Sarah sat back in her cane woven chair and questioned,"God's justice or your justice?" Pastor Saylen looked blank for a moment...then grumbled,"I represent his word and his law." Sarah stirred a cube of sugar in her lemonade...the spoon clinked loud in the crystal glass. She thought...then grinned and said,"When God created the beautiful body of a woman....what word or law did he have in mind?"
Pastor Saylen put his right hand on his forehead and said,"What do you even mean by such a question....I am sure that he meant for her to NOT become a whore." Sarah smiled and said,"Then who meant for her to become a whore?" The Pastor immediately answered,"Satan!"
Sarah stood up...walked to the closest white column on the porch and said,"Satan is a serpent...is he not?" The Pastor nodded,"Yes." Sarah looked up at the sun above the trees and said,"There are two human beings on this porch...only one has a serpent between their legs."
Sarah saw the anger in his face as he growled out...saying,"I have been on this earth for 41 years and have never heard such soiled speech from a woman....you...my dear Widow Hessen are one of those feminists who wish to be equal to men but dare not be accountable to God!"
Sarah leaned against the column and softly said,"Yes...my speech indeed may be soiled....at least soil can grow a rose...the white dirt on the white robes of congregations grow nothing....I would think that God wants us to grow something from our souls...even a weed is better than desolation." A small tear formed in Sarah's eye as she looked down at the black boots of the Pastor.
He was speechless....the conviction in her words stirred his soul as he searched his mind for a biblical statement. The tiny tear on this little woman's face seemed to swallow him like a raging ocean. She had confused the very core of his religion. She had made him drop the stone before he even thought of casting it. He stepped off the porch...nervously saying,"I have to go...thank you for the fine meal...see you on Sunday."
Sarah wiped her tear with her hand and watched the Pastor mount his horse and disappear down the tree lined lane. It wasn't long before Washington and Gretchen came home. Gretchen waved and went straight to the guest house. Washington hung his head and walked up in the yard by the porch. He kept looking down and said,"Miss Sarah...I am so sorry....I bent the back fender of the automobile...I backed into a post at the Movie Theater."
She walked with him out to the Pierce-Arrow and saw that the left rear fender was bent and creased. She told Washington to look at her. When he did...she was smiling...saying,"Washington Crowe...you have been nothing but good to me....if you would have dragged this exotic...expensive machine home with a thousand dents in it....you should know that I would smile and tell you that at least it wasn't a thousand and one."
Washington gave her a little smile and said,"Miss Sarah...you have got to be the sweetest lady on this old earth...thank you for not being angry with me." Sarah got on her tip toes...kissed him on the cheek and said,"And you...the sweetest man."
Her heels had no sooner hit the ground when she heard a shout,"Oh my...Oh my.....harlot!" Hilda Hollman was passing by in her buggy on the road. Sarah and Washington looked at each other and both busted out laughing!
As the buggy sped down the road....Sarah went back to the porch...giggling....and Washington went to his apartment above the barn. Sarah laid in bed that night...wondering about Pastor Saylen...he acted so strange when he left. She was almost asleep when a fast and loud knocking came at the door. She slipped her purple robe on and went to answer the door. It was Roy Smithens. Sarah said,"Deacon Smithens...what are you doing at my door this hour of the night?"
