Her Own Wings

Liz, 14 Years Old

She absolutely hated going to church.  She hated getting dressed up, she hated waking up early, she hated being around all those old people, she hated sitting in the Sunday School class pretending that she agreed with the teacher, she hated listening to the preacher scream and yell for an hour or longer, she hated pretending that she was a happy Christian girl in a happy Christian home with a happy Christian family.  She hated being in the car with her family for the hour it took to drive to church and back.  She hated Sundays because she was forced to pretend she had a normal loving family.  She knew she didn't have a normal, loving family.  She didn't know what it looked like, but knew it wasn't her family.

The church knew her Sir Father drank uncontrollably and the church didn't care enough to do anything to help her.  The only thing the church did care about was divorce was wrong, a sin, and wanted to make sure Harmony and Jim did not get a divorce. 

Anyone looking at her could see she was miserable, but no one looked at her.  She was quiet, and she had mastered the art of fading into the background, of not being noticed.  What she didn't realize yet was that she had been noticed, she hadn't faded into the background for one member of the church.  This one member was prowling for the girl who had faded into the background, and was gleeful when she walked into his life.
He took his time.  He befriended Mom and Sir Father, and became someone the family trusted.  He encouraged Mom, and Liz, to join the choir, the choir he led every week.  He praised them for their beautiful addition to the choir, and did everything he could to make himself appear as a kind, generous man; someone Mom and Sir Father could trust.  Someone she could trust.

The church was a small church, and they usually had about sixty people for Sunday worship service on any given Sunday.  The pastor was one her parents had followed from another church to his new church.  He had been the family's pastor for as far back as she could remember.  It had a few young people, but most families with young kids left the church because there wasn't a strong youth group in the church.  The choir director was partially handicapped.  He could walk, but one of his legs was messed up, so he had to use a cane to walk and he walked a bit crooked.  Everyone loved this man and his family.  He was married and had two young daughters, six and eight.  He was very friendly and outgoing, and had the perfect Christian family.  His name was Scott Smith.

Mrs. Smith was an elementary school teacher, and had the summers off.  She loved her job, and she loved having the time off when her daughters were home from school.  Scott Smith worked a job in an office and didn't get as much time off from work.   Mrs. Smith loved to take a month and take her daughters back to where she grew up in West Virginia to visit her parents.  At the end of the month, Scott usually joined his family in West Virginia and then they went to the beach on a family vacation.  They had followed this pattern for the last four years, and it worked perfectly for his family.
Because of his handicap, Scott Smith wasn't able to do some of the more physical work around his house.  Usually Mrs. Smith did the more physical work, but when she was gone, they hired a neighborhood teenager to do some of the work, specifically to clean their pool.

Scott knew that she was at an age where she wanted to begin earning money babysitting, so he offered to have her come to his house and earn some money by helping him around the house.  She was thrilled to earn some more money, and her parents agreed to let her go.  Scott was the choir director at their church, and they knew they could trust him.  It was agreed that he would transport her both ways, and she would be working at his house for about three or four hours the following Saturday and the three following.
The first Saturday Scott picked her up at ten and took her back to his house.  Scott had a list of chores he needed help with.

"I thought today I'd have you wash the car for me, and then help me in the kitchen while the car dries."

"Sure, whatever you need!"