‘It sounds kind of familiar, but I was never much for turning on television for anything at all.”
“She is the greatest woman who ever lived.”
“You mean that?”
‘I would die for her. I probably will die for her, and be reborn into my own identity in the next in- carnation. That’s the reward for dying for the Church. Sometimes, after I have prayed a long time, and very hard, suddenly I can hear her voice inside my head saying my words in her voice to the
Lord. Sister Stella can make that happen too. It’s wonderful when it happens.” Her face glowed.
“Speaking of Stella, maybe you can tell me the ground rules around here. I don’t want to get into trouble.”
“Because she came to your bed? No, there is no objection. It could have been suggested to her. I didn’t ask and she didn’t tell mu If the two of you slept only with each other, that would be bad.”
‘Is that rule in Sister Elena Marie’s book?”
‘`Not in this book. In another of her books there is a chapter about sharing. She says that making love should be a simple function, and not be given too much importance in this era. She says that when we were all alive in earlier centuries, it was different. We were all faithful to JUSt one person, and it was good and natural and right. And when we come back to earth again, in future centuries, it will probably be like that again. But now, in this world, if we begin to think too much of some other person, it will make us weak in our duty as soldiers in the Army of the Lord. We might forget our own mission in trying to save another person from hurt.”
“Ig this sharing okay in the other camps that aren’t special? Like when my little girl was here?”
“Oh, no. You have to be celibate your first few years in the Church. You must give up everything for the Church. But we in special training have proved we will not be weakened by sexual pleasure, and if we wish *, it is permitted.”
The Green Ripper
“As long as you spread it around.”
‘As that some kind of a dirty joke to you?”
‘A didn’t know any other way to say it, Nena.”
“You must call me Sister Nena, nothing else.”
“How did you come to get selected for this training?”
‘everyone in the Church is watched. Actually they are testing all of us all the time, keeping track of the ones with the strongest faith and the strongest, quickest bodies. When they told me I had been selected for special training, I didn’t even know what kind of training it would be. Now I know, and Ill do whatever they ask of me.”
‘Mike blow up some kindergartens?”
“You really don’t understand, do you? The most bloody, savage, awful acts that seem the most pointless, they’re the ones that are most productive. They revolt and shock everyone, and that puts terrible pressure on the central government and local governments to crack down on ad the people who are nonconformist in any way. When that happens, the resentment makes rebels out of the conformists too, and pretty soon the whole structure crumbles.”
“And you can do these terrible things, Sister Nena?”
‘A might be asked to do things that will make me feel sort of sick to my stomach. But I’ll be proud of the chance to do them. I’m exalted to think 1~11 be part of something that’s going to change the world. I’m proud of finally finding something in my life that makes sense, Brother Thomas. Has your life really made sense to you?”
“Sense? I don’t know. I’ve had a few laughs. I’ve had some real good days. And some black black ones. Who says things have to make sense?”
“We want it to. Every one of us. We don’t understand it, and Sister Elena Marie sorts it all out for us.”
“Well, I wish I could go see the lady and let her explain it all to me.”
“You saw the tape. Didn’t that help?”
‘A guess so. A little bit.”