Shannon had more or less assumed the role of door warden, as she could be intimidating when needed to and she enjoyed the duty. Brenda might have stepped up to answer the door, but she was still flustered from her encounter with the mob.
Two people stood on the porch, and they gazed apprehensively up at Shannon’s tall form. Shannon let out a burst of steam from her nostrils to keep them on edge. “How might I help you,” Shannon said, running a tongue over her pointed teeth. “Or are you offering to help clean up our property after your friends left a mess on our front lawn.
The first person, a short, young curvy woman with dark hair in a page boy cut, was visibly trembling as she replied. “No. I mean, we’re here on other business. Unless you want us to clean your lawn. We’ll do it if you want us to. Do you want us to clean your lawn?”
Shannon gave a hearty laugh at the effect she was having. “Don’t hurt yourself, kid. You look familiar. Have we met?”
The other man, who looked to be in his thirties and was of Afro-Caribbean ancestry, looked equally frightened when he blurted out “About a week ago! You persuaded my friend Jake to convert.”
“Ah, yes,” Shannon intoned slowly. She bent down so that she could gaze closely at Jake’s face. “You must be Jake. Are you here to help your boyfriend to convert, too?”
That set them both off.
“Oh, we’re not…” Jake began.
“We’re just friends,” Rahim explained.
“But if you have a brochure…?”
Shannon held up a hand. They were clearly not with the mob, and she didn’t want to terrify them into fleeing. “So you have some other business. I’ll ask again. How can I help you?”
That seemed to settle the two supplicants down. Rahim extended his wrinkled green pamphlet towards Shannon’s outstretched clawed hand. “Most of what we came to tell you you already know, thanks to that angry mob your friend scared away. But we have other news we thought you should know.”
Jake pulled up a news article on her phone and showed it to Shannon. The dragon-girl had to squint to see the tiny screen. She read the headline at beginning of the article out loud.
“Militia group shoots local woman, 21, to death at bus terminal in Springfield. Martina Grisham, of Hickory Springs, was slain by an anti-Goddess group known as the Righteous Homefront under suspicion that she was a member of the lesbian health cult that has been spreading like wildfire over the past two weeks. Grisham, a student at Evergreen State, was returning to college and had no known ties to the religious organization…”
The door flew open and Brenda stormed out, clearly outraged. Meiko was right on her heels and looked equally perturbed.
“What the fuckity-fuck fuck-fuck is wrong with people?” Brenda ranted. “Don’t those assholes know that if they go around shooting up every pretty young woman they come across, they’re only going to get the women who aren’t on our side?” She paused for a second, then added a final “Fuckers.” That calmed her down enough for her to return to a slow seethe. Once more, Jake and Rahim were terrified. They clutched each other in the face of Brenda’s wrath. They had seen her angry once before.
Meiko got between her lover and the two guests. “Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. We were listening through the door to you, and it was hard for Brenda to contain herself.”
“We’re sorry to upset you all,” Rahim said meekly.
“No, we’re sorry for losing control in your presence rather than showing you gratitude,” Meiko continued. “Would you like to come in and rest for a minute? My mom is baking some banana bread for breakfast.”
Jake gave Rahim a nudge inside. She was not about to pass up a chance like this. They seated themselves on the couch. Shannon shrank down and went to fetch coffee for everyone. Brenda paced on one side of the room, burning up the energy that her anger generated. Meiko explained the situation to her guests as calmly as possible.
“Our initial plan was to have the changes to the new society be voluntary and gradual. We thought the benefits we offered would be self-evidently desirable, and that people would make rational decisions. We didn’t count on how…tribal…people could be.”
“Fuckity fuckers!” Brenda added. “I should have turned them all into waterfowl!”
“Let’s assume that option is off the table,” Meiko said gently. “Once our numbers are strong enough, we can be more free to act openly. And we agreed not to use the nuclear option that started this whole adventure. So patience is still our best option.”
Shannon huffed another cloud of smoke. “That sucks for the innocents who are caught in the crossfire. Can’t we do anything to help them? Make the virus more contagious? Make it more obvious who is infected and who isn’t? Or set up some better way for women to protect themselves against maniacs?”
The room was silent for a few minutes. Jake shifted uneasily in her seat. The Goddess Cult was far more complicated than she could have imagined. Rahin, as the only man in the room, was trying to make himself look smaller on the couch.
Just then Tiffani entered with a tray containing two small, piping hot loaves of banana bread. She glanced around the room, certain that she had just missed something important.
“Tiffani,” Brenda said. “Your daughter has a genius for a girlfriend.”
“Not you?” Tiffany asked incredulously.
Meiko snorted a laugh. “He means Shannon. We’re thinking about changing the world again.”