This was a marvelous place for me. We had an apartment that was next to and above a small bar. Our apartment was located on a small square at the top of the small narrow road that led up from the castle. Half way up that road was the old wall from the castle that used to encircle the town. Sitting on that wall you got a great view of the old town down below, and the dairy with the stream running next to it, and then the castle at the bottom. Early mornings I used to go out to that wall to get some quiet time for reading. I loved the way the mist would roll through that small valley below. I could almost feel the knights from long ago riding up to the draw bridge, back from some battle.

Jeremy, my fiance wasn't back from a road trip and so I met everyone else in the colony first. There were a lot of people, a few that I remember were Stephen Lightening (French brother), Dawn (Canadian) and her husband, a black sister from Ethiopia, a short but very fat sister from one of the French islands in the Carribean, a married American couple with three children. And Jonas (French brother) who later changed his name to Pierre Pecher d'homme. (excuse my spelling all you french speakers).There were more but these ones stand out in my memories.

When Jeremy came back it turned out that he was the shepherd of the home. He had the back bedroom with the private toilet for himself. He wasn't selfish about it and would let us go through his room to use the toilet, otherwise we would have had to go out of the downstairs apartment, up the public stairs, and into the upstairs apartment to use the other toilet. No one slept upstairs. That was where the kitchen was located, the bathroom with toilet, the large livingroom that was over the downstairs bar. Whenever we had inspiration, with God forbid dancing...the old lady downstairs would bang on the ceiling with a broom and yell at us "Les Enfants De Dieu!!!!?!! Heh!!" It was hysterical.

Jeremy took his duties as shepherd very seriously. He didn't spend an awful lot of time getting cozy with me but I thought it was perfect because we were supposed to be revolutionary soldiers. I was sent on the road most often with Stephen Lightening who was adorable, too adorable. He was very vivacious, fun to be with and it made it extremely difficult on roadtrips when sometimes we would end up sleeping in the same bed. These were the days before FFing became common, sexual relations were still out of the question and besides I was planning on marrying the other guy! I was a good girl but it wasn't easy. Later I would also go on roadtrips with Jonas. We did not see eye to eye on all most anything. I really hated it when he made fun of me because I was American. He said all Americans talked like ducks. We had the worst trials being together. But after a roadtrip with Jonas I could come back to my sweet delightful town of Fougeres and all was right again.

I am naturally a terrible cook and it amazed me that every home I was in I ended up being the cook. This place was no different, but at least there were other girls there with helpful ideas to make things better. We ate a lot of liver with onions and that fabulous mustard. I actually craved that taste. Around the corner from our colony was a small grocery store. I used to slip out to go there to shop, and for some alone time. We had so many people in the home that the only way to be alone was to go outside.

After one roadtrip Jeremy came back with two new disciples, a pair of sisters from the neighboring town of Mayenne. Their system last name was Sallas and they took the Bible names of Verite or Truth, and Claire. They just adored Jeremy and weren't too happy to find out about me. Truth really didn't like me one bit. They were significant to this whole thing because their mother used to visit us all the time. She loved the whole idea of the Family and would bring us over these fabulous pastries and cakes. I think that if she could have joined she would have. She took the name of Tabitha but I have always remembered her as Madame Sallas. Madame Sallas remained our friend even after we had moved on...more about her later.

We had a few visits from the local regional shepherd, a french brother named Judah. He used to be a communist, a real activist and was going to the university. Then he met the Family and well, you know what happened. We all liked him and looked forward to his visits. So I didn't think anything of it when I came back from a roadtrip with Jonas and Judah let us into the apartment. I was startled though to find no one else there. In fact Judah told us that the home was being closed. Everyone else had already been sent to their new homes. I started sputtering, "but what about getting married to Jeremy? I am supposed to be with him. Where did he go? Are you going to send me to him?" Judah said that I was to go to his colony near Caen. He wouldn't tell me where Jeremy was moved to.

The thing that confuses me to this day is why they split up a home that was successful and happy. We were getting new disciples on a regular basis, Claire and Truth were two out of 5 that had joined since I had came. The roadtrips brought in a lot of money which we sent to Paris, and most of all, we were happy.

I think I cried for the next month. I missed my magical little town and the life I had there. I didn't know what had happened to my fiance and they wouldn't tell me. Judah was very nice but I couldn't see past my sadness. I was glad though that our home near Caen was in an old farm house. Walls three feet thick or more. A low stone wall surrounded our grassy green yard. And those funny slate tiles on the roof. Cows in the surrounding pastures and a woods to explore in. I was wondering what was going to happen next.

Here is a photo of the wall I used to read on. It was taken on our recent trip to Europe. The first time I had been back to Fougeres. It took 27 years.