_____My head shook to deny my own dangerous statements. My shoulders wriggled trying to muffle silent notions spilling out into verbalize lines. I fought for control losing a rope of privacy tugged in a spiritual contest with a god.
_____I shouted, "Don't you know what women have endured these past two millennia? Why have you chosen to ignore dire tears? Why can't I find you among venerable historical references instead of among the shoveled icons of gender traitors?"
_____"More," Hera softly ordered.
_____Invisible forces locked my arms at my sides. My lips spewed more questions at full caliber. "How could you ignore careless suffering? Children in chains, thousands of years of torture and humiliation, and women stripped of power? Why have you done nothing to stop the atrocities of wicked men?"
_____Anger channeled into vulnerability. Traitorous tears cooled blood burning my cheeks. As I tried dropping my eyes, the contact between Hera and me magnetically sustained. She sat yards away spiritually skimming through my soul.
_____In a meek voice, I cried out,"Where were you that night?"
_____"Ah," she said nodding.
_____Images from the past flashed like a slide show of horror. Three high school seniors pulled me into an alley. DJ music played loudly for a summer block party. To hush screams, one baptized my lips under a tipped bottle of cheap whiskey. Torn clothes, sexual invasion, and inevitable abandonment. Flashing lights, emergency sirens, and miles of numb chatter. A police woman stood beside Dr. Ovett pulling blinding-white hospital curtains around my bed. Heavy pencil strokes across virgin paper documented the symptoms of my searing mortification. When I got home, Mama's arms held me close. An ominous pitch filled Pop's cast-away gaze. Clenched rage, family shame. The next day, three guys disappeared from our neighborhood. Targeted whispers followed me to junior high school. Barbed indignity never ended.
_____I shouted in anguish, "Is all feminine existence a deserved punishment?"
_____Hera raised an opened palm.NEXT _