Chapter 9: Female bonding

Art and Louie had arrived in the small town of McNeil Arkansas on Friday, two day's prior to the reverend Earnest Bishop weekly Sunday sermon. They discovered the reverend held service inside a large tent set up a few miles outside of town at a place called Magnesia Springs. As it turned out, they also found it was impossible to find any lodging in McNeil at any price. Bishop had become such a big deal all bed's had been previously rented out well in advance by people hopeful of gaining access to one of Bishop's sermons.

On Sunday Art and Louie drove to Magnesia Springs about an hour before services were to begin. The place was more of a mad house than even McNeil had been, finding a parking space was near to impossible, masses of people were congregated outside the tent, pushing and shoving one other in order to gain a spot in line that would guarantee them a place inside. Only a limited number of people were allowed inside due to fire and safety regulation, and that number was carefully monitored by local fire and police personnel, all others were forced to remain outside or go home.

Having arrived only an hour early there was not a prayer in hell that Art or Louie could gain entrance in any normal civilized fashion, so Art directed Louie to push two men into each other causing a mild ruckus to break out, then when the Sheriff went to investigate both, he and Louie slipped into the tent followed by some loud yelling of protest by the few people that noticed them sneaking in. Once inside it was easy to blend into the crowd when the place started filling up. They stood at the back of the tent during the entire sermon, Art noticed occasional curious sideways glances from the sheriff standing a few people away from them, but the officer didn't question them.

At one point during the sermon Art almost split a gut when Bishop related a stupid story about some retard frog kid with the name of Claude. Jesus Christ. What these fucking people wouldn't fall for he thought to himself, but the rest was impressive. Bishop had some kind of spell he seemed to cast over the crowed. It was almost as if they were mesmerized by his voice and stature alone, regardless of the content of his words. Bishop's ability to spellbind a crowd even effected Art for most of the religious discourse.

When the revival ended Art and Louie pushed their way through the uplifted crowd finally making it out of the tent. Art commented to Louie as they skirted through the throng of people in the parking lot. "That sucker really puts on a show, don't he?" Art had been impressed by the reverend Bishop, but he didn't want Louie to know, that could be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

"Yeah." Louie answered. "I ain't never seen nothing like that before. Man he was really something. At first I couldn't understand all those people trying to get in, but after hearing him, I can sure see why they wanted to."

"Well I guess we had to see it once anyway, but our business is with unloading the shit not with finding religion." Art looked around at the people they passed. "I may have been mistaken though, none of these hicks look like perspective buyers."

"Ya know Art..." Louie paused as if he had to force himself to continue. "Ah ... That healing stuff looked real to me man, maybe you should..."

"Should what Louie!" Art cut him off. "Have him heal my junkie ass. I ain't buying none of that religious crap. It's all bull shit man, for losers."

"How could it hurt Art? Ya ain't got nothing to lose. Why not just try? Huh?" Louie commented trying to sound tough.

"I'm not going to have any fucking peace around here until I see it your way. Am I? I'll think about it. Okay! Now drop it!" Art's voice took on a more serious tone when he continued, "I've been thinking, maybe we should head over to Little Rock, I heard both the Crypt's and Blood's have taken root there, we should be able to deal with one or the other of um."

"Yeah. Okay, but you ain't forgetting about ... You know ... what you're thinking about." Louie didn't want Art to forget, it was important to him.

"Fuck! I told you I'd think about it. What the fuck else do you want me to do! Shit!" Art threw up his hands in frustration.

"I want you to think about it Art. That's all. Just think about it like you said you would." Louie ignored Art's angry tone.

Karen had arrived in the town of McNeil several day's before Art and Louie. Like them, she couldn't find any lodging either and was forced to stay at a hotel several miles away in a larger town called Fayetteville. She made one attempt at renting a car through the hotel she was staying at, but when they insisted on seeing a driver's license she declined, knowing once they saw her real age, they wouldn't rent to her anyway.

She had heard how difficult it was to gain entrance to one of reverend Bishop's sermons, so she took a cab to Magnesia Springs early Sunday afternoon. Even at that early hour the area outside the tent was already bustling with people, but she didn't see any sign of her old friends and lovers, Art and Louie. As the afternoon wore on Karen made light conversation with several women chatting about nothing in particular, but finding all conversations eventually turned to religion and how wonderful the reverend Bishop was. Karen did make sure somewhere in each conversation she brought up how she planned on giving a sizable donation to the church, hoping that might somehow help get her inside easier.

The mention of a large donation did have its effect. Late in the afternoon Karen was approached by a nice looking woman in her early to mid twenties. "Hi." The woman greeted Karen. "I'm Elizabeth. Elizabeth Campbell. I don't mean to bother you but Linda..." She turned and pointed out a woman Karen had talked to earlier in the day. " ... That's her over there, the one wearing the green dress. Well anyway, Linda said you had mentioned something about making a donation to the church, believe me, we could sure use it. Sam Peters ... He's one of the original members ... Well, Sam has been talking to Pastor Bishop about putting up a real church, you can see how we've already outgrown this tent, so anything you share will be put to the best of use, I can assure you."

Karen immediately got the sense that this Elizabeth was a virtuous true to the heart believer. She had a genuine smile that radiated warmth and made Karen feel good. Karen had heard of people like Elisabeth before, people other people liked being around, and Karen found that she instantly liked this Elisabeth Campbell. Karen returned the smile. "Hi Elisabeth. I'm Karen. And you're right. I do intend on making a donation, but I must be perfectly honest with you. I made sure everyone around here knew about the donation hoping it would help get me inside. Was that being overly devious?"

Elisabeth laughed affectionately. "No not in the least. You must have heard how popular and worshiped the reverend is." Then her voice took on a more serious tone. "That popularity doesn't come without its problems, but let me tell you the peace and salvation you gain are more than worth it. You only have to listen to him once to understand the true meaning of love."

"You sound hooked." Karen teasingly replied.

"I know you're joking, but it's more than just hooked. It's a way of life ... and a way of living. Before reverend Bishop, I wasn't really living. I was just surviving." She took Karen's hand then continued. "You've just got to hear him Karen. You'll feel so ... so ... It's difficult to describe. But It's like all your life you were missing something, but you didn't even know it was missing, then suddenly you've found it, and you wonder how you could have possibly lived without it. I guess the best way to describe it is that, salvation is total and complete self-freedom. I don't know, it's an inter peace and love thing like nothing else in this world." She paused momentarily feeling a little embarrassed. "Heavens, listen to me ramble on. Believe me, I'm not some religious fanatic that goes around trying to convert everyone I meet. Please forgive me."