Obstetrix(20)

“Probably not,” she said, and forced out a laugh.

“Have you had your iron levels checked? Thyroid levels?”

“If you want to draw her blood, we can send it out to a lab,” Sarah said.

“No—” The woman pulled back. “I thought this was just to look at Andrew and Missy.” She looked at Sarah. “I don’t like needles.”

“But—”

“Oh, someone else is here, I hear them coming,” she said, gathering up her children.

No one was there. “I really think she’s not well,” I said.

“I’ll ask Pastor John to ask her husband to send her here for a checkup,” Sarah said.

I also thought that her discipline methods, such as they were, clearly weren’t working, if she was having to beat a six-year-old that hard, that often. I was afraid to say that out loud for fear this would be taken to mean perhaps you should hit him harder.

The next arrival was Bethany, escorting her brother, JJ.

“You’ve just about outgrown the children’s appointments, haven’t you?” Sarah said, warmly, as the two children sat down. “When’s your birthday, Bethany?”

“Not until March, Sister Sarah,” Bethany said politely. I examined JJ, then Bethany. Both were mostly healthy, but Bethany needed glasses and a dental filling.

To my relief, Sarah did not make any noises about having me try to drill the tooth. “How nearsighted do you think she is?”

“Very,” I said.

“Can you write her an eye prescription?”

“Absolutely not,” I said. “I don’t have the equipment to determine her glasses prescription, and I wouldn’t know how to use the equipment if I had it. She probably doesn’t need an ophthalmologist, she probably just needs an optometrist, but someone’s going to have to take her to a town.”

“Hmm.” Sarah made a face. “That’s not how we do things.” She sent a runner to fetch all the adults in the cult with glasses, and had Bethany try on each pair and say if they were better or worse. One of the men’s pairs of glasses seemed to provide her with pretty decent focus, and he was instructed to go get a copy of his prescription so they could order a pair of glasses for Bethany that matched.

“How does the tooth feel, Bethany?” Sarah asked her. “Any pain?”

“No pain, Sister Sarah.”

“Pray on it, swish with fluoride morning and night, and let us know if it does start hurting.”

As the door closed behind Bethany’s red pigtails, I asked, “… And if it does start hurting?”

“We have a set of forceps and Brother Joshua pulls it. Oh, don’t look so shocked! You know we have nitrous oxide.”

“That seems so unnecessary when you could just take her to a dentist now, and get it filled.”

“That’s not how we do things,” she said again.

We seemed to be done seeing kids for a bit: Sarah was busying herself counting sheets and towels in the cupboard and making a list of things she needed from the laundry. “Why are there no books here?” I asked. “Does ‘how you do things’ mean no reading?”

“What?” She turned around, her eyes a little bright. “We have books.”

“Can I have a book, then?”

There was a long pause, and then Sarah said, “Pastor had a revelation from God last year that we should set aside worldly distractions, as a community. There was a discernment committee, and after a lot of prayer they decided that we would set aside all the books, bringing out just what is necessary. What is most necessary. And that would help us to see which books are needed, and which are a distraction.”

“And Bibles for individual reading were worldly distractions?”

“In Christ’s day, most people would not have been able to read the Bible to themselves. They’d have listened to someone else read it. Having a single Bible that we treat as a treasure makes it feel more special, helps us pay attention to every precious word. The way water tastes incredible when you’re really, really thirsty.”

“So are the children not learning to read?”

“Of course the children are learning to read. The reading instruction books are necessary; they’re brought out for lessons.”

“I didn’t see any on Friday.”

“Friday is a math-work day.”

This was an absolutely terrible way to teach children to read. “How long ago did all the books get put away?” I asked.

“It’s February now, the revelation was in May, so … ten months.” Sarah swallowed and I saw her jaw muscles tighten. “It was a sacrifice, for me personally. But we are called to do hard things, and it turns out novels really were a distraction.”

I nodded. “What sort of books did you like to read?” I asked.

“Anything. Historical fiction was my favorite. Before I got saved, I mean. We had … Before we put away all the books, we put away fiction. I had been reading biographies because those are sometimes … those are basically just as good.”

“Who were you reading about in May? I mean, before Pastor John’s revelation about putting away all the books.”

“Clara Barton,” she said. “Founder of the Red Cross.”