A couple of days ago, Jehovah's Witnesses came round to my house.
Nothing exceptional in that, you might say. It happens every day, all over the world.
But those of you who know me, or who have followed my story, know how traumatised I was when I finally got away from them, and you'll remember that I wrote a letter three or four weeks after walking away, ending all contact.
Contact is never ended, of course. Living in a small town I run into them all over the place. Some have been shunning me, while some have been giving an outward show of being friendly. Recently, this last week or so, one or two have been putting on the pressure again. Telling me how they miss me. I am not taken in!
Anyway, on the morning in question, as I came out of my front door, there they were outside. I had my car keys in my hand and went right ahead and unlocked it. They asked how I was. "Fine," I replied, and asked how they were. The formalities over, they plunged straight in...or rather, he did, he being an elder, and one of the two who had so traumatised me earlier in the year with their bullying tactics to make a sister with a mind buckle down and prove she was a member of that inferior species, womanhood.
i am very tempted to give a blow by blow account of this conversation, because it was very brief. He tried, he played the "this is the truth" card, but I replied. "It is NOT the truth". He came back with one of the stock replies on a card I'd been given to help me indoctrinate people on the doors, which wasn't very bright of him, and I countered by telling him his time was up and I was out of there.
The two of them went down my path barely three minutes after walking up it. It gave me great satisfaction, to watch them go off, sorrowing over this lost potential sister. I've since thought of many things I could have said, but I just plucked words out of the air and it enabled me to stop him in his tracks, so I was pleased with myself.
On the other hand, I had requested no more contact. Do I need to send a supplementary letter? Those people had me looking over my shoulder for months, I am not scared of them any more. I felt I'd scored a victory!
An interesting thing the next day. I ran into one of the most timid sisters, in the town. We'd encountered each other a few days before and she had been very friendly and missing me(!). This second encounter, she looked at me as if I was dangerous poison. I was graciousness itself but left, smiling. Maybe I got my message home and the news of my impending perdition has gone right round the Kingdom Hall!
...OUTLAW