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Now the mumbles are cheers.
Yes!
Yeah!
I am dying.
I actually want to die.
I swear that Faith is laughing at me.
“Father God,” Perky Lady prays, “we thank you for gathering us all here together to rest and recharge and pursue your will. We ask that you touch our hearts this weekend. Help us grow in grace and virtue. Amen.”
Everyone echoes, “Amen.”
Perky Lady lifts her head and continues to speak with a smile that may crack her face open. “Okay, everyone! A few housekeeping items. We should be at the retreat house in about an hour and a half. The boys’ cabins are to the right of the property and the girls’ cabins are to the left. Your names are on the doors. Lunch is at 12:30 and we will have our first talk after that. If you have any questions at all, just let me know!”
She turns the microphone off and sits down.
Faith starts to laugh again.
“Who… is…that?”I ask.
This makes her laugh harder.
Then, Faith gives me a closed-lip smile with those berry pink lips. She says, “My mother.”
And I’m stunned.
Chapter Two
Faith
I don’t know what made me walk to the back of the bus and sit next to him.
I’m not like my mom or my dad. They are both really outgoing and drawn to the newcomers sitting all alone. Sure, it is part of the job, but even before my dad was the preacher, they both behaved that way.
It is just in their nature.
But I have always been more of the shy one.
My dad has been our church’s preacher since I was seven years old.
My life has always been on a stage.
So, sometimes, I want to blend into the background.
But when I walked onto the bus, and saw him back there, I felt drawn to him.
I didn’t want to fix him or convert him or give him my testimony.
I just wanted to be close to him.
And that really scared me.
He looks at me now, after I told him that the crazy lady at the front of the bus is my mother, like I am just as crazy.
“Your mom is, what, the chaperone?” he asks me, confused.
