Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show (29 page)

She looked down at the pavement before she looked at
Scott. “Oddly enough, it is my interest in particle physics that allows me to believe it’s possible. In any case, I have seen for myself some strange things happen with Beth. My interest in science doesn’t allow me to discount what I see with my own eyes. If there is a rational explanation for some of the things she has done, then I haven’t found it.”

She then pulled her legs into the car and closed the door. With the window rolled down, she made one more
comment. “I’m just speculating, but I suspect they both appeared to be in a fog of confusion because they were somehow tapping into each others thoughts without knowing it.”

Scott
smiled at Amie as he thought about her idea. “I have a hard time believing that your idea could be possible, but it would explain a lot of things.”

Amie started the engine. “We can work on that idea next time. Do I get a kiss for good luck?”

Scott
leaned over before giving her a longer kiss than he had planned. “That kiss is not for good luck. It is for all your hard work. Call me if you need me. On second thought, call me and let me know how you are doing. I want to hear the good and the bad.”

Amie
started smiling as she put the car in gear. “If you kiss me like that again, I am going to show you the true meaning of getting lucky.”

Scott
watched as she drove out of the parking lot and down the road. Every time he tried to dismiss the idea of Beth and Michelle having some type of psychic connection, the possibility kept coming back for him to reconsider.

CHAPTER XXI

Scott
had taken Michelle home on Sunday afternoon and didn’t see her again until they went to William’s farm on Tuesday morning. When Scott arrived, he had no idea how he was going to approach Michelle knowing they would be spending the next three or four days together. As he approached her, Scott assumed there would be no time for a lengthy conversation.

Michelle
was waiting beside her car with instructions to bring him to the back patio. Her appearance was much different from their time at the beach. She wore a knit collar shirt with a navy blue skirt. Scott had dressed casually, but brought clothes that were more formal for his interview.

As
Scott approached Michelle, he held out his arms to hug her, but she held up both hands to stop him. “You can’t hug me until you admit you violated the most important rule we have.”

Scott
studied here playful expression until he was compelled to ask, “What rule did I violate?”

Michelle
looked away and then back at Scott. “Maybe I should write this down for you. Rule number one: Scott will always be on Michelle’s side even when she is wrong.”

Scott
was also smiling at Michelle. “I must have forgotten that rule in the passion of the moment.”

“I cannot believe you said that to me. Right now you are up to your ears in trouble and you keep digging the hole deeper.”
Michelle replied.

Scott
placed his arms around Michelle with no opposition. “What else have I done wrong?”

She put her arms over his shoulders and replied, “I’ve slept by myself for the last two nights. I don’t like it and it is your fault.”

“Why is that my fault? Was I supposed to just stroll into your house last night and climb in bed with you? I can see your dad’s face now.” Scott replied.

Michelle
thought about his question for a moment. “You should have found a way to sneak in. Anyway, we have to go now because they are waiting on us.”

Hank,
Anna, Joe, Nancy, Betsy, and William were seated at the table drinking their morning coffee. They pulled up two chairs and exchanged greetings with everyone. Betsy poured coffee for them before she offered doughnuts. When she sat down, William started to speak, “We will be leaving in a few minutes for East Kings Ridge. Scott, I know you drove some trucks when you worked for the John Deere dealer. Do you feel comfortable driving the motor home?”

He
answered without any reservations. “I have also driven some 32 foot U-haul trucks to Asheville when I was in school. I shouldn’t have any problems.”

William
nodded as he spoke. “Good. Hank and Nancy are driving their car. They will follow behind Joe and Anna, who will be in the box truck. Scott and Michelle will follow Betsy and me in the Cadillac. Once we get there, Betsy will work with Michelle and Nancy to get them up to speed on the operation since they are new to the game. Hank, Joe, and I will get Scott’s feet wet on the setup procedure. Does anyone have questions?”

There was a period of silence before
Scott asked a question. “I realize I’m new to this, but can you tell me what we’re doing?”

William
started laughing as he pointed to the sky. “That might be useful information to have. The others already know but let me give you the quick answer. Milton Snyder is the U.S. Congressman from that district and he ran for office on a family values platform, only his family values aren’t exactly what you might think. He was seen in the Virgin Islands with his scantly clad staff director in a rather incriminating position. He was kissing her and had his hand on her rear end and it so happens we have a photo of his adventures.”

Michelle
asked a follow-up question. “Are you going to release it to the press?”

Joe
sought to explain their plans while William sat back and listened. “The congressman or his people control the local press. We plan to honor several elected officials at one of our salvation meetings. The elected officials think they are there to get the recognition for being good family men and most of them are. When each official is invited up to the stage to get their recognition, we will show a picture of the town mayor with his spouse on the fifteen foot wide projection screen system you saw the other night.”

Betsy
picked up where Joe left off. “When the congressman comes up on stage, we will show the photo of him in the Virgin Islands with his staff director. All of this will happen in front of the people and press who come into our tent seeking salvation. It should make for some interesting moments when the congressman is facing the audience and doesn’t know what is on the screen behind him.”

Hank spoke next to finish the explanation. “When the show starts, the image will be uploaded to his website. We will also be placing it on his Facebook page. A copy of the picture will be emailed to most of the people in his district shortly after we leave town.”

Scott looked at Michelle briefly before he asked his most important question. “Is any of this legal?”

William
smiled as he responded. “With the exception of hacking his website, it is all legal. Your dad does a great job of keeping us within the law.”

While
Scott had a thousand other questions, William was ready to get on the road and Scott assumed he had used his quota of questions for the time being. William and Betsy made a slight change of plans when they decided Betsy would ride with Scott and Michelle for the first two hours so that she could go over some of the equipment kept in the motor home. She was also going to explain the bookkeeping system and some of the reports that had to be filed.

It took
Scott a few minutes to become comfortable driving the motor home, but once they were on highway 70, he began to relax. Betsy and Michelle were sitting at the table drinking coffee, talking about campaign finance laws, and looking at their financial reporting activity. Traffic was light allowing Scott’s mind began to drift away from their conversation to the time Michelle, and he spent at the beach. Amie’s contention that Michelle and Beth had some psychic link continued to dominate his thoughts.

The caravan stopped briefly in
Winston-Salem for lunch before continuing the trip into the mountains. With three more hours to East Kings Ridge, Betsy joined William in his car leaving Scott and Michelle alone in the motor home. Michelle and Scott agreed it would be best to wait until they returned home to discuss their beach trip.

Michelle
chose to discuss what she had seen when she and Betsy went over the financial records for the “Salvation Show”. Funding for the organization came from many sources including private donations, the collections during town revivals, and corporate sponsorships. 

She was equally surprised to learn that all the money raised during revivals was given back to the community through contributions to local charities.
As they continued driving towards the mountains, Michelle placed a CD in the player so Scott could listen to William speaking at one of the Salvation Show revivals.

Scott
turned to Michelle when the performance ended. “He doesn’t even sound like the same person. He sounds like one of the evangelicals you hear on TV.”

Michelle
was also amazed with the production. “I couldn’t believe the sounds they got from the musical performance. Betsy, Hank, Joe, and Anna are amazing. Betsy can make the keyboard sound like a full orchestra.”

Scott
nodded showing his agreement. “It’s for sure they are not a fly by night outfit. I have to admit that I am excited about seeing this dog and pony show in real life. I can’t wait to see the look on the congressman’s face when they put up his picture with his staff person.”

Michelle
was also excited. “Betsy said you are going to pretend to be a reporter from Philly. You’ll enjoy that.”

Scott
glanced at the mirror, as he had to change lanes. “And what are you going to do?”

Michelle
was on the verge of laughter. “I get to scream in horror when I see the picture of the Congressman with his bikini clad friend.”

Scott
thought about the plan for a moment. “This is going to be tough on the congressman’s wife, don’t you think?”

“I asked
Betsy about that and apparently she is just as power hungry as her husband. She will stand by her man as long as he’s in office. I would guess if he should lose the election, she will kick him out faster than lightning.” Michelle replied.

The caravan rolled into East Kings Ridge around three thirty in the afternoon stopping at a vacant lot next to a shopping center, which
was to be used for parking. Scott stopped the motor home behind William’s car as Joe drove the truck and trailer onto the vacant lot. Once all the vehicles were stopped, everyone came in the motor home for a conference. Betsy and Michelle made coffee and snacks for the meeting.

Once everyone
had gathered around the table or were standing close enough to hear the conversation, William began to speak. “Some of what I am saying is so Scott, Michelle and Nancy will get to know our procedures. We have four local men who will be here to help set up the tent and get the chairs and equipment in place. Michelle and Betsy will pay the men when the job is finished. Joe, Hank, Scott, and I will get the equipment up and running and Joe can show Scott how to tie the generators into our power system. I would like for everyone except Scott and myself to run through our music for tomorrow night and give Nancy a chance to practice with the group. We should have everything in place by eight o’clock tonight. Any questions?

Joe
noticed Scott was confused. “Scott, we don’t do a show on the first night. We like to let people drive by, see the signs, and let the local gossip get fired up. We should have enough advance publicity that the excitement is filling the air as we sit here.”

Betsy
went over a few more details. “Tonight, William, Joe, and Anna will stay in the hotel with me. Scott, Nancy, Hank, and Michelle will stay here with the equipment. We have motion sensor lights, but the four of you need to keep at least one person awake throughout the night to keep an eye on things.”

Over the next three hours, everything came together in a well-orchestrated plan. The travel trailer was unhitched from the box truck and set up.
Within fifteen minutes, the tent was rolled out, anchored, and raised into place. As the extra help brought in the sound system, lights, and the large projection screen system, the inside of the tent was beginning to look just like the inside of William’s barn had looked on Wednesday night.

By seven-thirty, everyone was in the tent testing out the sound system and lights. Once satisfied that everything was operating as planned,
William, Scott, and Michelle sat at the sound and light control board while the rest of the group took their place on stage.

Nancy
was the bass guitar player, which was something the band had never had before. They started playing music in order to let her become familiar with playing in the group. It was obvious she was talented and just as obvious that the group enjoyed playing together.

William
deferred to Betsy on all the issues of music as she had the group go over the transitions between songs several times until she was satisfied. At the end of the rehearsal, it became clear that William was tired before Betsy came to him and insisted it was time to head for the hotel. Joe and Anna left with William and Betsy leaving Hank, Nancy, Scott, and Michelle in the tent to close down the operation for the night.

Hank took the time to explain how to shut down the generators and turn off all the equipment to
Scott. They agreed Scott would stay awake until four o’clock in the morning to watch over the equipment and that Hank would then relieve him. Hank and Nancy went to the travel trailer while Scott and Michelle went back to the motor home.

After entering the motor home,
Scott and Michelle sat across from each other at the table looking at each other for several minutes. His voice finally broke their silence. “William has an amazing operation here and I am really looking forward to watching them put on the show tomorrow night.”

Michelle
was also impressed. “Watching them set up everything was impressive too. Except for you and me, everybody knew what to do and they knew when and how to do it. There is no telling how many times they did this before.”

“I would never have imagined them being
able to play the music they are playing. They sound like professionals and I couldn’t believe how Nancy just picked up the base guitar parts like she had been doing it forever.” Scott noted.

Michelle
agreed. “Betsy is so talented, but then again, they all are. I wish I could play an instrument of some kind, but I don’t know what I would play.”

Having exhausted the conversation, silence once again fell over the table as though a shroud had been place
d over them. Michelle looked at Scott knowing there were things she needed to tell him, but her reluctance to talk was very evident. Still, the awkward nature of silence gave her few options but to speak. “Scott, I’m lost and I don’t know where I am supposed to be.”