At this time, religious discrimination was an especially touchy subject because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Yet Mitchell had even been able to turn that to his advantage. People were afraid of offending anyone, especially someone dressed in veils and robes, and Mitchell had been able to extract a lot of sympathy because of that. He had convinced a police officer not to even look at my face back in the library, all in the name of religion.
I knew it was wrong to try to manipulate people. As a young girl, the only manipulating I had ever done was when I tried to get Mary Katherine to brush my hair, or tickle my back, or make me a grilled cheese sandwich. Even then, it hardly ever worked. I was not good at manipulation. And I knew that it was much worse to use religion to manipulate people. But as I sat there thinking about it, I started to develop a plan.
But first I had to get things right with God.
I wondered if God would give me a one-time exception when it came to manipulation. Considering the situation I was in, I thought maybe He would help me out.
While Mitchell and Barzee were talking about all of the places they could drag me off to, I knelt down and started praying. I begged God to let this plan work just this once. I begged Him to help me, and if He did, I promised never to try to manipulate anyone ever again.
Once I had finished my prayer, I sat up and turned to my captors. “I know this sounds crazy, but I keep having this feeling like maybe we should go back to Salt Lake City,” I said. “I know that doesn’t make any sense. And I know that God would never talk to me about this feeling, but it just won’t leave me alone.” I turned my eyes on Mitchell, my voice soft and sincere. “Do you think you could ask God if we should go back to Salt Lake? I know He will answer you! I know He will! You are His prophet! You are His seer. You are practically His best friend!”
I guess I stroked his ego just right, because Mitchell didn’t immediately reject my suggestion. And I could see what he was thinking: Maybe my little Shearjashub is finally getting it. Maybe she’s finally acknowledging that I really am the prophet.
So he agreed to pray about it. Then, just like Moses, he stood up and went up on the mountain to talk to God.
Sometime later he came back. “I think you are right, Shearjashub,” he announced. “The Lord is beginning to work with you. That makes me very happy. We should go back to Salt Lake.
“Now we just have to find a way to get back to Utah. We could beg for money to ride the bus. We could buy a cheap car. We could take a train. We can’t fly, though, That takes too much money, and we don’t have any ID.…”
He muttered on, wondering about the best way to get back to Salt Lake.
I had an idea for that, too.
“You and Hephzibah always talk about your trek across the country,” I said. “You talk all the time about how you used to hitchhike everywhere.”
Mitchell stopped and stared at me with a look of surprise.
“I think we should hitchhike back to Utah,” I said. “You and Hephzibah have hitchhiked all over the country. I never have hitchhiked in my life! My parents always dropped me off and picked me up! I think it’s essential for me to experience that as well. I think it’s an important part of descending below all things that I may rise above them all.”
Mitchell’s face changed from surprise to shock. Barzee seemed to squint, as if she was suspicious.
But I knew I had him. He was caught with his own artillery.
I didn’t want to hitchhike all the way back to Utah, of course. But what I did want was to be in close contact with other people. Real people, not Mitchell and Barzee. If I could get close enough to other people, maybe there’d be a situation where I could be rescued or find a way to escape.
But Mitchell shook his head. He didn’t like the idea at all. “Far too risky,” he said.
He and Barzee started to discuss it. Surprisingly, Barzee agreed with me. It was something I needed to experience.
Mitchell finally gave in. But I could tell that he was suspicious of the idea.
*
I was so eager to get back to Utah! It was the only thing I could think about. I wanted to leave right away.
But there was a lot to do before we could be ready to go.
We had to get some money for the journey. That was going to take some time. We had to sort through all of our belongings, packing up those things that we intended to take with us. I had been through that before. I knew it was a lot of work. Mitchell said we also needed to plan an appropriate route back to Salt Lake City. We couldn’t just stand on the side of the road holding a sign that read SALT LAKE CITY. We had to plan a route that took us from one small town to the next, eventually working our way back to Utah.
Which left us with one big problem.
Mitchell knew that people wouldn’t pick us up if we were dressed in our strange-looking robes. Which meant we had to get some street clothes. But that included great risk, for people would certainly recognize me if they could see my face and hair. I would have to be well disguised or Mitchell would never go through with the plan.
Mitchell didn’t know what to do. He said he’d have to think about it.