Tools of the Devil Read online

  That was all it said on the subject. She showed the line to Sam who yanked the brochure from Lisa’s hands. She balled it up and tossed it on the floor at her feet. Sam mouthed the word, “Ready to go?”

  Lisa shook her head. She didn’t want to stand up in the middle of the sermon and walk out. That would draw too much attention. “Let’s wait until it’s over,” she whispered. Sam nodded.

  At the end of the service, parishioners were invited to the front to be anointed with oil.

  “We’ll just skip that, you guys,” Lisa said sarcastically. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Marlee passed the coats over one by one, and then they made their way out of the pew. Lisa, feeling positively deflated, let Sam lead their group into the lobby.

  They were about to head out the door when a familiar voice called out, “Samantha Rose. Wait.” It was Freddie.

  Lisa’s chest tightened up. She did not want a repeat of the dance, especially when they were clearly on enemy territory. If any of them had known this was Freddie’s church, they would not have gone. Not in a million years.

  “What do you want, Freddie?” Sam asked coldly.

  “Hi. Sorry to bother you guys.” He ran his fingers through his strawberry blonde hair. The freckles on his face got lost in his blush.

  Lisa exchanged a glance with Sam. What was Freddie up to?

  “You have two more seconds, Freddie,” Sam said.

  “Okay, okay. I just, I wanted to say thank you.” He looked at Lisa for the first time. “Thank you for, um, helping me the other night. At the dance.” By then his girlfriend Rebekah caught up to him and latched onto his arm.

  “Yes, thank you so much.” Rebekah’s smile seemed genuine.

  “I didn’t really do anything, but you’re welcome,” Lisa said. “How are you feeling?”

  “Good. I get those, uh, spells occasionally.” He leaned closer and said, “I’m just glad my parents haven’t tried to cleanse me of a demon or something.”

  Lisa laughed politely, but Freddie seemed almost serious. She wasn’t sure if Pentecostal churches did that sort of thing or not, and she didn’t want to find out. No, this was definitely not the right church for her.

  “We gotta go, Freddie.” Sam steered Lisa and her friends toward the door.

  “Okay, thanks again.”

  They were already out the door when Lisa heard Freddie say, “Crap, I forgot to ask what her name was.”

  Half-tempted to go back in, Lisa resisted and headed down the front steps with her friends. Dejected, she walked in silence. She wanted to be upbeat around her friends, but couldn’t find the energy. There didn’t seem to be a church for her anywhere. Unless there was some uber-secret gay church or something, there was no place for her.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “But those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31

  AFTER THE CHURCH of God of Love service, Lisa sat with her friends quietly in Marlee’s basement munching on cheese and crackers and drinking Cokes. Lisa had about an hour before she had to be home for Sunday dinner. She was happy because Sam was going to stay for dinner, but she was also sad because it was looking worse and worse for her to find any kind of salvation.

  Lisa opened up. “I feel like giving up.”

  “Dios mio, amiga,” Susie said. “I’m so sorry I suggested that church to Sam.”

  “So this was your idea, eh?” Lisa said with a grin so Susie would know she was teasing.

  “Yep. Sorry. That service was crazy. Catholics are way more reserved.”

  “It was really cool to start with.” Marlee said. “The singing, the dancing and clapping. I was digging it, until...”

  “The sermon,” Sam finished. “I only glanced at that stupid brochure the creepy guy gave me. If I’d read it all the way through, then I would have seen their stance on sinners like us.” She said the word sinner with sarcasm. “And we would have left right away.”

  “I know it sucked at the end,” Lisa said, “but for some reason, I think we were supposed to stay. Somewhere in the Bible, Matthew I think, it says something like, ‘Search and you shall find.’ I’m searching. I’m just not finding.”

  Lisa rested her head on Sam’s shoulder. Sam pulled her close. “You’ll be all right, baby. You have a good heart. God knows that.”

  “Here, here,” Marlee said. “And you know what? I’m glad we went because I want one of those bass guitars. Oh. My. God. I have to learn to play one.”

  “Road trip!” Sam announced.

  “Where to, baby?” Lisa sat up. She was grateful once again that Marlee had found a way to turn a dark conversation to a better place.

  “North Country Music. It’s a great music store in East Valley. They have bass guitars and amps and whatever else you’ll need to learn. They might even give lessons there.”

  “Mi amor,” Susie said to Marlee, “you’d be really good at it.” To Lisa and Sam, she said, “She has really good rhythm.”

  “TMI, Sus, TMI,” Sam teased. She tried to hide against Lisa because they all knew what was coming next.

  Susie smacked Sam on the arm. “She has good rhythm on the dance floor, gringa. Dance floor.”

  Marlee stood up. “Yes, let’s dance. We need to lighten this mood before you guys have to go.” She ran over to the iPod still set up from Susie’s surprise birthday party. Marlee hit a button and a sexy smooth rhythm filled the room.

  “Let’s salsa,” Marlee said gyrating around the basement floor to the beat.

  Lisa let herself smile. “Yes, let’s.” She jumped up and reached for Sam’s hand. “Dance with me?”

  “Yes.” Sam took the offered hand. “Forever.”

  DANCING WITH HER friends after the church service had been incredibly freeing. So was talking things out with her parents. The kids left the table to go play after dinner, and usually Lisa would get up and start washing the dishes, but this time she didn’t. This time she and Sam lingered at the table.

  “Lisa bear,” her father said, “people interpret the Bible and Jesus’s teachings differently. They hone in on one part of the Bible and go with it. The Pentecostals, well, I don’t think their beliefs line up with yours.”

  “So why did you let me go, Papa?”

  Lisa’s mother answered. “You needed to see for yourself.”

  “We saw it all right,” Sam said. She took a sip of coffee Lisa’s mother had offered her. It was weird seeing Sam with coffee, just like it had been weird seeing Susie drinking beer on New Year’s Eve. Did she not know her friends at all?

  “The first part of the service was fun,” Lisa said. “People were clapping, singing, dancing, and jumping all around. Lots of people shouted at the preacher when he was talking. Geez, Reverend Owens would faint if we did those things in our church.”

  “Yes, I believe he would,” Lisa’s mother said with a chuckle. “You were outsiders today, trying to decide if you fit in.”

  “We didn’t,” Sam said.

  Lisa’s mother smiled. “This country was founded on religious freedom. I think a lot of people forget that.”

  “Different churches have different founding beliefs,” Lisa’s father added. “And if the beliefs of that church don’t jive with yours, then find another one.”

  “That’s how many of these churches came into being, you know,” Lisa’s mother took a sip of coffee. “Like Pentecostals. They began in the early 1900s. I Googled it.”

  “You did?” Lisa was surprised. Her mother never used the family computer.

  “Okay, Lynnie helped, but the website said that Pentecostalism was basically started by a faith healer.”

  “He must have been a charismatic guy, eh?” Lisa’s father said. “A lot of people jumped on his band wagon back in the day.”

  “And now there are many different offshoots of Pentecostalism, because even they all can’t agree.”


  “Lisa, your parents are wise,” Sam said.

  “Don’t I know it.”

  Lisa’s mother stood and said to Lisa, “Why don’t you and Sam go drive that new car of yours around, while Papa and I clean up after dinner.”

  “Really, Mom?” One thing that could bring Lisa out of a bad mood was alone time with Sam.

  “Go, go, go before I change my mind. Be back by six to start your homework.”

  Lisa stood and hugged her mother. For good measure, she went over and hugged her father.

  AT SCHOOL THERE was no sign of Missy Matthews in Lisa’s PE class. Rumor had it that Missy’s daddy called the school and demanded that his daughter’s entire schedule be changed around or he would go to the Superintendent. All that fuss, so she wouldn’t have to be anywhere near Lisa. Lisa knew Missy’s motives were done out of fear and ignorance, but, for whatever reason, Missy had felt threatened. The only way Lisa could figure out how to convince the world she was not a threat was to channel all of her energy into their youth alliance debate.

  Marlee picked her up Tuesday evening right on time. Julie and Marcus were already in the backseat, and they schemed strategies and read Bible verses as they headed to the Student Union building at the college. By the time she and Marcus stood behind their team podium facing the opposition, Lisa felt good. She and her team were prepared. They had a lot of good arguments. The only trouble was she had no idea what the other team was going to throw at them.

  Jordan stood in front of the two teams, the rest of the kids sat behind him out of sight of the cameras. There seemed to be more people here than ever before. Maybe the Respect video had gotten some attention and kids wanted to be part of the youth alliance. That was a good thing.

  “Last week,” Jordan said in his director’s voice, “both teams outlined their stance on the theme of homosexuality and the Bible. We’ve got those on tape and have already started editing, and I have to tell you, it looks amazing so far. The emotion is real and the arguments on both sides are compelling. So let’s keep that up.”

  He turned to the onlookers. “The only thing that was distracting was the crowd noise. You guys have to stay quiet while they’re debating because the cameras pick up everything. No cheering or jeering for either side, okay?” When only a few heads nodded, he said more loudly, “Okay?”

  This time heads nodded more vigorously.

  “Better. And thank you.” He turned back around to face the debaters. “Each group will get two minutes to make its statements. The opposition can then take up to ten minutes to consult with their team and come up with a counter-argument, and then you have two minutes for your rebuttal.” He pointed to Anne who sat at a desk with an official looking clock. “Anne will call time, so don’t push this. We want this debate to look real. We have to keep up the drama.”

  “Drama queen,” Ronnie coughed into his fist.

  “Takes one to know one,” Jordan quipped without missing a beat.

  “Touché,” Ronnie said and smiled.

  Jordan addressed the debaters again reminding them to use proper decorum and to not use real names. “Alivia and Ronnie have the first go ’round this time, since Lisa and Marcus opened last time.”

  The debaters nodded. It was right at this point that Lisa’s nerves went into overdrive. Her knees got wobbly and her stomach got tight. She felt like David taking on Goliath.

  “Breathe,” Marcus whispered.

  She took a deep breath and then said, “You, too.”

  “Just did.”

  Jordan backed up behind the cameras. Alivia stood tall at her podium. Ronnie stood stiffly beside her. He was arguing for the exact opposite of his beliefs. Lisa wasn’t so sure about Alivia.

  “Debaters ready?” They nodded again. “And, action!”

  Alivia spoke first. “Homosexuals choose sin over righteousness.”

  “Revelation 21:8,” Ronnie said. “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all the liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.” He put a particularly disdainful tenor on the words ‘fornicators.’ “Other versions of the Bible we looked at add the words ‘sexually immoral’ to the list. It’s omission from this version of the Bible makes it crystal clear why our opposition asked us to use this particular version.”

  Lisa ignored Ronnie’s last comment and wrote down the Bible verse they’d quoted. Marcus scribbled notes beside it. Their team in the audience was busy finding the verse and reading the paragraphs around it to see if there was anything they could use.

  “God’s vengeance is great to those that try to tear apart the fabric of society.” Alivia rambled on for a while sounding like a real preacher. It was kind of scary. “Turn away from your evil ways, sinners. You can be healed of your sins if you turn away from the devil’s temptations. Turn away, so you can be normal. You gotta turn or you’ll burn,” she added smugly.

  Marlee was gesturing wildly in the crowd at Lisa and Marcus. She must have had an idea. She frantically wrote something down on a piece of paper, and then whispered something in Susie’s ear. Susie then whipped out her phone and started tapping buttons.

  “In Jesus’ name,” Ronnie said really putting it on, “amen!”

  “Time,” Anne called. Thank God. That had been the longest two minutes in the history of two minutes.

  “Debaters, you have ten minutes to plan and then two minutes to rebut.”

  “You said, ‘butt,’” Ronnie joked.

  Lisa barely heard Jordan and Ronnie’s banter because she and Marcus were scrambling to put their thoughts together. Debating was way tougher than she thought, especially because she thought Alivia and Ronnie were going to open with the story of Sodom in Genesis. If not that, then at least they’d open with Leviticus. But they didn’t. In a surprise move, they’d gone with the New Testament.

  “Ronnie tricked us,” Lisa said. “He made us think they were going a different direction.” She vowed to not get fooled again. It was on.

  Marlee was still in her seat frantically writing. It looked like Susie was dictating something to her from her phone. They must be doing some fast research.

  “Okay, expert,” Marcus said, “what’s Revelation all about?”

  Lisa drew a blank. Oh, God. Everything depended on her at this moment. She tried to block out the noisy room, but it was becoming harder and harder as her nerves ratcheted up.

  “Bases loaded,” Sam called from the crowd. “Hit a long fly ball and you win! Easy. C’mon, Lisa, you’ve got this.”

  Lisa smiled. In her own way, Sam was trying to tell her to calm the hell down. She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the imaginary ticking of the clock.

  “Revelation is the very last book in the Bible. It was John’s Revelation. He was in prison or something when he wrote it.” She tapped the podium with her fingers. “What else? What else? Oh, he was giving Christians a pep talk. He was telling them to watch for the return of Jesus. And, and, and...oh, yeah, duh, he warned about the final judgment that nonbelievers and sinners would endure. Ronnie read that long list of people who wouldn’t make it to the kingdom of heaven.”

  “Ronnie added in the words ‘sexually immoral.’ He’s obviously implying that gay people are sexually immoral.”

  “Yes,” Lisa said. “But what exactly is sexual immorality? Rape, incest, and adultery for sure. Bestiality certainly. But sexual relations between consenting adults? What’s the problem if no one gets hurt? Oh, God, what if they bring up S& M or something?”

  “Listen, I don’t know from experience, but I’m pretty sure whips and chains cross over all lines—straight, gay, bi, whatever. So that’s not a valid argument from their side. It’s gays having sex. That’s their issue.” Marcus’s blush swept from underneath his shirt collar all the way up to the roots of his ultra-blond hair.

  Lisa knew she was blushing, too, but she didn’t have time to worry about it. She had an idea. “Sam, notebook
.” She waved for Sam to bring it to her quickly.

  Sam scurried over with the spiral Lisa had been using to take research notes for the debate. She thumbed through page after page, well aware that the clock was ticking down. She took a deep breath as she skimmed each page until she found it. “Here it is. Sex is basic biology, right? Animals have sex all the time, and there’s no moral stigma attached to it. It’s just biology. It’s nature.”

  “But do animals have gay sex?” Marcus sounded doubtful.

  “Yes,” Lisa and Sam said together. “Marlee researched it this summer when Susie’s mother called Susie unnatural. Animals have un-procreative same-sex sex all the time. It’s perfectly natural. Dolphins, monkeys, giraffes, even worms.”

  “Worms?”

  “Worms.”

  “Okay, I like it. We can go with that.” Marcus made some fresh notes on blank index cards.

  Just then Marlee came running up to the front followed by Susie and Julie. “Here.” She handed Lisa a piece of paper with mathematical graphs and computations on it. “Alivia used the word ‘normal.’ Susie looked it up on her phone and normal is defined as ‘conforming to a standard,’ or ‘usual,’ ‘typical,’ ‘average.’” Lisa blinked at Marlee. “C’mon, don’t you see?” The excitement in Marlee’s voice was growing. “These are all words used in statistics. Here’s the normal curve.” She pointed to the graph on the top of the paper. “Most people call it a bell curve.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard of that,” Lisa said. “Go on.”

  “Let’s say you get the heights of a whole bunch of people. The average height for women is five feet four. That would be right here in the middle of the curve representing the high peak. Some people are a little taller than that and others are shorter. This is where the curve dips a little lower on each side. Lisa would probably be way out on the far end of the curve because she’s so tall.”