THE SEX REBEL OF JESUSLAND, chapter 103

103. THE FIRST WITNESS.

The first witness was Reverend Redburn.

“Sir, on Sunday June thirteen, you had a visit from whom?”

“From the accused.”

“Why did she want to see you?”

“She said she had come on behalf of a friend.”

“Did you believe her?”

“No, I knew she had come on behalf of herself. When they have a big problem, the Beloveds in my congregation generally start out by saying they come on behalf of a friend.”

“What was the problem?”

“She didn’t really say. She hinted. She said there was something big that had happened, very big, and she had a decision to make, she wanted to know if she could forgive her friend for this thing her friend had done, who was a female, and had done something like murder.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her to do the selfless thing. To think not about herself, but about others and the greater good of society. To tell her friend to go to her Patriot Board and confess what she had done, instead of burdening a friend with this knowledge, and putting her friend in the awkward position of knowing that someone had committed a grievous sin that she was bound by her loyalty to society to go and tell her Patriot Board about.”

“What did she say?”

“She was not relieved. She seemed troubled by my advice. She said she would like to give her friend the chance of giving herself up instead of telling me who her friend was. I happen to be the new Chairman of our Patriot Board.”

Reverend Redburn allowed a spoonful of smug self-righteousness to slip into the slurp of the rich voice he served up to the court.

“Did she know this?”

“It had just happened. I think she must have realized it was a mistake to ask me anything, since I was not only her pastor, but also her Patriot Board. I don’t think she would’ve approached me if she knew I was the new Chairman of our Patriot Board.”

“What did you do?”

“As the new Chairman of our Patriot Board, it was my duty to get this information out of her. I was determined to do that, to save the woman from herself. It’s the sort of thing a Chairman of any Patriot Board is bound to do.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she didn’t want her friend to go to jail. I told her it was not for her to think about whether she should forgive her friend. She had to think about persuading her friend to give herself up to her Patriot Board. Her friend had to give herself up and show her repentance, before anybody could think about forgiving anybody.”

“What did she do?”

“She backed off.”

“Did she agree with you that this was not a forgivable sin?”

“I felt she didn’t.”

“So you didn’t think she was going to repent?”

“No, I did not. I thought she was going to stew in her sin, or worse, try to shrug it off. She never spoke to me again, even though I, as the new Chairman of our Patriot Board, arranged with her to speak to me the next Sunday.”

“Shrug it off?”

“Yes.”

“What did you think about that?”

“I thought she was putting her very soul at risk. She was condemning herself to burn in hell. Here I was, the new Chairman of our Patriot Board, and she could have repented right then and there in front of me, and saved her soul, but she didn’t. Some people are just born to sin. They can’t help themselves. They bear the mark of Cain. The devil is their helpmate.”

“Thank you, Reverend Redburn. I have no further questions.”

The attorney for the defense followed.

“Did the defendant mention anything about her or her friend being pregnant?”

“No, but the inference was clear.”

“Something big had happened. You concluded this was a pregnancy?”

“Yes. She said something like murder. I asked her if her friend was female. She said yes. What else could it have been?”

“It could have been something she or her friend had found out about someone, some dangerous information, and whether she should tell anybody about it or keep it to herself. Couldn’t it?”

“Maybe.”

“It could have been that someone had done her harm, bad harm that murdered something precious in her, and she could accept it or fight back, or forgive. Couldn’t it?”

“Maybe.”

“So you have no hard evidence that she meant to refer to a pregnancy?”

“It was an inference I made. A very likely one.”

“But you just agreed it could have been different things, haven’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“I have no further questions.”