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TWENTY-SIX
Barbi
“How can you allow this?”The words burst out of me the moment Artemus leaves, fueled by disgust and rage, causing my vision to blur. “You’re a woman. How can you stand by and watch as your son degrades, abuses, and sells women as if they were chattel?”
Matilda’s eyes narrow to slits. She regards me with haughty contempt, her nose turned up in the air and disdain flowing off her in waves. This woman pushes me to the brink of insanity. I can’t help but imagine wrapping my hands around her scrawny neck and squeezing until she understands the pain she inflicts.
“How can you do nothing?” I demand an answer from the old woman and hate the desperation filling my voice. I’ve never, not once, in my life felt this helpless.
This enraged.
“Politics.” Her thin lips spray spittle.
“Politics?” The word drips from my mouth like a venomous curse. “Women’s lives are worth more than political games.” I study Matilda, wondering if she’s even more deranged than Artemus. “You stand idly by while your son commits heinous acts against innocent women. There’s no justification for that.” Taking a step closer, my fists clench at my sides.
The room hangs heavy with unspoken loathing, the tension between Matilda and me so thick it threatens to suffocate us. An oppressive silence envelopes us, crackling with electricity and raw animosity, until Matilda finally breaks the spell. Her next words hit me like a slap in the face.
“Silly little girl.” She sneers with contempt, looking at me as if I’m the one who fails to understand.
“Because I’m a decent human being?” I retort, my voice trembling, but resolute.
She snorts in derision. “You and your American ideals. Do you believe you can claim equality to men and deny the undeniable?”
“No one, regardless of gender, deserves to be kidnapped, raped, or forced into a marriage against their will.” My voice quivers, but my stance is unwavering.
“Yes, a naïve, hopeless, American idealist, deluded into thinking she can control the world.” She leans menacingly toward me. “Men take what they want. My son wants you, and he will have what he desires.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “And you do nothing? You just stand there while…” I gesture in the direction Artemus left, with Crissy in tow. “He’s raping her right now.”
“So?” Matilda leans closer, fire blazing in her eyes.
“So…” I shake my head, disbelief and anger coursing through my veins. “It’s wrong.” My rage consumes me. This can’t be happening. “What if it were you? What if you were taken and raped? Sold off at an auction?”
“I was.” Her voice turns stone cold.
“Then how can you allow this?”
“Because I’m the matriarch. I can do anything.”
“Then prove it. Stop him. If you truly have the power to do anything, then prevent him from raping Crissy. Stop him from kidnapping innocent women and selling them to the highest bidder.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Because it’s wrong.” I grit my teeth, fury blazing in my eyes. “It happened to you.”
“And I rose as a result, silly girl. Women have little value in this world, and we are meant to suffer. Those who rise become guides for their sons, while those who fall were never meant to be anything more than playthings for men.”
“I can’t…” I shake my head, unable to comprehend that these words are coming from another woman, let alone one who experienced rape herself. Matilda’s madness is corrupt to its core.
“Life is about choices, girl. It’s about prioritizing what you want. If a man desires something, he should make every effort to obtain it, even if it means taking it by force. A man’s purpose is to achieve his goals at any cost and establish his worth as a man. To rise above others. A woman’s purpose is to serve man.”
“And women should simply let them do as they please? Allow themselves to be used, abused, and raped?”
“If she’s smart, she’ll turn it to an advantage.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Doesn’t it?” Matilda sweeps her hand in a grand gesture. “I was taken from the fields when I was twelve, raped by the man who took me. I could have fought, resisted. But those actions would have led to a swift death and an unmarked grave for a foolish girl. Instead, I pleased the man who took me. I showed him my worth. He sold me to another. I endured every degradation, knowing it was my fate. My penance for the original sin. Women were never meant to rule, they were created to serve men. I survived and I used my position to quietly guide the men around me to make my life easier. I used my body. I married a man I didn’t love. I bore his children. Then I raised his son…”