Prudence | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Prudence | Previous Challenge Entry
By Christy B
11/17/07
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

Prudence sat in the congregation peering around at all the strange new faces and wishing she was back in Mississippi instead of suffering through this excruciatingly boring sermon with her Aunt Flora. When Mama had told her she would be spending the summer with her aunt in Kokomo, Pru thought she meant Florida, not Indiana! There was already nothing to do in this dinky town and now she had to go to church! She felt like Huck Finn, all scrubbed and polished and fake. Not like herself at all.
“I look ridiculous in this pink dress,” she sulked to herself. “These little pink and silver pumps are awful, all pointy and girlie.”
She longed to get back to the farm so she could change back into her black boots and army fatigues. Oh that's right, she would have to wait. The Preacher was comin’ for supper. Great. Now she would have to act like she was happy to be there and be all polite and thank him for comin’. Blechh! She scrunched down as far as possible into her spot on the pew. The walnut benches were worn smooth and even though the seat was hard, she reluctantly noticed the comfort in it. Her aunt smelled like flowers. Pru scanned her, admiring how Flora’s dark brown hair always seemed to do what it was told. She hated the braids Flora made her wear today, but at least no one could tell that she had cut her blonde hair herself when her mom said she couldn’t get a salon cut. Pru had wanted to get it dyed black and cut all choppy and COOL, but there was no money for dye, so she got the scissors and started hacking away. Her dad had walked in about half way through and stopped her dead in her tracks. He said at least at that point it only looked layered and he bet Flora could fix it. Mama said maybe Flora could fix a lot more than the hair (whatever THAT meant) and a couple days later, Pru was taking her first airplane ride, not to Miami, but to Indianapolis.
She liked the smells and sights and sounds of the city, especially the noise. It helped her think. At least she thought that’s what it did. In Mississippi, she thought about how mean people are and how kids can’t get a break in the world. She thought about how her friends all hated their parents and how easy it was to find the bad in everyone. She thought about the wars all over the world and remembered wondering what the point of life was anyway. Then right in the middle of all this brooding, she heard her name.
Pastor Richardson was introducing her to the congregation! Oh great! Now she had to stand up and be seen, but when she did, something else happened. People were smiling at her. Clean people. Happy people. NICE people. This wasn’t so bad, really. She might like Indiana if all the people are like this. Then she heard her name again. Pastor was asking her to come up and tell a little about herself.
She learned to walk fourteen years ago, but suddenly it became difficult. What would she say? She went back over her most recent thoughts and realized that her whole life could be different as soon as she got to that pulpit.
“Well, brothers and sisters, I’m Prudence Johnson and I don’t watch television. Instead, I like to go for a walk outside or talk to my friends or read books. I don’t usually dress like this, so if you see me ’round town, don’t go runnin’ away, ’cuz I’m really a nice person. My parents sent me here from Mississippi ’cuz I gave up on a lot of important things. They sent me to stay with my aunt Flora ’cuz she knows how to find what’s missin’ in people and give it back to ’em. I look ’round here an’ see people who don’t have nothing’ missin’ and guess you all got that from comin’ to church regular. Well, Mr. Pastor, sir, I wasn’t payin’ too much attention before, but if you offering to put me back together, I guess I’ll get dressed up for ya every week.”
And she did. Prudence Johnson went back to Mississippi that August wearing a pink dress and girlie little pumps, standing up straight and seeing the world with new eyes.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.