Chapter 24

The Village in Four Corners had one chapel in the Residential sector. Non-denominational, non-judgmental. Iowa was a conservative state, loyally Republican except in certain urban districts. Gun-loving, God-fearing, basic, decent, mind-your-own-business citizens.

Known simply as The Chapel, the plain wooden structure with 32 stained glass windows, had been providing comfort and understanding to the farm families who worked Four Corners since the 1890s. The current pastor was like her predecessors —- empathetic and stoic.

Mary Stone preached a very brief sermon — 5 or 10 minutes on Sundays. She hosted a prayer service on Wednesday evenings, and led fund-raising efforts when a neighbor needed cash for a hospital bill, a rent payment, bail money.

But her main job, and it was what she was revered for, was to go from house to house when someone just needed to talk. A shoulder to cry on. She listened sympathetically, never criticizing, never showing disapproval.These days, most of her congregation came from the 800 or so folks in the Village. She still interacted with the farmers, but the stories she heard, the lives she touched, were more often town-related than those of the farm families, with their feelings of loneliness and quiet desperation.

Specifically, she spent a lot of time with the Pink Pussy girls. The Reverend Mary Stone didn’t have a single negative word to say about how they made their living. She was 38, and wise to the ways of the world.

The only slightly controversial activities she engaged in had been fairly recent. Iowa attracted, and hired, a large number of workers from south of the American border. Undocumented, for the most part. They were mostly hard-working and willing to take jobs that the locals wouldn’t.

But every once in a while a federal or state agency would suddenly get serious about the ‘immigration problem.’ Mary Stone immediately offered sanctuary. It came with the blessings of the Stillman family, and with the approval of most of the Village residents.

The Chapel was small, and physically incapable of long-term accommodations. So, Mary Stone reached out to the community and found temporary housing for the migrants. Single men, teenage runaways, families — Claire Stillman made sure that Mary had enough money in the coffers to compensate the hosts, and feed and clothe the desperate.

The scramble for fresh Pink Pussy pussy continued. Consuela now had scouts frequenting bars around the state, chatting up groups of women. Four Corners women who had turned her down, were approached again. A thousand-dollar bonus was waved in front of them.