“We’re all set,” Todd said. He let go of Christy’s hand, and he and Doug headed toward the front of the chapel. Sierra sat next to Christy, Tracy, and Katie. It was back to just the girls, and it was kind of nice.
Four guys were up front with guitars, and Todd seemed to be in charge. Since Todd and Doug were so wired from dinner, they started off the music with three rowdy, hand-clapping songs. They got the whole room full of students singing and clapping. It seemed that all the returning groups were pretty keyed up.
Sierra loved it. Her little church in Pineville was pretty conservative. They would never have been so vigorous in their worship.
After the fourth song, the assistant director came to the microphone and asked everyone to sit down. “Before we move into the worship and praise portion of chapel, I wanted to make a few announcements. First, I’d like to introduce Todd Spencer here on the guitar.”
Todd smiled and gave the casual chin-up gesture to the group of forty or so gathered in the chapel.
“Todd is our mission director in Spain. He’s on a two-year commitment, working with the teen outreach at Castelldefels. Todd is also completing his college degree by correspondence. When his term is up with the mission a year from this June, he’ll have a B.A. in intercultural studies. It you have any interest in finishing up your degree while in full-time ministry, see me, and I’ll get you all the necessary information.” He looked back at Doug and the other guys playing the guitar. “Was there anything else? Doug? Were you the one who said you had an announcement?”
Doug shook his head.
Katie, who was sitting next to Sierra, suddenly blurted out, “Doug wanted to announce that his middle name is Quinten!” At first people around the room didn’t laugh. They all looked at Doug, who took it good-naturedly. He gave Katie a thumbs-up gesture and then threw back his head and laughed. The rest of the room joined as the assistant director shook his head. “It’s always the Americans,” he said in the microphone.
Katie leaned over to Sierra and said, “I’ve been waiting for that one for a long time. Ever since Doug gave me a black eye right before the first day of my senior year in high school.”
The crowd settled down as Todd began to strum a set of familiar chords on his guitar that led into a moderately lively song. Soon the group was singing as one, song after song. They went from fast tempo to slower. Then a hush settled over the room as they prayerfully sang the final chorus. Sierra closed her eyes and sang from her heart, listening to her voice blend perfectly with Christy’s and Tracy’s.
A time of prayer followed in which people spontaneously thanked God for what had happened with their teams in the cities they had just returned from. Many of them prayed by name for people they had met. Sierra prayed for an elderly woman in Belfast who said she believed she would get to heaven simply because she was a good person. She had refused to believe she needed to trust Christ for her salvation. Something in the woman’s appearance or mannerism had reminded Sierra of Granna Mae, only Granna Mae was one of the strongest Christians Sierra had ever met.
The group prayed and shared for more than an hour. Reports of all that God had done among them during the past week were amazing. After the meeting, Katie and Sierra went to the main hall where their luggage was still sitting in the entryway. They hauled it up to their room and settled in for the night.
“Doesn’t it seem like a couple of years have passed since we were last in this room?” Katie asked.
“I know,” Sierra agreed. “And it’s only been a week.”
“It’s really going to seem weird when we go home. We’ve changed so much in just a few short weeks. Probably everything at home will be exactly the same,” Katie said.
“For you, maybe,” Sierra said with a laugh, crawling into her bed and rubbing her legs up and down against the sheets, trying to warm them. “Brrr! I forgot how cold this room is.”
“What do you mean ‘for me’? Don’t you think everything will be the same in your family?” Katie pulled her bed closer to Sierra’s before climbing in and pulling the thick covers up to her chin.
“Well, you see, Katie, when I left a few weeks ago, my family moved. I’ve heard of parents trying to drop hints to their children about leaving the nest, but my parents are a little extreme.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Not exactly. They really did move. That was one of the reasons they agreed to my coming on this trip in the middle of the school year. I’ll start my new school at the beginning of the semester.”
Katie fluffed up her pillow and said, “What did you do, ace all your finals early?”
“Sort of. The high school I went to in Pineville was really small. I would have been in a graduating class of fifty-seven. Only two hundred students are in the whole high school. All my teachers were real nice and let me take exams early.”
Just then the door opened, and Christy and Tracy entered, giggling about something. Katie looked over at Sierra and raised her eyebrows. “The Juliets have returned from their Romeos.”
“Did you girls have a good time?” Sierra said in her best motherly voice.
“I’m sorry,” Tracy said. “Are we being totally obnoxious?”
“Only partially obnoxious,” Sierra teased. “I guess that’s what Katie and I have to look forward to when we fall in love someday.”
“Yeah, someday,” Katie quipped. “Like when I’m eighty-five and some old guy at the rest home starts to chase me around in his wheelchair.”
“Oh, do you think it will happen that soon?” Sierra teased. “That’s encouraging. I might still have some of my original teeth!”
“You guys shouldn’t be so sarcastic,” Christy warned, sitting on the edge of her bed and slipping off her shoes. “Love can hit you when you least expect it.”
“Oh really?” Katie sat up in bed and nimbly pulled out her pillow. “Like this?” She whacked Christy on the side of the head. Christy let out a startled shriek and immediately retaliated by tossing her pillow at Katie. But she missed and hit Sierra in the face. Sierra sprang into action. Then Tracy grabbed her pillow, and it was a free-for-all.
The four friends squealed like little kids and whacked each other silly until Sierra’s pillow burst open and tiny white feathers fluttered everywhere. They were laughing so hard they were crying and fanning the floating feathers away from their faces.
A brisk knock on the door turned into several solid thumps. The girls squelched their laughter.
“Yes?” Sierra called out in a controlled voice.
“Ladies?” The deep male voice called through the closed door. “What on earth is going on in there? We can hear you in the south wing of the castle!”
“Um, we’re just laughing, sir, but we’re going to bed now,” Sierra answered, still maintaining her straight face.
“Good night then, ladies. Lights out.”
“Yes, good night, sir.” Sierra reached over and switched off the light. They listened as the footsteps echoed down the hallway and then turned the light back on.
“Very impressive,” Katie said, brushing her red hair out of her eyes. “How did you do that?”
“I grew up in a big family, remember? I’ve had a lot of practice. What you really have to do is learn how to have silent pillow fights.”
Christy plopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. “Truce, you guys. I can’t take another round, silent or otherwise. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard or so much in my whole life as I have today. It’s good to be back together!”
Tracy started to clean up the feathers.
“Let’s leave them until tomorrow,” Sierra said. “It’ll be easier to clean up in the morning. I think there’s another pillow in the closet I can use.”
“I’ll get it for you,” Tracy said, walking across the room. “I feel bad about the mess.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll still be a mess in the morning,” Sierra said. “That’s what I always tell my sister, but she’s so picky. Everyth
ing has to be in place before she can allow herself to go to bed.”
Tracy stepped out of the closet and handed a pillow to Sierra. “Does anybody else need anything while I’m up?”
There was no answer.
“Christy, can you change in the dark if I turn off the light?”
Silence.
“I think she’s asleep,” Katie said, settling back under her covers.
Sierra peeked up over her blanket and sure enough, Christy was asleep on her back with a smile on her lips. “Tracy, we better try to get her under the blankets. She’s going to freeze like that,” Sierra said.
Tracy, ever the helpful type, spoke softly to Christy, coaxing her to roll over enough for Sierra to pull up the blankets and wrap them around her. Christy cooperated but seemed as if she were doing so in her sleep.
Within minutes they were tucked in bed. One lone feather fluttered through the air and landed on Sierra’s cheek. She batted it away and slipped off into dreamland.
four
SIERRA DIDN’T WAKE UP until almost ten o’clock. The other girls were still asleep when she opened her eyes, and the floor was still covered with a carpet of feathers. Sierra tiptoed to the hall closet and returned with a broom. Quietly she cleaned up with feathers without waking the others.
She could hear voices in the room next door. Some of the other girls were starting to wake up. Anticipating the exhaustion, the mission directors had forgone breakfast and were offering a buffet brunch from ten to noon. Sierra decided to quickly shower while some hot water remained.
By the time she finished and returned to the room, the other three girls were awake and trying to get themselves going.
“I can’t believe how tired I am,” Christy said. “I can’t remember ever falling asleep with my clothes still on!”
“Do you mind waiting for us, Sierra?” Tracy asked. “We can all go to brunch together.”
“I don’t mind. Take your time.” Sierra towel-dried her wild, caramel-colored hair and pulled on her boots. She opened a zippered pouch on the inside of her suitcase and fished for a matching pair of earrings. Today she chose the ones with the moon and the stars suspended from thin silver chains. She searched for her silver hoop bracelets, eight of them all looped together, and pushed them up her left arm. Around her neck hung a string of tiny multicolored beads that looked like bits of confetti against her forest green knit shirt. She felt refreshed after her shower, hungry, and ready for that brunch.
She didn’t mind waiting for the others, though. It gave her a chance to read her Bible, which she pulled from her brown leather backpack. The medium-sized book was covered with a handmade, tooled-leather cover that her dad made for her years ago. The design was of a tree that had “Psalm 1:3” embossed at the bottom of its trunk.
That had been Sierra’s favorite verse as a kid, which she had memorized in second grade. This morning she turned to the book of Psalms and picked up where she had left off reading a few days ago, at Psalm 62.
Verse 8 really stood out to her: “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”
Sierra thought of how she had been holding in her discomfort about the move to Portland. She hadn’t poured her heart out to anyone, not even God.
The door opened right then, and Sierra’s roommates returned, all three wearing towels wrapped around their heads. They stood in the doorway with goofy looks on their faces. On Katie’s signal they all held up their right hands out in front of them, wiggled their hips, and sang in their most soulful voices, “Stop! In the name of love!”
Sierra started to laugh, and pretty soon the three soul sisters were giggling so hard their “beehive” towel-dos came tumbling down.
“Hurry up, you goofs,” Sierra said. “It’s almost eleven-thirty. They’re going to close down the buffet before we get there!”
About fifteen minutes later, they all descended on the dining room. Sierra filled her plate and ate every bite. Just as Mrs. Bates was clearing away all the food, Doug and Todd walked in.
“Those two are going to be sorry they slept in,” Christy said.
It looked as if Todd was sweet-talking Mrs. Bates into letting them scrape the bottom of the serving bowls for whatever was left.
Tracy giggled as they watched the guys coax the pan of ham slices out from underneath Mrs. Bates’ protective arm. Todd stuffed hard-boiled eggs into the front pouch of his navy blue hooded sweatshirt while Doug snatched a basket of rolls from the serving table and held it behind his back. “She doesn’t realize those two will eat anything,” Tracy said, “especially Doug. She could let them empty all the leftovers in her refrigerator, and they’d be just as happy.”
The guys, with their arms full of loot and expressions of brave conquerors across their shaven faces, joined the girls.
“You guys get the bamboozle award for the day,” Katie said. “I think you two could hoodwink even the Queen Mother if she were here today!”
Doug and Todd gave each other mischievous smiles.
“What?” Christy asked. “I know that look. What did you guys do?”
“Oh, nothing,” Doug said.
Todd poured himself a glass of juice and tried to repress his chuckling.
“Tell us!” Tracy demanded.
The grin on Todd’s face kept growing. He avoided eye contact with Christy and lifted the glass of apple juice to his lips.
Doug looked as if he were about to burst. He glanced at Todd and then at Tracy. Looking directly at Katie, he furrowed his eyebrows and said in an extra-deep voice, “Ladies, what on earth is going on in there? We can hear you in the south wing of the castle!”
Katie’s mouth dropped open.
“Good night then, ladies,” Doug continued. “Lights out!”
“It was you!?” Katie rose from her seat with both hands outstretched, ready to strangle Doug.
Todd started to laugh so hard that the apple juice squirted out of his nose. He grabbed a napkin, rose from the table and turned his back to the group until he could stop coughing.
“You guys are so immature!” Katie squawked, plopping back down in her seat and folding her arms across her chest. “It’s as if your little brains froze at about the level of twelve-year-olds. I can’t believe you guys!”
“Us!?” Todd said, regaining his voice sans any stray liquids. “And just what were you mature women doing last night? It sounded like an all-out, junior-high-style pillow fight to me!”
“It was, “Sierra said, laughing with the rest of them. “Too bad you guys weren’t in on it. We would have creamed you!”
“Oh, yeah?” Doug said. “Would you like us to take you up on that challenge tonight? Huh?”
“I dare you!” Sierra rose to her feet and stuck her chin out at Doug the way she had done many times with her older brothers.
“Tonight,” Doug said, pointing a finger at Katie and Sierra trying to look tough. “We’ll be there.”
“Yeah,” said Todd, echoing Doug’s macho voice, “tonight!”
Dr. Benson stepped into the dining room and announced that chapel would begin in fifteen minutes. He looked tired. Sierra remembered he had been at a funeral in Scotland. Perhaps he had just arrived.
In the chapel the guys played guitar again, and for the first half hour they sang, which Sierra loved. Then Dr. Benson gave a talk about adjusting to life when they returned home. He instructed each of the students to take his or her Bible and find a place to read, pray, and prepare for returning home.
Sierra chose a bench at the back of the chapel. Nearly everyone else had filed out, except three or four people who were scattered around the chapel having their own quiet time with the Lord. She read her chapter again from that morning and prayed.
“You say You want me to pour my heart out to You, God. Well, here goes. I’m scared. Yeah, me. Scared. Doesn’t happen too often, but I am. I didn’t want to move. I don’t want to go to a new school. Not that I don’t want to meet new people.
It’s just that I guess I like being sort of popular at Pineville High. Now I’m going to be a nobody. And that’s okay, if that’s who You want me to be. But I feel intimidated by it all, and You know it takes a lot to intimidate me. As long as I am pouring out my heart here, the other thing that’s driving me crazy is the way everyone is getting a boyfriend, and I’m not. These guys are really solid, quality guys. I’m afraid there won’t be any more like them left for me. I know I’m supposed to trust You …”
Sierra opened her eyes and peeked at verse 8 again: “Trust in Him at all times.”
“Okay,” she prayed, “so I’m supposed to trust in You at all times, even in boyfriend-less times, and I am trying. But I would like You to make note that I am sweet sixteen and never been kissed. I haven’t even had my hand held. Can You see how that would make someone like me feel a little insecure about her looks and personality and everything? Just so You understand, which I know You do.”
Feeling surrendered, Sierra left the chapel and took one last walk about the grounds. She kept talking silently with God as she walked.
Sierra talked with God like this often. She had given her heart to Jesus when she was five and had continued a close walk with Him ever since. It had been fairly easy in her strong Christian family and in the safe community of Pineville. She knew challenges lay ahead for her in Portland.
That evening after dinner, Sierra and her team gathered together one last time. Last night there had been unstoppable laughter. Tonight the tears began and didn’t seem to stop. Even after the girls were in bed with the lights off, they kept talking and crying and making promises to stay in close contact with each other. With the flood of emotions, everyone forgot about the challenge of the pillow fight.
The next morning, even though Sierra thought she had emptied herself of all her good-bye tears the night before, she cried when she joined the group on the 5 a.m. shuttle van to the train station. It was still dark outside and very cold. Everyone in her group was up and dressed to see her off.