Flo went on, "They never answered my questions. When I was little, you know, they never answered my questions. They ignored them, except for Aunt Millie who told me to stop being a stupid and irritating child. They didn't like the upheaval. It was embarrassing to them as if I'd walked naked through the center of town."

"I've noticed that," Iris said. "Why do you suppose questions, or even the merest mild mention of things like religion or sexual practices sends nearly everyone into a flutter of embarrassment or anger. They're the same really, the same reaction, whether embarrassment or anger. What do you think, Ness?"
"It's part of being human."
"What? The anger and embarrassment or the questions?"
"Yes," Nessa answered.
Iris scowled.

"No answers to my questions. I wanted to understand, from Christian. She was different. Not only her religion was different, but she was different from those who professed the same beliefs. But she would not, either. She seemed to not hear them. She would smile a little vaguely and go on with the lesson. Trying to link science and faith; I could not get my understanding around it yet I did try. Christian is intelligent and something about it had drawn her and kept her and made her mistress of it---"
"That's not the correct definition. You merge with it, you flow, understanding---"

"You use it all the same. Like prayer. People come crying and crawling , desperate, to Christian because they want something. They want to be restored. They want the fountain of youth. They want Jesus' healing of the blind and lame. That's what they want and they pay Christian for it. They pay her very well. She's rich, you know."
"She doesn't do it for that. She listens. She cares. She has understanding." Nessa was firm.

"She has a persuasive way of speaking. She has her phrases, which are colorful, even lyrical. They sort of hypnotize you, the quality of her voice and the rhythms of her words. I've heard her and sometimes wonder if this is what the old folk healers and shamans did. If that's what they still do in a slightly shifted framework of beliefs. The seeking is the same. The results are the same."
"It never worked for me," Flo said softly. "I could never get it to work for me, and I have a certain intelligence and perception too."
"Hear, hear," Iris dryly, but with more sincerity than she would let on.