Sleeping Giants, Writing Exercise #2

“Cults are only bad if you let them be.”, I said to Trevor as he put up the last box on the shelf. 

“Don’t let anyone hear you say that, Belle.” Trevor said as he rolled his eyes. 

Inside one of the many sheds polka dotting the property, I was ready for the day to end. Trevor had been packing up old farm equipment for the last 4 hours and, as the designated kid sister, I was there to be the in house entertainment. 

The land in Appleton was as sprawling as it was beautiful.  Especially since they’d cut down all the overgrowth. You could see for miles.

“There. That should do it.” he said as he hoisted the last vestige of the old farm overhead. 

“Good. Now let's focus on the important stuff. Like the commune we keep talking about.” I hurriedly said before he walked off. He was good at that, walking off. Especially when the conversation turned to the commune. 

I’d been joking about it for years, and casually considering it for months. Every person I mentioned it to was ready to sign the dotted line to be part of the experience. The world has gone to shit. It doesn’t take a weather man to look around and see the weather. We can all tell. We can all feel it. It’s time for a change. And a commune? Well, that seems like it could be a perfect reprieve from said shit. 

Often, whenever you talk about a commune, or starting your own little village, people will laugh it off or say it sounds “culty”. Which sounds like it’s an inherently bad idea. But just like all ideas, they’re only bad if you let them be. Cults are probably a really great time, until they’re not. 

“Now, Belle, how many times do I have to tell you we’re not starting a commune or a cult just because we have some land? It takes more than just an idea. It would take a lot of work - ya know, that stuff you seem to avoid when it comes around.”, he said with a huff.

“But this time I’m serious! I want a circle of little tiny homes, we can get chickens and cows and miniature donkeys, and we can have people who are specialized in a handful of fields so that we’ll have everything we need. Right here!”

“And if I said yes. How would you go about recruiting these… specialists?” he said sardonically. 

“Well, I’m not sure. I haven’t thought about the logistics of it.” I said, defeated. 

“And there it is! See? You can’t be serious about it because you don’t even know how you’d go about it!” 

“I have thought about it! Well, mainly about the chicken and cow and miniature donkey of it all.” I hung my head. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

Dragging my feet while I headed inside, I took one last look at the sunset before it dropped low below the horizon. 

“Cults are only bad if you let them be…” I grinned, whispering to the trees as they woke from their slumber.