Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2012 15:58:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Macout Mann Subject: AGE OF WANTONNESS 15 This is a sexually oriented fantasy set in the future. The author does not condone the activities depicted. He only describes what might occur, given the premises upon which the story is based. Skittish readers should use caution. Minors should move on. Sexual activity is explicitly detailed. Please take time to contribute to nifty.org and keep this service free. Also please comment on the story. macoutmann@yahoo.com AGE OF WANTONNESS by Macout Mann Chapter 15 The Pilgrim Tabernacle was built during the great depression of the 1930s. It was originally a multi-purpose auditorium and arena. It seats about 5,000. When Bryan Jennings converted it to a center for worship, he added an eighty-two rank pipe organ and a choir loft accommodating a hundred singers and up to twenty-five instrumentalists. To the original stage a lectern was added, but no traditional pulpit. Brother Bryan likes to pace as he preaches, and this Sunday morning he is pacing aplenty as he preaches at Morning Prayers. It is a new sermon, prepared since Lawyer Spangler spoke with him yesterday. "My brothers and sisters, I come to you with a heavy heart this morning," he began. And then he relates how his only son has been snatched by the police from the sanctity of his very own home, accused of a most heinous crime, which he is incapable of committing, and imprisoned along with common criminals in the jail in "that other part of this sinful city." Some twenty minutes later he reaches the climax of his tirade. "We must pray for the freedom of Brother Jacob. He must be allowed to go his way, wherever the master leads him. This illegitimate government has no authority over this godly man. It must fall, as did Sodom and Gomorrah. This sinful administration must be exorcised. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, carnality, and all the other abominable acts fostered by the dominant, heathen culture must be ended. Intolerance in the name god is sanctified. We must act in his name!" He is still not finished. His sermon lasts forty-five minutes and his congregation has been whipped to a frenzy by the time he says his final "A-men." Spangler visits Jacob after lunch to reassure him and to let him know that nothing can be done for the present. Jacob says he'd like his father to visit him and also Sister Jane. "I know your father plans to come during visiting hours," Spangler replies. "I'll get word to Sister Jane." When he contacts the sister, she tells him that she'll see Jacob as soon as she can. Brother Bryan is totally distraught, when he sees Jacob. "Why would they choose to torment you?" he asks. "It is cruel to accuse you, my only son, of such a heinous thing!" The frenzy is still present. "Father, they are just trying to persecute you as they persecuted the savior," the self-righteous Jacob proclaims. "It will pass. There is no way I can be convicted of anything." "Who is this Susannah Daemon anyway?" his father asks. "She came to us with her mother, when she was ten," Jacob relates. "That was eight years ago. Before she fled, she was a seamstress. Just before the Fourth, she received a letter from her brother, which she did not give to her mentor, as she should have. She was in a demonstration and slipped away to see her brother, but came back—I think the next day. Then a week later she disappeared again. That's all I know." Later, Brother Bryan repeats to Spangler what his son had said. "Funny," Spangler thinks. "That's not what he told me." Ashby has asked Ben Stiles to use his influence to get his mother's ceephone number. Stiles discovers that Beatrice Daemon has no ceephone, but he is able to get her address. Ashby dresses as inconspicuously as he can. The club had once done a satire on the Pilgrims and has some leftover costumes. He takes the transcar into Ole Town. It takes almost an hour, but he finally stands at the door to the townhouse his mother shares with another woman. When the door is answered, he's not sure it's his mother. "Ms. Daemon?" "Yes." "Mother, it's me, Ashby." She reacts only to say, "Where's Susannah?" "She's o.k., Mother. She's safe. She's being taken care of." "Do you have anything to do with this horrid thing Brother Jacob is accused of?" "Mother, what Jacob Jennings is accused of, he did. You must believe that. He raped your daughter." "I can never believe such a thing!" "May I come in and tell you about it?" "No. You have chosen the way of sin. Susannah told me what you are doing. I don't want to be contaminated by the likes of you. And I suppose you have ensnared Susannah in your evil ways." "I can understand that you don't approve of me, but I love you. Susannah loves you. We would like to relate to you. We want you to know the truth." "The truth is that this irreligious and evil government is trying to send a godly man to prison and that my daughter must be helping it. May god have mercy on her soul. You, I'm sure, are already damned!" She slams the door. By the time Ashby reaches the transtop nearest Anything Goes, it is almost time for him to go onstage. After the first show he briefly sees Mike. "You see your mom?" Mike asks. "Yes. She wouldn't even talk to me," Ashby answers. He seems near tears. "Tough fucking shit," Mike replies. Copyright 2012 by Macout Mann. All rights reserved.