Excerpt

Cheri Dakota is born in the orphanage that practices polygamy. When thirteen she learned her erotic figure is definitely a handicap; men with multiple wives want to marry her. She quickly learns to choose what is best for her by considering the pros and cons. A later desperate choice saves her from the first ‘hit’ man hired to kill her.

The central doctrine of the residents’ faith is the belief that men must accumulate ‘plural wives’ to achieve salvation. Cheri doesn’t believe it is God’s will she share a husband with other wives and birth his children. Privately, she fantasizes falling in love and marrying a handsome young man, but she must follow the Elder’s rules until older.

The elders derive income from allowing men to see the girls shower before bedtime. A highly secret practice only allowed in this commune’s orphanage. Men donate a dowry to the church to arrange their marriage to their choice of teenagers whom they’ve viewed showering.

Cheri’s father, James Dakota, was raised in the commune and had viewed the girls showering as a normal practice. But he strongly believed his daughter should only marry a man of her choice; his own marriage was a disaster. He married a promiscuous girl fourteen that birthed Cheri and next year ran away with another man. James leaves the sec to join the army and warns the elders not to marry off Cheri.

Cheri’s father insisted she study hard and obtain A’s. The girls that get A’s are educated past the seventh grade to become teachers unless they are chosen to marry for their beauty. When Cheri is sixteen her father said, “Life for us is not in this commune. What would you like to be?”

Cheri had naively told him a doctor. He said, “Okay, you are smart enough. Be a nurse first. I signed up for a hitch in the Army. Soon as I get settled I’ll come for you. I’ve warned the elders if they try to marry you off, I’ll kill them. They know I would, so be patient.”

James Dakota couldn’t come for Cheri. He was trained and sent to Iraq as a tank gunner. He wrote his recruiter lied I’d be stationed stateside. His letter informed he had bought a paid up ten thousand dollar life insurance policy. You wrote you still wanted to be a nurse and then a doctor. When I get back we’ll get you in some school to learn. Study books on what a nurse needs to know. I love you. Your father, James Dakota.

Cheri’s best friend in the commune is Lester Eichenfeld. With other boys he works in the valley and has night classes. He’s now nineteen and a foreman in the potato fields. During his teen years he came to classes looking beaten up. He explains the sect was training him in karate to be a guard against strangers trying snoop inside the commune. The elders inform him he should have many young wives now without waiting for his late twenties. He confesses to Cheri that he’ll never want a female wife because he is gay.

Cheri keeps his secret and hopes he’ll change because she is in love with him. Lester Eichendeld is tall, handsome, and spectacularly muscular from head to toe and incredibly strong. He and Cheri love each other as platonic companions. When notice arrives that James Dakota has been killed in Iraq, Cheri cries in despair. She misses her father and now she’ll be sent to the Canadian side of the sprawled commune acreage and be married to some man with ‘plural wives’.

Lester had been biding his time about running away from the commune. The sect furnished him everything he needed, but took his wages to be shared. He hoped when Cheri’s father cane for her, he’d let him tag along with them.

Lester knew words could never console Cheri for the loss of her father, but if she is ever to get out of the commune it will have to be with him. He said, “Polygamy is legal in Canada; or they just don’t bother polygamists.”

Elder Saul came to her class when she was teaching math. He is 70, has three wives, two near his age and had married the third when she was sixteen. He guides Cheri into the hall to say, “Cheri, dear. You can still teach while you are happily married. Many suitors wish to marry you. The one we favor is quite wealthy and you would live in luxury. I know you will fall in love with this good man.”

Cheri doubted it. Lester believed a lot of the men do not marry the young girls for religious belief in polygamy. They just want many wives.

The commune had twenty computers; none connected to the internet. Cheri and Lester sit at computers next to each other for their hour’s class. Today Cheri sees he’s nervous and when he recovers he is looking at her as though concerned for her.

Cheri quietly asks, “Are you leaving?”

Lester fears she’ll breakdown; despondent people can be suicidal. He said, “Yes, with you.”

“I prayed you’d take me with you.”

They decide to wait a week until after Cheri’s eighteenth birthday. Cheri is given a surprise birthday party attended by girls and boys she’d been raised with including Lester. On the dais Cheri sees three of the local elders and one elder from the Canadian side. The other middle aged man is black bearded and she recalls seeing him.

When the festivities are over Cheri sees Elder Saul walking towards her and she knows what will take place.

Elder Jacob Saul takes her hand. “Cheri, my dear, I wish you to meet someone. Come with me.” Jacob Saul guides her up to the bearded man. “Dear, this is Hiram Smith from our Canadian sector. He has bestowed twenty thousand dollars to the church’s general fund and has chosen you for his third wife.

Knowing Lester is taking her with him Cheri dares be impudent. She said, “I understand your desire to have three wives. I’d like to have three husbands. I’ll marry you if you’ll grant me the occasional need for other men like three husbands.”

Hiram Smith roared at Jacob Saul. “Is she crazy?”