Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

I. Secure The Rag

May, 1982

The word was coming to the end of it's journey as Big Mama waves her fan in a redundant motion. I sit bored out of my dang mind. Too old to be in the children's church but too young to sit with the big kids in the youth program, I'm stuck sitting with Big Mama in the pews. The only other kids up here are the bad ones who'd got in trouble one too many times before getting snatched up. My eyes wander around the church until I see the same boys up on the stage as always. The one behind the drums, his name's Darren and one behind the organ, he's the Reverend's son... but I don't know his name. It's kind of hard to learn their names when you're never around the other kids.

Service officially comes to an end when people get to filing out by the dozens and Big Mama glances down at me. She says, "I want you to go up there and ask Sister Edna what she wants you to do. I told Reverend Don that we'd be helping her clean up today."

On the outside I give Big Mama a smile with a simple, "Yes, ma'am." On the inside, I'm cursing the absolute day that I was born. I'm almost cursing the day that my mommy had left for her business trip. I'm stuck here all summer with Big Mama. Even though I'm only down the street from my home, I'm under Big Mama's care. Unlike Mommy, she doesn't miss a single Sunday. She's in here religiously. I always wondered why she doesn't go play bingo or something. Nobody needs to pray this much.

Sister Edna orders me to get the windex and a towel to get to wiping down the pews. When I ask her where I can find it, she says around the corner in Reverend Don's office. Skipping off into that direction, I catch my big brother and one of the Reverend's sons talking. I'm not even sure which one of them it is. I simply look right past him and at my brother.

"Can you pass me the cleaner bottle and towel?" I politely ask.

My brother, Javon, stares at me like I have two heads with a blank stare in his eyes. The reverend's son eyes turn to face my brother. "Aye," he taps his shoulder roughly. I guess he's simply heavy-handed. "That girl's talking to you."

"I know it's my sister," Javon laughs me off. I stand before him, slightly embarrassed, with an annoyed expression. I hate the way he pushes me to the side because he thinks it's cool. "Anyway, like I was saying..."

The Reverend's son ignores Javon, almost identical to the way Javon ignores me. He reaches down for the bottle and towel. "Here you go." I mumble a soft thank you and quickly push my numb legs off into a separate direction. I do believe that I'd just met one of the most cutest boys I've ever seen in my life, all ten years of my life. I make it to my first pew where I find myself having a hard time breathing. He emptied my lungs. A hand taps my shoulder, I turn back to face the human behind and it's him again. "You dropped the rag..." He hands me the towel before turning back to my brother.

I crawl up to sit on the pew in the correct fashion. I take a deep breath. "Woah," I whisper to myself. My internal butterflies get to fluttering rapidly.

Sister Edna was periodically checking up on me so I continued to clean up the pews as requested. Although, the entire time I could not help but watch my brother's friend. They laughed and joked, sitting on the stairs of the stage. I sit and wish that I knew Reverend Don's son's name. I only know he's the reverend's son because he looks exactly like him, only a little bit lighter. He's got a deep tan from the North Carolina sun, I bet he's a lot lighter during the winter. I wonder what grade he's in, it's kind of obvious he is older. Did he have a valentine this past February? I wonder, I really do wonder.

"Anybody with me, let's roll!"

I turn around to see Big Mama heading for the exit, two hours after the final service has ended. With a quickness, I scurry to the front and place the cleaning supplies where I'd saw Reverend's son pick them up from. I run off and catch up with Big Mama. No other words leave my mouth until we're all sitting at the dinner table. A soft shade of pink coats my flushed skin, a dazed look in my eyes. Is this what it feels like to be in love? I like it.