveled to America. They pulled a handcart across the plains from Nebraska to get here. They settled in Manti.
”Polygamy was big at the time, with Brigham Young declaring it was the only way to get to heaven, and the local church leaders.h.i.+p in Manti enjoyed marrying pretty young girls as soon as they were able to breed.
”Lyman was young, as you saw, and fell in love with a girl his age named Sarah, and she loved him back. Unfortunately, the Bishop in Manti at the time had his sights set on Sarah for years. He informed Sarah and her parents that she was to be sealed to him, which in those days was considered a bit of an honor, having an older church authority select you and all. Sarah didn't want anything to do with the old Bishop and told him so.
Carma took a sip of her coffee and continued. ”Eventually it came out that the reason Sarah wouldn't agree to the sealing was because she was in love with a young boy in town, Lyman. The town found Lyman one Sat.u.r.day morning, lying in the middle of the street with no pants on. He'd been castrated in the middle of the night, and left to bleed out right there on the main thoroughfare of town. His parents scooped him up and nursed him back to health.
”When the locals went to church the next day, they were in for a surprise. Lyman's b.a.l.l.s were nailed to the wall inside the chapel. The Bishop gave a fiery talk during sacrament meeting. He pointed at Lyman's privates, and said, 'That's what comes from disobeying authority!'
”One of Lyman's friends overheard others in the ward talking about the incident. He heard that the Bishop had directed Danites to do the deed. The Bishop reasoned that once Sarah learned that Lyman was no longer a man, she'd lose interest in him and consent to the sealing.”
Deem stared down at the bowl of cereal she'd been eating. She suddenly lost the urge to eat anymore.
”Lyman's parents were furious, but they knew they couldn't take on the Bishop and ward, so they left, moved down here to Leeds. Supposedly Brigham Young learned of the incident and was p.i.s.sed. But he left the Bishop in his post, never did anything to him.”
”What happened to Sarah?” Deem asked.
”After a couple of months she relented. Lyman's family was gone. It was easier to just give in, so she married the Bishop. Wife number nine.”
Carma paused, took another sip of coffee.
”The story I've just told you isn't uncommon. It happened a lot back in those days. It still happens today, without the castration, in fundamentalist communities. The old men force the young men out, so they can have the young girls for themselves. They're called 'lost boys.' They dump them hundreds of miles from home and let them fend for themselves. They tell them if they ever come back into the community, they'll kill them.”
”So Lyman was one of the first lost boys,” Winn said.
”But he was gifted,” Deem said.
”Something he didn't really understand at the time,” Carma said. ”His mother suppressed it, in both herself and Lyman, when they converted. She didn't think it was acceptable in light of her new faith. But after they left Manti and moved to Leeds, she decided her new faith might not be all it was cracked up to be, so she went ahead and told Lyman about the gift, and began teaching him how to use it. He naturally hated the Mormon leaders for what they'd done to him. He never really got over Sarah, and he spent the last year of his life using the knowledge his mother had pa.s.sed to him to ensure he'd come back as a ghost so he could monkeywrench them from the other side. He died soon after from complications caused by the castration. The moment he died, he began working against the Mormon leaders in the area. He hates the fundamentalists as much as he hates the regular Mormons. He was particularly angry with Warren Jeffs and caused that man no end of trouble. It got a lot more serious when the nuclear testing brought all that radiation and he got more powerful.”
”So that's how he knew about Claude?” Winn asked.
”Yes,” Carma said. ”And I suspect Claude knew about him. And he knows all about the secret council. It has remained his goal to keep making life hard for higher-up Mormons, and he's become really good at it.”
”The secret council must know about Lyman, then,” Deem said.
”I don't know,” Carma said. ”Lyman excels at staying under the radar. They must know there are forces at work here, laboring against them. They call it 'Satan,' but it's really just what it always is with the Mormons problems of their own making coming back to haunt them. They are so wrapped up in their own world you know how insular they are that I'm not sure they've identified Lyman specifically. Even if they did, at this point they'd have a hard time doing anything about it. Lyman has spent the last thirty years building up a fortress here. For as long as I've lived here, he's been adding layer upon layer of protection. If they knew he was here, they'd have a very hard time rooting him out.”
Deem smiled. ”He's an ally, then,” she said, regaining her desire to eat and shoveling a spoonful into her mouth.
”One of the best you could ever have, my dear,” Carma said, smiling at her.
Chapter Fourteen.
Deem stayed at Carma's for the rest of the morning, chatting with her and the others. Hanging out at Carma's was like staying at a really good friend's house comfortable, relaxed, and fun. Before she knew it, it was ten a.m. and she felt the need to check on her mom.
They all packed back into Winn's Jeep and left, Carma standing at the threshold, waving to them as they left.
”I think she asked us to come back at least fifty times,” Deem said as they rode back to St. George.
”That's her,” Awan said. ”And she means it. She obviously likes you two. You should drop in there anytime and visit her. You don't need me around to do it.”
”That story about Lyman was a trip,” Winn said. ”f.u.c.king barbaric.”
”He seemed really sad to me,” Deem said.
”That's because you reminded him of Sarah,” Awan said. ”Usually he's just angry. Very angry.”
”Carma seems to know how to deal with him,” Winn said.
”They've been a team for years now,” Awan said. ”She doesn't put up with bulls.h.i.+t, as you probably figured out. And he needs her to do things that he can't do himself, physically. So it works out. That's how she got the house.”
”From Lyman?” Winn asked. ”He gave her the house?”
”Yes,” Awan said. ”They struck a deal, way back.”
”But since he's a ghost, how could he control the owners.h.i.+p?” Winn asked.
”I don't know,” Awan said, ”but for some reason, the doc.u.ments always say what Lyman wants them to say.”
They stopped at the restaurant parking lot where Awan had left his car the night before. ”You'll call us when that chalk is ready?” Winn asked as Awan hopped out of the Jeep.
”I will,” Awan said. Deem left the Jeep too, and ran to Awan, throwing her arms around him and giving him a long hug.
”Thank you,” she said. ”I owe you.”
”You'll help me with the brothers in Indian Springs,” Awan said, ”and we'll call it even.”
Awan walked to the open window where Winn sat inside the Jeep. Winn extended his arm, and said ”Thank you, Awan.”
Awan grasped his arm just below the elbow, and they held each other's arm for a moment. ”You're welcome, my brother,” he said, then dropped Winn's arm and walked to his car. Winn and Deem watched as he left.
Deem got back into the Jeep. ”He called you brother,” Deem said. ”I don't think he meant it in the Mormon way.”
”No, he meant it in the Paiute way,” Winn said. ”So he really meant it.”
Deem checked with her mother as soon as she walked in the house. Her mother was vacuuming the stairs, something she only did if she felt good.
”No bite this morning?” Deem asked her above the roar of the vacuum cleaner.
”No!” her mother shouted back. ”No bite!”