God's Loving Embrace

Part Three

'Say unto wisdom, thou art my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman.'

Proverbs 7:4

Megan did not bother to change. She discarded her blazer on the back of a chair and then collapsed on her bed, to read, trying to ignore her sister, who was shopping online. Bethany was almost nineteen, and also still at school, but sharing a room was a pain at their age. It had been a pain before but as they got older it got worse. The house felt so small sometimes, but she could not leave. For a start she had no job, and no prospect of getting one, and even if she did she would need her father's permission to do so which would not happen. Since he was paranoid about either of his girls getting him into trouble, by doing something stupid, as he put it, there was not much chance of him letting them do anything even if she had the means or the opportunity, which she did not. She felt totally trapped, an overgrown child, but as her father was so fond of saying 'the law was the law' and there was nothing anyone could really do, other than get married, or take holy orders. Neither of which made Megan's heart leap with joy.

"Some of these are ok...I mean...it is an occasion, isn't it?" Bethany said, turning the screen a little so that Megan could see. She was on the Marks & Spencer website, one of the few that their net-nanny software would load, as their dear father had it set to government advisory levels for girls of their age. She was also still wearing her blazer, like the perfect little angel she was, and Megan had to resist the strong urge to slap her.

"It's a stupid cocktail party for middle aged salesmen and their wives...I don't even know why we are being dragged along to it for goodness sake." Megan complained, dragging her tie loose as she glanced at the screen, before making a face. "Shit...those are vile...you can't be serious."

"Mum said something long...Dad wants to impress his new boss, doesn't he? And we will never meet anyone if we don't go anywhere?"

"So wear something nice...you don't have to turn into Queen Victoria for some boring sales manager, do you?"

"It's their latest collection...Mum said we could both choose one on here."

"Well, you can if you like...and get yourself a muzzle whilst you're at it...really impress the stupid pricks."

"I'm not stupid enough to smart mouth a nun, am I?" Bethany snapped back, picking at a raw nerve. Megan had been furious about what the nun did before her examination, but their parents had assumed that she did something wrong even though she had sworn that she did not. Regardless of her innocence or guilt, she had been caned by their headmistress the next day. No one wanted to offend a nun, least of all the teaching staff who feared being replaced by one, and their parents had been furious with her. They did not want to tell their friends that their daughter had been caned at school, let alone for being insolent to a nun of all things, and they were really on her case. "Loads of girls are wearing this sort of thing now Meg...it's actually fashionable."

"Only because there is nothing else," Megan muttered, turning over to face the wall in an effort to shut out everyone else. She was right, of course. The shops were full of legally acceptable clothing approved by government watchdogs. Hemlines had got longer every year since she was sixteen and you could not buy anything shorter. Some of her friends adapted things they bought, but her parents would never let her do that, for fear of getting into trouble with the police. She knew girls that had and it caused chaos for everyone. People seemed to disapprove of anything that was not acceptable, and her mother would never buy anything that did not bear the government decency Trustmark. Megan just knew she would end up with something ghastly for her father's stupid work party and she hated the idea that she would have to suck it up and play the obedient little daughter, but she did not have any choice in the matter. No girl did anymore.