Rule of Women (eBook)

Chapter 2: Five years earlier: The Year 583

Excerpt from A Short History of Our Island: In hindsight, the first sign of what became known as the Great Collapse occurred in the year 2020 according to the old counting of the years under male domination. A virus swept the world killing many people. Soon, a strange phenomenon began to be noticed. At least two thirds of the victims were male. That pandemic eventually faded, only to return in an even deadlier forms in subsequent years. The warming of Mother Earth added to the crisis. Cities were inundated, fields became barren, forests burned, turning the sky black; other diseases and natural disasters multiplied. Insects swarmed the land. Vermin and scavengers roamed the cities. Women were forced to assume most of the critical roles in society but men stubbornly sought to cling to political and military power. As their leadership was challenged, many launched wars – against their own population and neighboring countries. The Great Collapse was underway.

Judith first set eyes on Obed when they were both 13. She was a couple of inches taller and already a beauty with thick tresses of dark hair, olive eyes and sensuous lips. He was slim and angular, his movement gawky and uncoordinated. His dark, brown, almost black eyes darted in all direction, like those of an animal constantly beset by predators. His full name was “Obedience.” In the Gentle Community, all males were given symbolic names to remind them of their status. From an early age, males were mostly kept apart from females, except for their mothers and sisters. Girls were educated, boys trained for labor. Fathers had an important role to play in this, explaining to their sons the importance of only addressing females when spoken to and instantly obeying their orders. Boys were not taught to read or write – but their mothers would frequently read them age-appropriate versions of the history of the Enlightened Community, explaining what had happened to Mother Earth when males had ruled and why they could no longer be allowed to do so ever again. Every Sabbath, the entire community gathered in temples and the Book of the Sublime Messenger was read. Every adult males repledged loyalty to his wife-owner in these weekly services.

After the services, women and girls gathered in “nurturing circles” where they spoke freely about their hopes, feelings and the challenges they were facing. Males were left unsupervised for a few hours. Older males took naps; younger ones played sports to let off steam. Despite this, some boys still had great difficulty controlling their baser impulses. It was hard to wean them from their natural tendency toward aggression. But by the age of 13, most had fallen into place and small occasions were organized where they could mix with females of the same age. This was valuable for both genders. Girls had to learn how to wield power and authority; males needed to learn how to follow the orders from young women. The two genders had to figure out how to behave appropriately in each other’s company. This was also an opportunity for the authorities to observe males as they grew to adolescence and adulthood and to identify those incorrigibles who needed to be weeded out because their aggression could not be curbed. Males exhibiting leadership tendencies were also culled.

While males were instructed in obedience, women were patiently educated over a period of years that with power came responsibility. They were taught that power could be abused, as it had been when males ruled Mother Earth before the Great Collapse. They learned how the Enlightened Community had been founded in gentle perfection on this deserted northern island, near what used to be known as the Arctic Circle, a land once permanently covered in ice, now long melted. The aim was to create a new society that could rebuild civilization. For now, it existed only here but one day, they were taught, it would reclaim all of Mother Earth. Most girl eventually absorbed the message and grew into women who ruled their husbands firmly but wisely and punished them only when necessary.

Judith saw Obed for the first time at a festival. He was walking behind his father at the rear of his family, a honey-skinned, slender boy with dark curly hair and even darker eyes, truly a beautiful boy. She pointed him out to her mother, Jael, and asked if she knew his family.

“Of course. His mother is Tamar, the daughter of Delilah. A very reputable family with a thriving wool business, one of the biggest on the island. Why do you ask?”

“A good family?”

“A very prosperous family with powerful interests,” Jael said with a twinkle in her eye, which was rare. “And also, a very pretty male the same age as you – which makes him highly eligible and suitable as long as there’s no aggression in him. Do you want to meet him?”

Red-faced, Judith nodded, avoiding her mother’s eyes.

“Very well,” said Jael.

A week later, the two clans met and broke bread together at Jael’s home, a large compound of some dozen buildings surrounding an open square. In these building, three generations of the extended family resided as well as servants and other staff. Obed and his father, along with Judith’s father Duty and her twin brother Low, served the meal. After they had eaten and the males had cleaned up, Judith beckoned Obed to take a walk with him down the seashore. There they had their first conversation. It did not go very easily.

“I’m Judith, the daughter of Jael, the daughter of Bathsheba,” she began.

He was silent, refusing to meet her eyes.

“And you’re Obed, the son of Tamar,” she continued after a pause, which went on for quite a few seconds. She waited for him to say something but he remained silent.

“You do speak, don’t you?” she eventually asked. Again, he didn’t reply. She was beginning to get annoyed. Never had a male treated her like this. Finally she said, “I order you to answer. Now!”

He looked her in the eye for a long moment. She was about to order him again when he said, “Yes, I speak.” His voice was soft and musical. Immediately, she found herself softening toward him.

“Good. So let’s talk. Like I said, I’m Judith. I like school, especially history and theology. I love reading and music. I like to walk on the beach. I like flowers and listening to birds singing in the morning. What do you like?”

He gave her a look that she might have said was scornful – except males never showed females anything but respect.

“I don’t know. I don’t go to school, I can’t read, I don’t hear music. I have no time to run on the beach or look at flowers and I don’t care about birds in the morning because I’m working too hard.”

Already, this was an unusual conversation. But Judith’s natural curiosity was piqued. She decided to continue without rebuking him.

“OK, but what do you like?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“Of course you do. Don’t pretend to be stupid.”

“How do you know I’m pretending to be stupid. Perhaps I am stupid.”

This shut Judith up for a few seconds. Maybe he was right. But when she looked at his alert expression and just the way he held himself, she knew he wasn’t.

“You’re not stupid,” she declared. “You’re just being difficult. I don’t like it. Stop doing it. I command you, tell me what you like, what gives you pleasure.”

He shot her a look of unwilling respect before answering in a low voice,“ Nothing at all gives me pleasure, whatever that is.”

“Nothing at all?”

He shook his head.

“Oh.” Was he lying? Judith couldn’t imagine not liking anything. She was beginning to wonder if he might not be an incorrigible, in which case risked being identified by the authorities as a potential trouble-maker and condemned to be Cast Out. But he was so lovely to look at that she could not bear the idea.

“What about your job. Where do you work?” she asked.

“In the farm. I milk the sheep, feed them, clean out the shit.”

“We don’t use that word.”

“Which word?”

“You know which word.”

“Which word do you use then?”

“I don’t know. Waste, manure, dung, excrement.”

“Huh. I didn’t know those words. I bet they still smell like shit, though.”

Against her will, Judith laughed. “I didn’t know you could milk sheep,” she said.

“Where did you think the white, crumbly cheese you eat comes from? Did you think it fell from the sky like rain?”

“Watch your tone, male.”

He stepped back as if slapped. Judith realized she’d been too heavy-handed and softened her tone. “I thought milk only came from cows. Milking sheep sounds like fun.”

“Fun?” He laughed bitterly.

“Don’t you like your job?”

“Cleaning out the shit?”

“The other parts of the job. Surely it’s nice to milk the sheep.”

“Do it just once and then tell me how nice it is. I milk them with my father three times a day. The first milking is at three in the morning when almost everyone is asleep. That’s even before the birds you love so much are singing. We milk again at eleven in the morning, when you’re in school learning all the things that you learn. Then, at seven in the evening when you’re eating your dinner, we milk them again. We have a couple of dozen sheep in our farm that belong to my mother. One by one, we milk them by hand. When we’re...