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to put all unhappy wives on anti-depressants. Almost all wives became depressed at one point or another. Whether it was the addition of a new wife affecting the original wives, or reassignment to a new husband, there was always something I had to step in and help deal with. Half of my prescriptions were given for these reasons.
    The prophet was fulfilling God’s plan with our ordered marriages, so wives that refuted these orders were declared crazy. I mean, how could someone in their right state of mind refute God’s plan?
    A tactic used to keep the women of the compound in their place was to set a public example of those acting out. A few women that openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the life were committed to a mental hospital in Arizona. Everyone seemed to find their contentment and happiness after that.
    One of the things I didn’t have to deal with as the doctor was child birth. All of the wives helped each other through the birthing process. I would merely check on the child after birth. Bearing children is the most important thing a woman can do for our group. It was something that was celebrated by all. The women that had trouble getting pregnant were the other half of my anti-depressant prescriptions.
    These pieces of the job were minute compared to the biggest ordeal I had to tackle for our group. Our small population holds the world’s highest incidence of fumarase deficiency, an extremely rare genetic condition.
    If I had to describe what causes fumarase deficiency in two words I would probably use: kissing and cousins .
    The marriages of blood relatives within our group have brought on an outbreak of this disorder. Before I started diagnosing our people there were maybe a dozen cases worldwide. Needless to say, that number is much, much higher now.
    Fumarase deficiency means there is not enough fumarase in a person’s cells, resulting in brain malformation, seizures, and mental retardation. One of the physical signs is it creates unusual facial features, so you’d be correct in assuming that Benjamin’s kid teeth and Verdell’s stained face mean they are fumarase deficient. Most everyone here is. But who’s to let a little compound-wide disorder get in the way of God’s plan, right?
    Stepping off the front porch, I saw a group of girls huddled around something in the dirt road. As I made my way over I could see who the girls were. Four of them were brother Sterling’s daughters: DaLinda, DaRhonda, DaVonna, and DaLonna. They were with three of Brother Mason’s daughters: LaRhonda, LaVonna, and LaDonna. If I had to describe what Brethren of the Last Days’ members like to start their children’s names with in two words I would probably use: La and Da . With so many large families it is hard to keep names straight, and the fascination with using La and Da at the start doesn’t make it any easier, but I am getting pretty good at it.
    The girls expanded their circle to allow me in. They were all hovering over a dead squirrel. Mixed looks of uneasiness and wonder could be seen on the girls’ faces.
    “It looks like it got chomped on by somethin’, Brother Elias,” DaLonna explained.
    I looked at her without trying to stare at her ear. She had her hair pulled back, so you could see what was just the ear canal and lower lobe of the ear. She was born without the top-half of her ear, and yes, her parents Brother Sterling and Sister JoDell are first cousins.
    I knelt down to look at the torn mess that used to be a squirrel. It actually did look like it got chomped on by somethin’. Picking it up by the tail, I whipped it into some nearby bushes.
    “A coyote must have gotten to it,” I surmised, although coyotes don’t come this far down near our houses usually.
    “Oh coyotes just give me the willies, Brother Elias,” explained DaLonna. “Do they scare you?”
    “No, coyotes don’t scare me,” I assured.
    “He’s not scared of nuffin’,” shouted Brother Mason’s four-year-old