Chapter 6 #2
Willa Rose walked up in front of Endora. “I’ve got the notebook, and we can do a couple of rehearsals in the old store. I got word this morning that the antiques won’t be delivered until the roads clear up. I’ll get busy cleaning the place up and make sure that it’s warm.”
“Thank you to all y’all.” Endora sniffled and then squared her shoulders. “Not only will God provide, but my family will do the same. We’re in good hands.”
“Smoke coming out the roof,” a firefighter yelled. “That means we’ll need more water. I’ll start stretching a hose and pump down to the river. That red water will make an ugly mess, but maybe we can save part of the building with it.”
“I was a volunteer firefighter,” Brodie raised his voice. “I can stretch hose.”
“Then get to it, and Wilton, you carry the hose and help him with the pump,” Capshaw yelled above the noise of the flames.
“Yes, sir, Captain,” a tall, lanky guy hollered and draped a flat hose over his shoulder.
“Dayton, you get ready on the other end to start shooting water soon as that hose fills up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sleet and freezing rain fell from gray skies, and the people who had gathered around started leaving the scene.
“Come on, Endora, we’re going to the Paradise,” Mary Jane said. “You are freezing, and that’s not good for the babies.”
“I can’t leave Parker,” she groaned.
“Yes, you can,” he said. “You can’t do anything here, but I might be able to help them determine what caused this if I stay.”
“Willa Rose can go with y’all, and we could talk about the Christmas program,” Hank suggested. “I just wish there was more we could do right now.”
“Okay, then,” Endora agreed.
Parker kissed her on the forehead and mouthed a thank-you to Mary Jane.
When she, Endora, and Willa Rose were in her SUV and away from the church, Parker turned to Tripp and Knox.
“We have got to start planning a volunteer fire department here in Spanish Fort. It took almost half an hour for the truck to come from Nocona. If we would’ve had something closer, we might have saved more of the church. ”
“We’re in and so is Brodie,” Knox replied with a nod. “He can even head up whatever it takes to get the idea off the ground since he did some of that work in the southern part of the state.”
***
Willa Rose followed Mary Jane and Endora’s lead and hung her coat on a hook inside the front door of the Paradise.
She didn’t have a thing to do that Saturday morning since the weather had stalled out the delivery of her antiques.
She could have easily been cleaning the old store, but her father had volunteered her to babysit Endora, and she had no choice in the matter.
“Did you bring the book?” Endora asked.
“Nope, but I’ve got an idea of how you’ve done things in the past. It’s not a lot different than the setup my mother had for our program in Poetry.
The smallest kids first so they can leave the stage and sit with their parents.
Then the older children and all the way up to the senior citizens who usually deliver some fun songs. ”
Endora sank down on the sofa and Mary Jane scooted a hassock over for her to prop her feet on. “That’s the order. Do you have any ideas to spice it up?”
“Well…” Willa Rose paused and smiled.
“Sit down. I’ll get some hot chocolate while y’all talk shop,” Mary Jane said as she headed out of the living room.
“Well, what?” Endora asked.
“The weatherman said that this storm has stalled out over this area, from here all the way across north Texas past Sherman. If the carnival people are still here when we have the program, we could have the whole thing in the barn and use the real animals. Daisy and Heather said there’s even a live camel,” Willa Rose answered.
“We could do the program in degrees. Instead of having the children of all the ages and then the older folks, we could put up several curtains. Little kids, and then draw that curtain back. Older kids and do the same, until we get to the end with a live nativity scene and the folks in that part singing, ‘What Child Is This.’ Maybe Luna’s baby boy could be the one in the manger? ”
“That’s fantastic,” Endora said and then swiped away a tear trying to escape down her cheeks. “We wouldn’t have had room to do something like that in the church, but we will in the barn.”
“Then why are you crying?” Willa Rose asked.
Endora’s chin quivered. “Pregnancy brain. I’m so glad that you decided to move here.”
“Hello!” Bernie yelled as she came inside the house.
“It’s colder than a well digger’s belt buckle in Siberia out there.
Gloria Perez just texted me and said”—she stopped midsentence when she saw Willa Rose—“that the church is on fire. I told her that was a hoax, that nothing could be on fire in this kind of weather.”
“It was not a hoax. The foyer is blazing, and we don’t know how far into the sanctuary the fire has gone,” Endora said between sobs.
Bernie set Pepper on the floor and plopped down on the other end of the sofa. “Holy smoke, and I don’t mean that as a pun.”
“We’re already talking about having the Christmas program in the barn, and maybe church services when the carnival is gone,” Endora said.
“At least the barn is cleared out since we finished decorating late last evening. Good thing we did because this storm is supposed to set records across the state,” Bernie said. “What about a carnival?”
Mary Jane came out with a tray filled with mugs of hot chocolate and cookies.
Bernie pointed a finger at Mary Jane. “Why didn’t you call me and tell me that our church was on fire?”
“You don’t have any business driving on the slick roads,” Mary Jane shot back at her, “and you couldn’t have done a single thing.
The Nocona Fire Department is there, working to get it under control.
We won’t be able to have services in the church until it’s rebuilt, but these girls are figuring out how to have the…
” She eased down in a recliner. “I guess we should call it the ‘community Christmas program’ this year. Anyway, they’ve got some ideas, I’m sure. ”
Willa Rose handed Endora a tissue. “Yes, we do. Parker can’t have church in the barn, since the carnival people are on the way, but…” She went on to tell them how things could work for the program.
“I like it,” Bernie said. “But would someone please tell me what’s this about a carnival?”
“The bridges are closed into Oklahoma, so Joe Clay invited the carnival folks to stay on the Paradise grounds until the roads are opened up again. They should be arriving anytime,” Mary Jane said and then patted Endora on the shoulder.
“I told you that things would work out. No matter how long it takes, we’ll rebuild the church.
We might have lost the post office, and the old school, but the church has been the heart of this town for more than a century. ”
“Thank you, Mama, and you.” Endora focused on Willa Rose.
“You are so welcome.”
The sound of tires crunching on a sleet-and-snow-covered yard sounded through the closed doors. Then the front door flew open, and it seemed to Willa Rose like the population of the whole town flooded into the house.
Parker didn’t even remove his coat but rushed over to Endora and sat down beside her.
“Is it out?” she whispered.
“It is,” he assured her, “but it will be a while before we can have services again.”
“How bad?” Mary Jane asked.
“The ceiling in the sanctuary is partially destroyed,” he answered.
“The foyer and bathrooms will have to be rebuilt,” Joe Clay said. “But the room at the back of the building where y’all store the Christmas props is good. We really are lucky that the wind was blowing away from the houses on this side of town.”
Bernie raised a hand. “Do y’all think it’s time to put up a new building?”
“It’ll take some time and good weather, but we’ll salvage what’s there,” Knox promised.
Brodie made his way into the room and said, “The Chief found a couple of dead and burned animal carcasses in the attic. He wasn’t sure if they were rats or squirrels, but there was evidence that they had chewed through some of that ancient wiring.”
“We’ll redo all the electrical stuff while we’re remodeling,” Knox said. “And changing the subject there, but while I’ve got all you guys here, we need to set up a time to talk about a volunteer fire department here in town.”
“I agree,” Noah said.
“I’m in,” Hank told them. “I might not be able to do a lot, but I’ll do what I can.”
Willa Rose felt as if she was not only losing a battle, but the war. They had only been in Spanish Fort since Wednesday, and her father was already digging his heels into the community.