Longshot by Lance Allred

He needed to see a return to the dream. If Owen didn’t answer the ultimatum, Dad would move on. The changes, of course, never came.
    Dad invested forty-three years of his life in his father’s dream. He wasn’t going to blindly give anymore. As Dad had only one wife, it was easy for him to make such a declaration.
    But what about Pax and Sam? Were they supposed to say to Sarah, “See ya. Thanks for giving us Bud. You can either take him when you go or leave him with us, and you’re on your own with the baby you’re about to give birth to.” It wasn’t so simple. Not so black and white. Just like life in general.
    Shawn and Audra were in the same boat, as two years earlier Shawn had taken a second wife, who had already given him a child. What were they to do? And what was Yaya to do? She was the one who had packed up her children and left Utah, bringing them to this polygamist culture, uprooting them from all they knew. Was she just to say good-bye to her daughters, whom she was responsible for bringing to the Group, and simply leave them behind?
    The divide came, and the pain of separation was inevitable.
    Over the years people have asked me if I witnessed any of the perversion. Luckily, I didn’t, but I know of many who suffered. They then ask why it happens so often. Are all of the men sex fiends? No. Some men in plural marriages actually practice abstinence, having sex with their wives only for the purpose of reproduction, and thus get less action with seven wives than most average American men get with one.
    When a man rapes a woman, it’s for dominance. When an adult rapes a child, it’s for dominance. Dominance is a natural tendency, an impulse that we have learned to curb through laws and the mores of our advancing societies. The reason child molestation seems to be so common in polygamist communes is that they’re set in prime locations formolestation and incest—isolated areas with very little outside interference. Their own laws reign supreme.
    In Pinesdale, and other communities like it, many men set their own laws, or claim to put God’s laws above the laws of the land. Thus they no longer have to adhere to government expectations. Over time, without mainstream society’s laws to restrain basic animal instincts, and without public schools to monitor children, molestation and incest creep in. Some might even wonder if people who have these tendencies seek out societies like Pinesdale, knowing they are flourishing grounds for molestation: parents can choose to keep their children at home and home-school them because it’s a common practice and no one will blink twice. A man with the power of the priesthood is trusted to run his own home in the manner he sees fit; no one will challenge him.
    We packed up our car that day and drove home to Utah, no longer members of the Group, no longer disciples of Rulon Allred. The break from the Group was ugly. There were to be many angry and tearful arguments with our extended family. These arguments were mostly with my mother’s side, as my father’s side completely disowned us.
    My parents felt like they were sinking in quicksand. They felt that their entire lives had been based on a lie. They had no firm foundation. What could they now have faith in? Could they trust their own instincts? How were they supposed to lead and direct their own children? Luckily, at this time, in Utah, they were befriended by several born-again Christians while trying to find some kind of anchor. As Mom began tearfully explaining to one of these new friends that their life was a lie and they had nothing to stand on, the friend said, “You stop right there. You have a remarkable marriage. You have five amazing children. That isn’t a lie. That’s where you start.” Mom took one gasping breath, and her world was steady again. That was exactly where my parents started. With us five kids and each other.
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    Aunt