Priscilla's Transformation

***Priscilla's Transformation*** is the ninth book in the Free Spirits series. It was released for Amazon Kindle in March 2020. The story is centered on the "birthing" of a new Local Gathering of the Free Spirit Connection, with the title character Priscilla Rhee finding herself caught between the Free Spirits and the religious conservatives who oppose them.

## Plot Synopsis

Members of Stallbrook's Free Spirit community meet at the home of Peri Winger, Lila Jaworski and Andrew Hamady to finalize plans for a "town hall" meeting in the city's North End, where they intend to "birth" a new Local Gathering. After the meeting winds down, the triad's longtime friends Connor Lightfoot and Willow Flaherty have remained, along with their friend Sabine Moràn who has recently joined the Free Spirits. The six talk about the process of joining and other issues of mutual interest, then engage in group sex in the living room before going to sleep.

On the day of the town hall meeting, Naomi Torkildsen picks up Priscilla Rhee at her home and driving her to the Springview Elementary School where the meeting was to take place. They find other members of Our Savior Lutheran Church there, hoping to challenge the Free Spirits about their decision to establish a new Local Gathering and meetinghouse in the city. When the meeting starts and Celebrant Lateshia Williams explains their beliefs, Priscilla finds herself surprisingly in agreement with some of them; when she poses a hypothetical question about how they regard asexual people, their response is actually supportive of people's diverse sexual identities including asexuality and demisexuality.

Sometime after this meeting, members of the transition team who lead the birthing process meet to discuss potential meetinghouse sites and other matters. Peri Winger is there as a consultant, based on her profession as a commercial realtor and her own experience with helping to birth the south metro Local Gathering some years before. They choose a site on Bremen Street, and also agree to have a company install solar panels and wind turbines for electricity. One of the team's members, Destine Francois, raises questions as an admitted "devil's advocate," and also shares her story of how she became a Free Spirit.

Priscilla meets Sabine, Mike Tasso and Bridget Torjesen at Prosaic Coffee & Tea in the North End, to engage in discussions over Free Spirit beliefs around sexuality versus the conservative Christian beliefs in which she was raised. She is challenged by their views and questions, but finds them supportive of her efforts to expand her knowledge. The discussion ends with Bridget pointing out that Martin Luther did not have the absolutist view on monogamy touted by Priscilla's denomination, and encouraging her to ask her pastor. Priscilla does take this question to Gerry Piper, the current pastor of Our Savior, but is not satisfied with his answer; he promises to look into the matter more for later discussion. In fact, Piper is wrestling with his own inner conflicts, and is anxious to leave for the night.

That night on Creston Street, two male sex workers, Vick and Jay, are talking when one of Jay's regular clients drives up. Jay goes with "Matt" to another part of the city, and they engage in mutual masturbation in the back of Matt's vehicle. Jay has reason to believe that Matt is a closet case, but is more concerned with getting enough money to pay his bills.

At the site of the new meetinghouse on Bremen Street, the Free Spirits have organized a cookout open to the entire neighborhood. Five members of the North End Alliance for Truth, the group formed to oppose the expansion of the Free Spirits in the city, arrive and distribute leaflets. This provokes a heated discussion, with a neighborhood resident challenging the Alliance members and insisting on hearing the Free Spirits' response to their accusations. The Alliance members leave, having failed to persuade any of the residents of their concerns, and indeed making a negative impression on some.

Priscilla has another meeting with Sabine and Bridget; this time she expresses her disagreement with the previous actions of Alliance members. She also shares some of her own questions about church dogma, and inquires of the Free Spirits how people in the Connection deal with disagreements and dissenters. She finds their values and actions to be "more Christian" than those of many in her own church or the conservative Christian milieu generally.

Sabine later joins Joe DiAntonio, his wife Carla, Tom Ramey, and entracte dancers Curtis Sims and Michaela Ferrante for a work party at the Bremen Street building. Along with prep work for the renovation of the building, the four share their thoughts on the opposition to their presence and beliefs, with Tom the attorney offering important insight into the best way to deal with the situation.

Priscilla meets again with Sabine and Bridget, this time beginning the conversation by asking: "What is the major reason you don't accept Christianity?" They share their views, Sabine especially raising how many Christians seem more motivated by fear instead of love (" … it's not so much your belief in God, but your belief in a devil."). While Priscilla ends the discussion by saying that she finds "a sense of connection" with Our Savior, Bridget respectfully poses the question of why she is still meeting with Free Spirits and raising questions about her faith.

At the office of City Council member Angel Portillo, Rhoda Frank and Elise Amble are waiting to meet with him about a proposed ordinance to restrict the construction of new buildings for worship. Portillo points out several practical and legal issues with the proposal, and despite their appeals to his Christian faith, he tells them that he cannot support it. They leave disappointed, and Portillo later shares with his secretary that, even though he disagrees with the Free Spirits on many points, their allowing use of their communion rooms for emergency shelter is a major reason he respects them.

Late at night, Stallbrook police officers John Witt and Daana Singh are ending their shift watching the site for the meetinghouse, being replaced by officers Miguel Torres and Siman Abdi. The four officers briefly talk about how their religious values intersect with the community policing practices of their department, and how it was a major reason why Singh chose to leave the Akron police and join Stallbrook's force. Willow and Connor then show up, having volunteered to camp out in the building as an added security measure. They are greeted by the officers, then enter the building and set up for the night. The couple discuss why religious conservatives in the city, and generally, feel threatened by the presence of the Free Spirits, with Connor suggesting that it is more fundamental than just their different views of sexuality. Willow then approaches her boyfriend affectionately, reminding him how the setting is much like their first apartment when they moved in, and they make love before retiring for the night.

Sabine is in her apartment at night when she gets a call from Priscilla, who is agitated and needs to talk. Sabine invites her to come over, and when she arrives Priscilla talks about attending a talk by an atheist on the philosophical "problem of evil" against the existence of the God of traditional monotheism, presenting the problem in such a way that any attempt at reconciling the existence of God with the presence of evil would fail. Sabine admits that she doesn't have any answer to this, that she joined the Free Spirits because she saw in them a community looking to make the world better through authentically living their values, and she encourages Priscilla to explore the question in more depth. Given the late hour, Sabine invites Priscilla to crash on her couch, and she accepts. Priscilla then tells Sabine that, while she has never felt an interest in any romantic relationship, she had wondered what it would be like to kiss someone; Sabine consents to sharing a kiss with her, and Priscilla enjoys it, but decides to take it no further, and the two go to sleep.

The North End Alliance for Truth attempts to blockade a shipment of solar panels to the Bremen Street site, alleging that the chemicals used to produce the panels could pose an environmental hazard. As the Alliance has no permit to block the street, the police order them to disperse. On a community cable program hosted by Steve Torre, the protest is discussed by City Council member Warren Foyle, Pastor Jeff Palmer of the Shiloh Baptist Church, Gerry Piper and Elise Amble; Foyle dismisses the allegations of environmental problems, and Palmer opposes the attempted blockade on ethical libertarian grounds despite many Alliance members being members of his church.

At her home, Priscilla is engaged in some reading when she receives a call from Pastor Piper to come to the church right away. There she is confronted by Piper, Walter Carlson of the church's Board of Elders, and her friend Naomi, all expressing concern about her questions around doctrine, her attending fewer church functions, and the discovery of her frequent meetings with members of the Free Spirit Connection. Priscilla protests, and tells Piper that she's never received satisfactory answers to her questions from him. Piper concedes that he may not have handled her questions appropriately, and proposes a meeting dedicated for that purpose the following Saturday; Carlson adds the condition that Priscilla refrain from meeting with any of the Free Spirits until that time. Priscilla agrees to this, but returns home in trepidation.

Priscilla then engages in study to prepare for this meeting, and feels considerable stress for it. She recalls in her college years occasionally engaging in masturbation to reduce the stress so she could get some sleep, and decides to do so now, reasoning that she is not doing this out of lust but for psychological benefit. When she is done, she drifts off to sleep, and has a dream where she and Sabine are kissing passionately. Awakened by her cell phone, is Sabine calling to check on her, as she and the other Free Spirits had not heard from her; she ends the call, somewhat unnerved by the coincidence, and goes back to sleep.

In Scotswood Park, the body of a young man is found Detective Liam Shaughnessy arrives, and talks with Medical Examiner Viktor Petran and the crime scene photographer about their initial evaluations. It appears the man was stabbed elsewhere, and the body carefully laid on the ground. The photographer had transmitted a picture of the victim's face throughout the department, and Shaughnessy learns that the fellow had been seen in the Creston Street Special District, ostensibly as a sex worker. Shaughnessy drives to the Special District, reporting in with Captain Hunter, and interviews Vick who recognizes the victim as Jay Koenig.

Priscilla meets with Piper again, accompanied by youth minister Louis Stadelman and philosophy professor Melvin Black. She raises her questions about church doctrine and practice, but finds their responses to be along the lines of "just have faith" and says that this is not a sufficient answer. Piper and the others admit that they struggle with such questions themselves, but maintain that holding fast to their faith is the way to find the answers. She is invited to continue her discussions with them, told to pray and study Scripture, and the meeting ends with a prayer - but Priscilla is cautioned not to raise her questions with others in the church, and her doubts persist.

Peri and Lila arrive at the North End site to spend the night as other volunteers before. The interior is taking shape, and they talk and make love in one of the communion rooms. About half past three in the morning, Lila is awakened by the smell of smoke, and they discover a fire on the exterior of the building. Lila wakes Peri and dials 911 from her cell; the fire is put out and preliminary investigation finds remnants of a Molotov cocktail. News of the attempted arson spreads quickly, and a support effort is mobilized. While Priscilla is having coffee with Naomi and two other women from the church, when she notices a man and a woman setting up a table to gather signatures of support and financial contributions. Priscilla leaves the conversation and goes to the table, and after talking with the people there and reading the statement of support, she signs her name. Naomi comes out and confronts her about this, but Priscilla defends her actions as being consistent with Christian faith and compassion, even listing herself as a member of Our Savior and contributing ten dollars to the effort. She is later contacted by Pastor Piper, who after discussing the matter with her agrees to issue a separate statement condemning the attack, but adds that Priscillia must retract her signature from the original statement if she wants to add her name to the one he would compose. After considerable reflection, Priscilla arrives at the church on Sunday, hands Piper a letter of resignation, and leaves to attend the vigil at Bremen Street, where Sabine and other Free Spirits commiserate with her having to leave the church and offer any support she may request. After the vigil, Sabine invites her to Prosaic with some other Free Spirits to talk, and Priscilla accepts and goes with them.

Detective Shaughnessy and his partner Rachel Cao are met by Vick, who has brought another man named Rafe to talk about a possible lead in Koenig's murder. While doing sex work in New York City, Rafe had a somewhat regular customer who told him on his last encounter that he was leaving to take a new job in Stallbrook, and Rafe would later find out that the man was a Lutheran minister. After checking online, they find a picture of Gerry Piper on Our Savior's website, and both Vick and Rafe identify him. Shaughnessy has Piper come to the police station, where he is confronted by the two sex workers; Piper insists on having an attorney with him before answering any questions, and arranges through the church for one. With considerable evidence against him, and at the urging of his attorney, Piper confesses that he killed Koenig in a moment of panic, then moved the body to Scotswood Park and dumped a bag containing pieces of evidence and rocks for weight into a pond. Shaughnessy arranges for the evidence to be retrieved from the pond, and for Piper to be charged with manslaughter.

On December 17th, a vigil is held in remembrance of Jay Koenig, and all sex workers lost to violence. Priscilla attends, and finds Bridget and a number of other Free Spirits there. She also talks with a member of Grace Church UCC about how Christians can support sex worker rights, including decriminalization of the sex trade. When she tells him that she had left Our Savior shortly before Piper's arrest, he invites her to attend his church.

The new Gathering and its meetinghouse are ready by the new year, and Sabine is helping with setup for a Sunday celebration when she hears Priscilla's voice. The two sit down, and Priscilla shares how she went to Grace Church, but while sitting in the pew realized that she no longer held onto specifically Christian beliefs, and simply left. After careful reflection, she determined that her views had transformed to fit more with that of the Free Spirits, and so she was here to attend the celebration service and learn more. She also recalled seeing a quote in *The Way of the Free Spirit* which she interpreted as a response to the problem of evil: That the Divine responds to malevolence through the works of those who "summon the strength to do what is right" by acting on the core values of love, truth, peace and bliss.

Later, a suspect in the firebombing has been arrested, and the prosecutor is meeting with Lateshia Williams and other Free Spirits. To his surprise, they agree that a competency hearing should be held, and that if the defendant is found to be mentally ill he should receive treatment. Williams also offers to meet with the defendant, "as part of a process of restorative justice"; they make it clear to him that their main concern is seeing that he no longer engages in violent acts, and that incarceration alone will not guarantee that. The prosecutor agrees to take their proposals into account, dependent upon the defendant's willingness to participate.

Lateshia is meeting with Priscilla, discussing her questions around Free Spirit beliefs and ethics, especially sexual ethics and their acceptance of non-monogamy and BDSM. Priscilla finds Lateshia's insights very helpful in understanding this, and the conversation shifts to her own experience of suddenly finding herself attracted to someone. Lateshia offers a couple of possibilities of how this could be, and suggests that she discuss this with the person to whom she is attracted. At the next Sunday celebration, Priscilla approaches Sabine, and in one of the communion rooms she nervously shares that she has felt a growing attraction to her, and a desire to be sexually intimate with her. After more discussion of their feelings and the possible repercussions, they make love. Priscilla finds the experience blissful, and herself renewed; they covenant to do so again the next Sunday, and part with a stronger bond than before.