Sunday Church:

I shared Ashleen’s room for the night. We both slept in her bed. This turned out to be one of the rare nights I fell asleep without someone yelling or glass breaking. I have to say, it was strange, but nice. Strange but nice.

A knock on the door woke us up the next morning. I lifted my head and looked at the door.

“Who’s there?” I asked.

“Faye! Ashleen!” I heard her grandmother yelled. “Get up! We have church today!” I lied there looking pretty confused. Ashleen woke up next to me, groaning.

“Do we have to?” she moaned.

“Yes!” her grandmother yelled. “It’s put of our agreement, remember?”

“Just a little bit longer?” she complained.

“No,” her grandmother said. “Get up or we’ll be later.” Ashleen sighed aloud.

“Fine,” she grumbled. She turned to me.

“You heard the woman,” Ashleen said. I just gave her a blank look. She noticed my lost face.

“What?” she asked.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Church, of course!” Ashleen griped. I blinked as I still didn’t get it.

“Church? What is church?” I asked. My friend paused as she climbed out of bed.

“What?” she asked. “You’ve never been to… oh, that’s right.” I nodded at her. She picked out a white and yellow Sunday dress from the closet.

“Heh, lucky you,” she said. “Must be nice being unholy.” I sat in bed still confused. Unholy? Church? I didn’t get where she was going with any of this.

“Get a move on Faye!” I heard her grandmother yell. “I don’t want to be late.”

“Yes ma’am!” I shouted. “But, I don’t have anything to wear.”

“Get one of Ashleen’s dresses!” she called from down the hall. I sat in bed, pondering that command. Okay…

I climbed out of Ashleen’s bed and walked over to the closet. The rainbow danced around in this tiny space. I ran my fingers along the pretty patterns. So beautiful. Ashleen always wears the nicest things. Some of it can put my best dresses to shame. Wow! I’m not even sure if Ashleen wants me to take one of her dresses. I looked out of the bedroom door. Ashleen was still in the shower. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I guess it’s okay…” I mumbled to myself. I finally settled on a bright green party dress and took it to the guest bathroom with me. In an hour, Ashleen, her grandmother, and I were in the living room. The old woman looked both of us girls up and down. She shook her head at me.

“Oh Faye,” she sighed. “Look at you! Your hair is a mess.” I reached up to try and fix it.

“Come here,” Ashleen’s grandmother said. She pulled a comb out of her purse and straightened out my blonde hair. To be honest, I felt like a little ragdoll being snatched about by the hair. I tried to keep still and not cry out in pain. She’s worse than her granddaughter! The grandmother let me up when she was finished.

“There, now get in the car,” she said. Ashleen and I scattered straight to the car parked in the driveway outside. The grandmother followed close behind.

I still didn’t understand the whole church concept. I pondered this whole thing as I rode Ashleen’s grandmother’s ’78 Cadillac. The grandmother looked over at me.

“Something on your mind, Faye?” she asked. I looked up at her.

“Hm?” I asked.

“What are you thinking back there?” she asked. I shrugged my shoulders at her.

“Just… what is church?” I asked. Ashleen’s grandmother nearly stopped the car in the middle of the road. She whipped her head around to me.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“What is church?” I asked again. Ashleen tried to quickly cover my mouth as I asked her grandmother again.

“She doesn’t mean it, Gran!” she cried. Too late, I guess. Her grandmother shook her head in the rear view mirror. Ashleen and I feared a lecture coming. But instead, she said, “You poor, lost child.” Now, that threw me for a loop. Me? A poor, lost child? I didn’t know it at the time, but she was right.

We drove up to the church just minutes before the scheduled service was to start. The grandmother ushered Ashleen and I into the tall, white building. We sat in the back pew as we got our copies of our programs. I looked around at my new surroundings. I had never this many people before in my life. This was more people than a party at Firefly House. The hymns everyone was singing put my mind in a confusing place. I leaned in to Ashleen.

“Do all of these people come here on Sunday morning?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she whispered back. I looked around at the people singing in front of us.

“But… they’re all old people,” I whispered.

“Yes,” Ashleen said with a nod.

“Shhh! Keep quiet,” her grandmother whispered to us. We girls went quiet and sat down with the rest of the people in the church. I don’t remember what the sermon was about that day, because I was trying to piece everything around me together. This church seemed to be warm and inviting to someone like me. Everyone did glance at me towards the end and I think they might have been whispering about me, but I was used to all the eyes and talk.

On the ride back the Ashleen’s house; I realized how much I really was a poor, lost child.

	John Lennon - Oh My Love .mp3
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