As soon as we reached the door, it flew open, and Dad stumbled backwards as someone ran into him.
“I’m sorry!” I heard a girl apologize. I leaned slightly to the side to see her. My breath caught in my throat, as I saw three teenage girls standing there - every one of them looking very..... un-hick-like, shall we say.
“Pastor Walker!” the girl who had run into him exclaimed in surprise. “Welcome!” She looked a little sheepish. “I’m sorry that probably wasn’t the most pleasant greeting you’ve ever received, but...”
Dad laughed. “Hello, Indi,” he said. “How are you this morning?”
Indi? I thought. That’s different.
“Good, good, good!” she replied in a very chipper voice. “We have to sing special music this morning, cuz our scheduled singer called in sick. That’s why we were running out of here like mad-women.”
“Or,” Dad suggested teasingly, “maybe it’s because you are mad-women.”
He nodded toward the other two. “Good morning, Jenn, Jo.”
Now that’s more normal, I smiled approvingly. Although, at least I’ll always remember Indi’s name. Just think Indiana Jones.
“Sooo,” she squealed excitedly, peering over his shoulder, “we finally get to meet your... family?”
He turned to the side. “Yes. You’ve met my wife, Diana.”
“Hello, ladies,” she said softly, smiling with obvious affection at them.
“Hi!” they enthused.
He motioned to us. “And these are my kids - Isaac, who is eighteen; Taylor is sixteen; Zachary is thirteen; Jessica is ten; Avery is seven; Mackenzie is five; and the baby, Zoè, is one.”
I looked down, feeling my cheeks grow warm. I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t even meet their eyes. Even with my whole family standing there, I felt so alone and afraid. I wished that we were back in Tulsa, where there was something familiar. I never thought a little hicktown like this could be so intimidating. I jerked my head up when the youngest girl, Jo, started laughing.
“Uh... what’s your problem?” Jenn wanted to know.
“You guys!” she shrieked. “They’re all blonde! I never would’ve thought....”
“Oh my gosh, you’re right!” Indi acknowledged. “They all got their mama’s hair!”
I blushed self-consciously. I couldn’t quite understand what was so funny about us being blonde, and I also didn’t much like being so closely scrutinized by three beautiful women.
Jenn joined in the laughter, and asked Dad, “Dude, how did that happen?!”
He shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. You’d think, out of seven kids, at least one would inherit my hair.”
The girls continued down the sidewalk, straight toward me, Ike, and Zac.
“Well, it was nice meeting you guys,” Indi said, stopping in front of us.
“You too... Indi?” Isaac replied.
“Yeah,” she confirmed, shaking his hand. She shook Zac’s hand, laughing gently at his enthusiastic “nice to meet you, Indi”. When she stepped up to me, I forced myself to look up and smile at least a little bit. She didn’t say a word, simply smiled and shook my hand.
After she stepped away again, Jenn shook my hand and said, “Nice to meet you, Taylor.”
Then Jo pounced on me. “Hi, Taylor! It’s nice to have the privilege of your presence this morning.” I blushed again, but couldn’t help smiling.
As they turned away and we continued into the church, Zac addressed Mom and Dad. “Hey, why didn’t you guys tell us there were hot chicks in hicktowns?!”
“Zac, I’m sure there were more hot chicks in Tulsa,” I pointed out. “There was room for a lot more.”
“Yeah,” he countered, “but I don’t think there were any hotter chicks than that.”
I sighed and glanced over my shoulder to where they were all bounding around the corner and out of my view. “I’m afraid I’m inclined to agree with you.”
Dad amazingly enough remembered where the Senior High classroom was, so he showed Ike and me there before finding help for the younger ones. We were bombarded by greetings and questions, all of which Ike answered, as soon as we sat down. A few minutes later, just as they were about to get the class started, Jenn and Indi ran in.
“Hey guys!” Jenn said.
“Sorry we’re late,” Indi apologized.
“That’s okay, we were just about to get started,” the teacher, Iva, responded. “Do you have any prayer requests?”
“Me,” Indi answered immediately.
“And Rob,” Jenn continued.
“Okay, what’s going on with Indi and Rob now?” a guy, I think his name was Josh, wondered aloud.
“Rob is a mean, inconsiderate, self-absorbed, gay, queer, faggot, homo jerk who doesn’t know how to treat women,” Jenn declared vehemently.
Ike and I exchanged a startled look.
Almost as if sensing our reaction, Jenn glanced over at us. “Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything, but it’s true.”
“Um... why?” Ike dared to inquire.
“Because...” Jenn began slowly. “He cheated on her, and asked me out while he was going out with her. So she dumped him, and he hit her for it.”
Indi stared at her friend in horror. “Je-enn,” she whimpered.
“I’m sorry, Indi, but I feel very strongly about this,” she insisted.
“You forgot part of it,” Indi mumbled.
“Which part?”
“The part where he called me fat, ugly, and.... um.... a whore, I think it was.”
The whole class, including Ike and I, stared at her, open-mouthed.
“Oh,” Jenn’s voice quavered. “That part.”
Indi promptly began to cry, burying her face in her hands.
I just continued to stare at her as everyone crowded around to comfort her. How could anyone say that to her? Hit her?? A guy should never, ever hit a girl. She seems so sweet. And she’s so beautiful. For the first time in over two months I stopped thinking about my situation, and all I felt was pain for that lovely girl. No one deserved to be treated so badly.
Ike and I both stood at the same time, and walked over to the other side of the table, where she sat, turned sideways in her chair, hugging Jenn. It seemed like everyone stood back a little and just let us take over when we came on the scene. Ike place a hand on her shoulder and his eyes fell closed, and I could tell he was praying for her. I knelt down in front of her, tucked her hair behind her ear, and wiped her tears away. Then I took one small hand between both of mine, and leaned close to her.
“Don’t cry, Indi angel,” I whispered. “God will take care of it. And you.”
Her wide, innocent green eyes looked into mine. “I know,” she replied. “But it still hurts.”
“I know. I know,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Give it time. There will be someone, eventually, that will treat you right. Not everyone is like that.”
She nodded.
I started to stand up, then leaned back down to whisper, “And Indi, you are not fat, you are not ugly - you’re a beautiful girl. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”
She averted her eyes and blushed deeply. “Thank you,” she breathed.
Ike and I both returned to our seats, as the rest of the class stared at us in awe.