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“Your brother is cool,” Barry commented as he started his car.
“Cool? How? Where?” Xolani joked, “I’ve always thought of him as a cockroach I wish I could step on.”
Barry laughed. “Are you two always like this?”
“How are we?”
He explained, “You’re always feuding, but it doesn’t seem like you’re mad at each other.”
“Oh! That!” She chuckled. “Some siblings hug. We fight. It’s our way of showing love. If he started being too nice to me, I’d be worried that he was terminal or something.”
Barry laughed again. “I like your way of showing love.”
“What about you?” She asked, “Do you have any siblings?”
It was as if she’d stepped on a live wire. Barry’s mood changed as soon as she mentioned his siblings. His lingering smile dropped, and his voice was a dull monotone as he curtly said, “I have three who are alive.”
Xolani wasn’t an idiot. She could tell that this was a sensitive topic and not one that she could bring up. He needed to initiate the conversation himself. So she swiftly changed directions.
With a forced lightness in her tone, she said, “Well, I’m glad I only had one sibling growing up. Cam was a godless terror. One time, he…”
She went on to share hers and Camryn’s childhood adventures.
Just a few minutes into her monologue, Barry interrupted her. “You aren’t going to ask?”
“Ask about what?”
“About my family?” His eyes were trained on the road as he added, “I know you’re curious.”
She stayed silent for a few seconds before admitting, “I am. But I can tell that you don’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it. It’s complicated.” He paused as if to collect his thoughts before revealing, “I ran away from home when I was sixteen.”
An immediate and involuntary gasp slipped from her lips. “No.”
“I did,” he reiterated.
Still shocked, she asked, “Why?”
“My family is religious.” He glanced at her as he expounded, “I’m not talking regular religious. Think the type of religious where the earth is flat, science is of the devil, modern medicine is a lie, and the government is trying to brainwash our kids.”
He went on to reveal that they were part of a church that had cult-ish vibes, and his father, Patrick Hale, was a senior pastor there. He and his siblings (two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister) were homeschooled and not allowed to interact with anyone who didn’t share their beliefs.
“They were that religious?” Xolani couldn’t quite believe it.
Her parents were devout Christians too, but there was a lot of common sense integrated with their beliefs. The kind of Christians Barry was describing had always seemed like a myth to Xolani, or something you only saw on the TV. She’d never met someone who’d grown up in that kind of environment before.
Barry nodded and confirmed. “That religious.”
His path was set right from birth. He’d grow up to work on their farm and be a part-time pastor. He would marry the daughter of one of their fellow congregants. His wife would be a stay-at home wife like his mother, Victoria, and birth a sizeable litter of kids to keep their religion alive.
Barry’s siblings were all fine with this path.
He was not.
Even though he’d never known anything outside his parents’ teachings, he always felt like there was more to life than the mundane existence that was being offered to him. He was also skeptical of many of the beliefs being forced down his throat.
He didn’t like how his father used religion to browbeat them all into mute submission. Patrick constantly extolled Bible verses about honoring parents and men being the unqualified leaders of everything. Of course, the old man deliberately skipped any parts that asked him to be a loving father and husband first.
