Chapter 9

“Fairly recent, as has been his behaviour in general. He has become more and more extreme in his outlook, and that became linked with his abuse of us. Everyone was wrong except him, was his special viewpoint. We were on the wrong end of that opinion, every time, every day. He was and is unbearable, and it terrified me.”

I nodded my understanding. “An obsession with one view of life, to the exclusion of all others; a monomania. I am no psychiatrist, but I think he has lost track of reality. You no longer matter as close family members; all that matters to him is himself and his fixations.”

“That summation appears to be close, Jimmy.”

“In that case you are no longer safe to be in the same house as him. Your lives may be at risk; I mean that, genuinely unsafe.”

Elizabeth looked horrified. “You are frightening me, Jimmy; please stop saying that.”

“Sorry, Elizabeth. It was not my intention to frighten you. I was looking at what is facing you, and that, to my mind, is frightening in itself.”

“But what can we do?”

“Nothing immediately. We must wait and see what the police do with him. If they are wise, they will have him examined by a psychiatrist instead of letting him loose. With a bit of luck, the psychiatrist will see his aberration, and act on it.”

“And if none of that happens?”

“They might release him, with a warning. In that case, when he gets home, he will find you gone. What will he do then? I have no answer to that, as it is up to him and his viewpoint. He might want to seek you out, for further punishment for going against his ways; or alternatively he might be happy to see you gone, no longer annoying him by just your presence around him.”

“Then what do we do?”

“The same as we advised before: stay out of sight, be out of contact entirely for a while. Later we can decide on what next, once we have some facts to act on. We have to wait until there is some official action on the part of the authorities.”

“But we can’t depend on you for our accomodation and meals, possibly for days or even weeks.”

“Elizabeth, when as a Christian person you are trying to help someone, you don’t regard it as time-limited. It is an obligation that you take on willingly. Stay with us as long as is necessary for you; get to know my ladies: they are quite fascinating girls in themselves.”

“Do you have the space?” Elizabeth wanted to know. I left that one to Sharl, with an upward glance of my eyes.

She told Elizabeth, “Tomorrow we will take you on a tour of this house, and you will see that space is not an issue for us. Whether you can manage to live with us without screaming your head off in annoyance, is quite another matter.”

She smiled to show that this was not a serious possibility.

“Thank you. I have finished my coffee. May I and Isabella retreat to bed? That nice lady offered a sleeping pill or something. Isabella?”

“Yes, mom?”

“Are you ready for bed?”

“Not quite yet, mom. I want to chat with the ladies that are staying with us for a while. I gather that Jimmy is going off somewhere.”

Sharl told her, “Yes. Jimmy and I are going back to our old house tonight. We have other responsibilities. My sisters will try their best to deal with any questions you have, but you will not get too much detail for now. Cherry will get your sleeping potion; it is the best we could find. Damn it! Cherry’s name has been mentioned next! I don’t think we are very good at keeping our names from you. Try to forget the names for now.”

Sharl went out to the car while Cherry and Charlotte each kissed me a passionate goodnight. Isabella and Elizabeth looked on with amazement.

I retreated to the car and we left, while Charlotte double locked the front door. Cherry went to get the capsules for Elizabeth. Isabella settled in a living room easy chair to wait for them. Once the two sisters returned, their chores dealt with, Isabella demanded, “Now you must tell me how all three of you got entangled with Jimmy. There must be a peculiarly unique story there.”

Charlotte smiled warily. “I am not sure how much we can tell you without giving away our identity. Can I tell you the basics? We ended up locked in an apartment with Jimmy in charge of us, with him aiming to improve our education in a number of directions, mainly social behaviour. He taught us a lot, but we had our own ... difficulties. We ended up using Jimmy to satisfy our sexual urges, but he warned us from the start that life was not as simple as we expected it to be. We learned from him that respect for other people was a very important part of social life in his view, and that how men and women approached sex was part of the social contract. That was the period in which we three learned to get along with sharing Jimmy for sex; and then the way he treated us all converted that passion into love.

After several weeks all three of us decided we could not get along without him. Sharl as the eldest thought she would marry him, but Cherry and I felt the same way for ourselves; we each wanted to marry him.”

Isabella erupted, “Oh, my God! What did Jimmy say when you told him?”

“He went away and thought for a while, then told us the only answer was for all three of us to marry him.”

Isabella knew enough to declare, “But that is illegal!”

Charlotte agreed, “Yes, but what exactly is the illegal part? It is the civil registration of a marriage to more than one person. If you don’t contract a marriage and register it in the civil records, there is no illegality. Two women or more can be married to a man without any marriage being registered in the state. Basically, if you live as if married, that is legal in itself.”

“So you are not actually married to Jimmy?”

“Actually, we are, for we had a member of the clergy marry us, even though it was not registered in the civil records.”

“What did your parents think of this ... this getting round the law?”

Charlotte told her, “All I can say is that when presented with the actuality, of three daughters all pregnant and happily living with a man as their husband, what would you expect? A return to the old times, when we were not nice girls, or accept them as married in all ways but a piece of paper?

We got accepted, in the end. Daddy had no other acceptable option.”

Isabella sighed dramatically.

“What a story! A tale with a romantic happy ending. What more could you want?”

“What about you, Isabella? What’s your story?”

Isabella’s face fell.

“Nothing very good, I’m afraid. Dull and distant father for my early years, and then he slowly deteriorated into a monster. Mom was always good to me; she kept my spirits up, and made my life much better when Dad was at work or at weekends when he was away on his own plumbing errands; he never said what. Funny: he complained about families being heathens for wanting their work done as soon as possible, often at weekends. It never seemed to occur to him to say no, as his beliefs told him to keep Sunday sacred. He was like that more and more: he was always right and everyone else was wrong. But it was only more recently that he started hitting Mom, and then me. He called it chastisement, as if that made it more acceptable! I became more and more afraid of him, and I know that Mom was that way too.”

“You can relax here, Isabella. You are safe with us, for as long as you need a refuge. How old are you, anyway?”

“Eighteen. I was hoping to go to college, but Dad was against any tuition that took me away from home.”

Charlotte told her, “You and I are not much different in ages, Isabella, so we should get along together. I’ll introduce you to the twins, Lily and Flora, who are also much the same age.”

“Oh. Are they friends of yours?”

“Yes, close friends now. We have a lot in common.”

Back home again, Sharl and I were greeted at the door with anxious questions.

“What happened? Did all go well? Are the women safe?”

All three wives were trying to ask the same questions at the same time, and it sounded garbled, but I knew what they wanted to know.

“All is well. Thanks for not phoning about it; this keeps the phone records clear of our involvement. The two women – Elizabeth is the mother, and Isabella is the teen daughter – are at our new house with Cherry and Charlotte who will remain there with them tonight. The mother needed a sleeping pill and should now be out for the night, but the daughter appears more resilient; less pressure on her. When we left she was waiting to quiz Cherry and Charlotte about our family, so I hope your sisters are not too forthcoming, Sharl.”

“I think they are reliable, darling; they know when to shut up.”

Marjory asked, “Everyone is happy then? So you can relax and make love to us tonight?”

Sharl remarked, “Marjory, you have become as much sex-addicted as the rest of us, girl. We will have to see if Jimmy can cope with your plans.”

I did, surprisingly.

At work the next day, Marjory and I tried to concentrate on our employment duties. Sharl took a taxi ride to the new house, along with Lily and Flora, to work out where all their household goods were to be put once the final transfer was made; the new house being larger, with more restrooms etc. Lily and Flora were simply introduced to the new residents as ‘other members of the family’.

Cherry and Charlotte had worked out another list of needs with Elizabeth and Isabella, ready for someone to obtain from the shops. Elizabeth had reluctantly admitted that with all the tension and excitement there had been a few things missed off in their packing, and there was no way they were returning for them.

By lunchtime they had all their expected work dealt with, and sat down to a meal they all helped put together. Allowing their lunch to settle, the arrivals gathered for them to hear a repeat of the information provided by Elizabeth and Isabella. Meantime, Cherry and Charlotte took their shopping list and drove to the city center to purchase what was needed, and a few extras that Isabella fancied for meals.

Taking all the purchases back to the new house, they handed over to Elizabeth and Isabella what they needed or wanted, and quietly brushed off the thanks offered.

There was nothing in the radio news about the abusive husband, so Sharl rang Priscilla from my phone. Priscilla was pleased with herself.

“Sharlene, I rang the cops today about the lack of contact with Elizabeth and her daughter, and said I was concerned that her husband might be stopping them from using the phone. The startled cop said that the husband was currently undergoing a psychiatric examination at the hospital, so he couldn’t be restraining them at home. He promised to get the local patrolmen to check out the house and make sure the women are safe. Priscilla said that took a weight off her mind, and thanked the cops for their concern.”

I asked, “Have the cops said they would tell her what they find?”

“Nothing so specific; just a mention that if they found something she should know, they would get back to her.”

“I am not surprised. They have no obligation to report back to individuals on their work activities. It is just a courtesy call if they do.”

“But if they discover the women are missing, what will they do?”

“It is more a matter of time, for they may have gone to visit friends, or gone shopping. The cops will try again later, and if the women don’t turn up by themselves, the cops will start viewing them as missing. That doesn’t start a manhunt, either, for people can stay away from home for a few days, visiting relatives and so on. Much depends on how much time the cops can devote to a search, and whether the missing women can be suspected as being abducted or whatever.

To begin with, they will play a waiting game; perhaps ring up friends or neighbours to ask if they have been seen. Priscilla may very well get a call of that nature, as a known contact. That is the reason for her not knowing where they are. Tell Priscilla to say that she doesn’t know, which is why she was asking!”

“Good point. Priscilla, did you hear what we were saying?”

“As if at a distance, but basically, I don’t know anything, right?”

“Well, it is true, isn’t it?”

“It is; I don’t actually KNOW anything...”

That was the point where they finished the call; enough had been said. Tonight, it was the turn of Lily and Flora to babysit their guests, while the remaining family members got to go back to the other house. At home, Sharl kept their local radio station on at a low level, turning up the sound whever the local news came on. At nine p.m., the local news headlines had a piece based on information released by the police.

“Our local guardians of the peace have detained a local man with a psychiatric disorder. Our patrolmen are apparently looking for his wife and teenage daughter, who have not been seen in the last 24 hours. It is emphasized that they are not regarded as victims, except in a minor way. The police would like the ladies to ring them at the usual emergency number to let them know that they are fit and well.”

When the newsman switched to another story, Sharl switched off the radio

“That sets the ball rolling. The cops have obviously found the house empty and want to know where the ladies are. They must realise that the odds are that the ladies have gone to ground and don’t want to be discovered for a while by anyone, but the cops are going through the motions anyway.”

Marjory asked, “Will the ladies have heard this at the other house?”

Sharl shrugged. “Unlikely, as they don’t have a radio as far as I know. Radios and the TV sets are among the household stuff that still has to be transferred to the new house. We can let them know tomorrow, and there may be more to add by then.”

She switched her attention to me.

“Cherry and Charlotte get the priority tonight, darling, as they were on duty at the other house last night.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. Just these two?”

“Well... “ She glanced at Marjory. “Marjory and I...”

“I get you; four if possible. This is getting to be a habit.”

Sharl smiled sweetly. “A lot easier than six, darling.”

I sighed. “I know, and as long as I am able, I am willing to satisfy my expectant wives.”

“That’s all we ask, dear; that you try. We love you for it. Damn it, we love you anyway, even when you were ill and couldn’t do a thing.”

The following day, after getting approval from Mr Emerson, I borrowed a company panel van and drove it home, where the girls were waiting with packed boxes of household goods that now had to be moved to their new home. They brought the boxes out to the van, and I placed them inside at the most appropriate places, with the heavier and more full boxes at the bottom and the lighter, less dense ones on top.

When it came to the domestic equipment such as vacuum cleaner, microwave oven and brushes, etc., they were laid loose on the van floor, but between boxes to keep them from sliding around in transit. Once everything was aboard that they were taking, including the TV and a couple of radios – for now, they were leaving the fixed equipment such as cooker and washing machine – I levered two of the women on to the bench seat of the van, while the other two would remain with a hand-held vacuum to clear up any dust and rubbish left behind. Once the van was unloaded at the base, I would return and collect the other two ladies along with anything else they found to take with us.

As they were unloading the van at the new house, Jimmy suddenly became conscious that there were no gardening tools in the van, so phoned back to the other two women to collect his gardening tools from the shed in the back garden. They admitted they too had forgotten these, but would have them ready at the front door on his return.

That went off as planned, and now the old house was as empty as they had prepared for, and with the other two women seated, Jimmy drove back to their new home on the base. He learned that the two visitors had joined to help, moving things to whichever room they were told while always staying indoors.

Now that all the stuff was in the new home, what remained was the task of putting things away in cupboards and drawers in each room. Elizabeth and Isabella had by now noticed that all the ladies were wearing wedding rings, and some at least were obviously pregnant, so they had questions in their minds.

Isabella cornered Lily and Flora in one of the bedrooms as they completed stashing things away, and queried them.

“Lily, Flora, can I ask you some important questions?”

The twins raised their eyebrows, but assented, “Sure, as long as we don’t tell you too much detail.”

Isabella asked, quietly, “You girls are much the same age as me, but you are both wearing wedding rings. Where are your husbands, can I ask?”

Flora paused, then revealed, “He’s around; you have met him.”