Church

We go to the Bible Fellowship Church. It's half an hour's drive away from home, but it's better than the churches that are closer, that's what my Mama says. We get there at 9:00 for Sunday School, and we stay for church. We never get home until it's way past lunchtime. It has a sanctuary with plain yellow and blue windows and no stained glass. It has two rows of classrooms, and a courtyard in the middle, with an olive tree in it.

At first, I don't go to Children's Church during the worship service. I stay in the pew with my Mama instead. The only songs they have are hard, grown-up songs., that come out of Hymnals, with little writing that's hard to find in between the lines of music. They have very long prayers, and sermons that are even longer. I have to sit still and behave myself until the whole thing is finished. Mama reads her Bible and listens to the sermon, but she lets me take her hand. I run my fingers over the veins on the back of it. I like being alone with Mama for a change. I like that there are no sisters around to take all the attention.

Later on, I start going to Children's Church. It's just like Sunday School, and that, I always go to: First all the kids are in the same room together. We sing “Jesus Loves The Little Children,” and “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man,” and a lot of other songs that I've known ever since I can remember. Kids that have birthdays go up and put pennies in a little plastic church, and in get a Bible bookmark, or something else that nobody really wants. Then there's a prayer. Then we all go into different rooms, depending on what grade we're in.

We have lessons from the Bible. The little kids learn about Baby Jesus, and David and Goliath and stuff like that. Us bigger kids learn more complicated stuff, stuff like who were the Kings of Israel and Judah, and what they did, and how they offended against the Lord (because they all offended against the Lord some way or other). There's an offering (One time I fill an offering envelope with pillbugs, and I put that in, as well as the dime Mama gave me). There's a memory verse. You get a sticker on the attendance chart if you can say it right. Then there are prayers, and we all have to say stuff for them, instead of just sitting quiet and listening like with the prayers in the big church.

There are ways you can get out of going to Sunday School. I go to the first part, where we're all together. Then when we separate, I slip away. I go to the bathroom first, and then when the halls are empty again, I just go where I want to and do something more interesting.

One time my sister Linda and I bring our friend Trisha with us to church. We all three sneak off and hide until the other kids are in their classrooms. Then we find a place where the grass is cool, and we talk until church lets out. Trisha saya we should tell dirty jokes, but none of us know any except her. She tells us a joke about an ant who falls into a toilet and lands on a big brown log. I don't know how this is a joke, because it isn't funny, but it feels good sitting outside on the grass and breaking rules.

There's also a park right next to the church. It's got a picnic area and some play equipment, but what else it has, that's really really good, is a wildernessy part with a little stream running through it. This is called the barranca. Grown-ups say you have to be careful in the barranca. They say to watch out for mosquitoes and not do anything dangerous. None of us kids care though, because there's a stream. And maybe polliwogs. And sticks to play with. And stuff to climb. Sometimes I can talk Linda into going over to the barranca with me instead of going to Sunday School. She's better than me about going, and I can't always do it. Plus also it's always hard to figure out when church is over and come back at the right time when you go over there. But when I do go, it's the best Sunday morning ever.

If I can't get anyone to skip Sunday School and go somewhere else with me, I go to the car. I bring a book to read during the drive, something more interesting than the Sunday School lesson book (or the Bible). On cool days, I sit in the back seat and read it. It's good, because I can see when people start coming out of church and going to their cars. This means I can get back to Mama before she knows something's up.

After church is out, Mama has to go get Karen from the Preschool class. She has to stand around and talk to quite a lot of people, and only then do we get to go home. By this time, we're all starved, but we still have a half hour drive before we even get home. Mama still has to get dinner on the table, and that takes more time.

We come in, and usually I can smell dinner cooking. There's a roast and some potatoes in the oven, or maybe Daddy's started coals so he can grill us some steaks. My stomach growls. I watch and wait, and I cheer when the meat gets done. But even then, it's not time to eat yet. Roasts have to settle before they can be carved. Cooked potatoes have to be mashed, or maybe Mama has to make gravy. I feel like I am practically going to die, but eating before dinnertime is against the rules. Sometimes I can sneak in and get a little something while Mama's changing out of her church dress, but a lot of the time I can't even do that. I have to just sit there and starve.