Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits - Donoghue [22]
"Exemption?"
"Yes. You and I must watch over the Brothers and Sisters in their weakness; it is our sacred task. Our strength must not fail, even for one night." She chews the dried bacon with relish, and reaches under her bed again. Her hand comes up with a whole slice of bread, and she puts it between his lips.
Helpless, Hugh sucks it, chokes it down.
Out in the world it is the month named July, but inside Buchan Ha time has little meaning anymore. They live in suspension, in the eternal moment of waiting.
There is a terrible banging on the door, one morning, and Elizabeth Hunter's voice, shouting "Open up in the name of the law!"
This goes on for half an hour, with the Buchanites droning their hymns in an effort to drown out the banging on the door, till Friend Mother gives Hugh a weary nod. Being the only one with enough strength left for such tasks, Hugh unbars the door and lets their former Sister in.
She has three constables with her, and a warrant to take her family away. The Buchanites stare at her with their dark-rimmed eyes. Patrick Hunter is enraged by his wife's treachery. "Bitch," he spits at her as the constables haul him out into the daylight. The Hunter girl is so weak, she has to be lifted on a rail.
Friend Mother stands by the door, arms folded, watching. "You think merely of your children's bodies, Elizabeth Hunter," she remarks. "I lost some infants myself, back in Glasgow; it pleased God to take them, all but three. At first I complained, much as you do, but now I know their souls flew free."
At which point, Elizabeth goes for Friend Mother's eyes, shrieking, and has to be pulled off by half a dozen Buchanites. Hugh is deeply moved to see that his Brothers and Sisters can still summon some strength to protect their beloved leader.
She is stern, that night, preaching to the Buchanites where they lie. "Look into your hearts. If ye be not pure and holy yet," she tells them, "ye will be like imperfect clay jars that explode in the furnace."
The next day the constables come back with another warrant. This time Hugh lets them in at once, to stop the noise of the pounding. They take away two more children, Thomas Bradley and his sister Mary, who is very weak and raves of goblins as the constables carry her out.
Then Katherine Gardner arrives with an angry knot of Nithsdalers and claims to be with child by Andrew Innes, at which there is a great groaning among the Buchanites. Hugh peers into the young man's face, but cannot decide whether the claim is true or a mere trick. Katherine Gardner demands that they deliver Andrew up to her, lest he die of hunger, and her baby have no father. Friend Mother, blank-faced, inclines her head at last. So the fellow goes off with Katherine and the constables, long-faced, in somebody's jacket that is too small for him.
Hugh suspects Andrew of feeling relieved; rescued. It is a sad fact that weakness lies like a maggot in the hearts of most of the Buchanites. Only Hugh loves Friend Mother as she should be loved.
The next day, when the constables bang on the doors of Buchan Ha, it is with a warrant to seek out any corpses of man or woman or infant who might have been starved or otherwise foully put to death, but though they search in every dusty corner of the building, they find nothing. Hugh stands with his fingers pressed together like a church. "See, there is no more death," he tells them; "now will ye not believe?"
That night when they are private together in the little room, Friend Mother touches Hugh but he is unmanned, soft as a child. He lies between her legs, his head pillowed on her thigh. The hairs are coarse as mountain grass. This is where he came from, Hugh thinks, dizzy with revelation. All life, all salvation comes out of this cave. A scent drifts up like sharp cheddar, like something baking.
"Take. Eat. This is my body," she whispers. "I am the Bread of Life, and he who eats this bread shall live forever." Her hand on his head. She gives him to feed.
One evening, Friend Mother comes into the long dim hall where the Buchanites lie in