Chapter 3

            “Can you believe my husband?”  Juanita began, “to even tease me about getting an additional wife.  He’s got a lot of nerve!”

             “Yeah, well girl you’ve got to learn how to control your man.  Kyle would never say something like that to me.  I keep him under control.”  Terry gloated.

             “How do you do that?” Juanita questioned.  “Haven’t you heard of Pavlov’s dog,” Terry chuckled. 

             “Well, I don’t consider my husband a dog,” Juanita responded.

            “No No, remember the psychology classes you took in college?  He trained his dog to salivate by ringing a bell.  He rang the bell and then gave the dog food, over and over again, until the mere ringing of a bell made the dog salivate.”  She continued as she leaned back in her seat in the S.U.V.  As she raised one eyebrow, a devious smile crossed her face.

             Juanita who was in the front passenger seat turned round and gestured indicating she should go on, while Cheryl who was driving adjusted her rear view mirror so she could see Terry’s face.  Terry, who loved to be in the superior role of teacher, continued

             “Sex and tears!”   She announced.  “You control your man with sex and tears.  No good man wants to see us cry . . . right?  So whenever he hints at doing something you don’t like you burst into tears.  Then you go cold.  There’s no warm loving until he repents, repents and repents again.  This teaches him subtly who’s in charge.”

             “But Terry,”  Cheryl interjected “The Bible does say that wives should submit to their husbands, so technically they should be in charge.”

             “Oh come on!”  Terry reacted as she slid over to the passengers side of the back seat to see Cheryl’s face better.

             “You can’t really believe we should follow the ravings of one who is obviously a male chauvinist!”  Terry placed her hand on her hip and tilted her head with a look of shock and disbelief on her face.

             “Things are different today!  We live in an enlightened age”  Terry continued, “We’re no longer the second class citizens that the Apostle Paul wanted to make us.”

             “Well, I just threatened to put him out and sue him for divorce,” Juanita broke in.  “”He knows that if he’s divorced he’ll lose his ministry and probably no church would ever accept him as a pastor or minister of music.  so I kept him in line!”  Juanita justified herself trying to avoid looking like a naive wimp wife whose husband could walk over her.

             “Yes?  That works” Terry conceded, “but if you keep him in control with tears and sex you never or rarely have to pull out the big guns.”

             “Now Cheryl, she turned again to Aaron’s wife, “admit it.  You know there are times when you use your feminine wiles to manipulate your man.”

             “Well” Cheryl responded hesitantly “I wouldn’t put it like that.  I know Aaron loves me a lot and he wants to keep me happy.  I don’t have to use a lot of tricks or manipulative techniques to get what I want.”

             “Come on now, you’re telling us you’ve never turned a cold shoulder to Aaron when he’s upset you about something?”  Terry pressed the issue.

             “Well, I did get upset a little with him when he was interested in seeing the football game that he didn’t have time to talk with me about something I thought was very important.”

             “No love making that night, huh?”  Terry interjected with a sound of triumph in her voice.

             “Well . . . uh . . . no, not that night.  But I didn’t think I was trying to manipulate him.  I honestly didn’t feel amorous at that time.”  Cheryl said defensively.

             “But I’ll bet it was hot time the night he gave you that pair of diamond ear rings?”  Terry questioned further.

             “Well . . . I . . . uh . . . did want him to know I appreciated his gesture.”  Cheryl conceded sheepishly.

             “See!  I was right!  You do manipulate your husband, but don’t feel bad.  Every woman does.”

             Cheryl didn’t answer as she pulled the vehicle to a stop in the nearest parking space to a door at the mall.  The three jumped out of the car and headed for the entrance.  Cheryl tossed her long brownish blond hair out of her face and she measured her words.

             “Aaron and I are truly and deeply in love and I don’t like to think of manipulating him.”

             “What is ‘manipulation?’”  countered Terry, “It is the use of rewards and punishments to control another’s behaviour.  And you’ve just admitted that you did it!”

             Juanita jumped in seeking to ease what seemed to be tension building between these two sisters in the Lord.  “I think all of us as women do it to one degree or another.  It’s second nature, isn’t it?”

             They entered the giant glass doors and began to engage in what has become a favourite American pastime for women.  Window shopping.  Terry moved quickly to a bright pink dress that was draped on a mannequin in one of the store windows.  “Hey, look at that!  Maybe I should buy it to wear in Kenya.”

             “I don’t know,” Cheryl responded, “I think Charles said something once about the Christian women in Africa dressing more modestly than most American women.  The hemline on that dress is about three inches above the knee and might be considered risqué to them.”

             “What!?”  Terry howled as she drew her head back and wrinkled her nose.  “You mean to tell me these women will allow a man to have two wives and they’re going to judge me because I wear an attractive dress?”

             “Don’t look at me” Cheryl reacted wide eyed and innocently.  “I am just telling you what he said.”

             Terry turned the corner of her mouth down as her eyebrow furrowed, she then crossed her arms and drooped her head as she pouted a little and marched toward the next store window.  The window shopping would have its little disappointments but there would be a much greater one for them when they next met with Charles.