Handsome Freaks

A Serial Novel

by Ezra Vancil

This is an original STEEMIT series novel. If you like odd dramas about odd things, strangely funny and sad things, freaks, magic, bearded ladies and the emotional pain of invisible boys–I'm writing this on steemit based on a short story I've written... enjoy.

Missed The Last Chapters? I'll Keep A Running Chapter On My Website Or Choose A Past Chapter Below. Handsome Freaks Index Updates
Ch1-P1 | Ch1-P2 | Ch2-P1 | Ch2-P2 | Ch3-P1 | Ch3-P2 | Ch3-P3 | Ch4-P1 | Ch4-P2 | Ch4-Pt3 | Ch4-Pt4 | Ch5

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NOTE: I apologize for the lag between chapters! I know that it can be frustrating when your reading along. I'll try to be more constant in the releases this time around. This is a personal challenge [and it is a challenge to find the time] for me to write entire novel on Steemit as I go. Follow @ezravan

Beard Of The Magdalene

Chapter 6 - Part 1

When her beard had fully grown the daughter of Esther was easily mistaken as a man, yet her pure feminine scent was unmistakable. Men who did mistake her for the same sex were riddled by a sudden perplexing attraction that left them with a sense of sinful shame. Her name was 'Magdalene' –

Esther believed in the power of names. Especially the names directly from the pages of the holy scriptures which were thought, by some, to hold spells of deep magic. "It is as if they were written by the hand of God himself ..." She would say, "... perfect in every way. How could they not be infused with the very spirit of the Divine mysteries?"

Her own name, 'Esther,' fit her well, for she was a very secretive woman and had no aversion to lying for a greater good.

Before Magdalene was born, Esther had grand spiritual plans for her daughter's future. Magdalene was to enter the sisterhood of St. Agnes. The same order she herself had been part of before her 'promotion,' as she called it.

Though she would never speak of what the 'promotion' entailed, it did include certain privileges – such as the blessing of eternal virginity which was only granted to the Sisters of St. Agnes. The blessing of eternal virginity was bestowed in secret chambers to many sisters over the years by one Priest they called Father Chance. He was a great bulk of a man with slouching cheeks that touched his collar.

The blessing of eternal virginity allowed once celibate nuns to marry and retain their virginity even while in union with a man. So, it was not strange that Father Chance encouraged the marriage of these blessed girls, even going so far as to find suitable husbands for the eternal virgins.

Babies were often born to the eternal virgins very soon after their arranged marriage ceremonies; sometimes as soon as five months after the ceremony. In each of these odd cases, Father Chance proclaimed it miraculous and very publicly put in petitions to the Bishop of Aragon for 'opening a cause' of investigation into these miraculous births.

After Esther was blessed an eternal virgin, Father Chance introduced her to his second cousin Geraldo James, a law school graduate who was indebted to the Priest for his tuition. Esther and Geraldo were married soon after and six months later Magdalene was born:
Magdalene Mary James.

The Gypsys And The Priest

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Esther was fond of the future and the past, she had no use for the present. She would often say to Magdalen, “The future is the present in the Past.” This was very confusing to Magdalene and she never quite knew what her Mother meant by this statement.

With her love of the future, Esther spent much time with a fortune teller; an old woman with one wild crossed eye that never seemed to be in the conversation. She was a Jewish Gypsy from Russia that had moved to Spain during the war. Esther liked her because Christ was a Jewish Gypsy also, "he never had a place to lay his head".

When she took Magdalene for the first reading at the age of three years, Esther was delighted to find that in Hebrew, ‘Magdalene’ meant, the woman with curly hair. And, She did have curly blond hair at that age. But later, Esther met another Gypsy; this time, a man who played the mandolin. This Gypsy was from Israel and had studied the Talmud under the strict Rabbi Katina Kabbalistic Tradition. He claimed to tell the future not ‘by the dead’ (as was a common way) but from a secret Kabbalistic scriptural encryption in the book of Isaiah.

He said the name ‘Magdalene’ was indeed a Talmudic expression meaning “curling women’s hair,” but the Talmud explained it as a slang saying for 'an adulteress.'

Esther was horrified by this revelation. She began calling Magdalene by her middle name Mary but in Esther’s mind, even to call her by another name did not erase the curse of her given name. For, the names of scripture were perfect in every way.

Thereafter, with prayer and supplication, Esther beat Magdalene each night, calling her a prostitute and other vile names of a sexual nature ... "so as to mortify your flesh," she would say, "... to chastise your soul, in hopes that the fear of the Lord might keep you from your natural inclinations of adultery."

Esther poured endless scriptures, passages of death and lust upon Magdalene day and night. She spoke these dark words of God at dinner and mumbled them repeatedly as she sewed by the fire. – ’... whose legs lead to the sheol, whose lips are as sweet as wine, as bitter as gall ...’

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Magdalene hated this God, hated her Mother for loving this God.
When she learned to read, Magdalene poured much time and attention into confounding her mother with her own weapon, the holy scriptures. She found much grace and kindness in the man Christ. She tried endlessly to explain to Esther that even if she was a Prostitute, Christ forgave the original Magdalene so he would surely forgive her too – If she indeed become what her name predicted. But, Esther disagreed with Christ on this one point, saying, “If prostitutes didn’t go to hell it would be empty except for Gypsies, Jews, and Judas.”

If Magdalene said, “God separates our sins as far as the east is to the west.” Then Esther would say, “if you go far enough east you will be in the west.” The battle of scriptures became ever more fierce over the years to come. But, Over time, Esther convinced Magdalene she was cursed and there was only one way to lift such a powerful curse, that being, an equally powerful blessing.

Image SamPaints

At the age of fourteen, Esther took her daughter to Santiago to a Priest named Father Demissie. He had ‘Stigmata’ and for a small fee bestowed powerful blessings by the anointing of holy oils that were infused with the authentic blood of Christ. Father Demissie claimed, ‘the blood’ that was infused in his sacred oils, was taken from his own ‘Stigmata’; a recurring bleeding from his hands that occurred only the high holy days of the Hebrews. Though it had never been confirmed by any Bishop of the Holy Church, the blood of Father Demissie was rumored by many of that time, to be the actual living blood of the Christ and proven to bring about even the most unlikely miracles, for the cost of only 3 gold escudo coins.

To Be Continued...

<<<Read the Previous chapter: Ch5

Missed The Last Chapters?
Ch1-P1 | Ch1-P2 | Ch2-P1 | Ch2-P2 | Ch3-P1 | Ch3-P2 | Ch3-P3 | Ch4-P1 | Ch4-P2 | Ch4-Pt3 | Ch4-Pt4 | Ch5

Images 1,2,3 EzraVancil.com

Let me know if you enjoyed reading, Thanks @ezravan
I'm Ezra Vancil a musician and Artist working in Texas.