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“What’s this? What’s going on?” Troy stood before the pair on the couch, her arms crossed over her chest. Myrtle didn’t even acknowledge her. She looked off toward the window in a show of anger.
“Sister Glover just came in for some counsel,” Kyle tried.
“She’s taken everything from me. I put everything I had into that organization and she just…ran me off!” Myrtle began crying again, but this time she managed to keep her hands and face away from Kyle’s lap.
“Ran you off? I—” Troy couldn’t believe how helpless Myrtle was acting. She was a witch on Rollerblades most days and now she was playing lamb.
“Honey, why don’t you come and sit down so we can talk about this? See if you two can come to a compromise?” Kyle pointed to a chair beside the couch, but Troy just stood there.
“We already talked about it, honey.” Troy cut her eyes at him. “Why revisit it? The Virtuous Women voted on it three weeks ago.”
“See? She hates me. And I didn’t even do anything
. I’m just a good Christian woman, trying to be a better—”
“Troy, please.” Kyle cut Myrtle off as he tried to show uneasiness in his eyes. Myrtle had been in his office for over an hour talking about her relationships with the trustees and leaders of the church before she’d brought up the situation with Troy.
“Fine. I’ll sit down,” Troy said, walking past the seat and heading to the small space left on the couch on Kyle’s right. When she sat down, Myrtle rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly. “So?”
“See what I’m talking about? She has an attitude,” Myrtle pointed out.
“Hold on, ladies. Let’s back up and try to come to a compromise,” Kyle stressed. “Now what happened, from your point of view, Sister Glover?”
“Well, you know how I am, how I like to help people with their spiritual guidance,” she said tearfully, wiping her eyes with a beat-up handkerchief. Kyle nodded as Troy frowned at the show. “Well, I’ve been doing that all along with Sister…Hall…since she came to this church and then all of a sudden she just says it wasn’t fast enough—”
“I never—”
“And I wasn’t a good enough teacher—”
“I never said that—”
“Hold on, Troy,” Kyle put his hand up.
“I mean,” Myrtle went on, “what did she expect? I can’t turn a sinner into a saint overnight.”
“A sinner? I got your sinner, you—”
“Troy!” Kyle stopped her.
“When she came to this church she was of the world, you know, and I was trying my best to pull her heart closer to Jesus. I swear I was! But then she let the evils of pride and power get in the way of her growth and—I’m just so worried about her.”
Troy’s stomach turned as she listened to Myrtle’s desperate emotional rant, which sounded oddly dated and somewhat Old English in tone. “Is she serious?” she kept thinking.
“Now, Troy?” Kyle looked as if he’d considered what Myrtle said and turned to Troy.
“Are you serious? You want me to respond to that? She’s obviously—”
Myrtle jumped up.
“I knew she wouldn’t want to talk. See, she’s ruled by her anger. It’s the devil.”
Kyle looked at Troy sharply.
“Whatever…” Troy stated, crossing her arms and legs in protest. “Look, I appreciate you helping me, Myrtle, but it was time for the organization to take a new direction. You’re acting like this was all my decision. We took a vote.”
“That vote was poisoned and you know it!” Myrtle shouted. “That…that Kiosha or Kiona…whatever her name is, she poisoned everyone against me. And it hurt so bad. I have given everything I have to this church—to the Virtuous Women—and she just wanted to take it away from me.”
“The vote wasn’t poisoned. Why can’t you just accept that it was time for you to move on? Or do you have other plans? Maybe this isn’t about the Virtuous Women, after all. Maybe you want my—”
