Pennsylvania

Delores pulled into the parking lot of her church, which had been freshly tarred over and gleamed in the intense sunlight. She and Rebecca sat across from the new fellowship hall, where volunteers picked up meals to deliver to the elderly. There were just a few cars parked out front, and once inside the hall, Delores and Rebecca could hear the scraping of pots from the kitchen. The basketball goals on either side of the floor had been cranked up toward the ceiling, and a banner still hung from one of the rims that read: “Welcome Bible Campers: Feel the Sprit!” Rebecca picked up a strip of red crepe paper off the floor.

“Look, Mommy,” she said.

Delores smiled. She then pushed open the kitchen’s swinging door, unsure if she would know anyone behind it. Usually she dealt with the church secretary for volunteer activities, and the secretary was known for never being there on weekends—including Sundays. Under the hum of dim fluorescent lights were three men cleaning up the kitchen.

“Hello,” she said, too loudly for the space.

The men looked up but did not answer.

“I was looking for Mrs. Winters. She’s usually coordinating the meal deliveries. It’s not my day, but I have a little time I can volunteer—” She stopped when she noticed the men’s eyes go to Rebecca, each of them grimacing. She scanned the room for someone who was not in a white apron, and then she grabbed Rebecca by the hand—harder than she intended—and led her back across the wooden floor. Didn’t these men understand that accidents happened to little children? Or maybe they thought Delores was somehow responsible. Her shoes smacked across the wooden planks, filling the large hall with the sound of firecrackers. Rebecca was tired of getting in and out of the car and whined in frustration.

Outside they took a few steps toward the sanctuary, but already Delores could imagine the air-conditioned hush of the empty halls. Reverend Blake would surely be visiting members who were in the hospital this time of day, or possibly he was at home sanding that canoe of his to which he was always making references in his sermons. Some of the parishioners thought he tried too hard in his sermons, that he filled them with too many metaphors and made too many references to noted works of literature and paintings. “Why can’t he just stick with the Bible?” Delores’s mother-in-law had complained more than once. “Who’s he trying to impress?” But Delores liked the broad script he unfurled each Sunday, and she willed herself to pay attention to every word, as if he were a professor back at Penn State, and she was to be quizzed on the material.

Without offering an explanation, Delores stopped and helped Rebecca back into the car, and Rebecca let out a deep puff of protest for the pointless visit. She was still holding the little strip of crepe in her fingers.

“I’m sorry,” Delores said. “You’re being so good.”

As Delores turned the ignition, she saw one of the men from the kitchen approaching. He had taken off his small paper hat to reveal a scrub of jet-black hair that looked mismatched, somehow, over his deeply lined face.

The man appeared contrite with his hat off and his shoulders stooped; it occurred to her that the men had all realized their insensitivity and sent him out quickly to make amends. “I don’t know if she needs any more drivers today,” he said, “but I thought I’d just—” She noticed a white slip of paper in the man’s hand.

“This is her home phone number, if you want to reach her. She’s left the office for the day.” He held it out, then stepped back after Delores reached for it. “All the day’s meals have already been picked up.” He began to turn back to the fellowship building but took a quick glance toward the passenger side.

“Is your little girl going to be all right?” he asked, pointing a finger toward Rebecca as thick and scratched as the end of a broomstick. “Do you all need any help?”

“She’s going to be fine,” Delores said, as if she couldn’t imagine what he was talking about. “Thank you for the number.” The man nodded and watched as Delores backed out. She pulled to the edge of the parking lot, stopping to steal a look in her rearview mirror. The man was still watching them, and now the other two had come out to join him.