Song of the chapter:
"...and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever and ever, Amen"
At the final words of the benediction, all the regular goers as well as guests of Gethsemane Bible Church piled out of the large cream and gold themed church auditorium. As usual, the auditorium emptied out in seconds and only a handful of people who wanted to pray at the altar were left behind.
On Sunday such as this, the church was usually packed full and the bright clear sky that particular day only drew in a larger crowd. A few latecomers were always left standing behind the pews during the summers and this prompted the church to commence plans to expand the auditorium.
There seemed to be an official rule that no socializing could go in within the church auditorium hence the reason why the place was cleared out seconds after the benediction. The parking lot however, was a different story. People stood all around seemingly ignorant of the blazing sun as they conversed with their fellow church goers. The younger generation couldn't stop the joy in their hearts as they ran around with the birds of the sky. A few people tried to rush away immediately after the service but were either stopped by the ushers handing out brochures and donuts or the traffic line delayed by playing children.
"My word Marlene, your daughter is over sixteen now. I cannot for the life of me understand why you don't make her wear a hat or a scarf to the service" Mrs Humphrey one of the older patrons of the church said to her god daughter condescendingly.
Lisa McPherson, the daughter in question rolled her eyes and muttered "here we go again" but both of those actions were done in her head.
She and her mother Marlene McPherson were used to this. Condescending tones from all of the older women and mocking tones from the other ladies in the church. They were all better than the lady who'd let a man between her legs at eighteen and had a child as the evidence. Thus, she deserved no atom of respect.
Worse, she didn't know the father was. Not that they cared to ask if she did. They only assumed. None of them wanted to know that it was a case if date rape*** and although the man was known, he'd bluntly denied the child before cutting off all contact with orphan Marlene and moving away. Nope, they didn't ask. The truth just wasn't as sweet as their cooked up stories and assumptions.
"Godmother, Lisa is barely an adult. She..." Linda tried to defend as she took off her own hat and started to fan herself with it.
"Well, it seems like you younger folk all want to be an adult as soon as possible. Remember, you were barely an adult when you had her."
Although she was usually calm and collected despite the insults, Linda had reached her breaking point today especially with the stunt Lisa had pulled yesterday.
"Listen Mother, I..."
"Ah, Penelope, there you are. I've been looking all around for you"
Saved by the pastor. Ha, that's a new one Lisa thought to herself as Pastor Leonard stepped between the trio.
"Good morning Pastor" Penelope greeted bowing slightly.
"Sister Penelope, God bless you" he greeted back while patting her back. "I wanted to personally thank you for your donation to..."
Linda, grateful for the interruption, took the opportunity to lead her daughter away.
While leaving, Lisa caught sight Ben, one of her numerous crushes talking with some other girl in the church and sighed inwardly.
Maybe one day, I'll open up and then we can stand around to talk like that.
Just as the thought came to her head, Penelope Humphrey's face appeared in her head reminding her of all the disdainful comments that the old lady was sure to make if she was seen standing even remotely close to a guy. Luckily for her, she'd been born more tough headed than her darling mother (thankfully) and really didn't give two hoots what self righteous and entitled people like Penelope Humphrey thought.
Heading towards where their car was parked, Lisa stopped where one of the ushers stood and grabbed two random donuts off the tray. She turned around quickly and skipped away just as fast in order not to hear any disdainful comment.
Looking down at her hands, she noticed she'd picked two strawberry donuts and almost trashed one but refrained. Food doesn't come easy. Not for all anyway.
When she got to their beat up Toyota Camry, she noticed her mom crying in frustration as she struggled to start the car engine but failed terribly. The car didn't even start at all. It must be a battery thing.
"Mom it's the battery" Lisa told her as she got close enough "Have some donuts and relax. I'll go get help"
With that, she tossed both donuts at her and Linda caught them gratefully.
Like every other Sunday, she'd fasted in the morning and unfortunately, service today ran later than it usually did. She didn't even realize how hungry she actually was until her stomach growled at the sight of the donuts.
"Thanks baby girl" she managed with a weak but sincere smile as she said a quick prayer then bit into soft snack.
Just as she was starting on the second donut, Lisa returned with a couple who'd just joined the church. Although Megan and Alvin were much younger than Linda, the couple seemed to admire her a lot. Linda herself couldn't tell what they admired about her.
"Linda, good morning!" Megan greeted cheerfully as she kissed her cheeks and her husband did same.
"What's the matter?" He asked in concern as he went to the already open car hood.
"It's the battery" Lisa told him as she rocked their adorable six month old baby girl Annabel. Their other two kids: Andrew and August were among the kids running around though their aunt and Meg's younger sister was looking out for them.
"I'll just start her up with our battery. It's not a big deal" Alvin declared as he dropped the hood of the car.
"Oh thank you two. I don't know what I would've done without you too. We're not exactly favourites here so..." Linda started to ramble as she expressed her gratitude.
Meg just laughed and downplayed the whole thing as her husband went off to pick up the battery.
"Oh come off it Linda. It's really nothing. Why are we Christians if we don't help each other out?"
While the adults discussed, Lisa caught sight of some girls from the youth church and quickly ducked into the car.
Although her mother's self righteous God mother always sent Lisa expensive clothes, she still never managed to make them look good. Girls who wore clothes less than half the price of hers always looked better than she did. She couldn't tell of it was the lack of jewellery or her fat figure, or the fact that she only wore one shoe. Or maybe it was her acne covered face. Or maybe it was that her hair was almost never professionally styled. Even when she'd managed to get it done at some cheap saloon, it never lasted due to her hair texture.
I should really start dandruff treatment
She thought to herself as she ran her hands through her brown afro and white flakes fell onto her lap. Taking a finger to her scalp, she rubbed hard and then sniffed the finger. At least it wasn't stinky.
"Oh thank God. Lisa, say thanks to Doc and Aunt Meg" Linda called out and Lisa was finally pulled out of the land of all her insecurities.
"Thank you both so much" she called out from the passenger seat she passed Annabel to her mom.
"Oh don't be ridiculous. It's nothing" Meg replied modestly and after calling out goodbyes, they went back to their own car.
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Cooking in the McPherson household was nothing short of magical. Both Linda and her daughter loved to cook so they always made sure never to do it without each other.
"I'm so sorry honey, but we're all out of meat. I'm afraid all we can have for lunch right now are mashed potatoes. And I think there's still some chicken franks left in the freezer"
"It's alright ma. You worry too much. As long as there's food,I'm fine regardless of what it is"
"Oh honey" Linda started to say with tears welled up in her eyes. Her daughter was nothing short of a miracle. And although they fought a lot considering Lisa's stubbornness, they were as close as peanut butter and jelly in the same sandwich.
"You're stressed. Go lie down and I'll scrape something together" Lisa told her mother as she turned her away around and pushed her towards her room.
