Nancy pulled the van in on the street and shut it off. The curtains on the house across the street were open and Nancy felt tears roll down her cheeks when she saw her mother in the kitchen. Her dad soon appeared, leaning over to sniff whatever her mom was cooking before he kissed his wife on the cheek and strolling over to his recliner before starting to read the paper. Saoirse Flynn Doyle had married Patrick O'Malley when both were in their early twenties. Saoirse was about to turn fifty in a few weeks, but she was Coxville born and bred which meant she had the looks and body of a thirty-year-old. If Nancy remembered her fourth-grade local history, the Irish had come here about a hundred years ago with the Dutch wave arriving earlier. Other waves of immigrants were on the heels of the Irish, all Northern European, German, Danish, Swedish, and even more Dutch. Her mom had an Irish father and a Dutch mother, but favored the Irish with probably the loveliest red hair and brightest green eyes in the County. Nancy favored her Dutch grandmother with blonde hair and blue eyes, but had the fair skin of her mother. Her dad was rather average looking with wavy brown hair rapidly graying. He was good man, stern, but hard working and he loved his family.
Saoirse cocked her head and yelled out. Soon Nancy's siblings appeared. The O'Malleys were very Catholic and didn't believe in birth control. They'd lectured Nancy about the sin of premarital sex though Nancy had done the calculations. She was born seven months after her parents were married. Maeve was the first to appear. She was twenty, and looked like her mother. She was living at home while attending college in Coxburg. The eighteen-year-old twins, Siobhan and Sinead were next. They were wearing COCKS shirts no doubt bound for the big game tonight. They were identical though Siobhan's hair was reddish-blonde with green eyes and Sinead was blondish-red with blue eyes. Sixteen-year-old Erin was next, long naturally curly dirty blonde hair a mix of her parents. She wore a COCKS shirt too. The poor girl was endowed with EE breasts already and the O'Malley women's breasts usually kept growing until they were twenty and usually added another cup size with pregnancy.
Flynn was the last. The fourteen-year-old boy bore a strong resemblance to his father. Nancy strongly suspected her "every sperm is sacred" father had gotten a vasectomy as soon as he got a son. Two older sisters were absent. Twenty-two-year-old Ciara had met and married an Irish man on a trip to the Emerald Isle three years ago and moved in with him. She was pregnant with her second child. Last was Sofie, named after her Dutch grandmother. She was a bit of a black sheep and not just because she had raven dark hair and bright blue eyes. She'd moved to Los Angeles and was making a living as a model actress. Patrick didn't approve of her work though. Her Coxville breasts got her cast as bimbos in bad B movies or as background scenery in television shows set in popular beach areas. Sofie had once confessed that she got weekly offers to pose nude and occasional offers to make adult movies. Sofie seemed to think the offers were amusing, but she had a no nudity policy. Tears flowed freely down Nancy's cheeks now. If god and the church forgave her, she might see them again, but who knows how long that might be?
Nancy was still sobbing when some cars pulled up on the street. The twins' senior boyfriends were in the front seat of a convertible. They honked the horn twice and Nancy saw Siobhan and Sinead start wolfing down their food. A car with a novice driver sign in the window pulled up behind them. Erin's boyfriend no doubt. Nancy had never met him, but knew he would have been heavily vetted by her father. Nancy started the van's ignition and pulled away before her sisters came out and spotted it. For some reason, she aimed the van West towards the lake instead of East towards the interstate, the more direct route out of the county.
Nancy tuned the radio station to the local channel. They would be covering the big Coxville v. Bartown game. There was a pregame show going on now. The one host was discussing if the new Coach Black could pull off a win even though Bartown was favored two to one odds. Nancy had tried out for cheerleader back in high school and had handily been accepted. That was the same year, Principal Long had approved the new uniforms despite Coach Summers' protests. Nancy had been quite scandalized when she tried on the skimpy new uniforms with their bare bellies and short tops. Many of the other cheerleaders could not have cared less and had no problems showing off some skin. Unfortunately, her dreams of cheerleading came to a crashing end when her football hating father showed up to the game to watch his daughter cheer and saw her in the new uniform. She was forced to quit the squad after one game. Her boyfriend Adrian hadn't approved either and he grew extremely jealous of all the attention she started getting suddenly from her male classmates including the school quarterback, the most popular boy in high school, but he partied and cursed and Nancy was totally in love with Adrian. A few months later after turning eighteen, she relented to Adrian's pleadings to go all the way with her. A week after losing their virginity a bus full of evangelicals struck and killed Adrian while he was crossing the road. "Fornication is the Devil's work" written broadly on the side. Adrian was killed for her sins. Tears rolled down her cheeks at the memory of her one true love.
"Forgive me my sins, heavenly father," she muttered while driving down the quieter roads West. She thought of Linus again her mind filled with the image of the handsome black youth dying horribly for her fornication too. "And forgive Linus Jefferson his sins." She'd go crazy if she had another death on her conscience. Why god, why had he pulled his big cock out of his pants? Because you asked him too, her subconscious reminded her. You wanted to see it, you whore.
Warning beeps sounded from the radio's speakers causing Nancy to jump. "Warning! There is a flash flood advisory for Western Coxville County."
Nancy leaned forwards in the driver's seat and looked up at the sky. Not a cloud in the sky. The stars were particularly bright. The radio had resumed with their coverage of the big game. The first quarter had gotten underway and a COCKS player named Samson West had scored a touchdown. "Go Cocks," she muttered.
Nancy was heading Southwest now to skirt the lake. It was dark this side of Coxville. The only lights were from the occasional farmhouse or small cluster of trailers. Here and there were some nicer houses along the road. These disappeared as the farmland turned to forest. Then she saw the first streaks of lightning in the sky ahead of her. Some drops of rain hit her windshield. She leaned forwards again. It was strange, but the sky still seemed mostly clear. A few clouds had appeared. The game was still going on East of her with no reports of bad weather.
**********
Sister Nancy passed the Island Vistas of Lake Cox motel. It was a ramshackle dive catering mostly to fishermen during the summer months though most sportsmen favored a nearby campground with a boat launch. Next to the motel was a small campground general store that also sold bait and tackle. It shut down after Labor Day and was dark inside. The radio paused the game to blare the flash flood warning again. It was hardly raining at all. Nancy half thought she should stop at the motel, but it appeared shut down too and something told her, she wouldn't be free until she cleared Coxville County and she still had an hour more driving until she reached the county line. The road was wet now and as it passed along a brook that emptied into Lake Cox, she noticed the water was running faster and higher. The drops hitting her windshield turned to a steady patter.
"Breaking News. A slow-moving thunder storm has dropped nearly three inches of rain on the borders of... {Static} county and Coxville County. There is a flash flood advisory. Travelers are urged to seek shelter and stay off the roads. This has been a special breaking weather report. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program." "...amson West scores again! That boy is on fire tonight! Which is more than I can say for quarterback Todd White. West appears a man on a mission."
"Damn!" she muttered, crossing herself for her blaspheme. It was raining harder now. She was only miles from the county line. Large puddles were forming. As she got closer it was getting darker and raining harder. Then she saw the flashing lights ahead. The signs were blocking the road out of Coxville County with "road closed" written across them and a detour sign that would make her turn around. She pulled off the side of the road and shut the van down, but kept the radio on to hear the game. She took her cross in her hands and said a brief prayer for guidance, but the only thing that came to her was, "Blessed is the man, who remains steadfast under trial." She must remain steadfast! She would go forth and persevere. Hopefully, the flooded roads would not be too bad. Nancy turned the key in the ignition and the electrical systems went haywire, gauges moving up and down erratically. The radio announcer's voice grew fainter and fainter until the radio died. The convent's van lost all power.
Nancy sat there in shock for several minutes. It was almost like some force was trying to prevent her from leaving the county. She gripped her crucifix tightly in her hands and mumbled the lord's prayer. When she finished, she tried the ignition again, but the van wouldn't start or turnover though some of the lights flickered so the battery had some power. Nancy opened the door and stepped out into the rain. It was a downpour now and she quickly became soaked. The lord was testing her just as he tested JOB. Even as she started walking forwards to slip between the road closed sign, the wind rose up blowing hard against her wet habit. She had to clutch her cowl tightly to her head for fear it would blow off. It was looking more and more like she would have to sleep in the van. She bowed her head and prayed to the lord for help.
