Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show (31 page)

Michelle
was concerned with his comment. “Are you saying this is my fault or that I shouldn’t go to Washington?”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Even if I thought it was your fault, I’m smart enough not to say so. No, it’s not your fault or mine. It’s just the way things are.”

Michelle was upset knowing how Scott felt. “I don’t think that’s the way it will work out for us. We have too much going for us.”

Scott
was quiet for a few moments before he spoke. “When I was driving home Monday after seeing Ashley, something strange occurred to me. Ever since Wednesday, I had assumed that William and his gang were trying to push us together. I realized I was wrong with that assumption. They were only giving us a choice.”

Michelle
turned and looked at Scott with some sense of disbelief. “I’m not following you, because it sure felt like to me they were pushing us together.”

Scott
then explained his revelation. “Do you remember when we were doing the play in William’s barn and the scene closed right after we kissed each other. Well, it occurred to me that the play never answered the biggest question of all. Did Michelle get on the train and leave or did she stay? The script never answered that question. When you told me a few minutes ago that you were going to Washington, you did answer that question. Michelle makes her exit, stage left.”

Michelle
chose to argue her point. “Maybe Michelle does leave in that scene, but that doesn’t mean she can’t come back.”

Scott
had a dejected expression as he explained his interpretation of the script. “The problem is Scott won’t be in the next scene when or if Michelle does come back. He needs to move on with his life just like Michelle does.”

“Do you want me to stay home and not go to
Washington? Would that solve everything for us?” Michelle asked.

Scott
was convinced he knew where their relationship was going. “It doesn’t change anything for you to stay here so that we can spend another year being indecisive. By the way, when are you supposed to leave?”

“I leave next Wednesday and have the weekend to get settled in before I start work on Monday. They have an apartment where I can stay for several months until I can get on my feet and find my own place.”

Scott looked at her face seeing a hint of excitement as she talked about moving. “I’m proud of you and if this is what you want, then I hope every dream you have comes true.”

Michelle
shook her head showing her lack of commitment. “I wish I had the slightest idea what I wanted. This job in Washington is not a dream job and Washington is not a place I would choose to live. On the other hand, it is a place to start.”

Michelle
started grinning. “I think you should get a job fixing broken girls and you could start with me.”

Scott
was more serious in his response than Michelle had been with her statement. “You’re not broken and you never will be.”

Michelle
also gave a serious reply. “I’ve always been broken and you just never knew it. If our weekend at the beach didn’t prove that to you, then I don’t know what would.”

Scott
stood up to once again to go outside and make sure all was well with the equipment. “You could be broken into a thousand pieces and I would never see it. You should go get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow going over the program. Take whichever bed you want and I’ll take the other.”

She stood up and faced him. “Aren’t you going to sleep with me and keep me warm tonight?”

“I would like to keep you very warm, but I have to stay up until four o’clock when Hank takes over. I’m not going to wake you at that hour.” Scott replied.

Michelle
was tired not only from the day but from her lack of sleep on Monday night. Weighing on her mind was the fact she their time together was quickly ending. “You can still sleep with me.”

Seeing her expression and feeling his own sense of loss,
Scott agreed and left the motor home. Rather than return after his quick look around, he went into the tent where he sat for the next hour thinking about the change he was seeing in his life.

It did not take long for
Scott to draw the parallel between losing Ashley and now losing Michelle. He was smart enough to know that his life was going to change and in some respects, Michelle leaving might be the best thing for him. He still had friends in Asheville and going there might be a good thing for him.

He realized
it was getting late before he placed a quick call to Amie. He had promised to call and wish her good luck with her treatment program. According to the rules at the facility, she could only talk for three minutes until she had earned more phone time by participating in the therapy program. He assured Amie he would talk with her again at the end of the week and see how she was doing.

Scott
knew his efforts to put the best face on Michelle’s departure was his way of playing a game of acceptance which provided him with the ability to move on with his life. This was not what he had expected when they went to the beach only a week ago.

Throughout the night, he would return to the motor home and fix a cup of coffee before going back outside to sit in the warm night air.
Finally, Hank relieved him as expected and Scott was in bed and asleep within ten minutes.

CHAPTER XXII

Michelle didn’t wake Scott up until eleven o’clock the next morning when William and Betsy arrived. After lunch, they all spent the afternoon going over the program and making sure each person knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing. It soon became clear that their performance on Wednesday night was more or less a dress rehearsal for their sting operation that would happen on Thursday night.

At seven o’clock that evening, people began streaming into the tent ready to seek the wisdom that would guide their souls to salvation. Throughout the evening,
Michelle collected contributions for the group while she watched the proceedings. Scott sat at the sound and light controls in total amazement as he watched William preach to the crowd while Betsy, Nancy, Hank, and Joe brought down the house with their musical performance.

When Hank wasn’t playing music, he was working the video feeds to the large screen behind
William. It was obvious they had spent a great deal of time putting the program together and then practicing their timing. They gave a moving program that often had the audience on their feet clapping and singing along.

When their program was over and the crowds gone,
Scott got his first lesson in why William had been so successful in his life and with the Salvation Show. They all sat in the tent and talked about everything they had done well and those things they could have done better. Betsy made extensive notes of things they would work on before the Thursday night show.

Before they called it a night,
William turned to Scott. “What did you think?”

Scott
couldn’t help but smile. “It was the damndest thing I have ever seen. You had them eating out of your hands.”

William
grinned. “If you think that was something, just wait until tomorrow night when we end the career of a Untied States Congressman.”

As everyone was leaving, Hank came up to
Scott. “You don’t need to come outside and check on things every fifteen minutes. I’m sorry because I should have told you last night. We have motion sensor lights that will come on whenever anything moves around here. Just keep an eye out from the motor home and if the lights come home, then go out and look around. You can sit back and watch TV or do whatever you want.”

Michelle
was listening to Scott and Hank talk before she turned and went back to the motor home. With everyone gone, Scott turned on the security system before he went to join Michelle.

As he walked through the door,
Michelle looked at him and smiled. “I don’t think either of us had dinner so would you like a hot dog or something. I was going to fix one for myself.”

They stood side by side making dinner in the small kitchen while talking about the performance.
Michelle had been just as surprised by the planning and execution of the program as Scott had been. “I can’t believe how well the music went. They are all so talented and they sound like they have played together for years.”

Scott
agreed and offered his own assessment. “William was unreal. I would have thought I was listening to Billy Graham or something and Betsy was just as good. She had on that wig with all that makeup while talking in that slow southern voice. I mean I couldn’t believe it was even William and Betsy."

Michelle
started laughing. “Betsy had every woman in the house on her side. If they knew she had grown up in the north, they probably would have rejected her outright.”

They took their dinner to the table and sat down before
Michelle gave Scott another jaw dropping moment. “We took in over six thousand dollars tonight and they are expecting tomorrow night to be the big money raiser.”

Scott
was amazed. “Twelve thousand dollars for two nights work isn’t bad.”

Michelle
explained something else Scott was surprised to hear. “They won’t keep a dime of the money they collected tonight. Within a week, it will be given to a local food center or to some other local charity.”

He was surprised
by her explanation. “They don’t keep any of it to cover their costs?”

Michelle
was very factual in her reply. “They don’t need the money. They have so much money from political contributions and they feel keeping the local people’s money would be like taking money under false pretense. Their only real purpose is political activism.”

Scott
was silent for a while as he considered Michelle’s explanation of the Salvation Show. His tone and expression caught Michelle’s attention. “Those people were like sheep. They would have followed him through the gates of hell. That has to say something about how blind we are becoming as a society.”

Michelle
was somewhat skeptical of Scott’s analysis. “You and I go to church together sometimes. Religion is important to us and to most other people. I’m not surprised they were so accepting of his message.”

Scott
was surprised by her response. “I agree with you and religion is important to me too. But did you listen to the program?”

Michelle
was not sure where he was going with his question. “Not really, I had several things I was working on and didn’t hear much of it.”

Scott
held his hands up at shoulder height being very animated as he spoke. “I listened to every word. William never said the words God, Jesus, Bible, Heaven, hell or any other words that you would expect in church. His prayer was always a silent prayer. This wasn’t a church service, it was a motivational speech.”

Michelle
started laughing. “I didn’t hear the words he spoke, but I know the music was not religious. That fact did catch my attention. When he was talking about how the communities of the state are all neighbors, I was expecting everyone to start singing ‘It’s a Small World’. I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

Scott
started laughing. “William and Betsy are amazing.”

After finishing their
dinner, they sat quietly at the table until Scott’s voice broke the silence with something Michelle was not expecting to hear. “When you and I were at the beach, you looked pretty good to me in your bathing suit and your tight little tee shirts. I was watching you tonight in your skirt, blazer, and blouse along with that ribbon in your hair and you looked absolutely beautiful. You are going to turn some heads when you get to Washington.”

She stared at him for a moment before her smile appeared. “I don’t think you have ever told me I was beautiful before and it’s a very nice thing for you to say. I don’t agree with you, but thank you for saying so. By the way, I don’t want to turn any heads when I get to
Washington or anywhere else.”

She took a drink of her Coke before she continued her thought. “I’ve never worn a ribbon in my hair until tonight. It may sound silly, but it made me feel so much like a girl. It was fun.”

Scott got up from the table and moved to the sink where he began to wash the few dishes. As he washed the dishes, she dried and put them away. Scott continued their conversation. “Like it or not, you are going to catch a few guy's attention.”

When they finished cleaning up,
Michelle put her arms around his neck. “I overheard the conversation between you and Hank tonight when he said you don’t have to leave the motor home to check on everything. I’ve already checked and you can see the security lights from our bed. I suggest you and I turn out the lights and then go to bed and see if we can get each others attention.”

Scott
placed his arms around her waist. “If my memory is correct, I haven’t made love to you since early Sunday morning”

Michelle
and Scott shared a long and passionate kiss before she spoke. “That’s right because Beth walked in on us just as you were getting my motor running on Saturday night.”

Scott
started smiling at Michelle. “Do you think I can get your motor running as well as it was when we were in the hot tub?

Michelle
turned and started down the short hallway to the bedroom before she looked over her shoulder. “Why don’t you put your key into my ignition and let’s find out.”

The
Thursday morning wake up alarm came much sooner than Michelle or Scott would have liked. Still, Scott was actually looking forward to the briefing and preparations for the Thursday night sting operation. When everyone gathered in the tent, William spent at least fifteen minutes going over Representative Snyder’s record and his history with his female chief of staff.

William
stood on stage as Hank worked the video screen. “The first picture you see is Mr. Snyder. The young woman in the bathing suit is Rachel who is his chief of staff. The next slide Hank will bring up is a young man by the name of James Whitney. We can all thank Mr. Whitney for being unable to keep his mouth shut about Snyder’s trip to Saint Lucia with Rachel.”

Joe
raised his hand to stop William’s comments. “What is his connection to Snyder?”

William
replied, “Good point Joe. James’ dad is a big political contributor and he managed to get his son a job as Snyder’s political director. The kid is learning but he has a long way to go. Tonight, he is going to get a first class lesson in how to attempt to do damage control when damage control is not possible. Any other questions?”

Hank was the next to speak. “Do we know yet if
Snyder’s wife is going to be here or if Rachel and James are coming?”

William
looked to Betsy to answer Hank’s question. “As of this morning, we know that James will be here and Snyder takes Rachel everywhere he goes for rather obvious reasons. We don’t know if his wife will be here because she likes to stay busy in Washington in order to avoid these type events.”

After spending
an hour together going over the operational plan, they took time off for lunch with the understanding everyone would be back at two o’clock. 

By six-thirty, everyone knew their role and the group had prepared for every contingency. Hank,
Anna, Nancy, Betsy, and Joe started the music at six fifty as the people begin streaming into the tent. The audience looked somewhat different from the previous night, as each of the three politicians had invited some of the more high profile members of the community.

Representative
Snyder had also invited several members of the press and the local TV station to be on hand, as he hoped to take political advantage of this event. Scott had been given the role of posing as a member of the press. James Whitney and Rachel came into the tent along with Snyder telling members of the press he would meet with them after the event.

With
the local politicians seated in the front row, William walked on stage as the group finished their last song. “Let us all unite in a moment of silent thanksgiving.”

After a minute or so, Hank brightened the lights on the stage, while
dimming the lights over the audience. Betsy then made her keyboard sound like a full church pipe organ as she played two or three lines of music. William was walking back and forth on the stage calling out to the audience. “Say Halleluiah.”

The audience responded with a level of enthusiasm
Scott had not expected. William was whipping the spectators into a frenzy as he had them clapping their hands, stomping their feet and screaming halleluiah at the top of their voices. Each time the audience would call out “halleluiah”, Betsy would play eight or ten notes on the “organ”. 

William
then held up both of his hands bringing the room to near dead silence. At the same time, Betsy began to play softly on the organ. “Everyone please join together as we sing “Bringing in the Sheep”

William
sat down as everyone began to sing. Scott was on the verge of laughter as he thought about the irony of singing “bringing in the sheep” as Brother Willy’s Traveling Salvation Show was bringing in the people sheep.

It wasn’t long after the first verse that
Scott’s ethical considerations began to tug at him. He started to question the morality of using people’s beliefs for a cheap political trick. He was growing less comfortable with his personal role, and the actions of this group. He knew he would have to sit beside the ocean for a long time to think about what he was a part of before he would be at peace with his personal actions.

When the song was over
William took the microphone, and walked to center stage. “All of you have been given a beautiful voice and I have been given the talent of our great organist Mrs. Bessie Lou.”

Betsy
had been seated at the keyboard and Scott had not been able to see her face until she stood up to join William. Once he saw Betsy, he forgot all about his moral dilemma as he was fighting to keep from laughing. She was wearing a platinum blonde wig, blue eye shadow, hot pink lipstick and had red cheeks that would make Santa Claus envious. She also wore a dress with a floral pattern that made her look about three sizes larger than she actually was. Around her neck was a necklace made from different colored beads.

When
William began to lay the groundwork for the introduction of the politicians, Scott couldn’t help but notice how William could stretch a single syllable word like “is” into a long word with between two and three syllables. Almost every word he spoke was stretched out for emphasis.