"Annie came to replace Howard, who was already well past the age of retirement. I began attending just three years before, and I took Howard into my confidence. You see, I had just recently been abandoned by my husband and our son, whom he took with him to Ghana, where he is originally from. It was a very complicated mess from the very beginning, he was abusive, sometimes violent, and hugely patriarchal, and plus he was accusing me of trying to turn our son, John, into a homosexual, and I had to get out of there, but fortunately he left shortly after I was in contact with police. Well, you can imagine what a mess I was emotionally and psychologically when that all happened, and Howard became like my father. He was so lovely. But he was already in his seventies and under a lot of pressure to retire. Then came Annie, or Pastor Annie, as she insisted on being called. I could see that she was a problem from the very start, really wanting to control and redefine the entire church after her image. We only had one conversation, and she simply said, regarding my husband that it was my fault for not appreciating or honouring our cultural differences and then accused me of racism, which to me was simply ridiculous. I didn't answer back. I simply quietly stepped down from my volunteer duties in the church, then never returned."
"And that was when you came to live with us", says Sarah.
"You and Mauren simply saved my life." And here the two women pick up their coffee cups and clip them together in a toast, having to reach across me in order to do it.
"Oh, excuse us, Christopher", says Jennifer.
"No problem. No problem at all."
"The really sad part of it was that no one from the church moved so much as a finger to offer me support. No one even phoned or sent me a text after I left. It was as if I was already dead for them..."
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