Assignment to Sin Read Free Page A

wasn’t permitted. So, you should be proud of her. I guess she’s just living
the life that you taught her to live and if that’s important to you and to her
than so be it.” I was back-stepping out of my little tirade as fast as I could.
    Prudence
moved away from me. “If there’s nothing else, Lorin, I need to get back to work,”
she said.
    I
was dismissed. What a bitch.
    ~~~~~
    Leah
smiled, leaning on her hoe when she saw me walking between the bean plants.
Bless her heart. Her hands were red from rubbing up and down on the hoe handle.
Seeing this made me feel even worse.
    “I
saw you drive in and was kind of surprised that you went straight to the house.
Is everything okay?” Leah asked, looking worried.
    “Oh,
sure!” I said, just a little too fast. I didn’t want Leah to know about the
conversation that had taken place between her mother and I, so I changed the
subject. She seemed genuinely glad to see me again. She recounted all of the
chores that she had already performed since she got out of bed that morning. I
was a little reluctant to get started with my interview questions, but that’s
why I was there, so I began.
    After
only a few questions I decided to veer away from the format a little. “Leah, is
there anything in your life for you to really get excited about?” I sat on an
overturned pail, studying her face.
    Her
face turned a slight shade of red. “Well, there is one thing that I have to
look forward to.” She smiled, shyly, and put her head down.
    “Well,
don’t keep me in suspense, silly,” I teased. “Let’s have it.”
    “I’m
to be married after the harvest. His name is Jacob and we’ve been betrothed for
some time,” Leah blurted out.
    This
was an interesting revelation. The poor girl was set to get married in a few
short months and probably wasn’t even allowed to spend any time with her
fiancé. “Congratulations! Why didn’t you tell me about your fiancé yesterday?
That is exciting! How long have you been engaged? Have you known your fiancé
for long?” I hoped I wasn’t throwing too many questions at the poor girl at
once.
    “We’ve
known each other since we were children. We’ve only been engaged since we
turned 18. When young women here turn 18, the elders begin to arrange
marriages.” Leah looked away when she finished speaking, appearing a little
uncertain about her arranged marriage.
    I
wasn’t uneasy approaching the subject. “I didn’t realize that arranged
marriages were a modern-day institution. So, someone other than the two parties
involved decided that you two would be married?”
    “Well,
we had to agree to the marriage and this arrangement was only reached after
many weeks of meetings,” Leah said.
    That
didn’t seem so bad. At least these two weren’t forced into being married. “What
is your fiancé like? Do you get to spend much time with him? I know you said
you’ve known him since you were children, but have you had much interaction
with him since you’ve been engaged?”
    Leah
took a moment to construct her response. “We get to sit together in church
every week and our families have a big dinner together once a month,” Leah
said, smiling.
    She
seemed a little bashful when speaking about Jacob, but after talking at length
about what type of person he was and the qualities he had, I realized that it
was more out of apprehension than anything else. Leah really hadn’t had much opportunity
to spend any time alone with Jacob. This situation was really going to make
their marriage, and especially their wedding night, seem rather awkward.
Realizing this, I had an idea.
    “Leah,
I think it would be really nice if I could get to meet Jacob and maybe we could
work on arranging some time for you two to be together alone.” Leah’s wide-eyed
countenance betrayed her alarm.
    “Oh,
no! That would not be permitted! Any time that Jacob and I spend together must
be sanctioned and approved by the elders,” Leah exclaimed.
    I
could see this