Chapter Forty-Eight - Obnoxious Sisters

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Penny

At church that Sunday, the ward music director approached me between meetings. "Penny, would you like to sing for us in sacrament in a few weeks?"

Jonas, standing right next to me, butted in. "Um, yeah she would. It's about time you asked her."

I shoved him, but she laughed. "Thank you for your input, Jonas."

"You're welcome."

She focused back on me and I nodded. "I would love to. What would you like me to sing?"

"The theme for the meeting will be 'Turning to Christ'. So if you could choose something to go along with that, it would be great."

"I'm sure I could figure something out."

During Relief Society, I flicked through the hymn book wondering what I could sing. About halfway through the meeting, I huffed, frustrated.

Zoe leaned closer to me to speak softly. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out a song to sing in sacrament." I told her the theme.

She stared at me for a moment, then took the book from my hands, checked the index, then opened it to page 129.

"It's one of my favourites," she whispered.

I slowly read the title and the lyrics; Where Can I Turn For Peace? It did seem fitting, and the range suited me. I thought about how I could put it together to bring the Spirit into the meeting.

After the prayer, I turned to Zoe again. "Would you accompany me?"

Her face lit up. "Sure."

"Really? Because I have this idea…" I quickly explained it to her.

She grabbed my hand and we rushed through the chapel to find Ray. We found him with Giles leaving their priesthood meeting, and Zoe called out to them. They turned to us as we wove our way through the crowded hallway to them.

"Ray," I said. "I need your help."

"What with?"

I explained that I wanted him to arrange an accompaniment for Zoe to play the way I wanted to sing the hymn. He smiled and agreed, then said I would need to go to his house to record how I wanted it arranged so he could write it down and work it out from there.

"I could take you around this afternoon if you would like," Giles said as he tucked his glasses into his shirt pocket.

Ray nodded. "That works for me."

An hour later, Ray's mum greeted Giles and me at their home. She led us to their small office. There, Ray had set up a microphone to record me, then a program on the computer would write it out. From there, he could compose the accompaniment around my line.

We worked on it together for a couple of hours on and off, being far too easily distracted and would begin playing around. Giles kept us on task, and would gently steer us back in the right direction.

Eventually, I needed back to the Taylor's for a family dinner. As Giles and I drove home, he said, "I love hearing you sing. You have a beautiful voice."

Heat crawled into my cheeks. "Thanks, Giles. But you don't need to stroke my ego about it. I already know."

He laughed. "Penny, you've been living with Jonas for too long."

We arrived home and Giles walked me inside. All of Jonas' siblings were there again and greeted me happily.

Naomi hugged me, then turned to Giles. "Hey there, dork face. What's new?"

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