WIP: DYNAMIC DUO OF THE OZARKS

CHAPTER 10

Clint had informed Mykel that he attended the Ecumenical Center Chapel Service, on Sunday mornings, at the Campus Union auditorium, which Mykel had no qualms with that. He was raised going to church every Sunday morning. Of course, Mykel was used to going with his mother in her Buick Electra to church. This morning, he and Clint walked across campus to the Campus Union in chilly, twelve degree weather. No sun what so ever, just thick, dark, blue clouds.

The boys had only been seated a few minutes, when Sherry, Debbie and Grace came in. Sherry sat next to Mykel. She was wearing a navy blue skirt and jacket with a pink silk shirt and a pillbox hat and white gloves. Just about every girl in the auditorium was wearing a pillbox hat and white gloves.

“Is Kathy not with you?” Clint asked.

“No, she and our R. A, Phyllis, go to early Mass,” Sherry answered. “They are Catholic.”

“Look look nice,” Mykel complimented Sherry, which made her smile.

“Thank you,” she said softly, but Mykel still could hear it above the anonymous, female, music major playing “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” on the pipe organ at the front of the auditorium.

Slick and Henry came in and sat next to Clint. “The girls didn’t offer to take you to Silvy’s aunt’s church?” Clint inquired of Slick.

“I thought I would come here today,” Slick answered. “It’s easier.”

“They weren’t having a basket lunch, were they?” Clint asked with a chuckle.

“Nope, this isn’t the Sunday for the dinner after service,” Slick laughed, as a young man, in a white robe, walked to the podium, at the front of the auditorium. The girl ceased playing the organ.

“Let us bow our heads for the invocation,” the young man spoke to the crowd, then gave the opening prayer for the service. When he was finished, a young lady came forward and sang ‘He’, accompanied by the organist.

Mykel was listening to the girl sing the sacred song, when he felt Sherry take hold of his hand, that was at his side, and she moved it over to her knee. She then looked at him with wink and a grin. He removed his hand from her knee, but held the palm of his hand open and she placed her hand in his for him to hold. Mykel felt this was a good compromise. They could still touch each other in a loving way by holding hands, where as his hand on her knee, during a church service, was probably punching him a ticket to Hell.

The young lady finished and walked off to take a seat with a choral group, sitting at the side of the auditorium. A middle aged man with white hair, to match his white robe, walked to the podium.

“Good morning! Welcome to the first ecumenical service of the spring semester, although it certainly doesn’t feel like spring outside today. For those of you attending for the first time, I’m Reverend Belmont, the chaplain at Spring Valley State College. I often worry that my sermons may not be on a topic that would be of interest to college students. During the Thanksgiving break, I first heard a song on the radio, I believe the local station that says they play the “Killer hits,” with very familiar lyrics.” The auditorium chuckled at the reference to K-I-L-L, which had Mykel wondering if what the minister heard was positive or negative.

Reverend Belmont had an overhead projector next to the podium. He turned it on and projected the third chapter of Ecclesiastes upon a screen behind him. “Take a look at these words, written by King Solomon, around 450 B.C. I’m sure many of you recognize these words, if you are interested in the current pop music scene. I asked my daughter about the song I heard, that use these words as it’s lyrics, and she said it was by a group called the Byrds, who spell their name with a ‘Y’ rather than the proper spelling of b-i-r-d-s. We went to Katz Discount City and I bought a copy of this recording, on a little forty-five RPM record, for both I and my daughter to enjoy. The chorus of the song is very simple, they group sings the words ‘turn-turn-turn,’ between each of the verses, written by King Solomon. That is also the title of the song. This makes perfect sense, because Solomon was talking about the cycle of life and nature.”

Mykel was happy that this was not going to be one of those “if-you-like-rock-and-roll- music-you-will-burn-in-Hell” sermons that he heard quite often in Lemming Pond.

The minister continued on, “What King Solomon is telling us is that God has set up a pattern for life on planet Earth…be it human, animal or vegetation…that we are born and then die. Solomon says this happens to both good people and bad people, poor people and rich people. Everyone has a time to be born and a time to die. Life is a cycle or a wheel, and as the song says, it turn-turn-turns. Solomon says God made us from dust and, in end, we are just dust in the wind. A depressing thought. That sentiment will probably never be turned into a hit record.” The crowd chuckle at his comment.

Revered Belmont switched off the overhead projector, but continued explaining the Book of Ecclesiastes to the college students. “One of the things that Solomon says throughout Ecclesiastes is we cannot know or control what will happen when we are no longer among the living, or even what the next day will bring. No matter what we do in life, we walk on a high wire of uncertainty. We could die in a car accident after this service ends, maybe come down with a fatal case of the flu or, heaven forbid, we could all die because the Soviet Union decides to bury us, as Mr. Khrushchev told us they would do, with missiles.”

When Reverend Belmont mentioned Soviet missiles, Sherry squeezed Mykel’s hand tight. Something about missiles set off an alarm in her. She was biting her lip too.

“We don’t know what tomorrow could bring. Some of you, young men, in the audience may be sent this war that is going on in Southeast Asia at the moment. I notice that at the end of the song, when the group sings the line from King Solomon about a time for peace, they add that it’s not too late for peace. That little extra supplement to King Solomon’s words of long ago, is probably why this song has been the number one song in the country, as well as locally on our ‘killer hits.’ It would be good if you could finish your schooling here at Spring Valley State, because the other thing King Solomon says throughout is that wisdom is better than folly and wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom is what Solomon is known for. When I was a boy, I read comic books about Captain Marvel. He was really a little boy, who would say a magic word, ‘Shazam,’ to change into Captain Marvel. On the front page, it would show that Shazam was acronym made up of names of legends, who exemplified certain good traits and virtues. The ‘s’ stood for Solomon, who gave Captain Marvel…” Reverend Belmont paused dramatically, then smiled and said, “Wisdom.”

“Before we have a song from the chorale, I want to mention the last piece of wisdom that King Solomon gives the Old Testament readers. He says to enjoy the little things in your life. The little joys and accomplishments in your youth, because one day you will be old with infirmities and not be able to enjoy your life. As I said earlier in my sermon, Solomon says we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so enjoy the little things. Worrying about trying to achieve the impossible is folly. Now, the chorale will sing a song called ‘This is My Father’s World’ and then we will close with Richard leading us in the Lord’s Prayer. I thank you for your time and may God bless you all in the coming semester.”

After the service, the students began to file out through an exit, at the side of the auditorium, where Reverend Belmont shook hands with them, thank them for coming and telling them to have a blessed day. As people made their way out the door, they saw other friends and classmates, who had attended the service and began chatting with them. Clint and Slick saw their other basketball teammates, who were all in a good mood after winning a road game Friday night.

Mykel felt a chill at his back and his skin crawl, like something evil was closing in on him. Then he heard a voice, “Good morning, Sherry. Where were you sitting?” It was Alice Schnatsky. Mykel thought, to himself, that there was something, in folklore, about witches couldn’t attend church services, but apparently Alice got around that rule.

“I was sitting in the fifth row by Mykel,” Sherry answered in a joyful tone of voice.

“Oh!” Alice sneered, as if Sherry had said she was sitting in the snake house at the zoo.

“Looks like you sobered up since last night,” Sherry teased Alice with a devilish smile. Debbie and Grace try to hide their snickering, since they had seen Alice wasted Saturday night at a party.

“I wasn’t that drunk,” Alice retorted.

“Oh yes you were!” Sherry replied with a smile. Grace and Debbie giggled and Alice fumed.

“Maybe a little,” Alice sniffed the air, with hint regret in her reply. A young lady, in a pink boucle ensemble, approached Alice from behind and tapped her on her shoulder.

“Alice, good to see you this morning! Would you like to go with me and the other girls to Howard Johnson’s for lunch?” the young lady asked.

“I would love to, Arlene,” Alice gushed. “Sherry, you could go with us, if you would like.”

“Well, I guess we…” Sherry started a sentence, glancing at Mykel, but Alice cut her off.

“Just you!”

“No thanks,” Sherry answered. “I’ll just go have lunch at the cafeteria with my friends.”

“Suit yourself,” Alice snapped.

Grace and Debbie overheard the discussion and smiled at her, in thanks for standing up for them, rather than going off with Alice and her friends. Sherry reached over and tapped Mykel on the shoulder.

“Are you guys going to the cafeteria for lunch?” she asked with a smile. “We are.”

“Yeah, I’m guessing that we will go in there to eat,” Mykel answered. “I hate to think about going back outside in that cold air and I’m from Vermont.”

After they left the auditorium, the group of freshmen went to the cafeteria for lunch, which offered a choice between baked chicken or meatloaf. More important was it was it provided warmth from the cold weather.