“Now, don’t go worrying the boy, Maudra. I’m sure she’s just worn out, or a bit depressed. Goodness, after Mr. Heinz died, I stayed in bed for weeks.” Sister Heinz looked back to Jed and me. “So, are you boys planning on coming Wednesday evening and helping get the church ready for Christmas? I hear that your kind is good at that kind of thing.”
Your kind.From most, such a comment would be an insult, but with Sister Heinz, it was a genuine compliment.
Jed laughed loudly; the few people who were left glanced over to us. “Not all of us, unfortunately, but you lucked out with Brooke and I. We both know our way around garland and tinsel.”
“That’s wonderful. It will be fun to see you in action and see the tizzy you cause when the others see that you showed up.” She shared another wink, this time offered in Maudra’s direction.
“Don’t you know it! I normally wouldn’t come ta that; I wasn’t blessed with the decoratin’ skill, but I don’t think you’d be able ta pay me ’nuff ta miss it, what with these two boys and now with Mandy and her newplans.” It seemed Maudra had the same concern as I did with Mandy’s ideas.
Pastor Bron, Mandy at his side, walked up behind Maudra. “And what plans might that be, Maudra.”
“You was the one talkin’ ’bout her plans for all the Christmas decoratin’.”
He slid his arm over Mandy’s shoulders, giving her a squeeze. “She’s been talking about it all week. New color schemes, having the little kids make paper decorations for the tree in Junior Church, all sorts of things.”
Mandy looked between Sister Heinz and Maudra quizzically. “Do you think it will be a problem?”
Sister Heinz nodded a huge yes with a thrilled smile on her face. “Yes, it will be priceless. I can’t wait.”
“Now, Sherry, don’t you go causin’ problems,” Maudra admonished before turning back to Mandy. “She just means that people here are stuck in their ways. If every little decoration ain’t in the same place as the year b’fore, then there’s bound ta be someone complainin’.”
Mandy’s face fell. “Oh, well, I don’t want to cause an issue. I didn’t realize how important it was. We can do whatever you all normally do, of course.”
“Now, I didn’t say you needed to scrap yer plans. It’d be good fer a change. I’m jist surprised Donnie didn’t warn ya, that’s all.”
Donnie held up his hands. “I didn’t even think about it. I guess I should have. It just doesn’t seem important to me.”
“Spoken like a straight man.”
At Jed’s words, I looked at Sister Heinz for her reaction. When she laughed, I looked behind her to see if anyone else was close enough to hear. Most everyone had left. I gave Jed a dirty look.
His voice lowered. “Sorry, sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I forgot where we were.”
Sister Heinz looked at Maudra again. “See, I told you we wouldn’t wanna miss the show on Wednesday.”
“Now, Sister Heinz”—Tyler let go of Mandy’s shoulders and stepped closer to Sister Heinz and Maudra—“do you really think it will be a big deal?”
Donnie spoke up with a laugh before either of the women could respond. “Well, you saw how everybodyreacted tonight when you forgot to close us in prayer…. What do you think?”
Sureenough, Wednesday evening lived up to everything Maudra and Sister Heinz had predicted. The service, provided by Pastor Thomas, was even more dry, predictable, and scattered than Sunday night. During the first part of the week, Donnie, Mandy, Jed, and I had gone into the church’s storage and sorted all the Christmas decorations in the back room behind the sanctuary. When I was in high school, a wealthy couple had gotten married on Christmas Eve. Donnie sang in their wedding. They decorated the entire church in their wedding colors of white, silver, and a tealish blue. It had been like a winter fairyland. It was unlike any wedding that happened before or since; the town talked about it for months. There had been six or seven white Christmas trees, silver metal reindeer, a variety of silver candleholders, and yard upon yard of the blue ribbon and fabric, with assorted decorations of the same hue. Neither Donnie nor I could remember who the couple had been. Even Maudra couldn’t remember, but she did recall that the bride had grown up here and moved away, but wanted to have her wedding in her hometown. They had donated all their decorations for the church to use as a way of payment and thanks for the use of the building.
About twenty or twenty-five boxes filled with their wedding items were stuffed in the very back, behind all the church’s decorations. Donnie couldn’t recall ever seeing them since the wedding. The other six or seven boxes were filled with all the decorations the church had used since I could remember. However, they looked a thousand times worse than I remembered. The Christmas tree was scraggly, and many of the branches barelyhad any needles left on them. The decorations were chipped or bent. Most of the decorations looked like they were homemade and had checkered or red apple and mistletoe prints. I’m not sure how many times Jed made purposely dramatic gasps and fake screams as he held up some newly uncovered atrocity.
Mandy, who had never dreamed that we would stumble on such a treasure trove of classically simple and beautiful decorations, was in Heaven. She forgot her nervousness of how people might respond, and she completely threw out the plans she had been working on and came up with an entire new vision of how the church could look.
The majority of the snow and ice had melted over the past couple of days, and most of the typical Wednesday night congregation was in attendance. With a sinking feeling, I saw Iris sitting with Sister Hazel near the back of the church when Jed, Maudra, and I walked to join Mandy, Donnie, and the rest of the Durkes in their typical pew. Zephyra was supposed to return home the following weekend. She had stayed an extra week to spend more time with a new boy she’d started dating.
As we walked down the center aisle, Iris caught my eye. I smiled at her, and she gave a tight-lipped grimace in return. I thought it was supposed to be a smile. Jed, being Jed, gave her a wave. She turned her head and whispered something to Hazel, who nodded her agreement.
After Pastor Thomas’s sermon, Tyler once again invited people to stay and help us decorate and then eat at Pizza Hut after. He mentioned the newly discovered boxes of decorations. I’m not sure if he was hoping to get people excited about decorating, or if he was trying to ease the way for Mandy. Either way, it was easy to see that his newswas not joyously received. Thankfully, however, he did remember to close the service with prayer.
As soon as we were dismissed, we went directly to the back room and started moving out all the boxes. I was glad for the excuse to once again avoid curious parishioners, except for those who would choose to stay and decorate. Chuck and Nolan took Blaire, Willow, and Savannah home to play with Duncan, eat dinner, and for the older girls to get ready for school the next day. Sue and Della stayed to help decorate.
Sister Heinz didn’t come to help decorate after all. During prayer requests, Pastor Thomas had said she wasn’t feeling too well. He wasn’t concerned; she had told him it was just a cold due to the weather change. Even so, I was disappointed. I had a feeling we were going to need all the friendly faces we could muster.
By the time we had everything out of the back room, everyone who wasn’t staying to decorate had gone home or relocated to the foyer to talk. We were left with about twenty or so others, not counting the Durkes, the Brons, or Maudra. With a sinking heart, I saw that Hazel and Iris had chosen to take part in the decorating. I couldn’t help but feel resentful. Iris had said herself she hadn’t been to church in a while. Like Sister Heinz and Maudra, she and Hazel must have smelled a show, or intended to start one.
Mandy gathered everyone up front in the first couple of rows to get things started. There were only about five other men there, most looking at their wives with a “you owe me” demeanor. Pastor Thomas’s wife, Twyla, had stayed as well. I hadn’t seen Twyla since I had been back. In fact, I hadn’t even thought of her, and now considered it strange she hadn’t been present.
