"Rise and shine, girls! We'll be late for church," grandma's voice screeches down the hallway and into the middle bedroom where my sister and I sleep. I whimper and pull the quilt over my head.
Minutes later. "Sun's in the Sky. Grass knee high. Get up, Shelia. Get up, Lelia!" Craig bolts into the room and jumps on the bed singing.
"Hurry up, Shelia! Mister Ed is coming on! GET UP!" he shouts as he yanks back the covers from the bed and drags them into the hallway.
We stir. Lelia rises first. She smells the hot cakes, which by now are set on the kitchen table, and this alone is her motivation to get out of bed. Melted butter and Karo syrup swim on top, soaking through the cakes like a rain-drenched sweater left on the porch overnight. Lelia loves butter.
I'm the last out of bed. Only the sounds of "of course, of course" can make me budge. The voice of the singing horse rings out from the television in the den. I grab my pillow and head for my spot on the floor.
"Come on, girls, hurry now. Eat your breakfast. It's almost time for Jimmy Swaggart to come on."
That's the signal that we must leave in order to get to Sunday school on time. When Jimmy yells and slams the Bible in his hands, we head for the blue, Ford Lincoln Continental that sleeps in the garage until the three of us jump, bounce, and scream our ways into position in the back seat.
"Shotgun!" Craig yells.
"Shotgun!" We both say.
But I get stuck in the middle. I like it though because I can scrunch up to the front and put my head on the seat between grandma and grandpa.
"Got any Juicy Fruit?" I ask and grandma digs to the bottom of her white vinyl handbag with a gold clip on top that keeps it shut tight.
"Here you go, honey!"
"Me too!" "Me too!" Craig and Lelia say.
And we're off to church with grandma and grandpa on this typical Sunday morning where we'll hear about the end times, the mark of the beast, and the rapture.
I wiggle in my seat, waiting, watching, and anticipating the prophetic message that will surely predict the end of the world. All the while Lelia sleeps on the floor under the church pew clenching a roll of opened Life Savers unaffected by the inevitable doom that keeps me on the edge of my seat.
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