Turmoil

When I am sitting in our room reading that evening, Cynthia comes in, her face streaked with tears. It takes a while for me to calm her down. Cynthia looks very much like me, though she is a bit shorter and more slight. Eventually, through her sobs, she manages to say, “Faustino.”

Faustino is the F-boy of a Quiver family whose father is American and mother is Italian.

“What about Faustino?”

Little by little, I find out that she ran into Faustino in the forest at some point. They took a liking to each other and met several times after that while gathering mushrooms. Eventually, they kissed—and they were apparently being watched.

“But you didn't touch each other?”

“No, God forbid. But he is so kind.”

“You realize that this will result in a harsh punishment, because according to our father, it is completely against God’s plan. We women are to marry the man he chooses for us, and then bear that man’s children. Man and woman do not choose one another.”

Is that my true opinion? Probably not, but I have to live this life and so does Cynthia, even if she has always been a bit more rebellious.

While preparing dinner, I receive instructions from my mother: Ben and I are to bring Cynthia to the Patriarch’s Room at 9:00 PM, once all the little ones are in bed.