manage, Beth.” Margery sounded more convincing than she felt. “You just listen to the doctor.”
* * *
• • •
Fred drove as swiftly as he could but by the time they arrived back the meeting had already been going almost half an hour. Alice and Margery crept in at the back of the meeting hall, Alice tipping her hat low over her brow and pulling her hair loose around her face to try to hide the worst of the bruises. Fred followed just behind her, as he had done the whole day, like some kind of guard. The door closed softly behind them. Van Cleve was in such full flow that nobody even stopped to look when they entered.
“Don’t get me wrong. I am all for books and learning. My own son Bennett here was valedictorian at the school, as some of you may remember. But there are good books and there are books that plant the wrong kinds of ideas, books that spread untruths and impure thoughts. Books that can, if left unmonitored, cause divisions in society. And I fear we may have been lax in letting such books loose in our community without applying sufficient vigilance to protect our young and most vulnerable minds.”
Margery scanned the assembled heads, noting who was there, and who was nodding along. It was hard to tell from behind.
Van Cleve walked along the row of chairs at the front, shaking his head, as if the information he had to impart made him truly sorrowful. “Sometimes, neighbors, good neighbors, I wonder if the only book we should really be reading is the Good Book itself. Doesn’t that have all the facts and learning we need?”
“So what are you proposing, Geoff?”
“Well, ain’t it obvious? We have to shut this thing down.”
Faces in the crowd met each other, some shocked and concerned, others nodding their approval.
“I appreciate that there has been some good work done with sharing recipes and teaching the kiddies to read and all. And I thank you for that, Mrs. Brady. But enough’s enough. We need to take back control of our town. And we start with closing this so-called library. I will be putting this to our governor at the earliest opportunity, and I hope that as many of you as are right-minded citizens out here will be supporting me.”
* * *
• • •
The crowd drained away half an hour later, uncharacteristically muted and hard to read, whispering to each other, a few casting curious glances at the women who stood together at the back. Van Cleve walked out deep in conversation with Pastor McIntosh and either failed to notice them, or had simply decided not to acknowledge that they were there.
But Mrs. Brady saw them. Still in the heavy fur hat she wore outside, she scanned the back of the crowd until she spied Margery and motioned to her to meet her over by the small stage. “Is it true? About the Married Love book?”
Margery held her gaze. “Yes.”
Mrs. Brady exclaimed softly under her breath. “Do you realize what you’ve done, Margery O’Hare?”
“It’s just facts, Mrs. Brady. Facts, to help women take control of their own bodies, their own lives. Nothing sinful about it. Hell, even our own federal court approved that book.”
“Federal courts.” Mrs. Brady sniffed. “You know as well as I do that down here we’re a long way from federal courts, or indeed anyone who cares a lick about what they decide. You know our little corner of the world is highly conservative, especially when it comes to matters of the flesh.” She folded her arms across her chest, and her words suddenly exploded out of her. “Darn it, Margery, I trusted you not to create a stir! You know how sensitive this project is. Now the whole town is alive with rumors about the kind of material you’re distributing. And that old fool is stirring fit to bust to make sure he gets his own way and shuts us down.”
“All I’ve done is be straight with people.”
“Well, a wiser woman than you would have realized that sometimes you have to play a politician’s game to get what you want. By doing what you’ve done, you’ve given him the very ammunition he was hoping for.”
Margery shifted awkwardly. “Ah, come on, Mrs. Brady. Nobody pays any heed to Mr. Van Cleve.”
“You think? Well, Izzy’s father, for one, has put his foot down.”
“What?”
“Mr. Brady has tonight insisted Izzy withdraw from the program.”