Stolen Innocence - Lisa Pulitzer [138]
It felt so good to be back in Short Creek, but soon he was battling a host of issues stemming from the fact that he had been unable to mourn his mother’s loss properly. He fell in with a rough crowd and got into trouble. Methamphetamines were being smuggled into the FLDS community with some regularity and Lamont began using. It was not long before his reckless behavior landed him kicked out of his father’s house, and later in the hospital. An overdose of pills and complications of his lymphedema nearly claimed his life.
Under these dire circumstances, Grant came to Lamont’s bedside one afternoon and asked his son to come back home.
“Lamont, why don’t you just come home and be my son?” he said in a humble, soft tone. In the months before his overdose, Lamont had been living in an old converted school bus with a mattress for a bed. His father’s words brought him to tears, and when Lamont left the hospital, he prayed to the Lord to help him be strong and never touch drugs again.
Once back in Short Creek, Lamont became a dedicated member of the church. He attended services often and donated as much time as he could to the various work church projects. He was so happy to be welcomed back into the priesthood and even more excited when his grandfather took a personal interest in him. George Barlow told Lamont how proud he was of his hard work, and he spent a fair amount of time encouraging his grandson to follow the priesthood. As time wore on, though, Lamont started to wonder if he would ever be able to shake off the stigma of his unruly past. Several of his birthdays went by with no mention of a possible marriage for him. In the FLDS, the pressure for men to marry is just as intense as it is for the women. Men are expected to marry quickly after receiving the priesthood, and those that the prophet passes over are usually viewed as tainted. Men who reach the age of twenty-five without a wife are considered a menace to society. The older Lamont got, the less chance there was that he would have a bride.
Just as Warren kept close watch on the girls as they got older, so he did with the boys. He had long known that Lamont was a potential source of contention, given his mother’s escape and death. In addition, Warren would have boys in the FLDS write letters of “confession” in which they were forced to disclose some of their most personal secrets in order to repent. Using these letters and other information, Warren branded troublesome boys from an early age, just as he did difficult girls. The only difference was the solution. Problem girls were married as soon as possible. Problem boys didn’t get married at all.
There were a host of reasons why Rulon and Warren would pass a man over for marriage, but in Lamont’s case the reason seemed obvious: he had strayed too far, too young. His open conflict with the religion and his strong feelings for his apostate mother were not to be trusted. It didn’t matter that his refreshed vigor for the church was genuine. All that mattered was whether the prophet could trust him.
Because of Lamont’s renewed faith, he desperately wanted a family so that he could teach the invigorating power of the priesthood, but as for all members of the FLDS, his fate was not his own. Lamont expressed his concern to his grandfather. Already, three of his four sisters had been married, and he was the oldest child of the family. His grandfather assured him that his time would soon arrive. When his twenty-third birthday came and went, his worry increased. Later that year, he was passed over for marriage again. This time, Warren selected his younger brother Steve to receive a wife. The union was performed in secret, but Steve quietly took Lamont aside to inform him of it, knowing