She took a drink of her Coke before she continued her thought. “I’ve never worn a ribbon in my hair until tonight. It may sound silly, but it made me feel so much like a girl. It was fun.”
Scott got up from the table and moved to the sink where he began to wash the few dishes. As he washed the dishes, she dried and put them away. Scott continued their conversation. “Like it or not, you are going to catch a few guy's attention.”
When they finished cleaning up, Michelle put her arms around his neck. “I overheard the conversation between you and Hank tonight when he said you don’t have to leave the motor home to check on everything. I’ve already checked and you can see the security lights from our bed. I suggest you and I turn out the lights and then go to bed and see if we can get each others attention.”
Scott placed his arms around her waist. “If my memory is correct, I haven’t made love to you since early Sunday morning”
Michelle and Scott shared a long and passionate kiss before she spoke. “That’s right because Beth walked in on us just as you were getting my motor running on Saturday night.”
Scott started smiling at Michelle. “Do you think I can get your motor running as well as it was when we were in the hot tub?
Michelle turned and started down the short hallway to the bedroom before she looked over her shoulder. “Why don’t you put your key into my ignition and let’s find out.”
The Thursday morning wake up alarm came much sooner than Michelle or Scott would have liked. Still, Scott was actually looking forward to the briefing and preparations for the Thursday night sting operation. When everyone gathered in the tent, William spent at least fifteen minutes going over Representative Snyder’s record and his history with his female chief of staff.
William stood on stage as Hank worked the video screen. “The first picture you see is Mr. Snyder. The young woman in the bathing suit is Rachel who is his chief of staff. The next slide Hank will bring up is a young man by the name of James Whitney. We can all thank Mr. Whitney for being unable to keep his mouth shut about Snyder’s trip to Saint Lucia with Rachel.”
Joe raised his hand to stop William’s comments. “What is his connection to Snyder?”
William replied, “Good point Joe. James’ dad is a big political contributor and he managed to get his son a job as Snyder’s political director. The kid is learning but he has a long way to go. Tonight, he is going to get a first class lesson in how to attempt to do damage control when damage control is not possible. Any other questions?”
Hank was the next to speak. “Do we know yet if Snyder’s wife is going to be here or if Rachel and James are coming?”
William looked to Betsy to answer Hank’s question. “As of this morning, we know that James will be here and Snyder takes Rachel everywhere he goes for rather obvious reasons. We don’t know if his wife will be here because she likes to stay busy in Washington in order to avoid these type events.”
After spending an hour together going over the operational plan, they took time off for lunch with the understanding everyone would be back at two o’clock.
By six-thirty, everyone knew their role and the group had prepared for every contingency. Hank, Anna, Nancy, Betsy, and Joe started the music at six fifty as the people begin streaming into the tent. The audience looked somewhat different from the previous night, as each of the three politicians had invited some of the more high profile members of the community.
Representative Snyder had also invited several members of the press and the local TV station to be on hand, as he hoped to take political advantage of this event. Scott had been given the role of posing as a member of the press. James Whitney and Rachel came into the tent along with Snyder telling members of the press he would meet with them after the event.
With the local politicians seated in the front row, William walked on stage as the group finished their last song. “Let us all unite in a moment of silent thanksgiving.”
After a minute or so, Hank brightened the lights on the stage, while dimming the lights over the audience. Betsy then made her keyboard sound like a full church pipe organ as she played two or three lines of music. William was walking back and forth on the stage calling out to the audience. “Say Halleluiah.”
The audience responded with a level of enthusiasm Scott had not expected. William was whipping the spectators into a frenzy as he had them clapping their hands, stomping their feet and screaming halleluiah at the top of their voices. Each time the audience would call out “halleluiah”, Betsy would play eight or ten notes on the “organ”.
William then held up both of his hands bringing the room to near dead silence. At the same time, Betsy began to play softly on the organ. “Everyone please join together as we sing “Bringing in the Sheep”
William sat down as everyone began to sing. Scott was on the verge of laughter as he thought about the irony of singing “bringing in the sheep” as Brother Willy’s Traveling Salvation Show was bringing in the people sheep.
It wasn’t long after the first verse that Scott’s ethical considerations began to tug at him. He started to question the morality of using people’s beliefs for a cheap political trick. He was growing less comfortable with his personal role, and the actions of this group. He knew he would have to sit beside the ocean for a long time to think about what he was a part of before he would be at peace with his personal actions.
When the song was over William took the microphone, and walked to center stage. “All of you have been given a beautiful voice and I have been given the talent of our great organist Mrs. Bessie Lou.”
Betsy had been seated at the keyboard and Scott had not been able to see her face until she stood up to join William. Once he saw Betsy, he forgot all about his moral dilemma as he was fighting to keep from laughing. She was wearing a platinum blonde wig, blue eye shadow, hot pink lipstick and had red cheeks that would make Santa Claus envious. She also wore a dress with a floral pattern that made her look about three sizes larger than she actually was. Around her neck was a necklace made from different colored beads.
When William began to lay the groundwork for the introduction of the politicians, Scott couldn’t help but notice how William could stretch a single syllable word like “is” into a long word with between two and three syllables. Almost every word he spoke was stretched out for emphasis.
William would present a short biography on each politician before inviting the mayor and the city council member to the stage to make a few remarks. Once each council member was on stage a few pictures were displayed on the giant monitor behind them. The mayor’s pictures showed him in front of city hall, in his office and finally with his family.
With the local politicians recognition completed, William once again took center stage. “These men all have one thing in common. They all understand the vital role of their dedication to family values and to their lovely wives. They know that public service, honesty, and integrity begin right here at home and travel with them everywhere they go. We can place the same level of trust in these men that each of their wives place in them, because these three men are part of our community family. It now gives me great pleasure to introduce three term congressman, Milton T Snyder.”
Snyder walked to the stage while receiving enthusiastic applause from the audience. William began to read the notes about Snyder’s accomplishments as Snyder stood next to William at the podium. On the giant monitor behind them, pictures began to show Snyder in his congressional office and standing outside the Capitol building in Washington. William then set the sting operation into its final phase. “My friends, it is my pleasure to turn this microphone over to a man who we can trust because he knows the real meaning of family values.”
The applause continued as Snyder placed his notes on the podium. At the very moment Snyder started to speak, Hank flashed a picture on the giant monitor of Snyder and Rachel standing on an isolated beach in Saint Lucia. Snyder by any accounts should not have been wearing a Speedo bathing suit giv
en his weight problems. On the other hand, Rachel caught the eye of every man in the tent as she was wearing a thong bathing suit as she stood with her arms around Snyder’s neck. The fact that Snyder had both of his hands on her backside did little to provide him with any type of plausible deniability.
Before Snyder could say the first three words, Michelle called out in a deep slow southern accent. “Why that ain’t his wife and that picture sure wasn’t taken down at Fishers Pond.”
Nancy called out from the other side of the tent. “It is too is wife. She’s sitting right down yonder in the front row with him.”
Michelle called out again. “That ain’t his wife. That girl works for him and is being paid by the taxpayers. His wife ain’t that young.
By this time, Snyder turned around and looked at the picture with an expression that suggested pure horror. “Where the hell did that picture come from?”
Hank called out from the back row. “We downloaded it from your Facebook page.”
“Well then that picture is a fake some devious misguided liberal has put up trying to make me look bad.”
Scott spoke next. “My name is Joe Marshal and I’m a freelance reporter. That picture is not a fake. It was taken by a reporter with the Washington Post. My question for you is do you plan to go into rehab to get treatment for your sexual addiction problem?”
Scott’s one question opened the floodgates to other reporter’s questions as Scott sat down to watch Snyder’s freefall. Rachel started up the aisle trying to leave the tent as quickly as possible. Scott left the tent before Rachel could get out. She was walking quickly toward the SUV Snyder drove to the event.
She had hoped to lock herself in the SUV, but without the keys, she was left standing with Scott. She turned to him with a snarl, “I have no comment”.
Scott leaned against the SUV as he replied. “In the news business, we always say a picture is worth a thousand words. I don’t think there really is much you could say that would add to what we just saw.”
With a sense of frustration and resignation, she turned and looked at Scott. “No, I don’t think there is much I can add to the story. Is that picture really on his Facebook page?”
Scott took out his cell phone to check. “It looks like it was posted this morning. I would assume the Washington Post will run the story tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “I guess I’ll go back to work in a bar now.”
Scott went off script mostly out of his typical curiosity. “Off the record, was it worth it?”
Her answer came with a brief grin as she shook her head. “You saw his fat stomach when he was wearing that Speedo. What do you think?”
Scott put his hand on her back. “Listen, this is America. Get yourself an agent and sell the book rights. Start dropping in on the News shows to promote yourself. Hell, you have a great body, talk to Playboy Magazine. You have fifteen minutes of fame. Make the most money you can out of this because both of you will be history in a few days.”
James Whitney approached the car muttering under his breath, “I told that jackass not to go with you to Saint Lucia.”
After Snyder sped away in his SUV, Scott returned to the tent. William managed to bring the crowd back under control and delivered a very moving talk on trust. At the end of the program, the group began to play and sing “We Shall Overcome”.
With the crowd gone, the lights dim and with most of the equipment shut down, they all gathered in the tent. William congratulated everyone for the work each member had done. Once he started the group discussion, Scott raised his concern that people were brought to the “revival” under false pretenses. He also shared his ethical concerns about using a religious gathering for political purposes.
Betsy chose to address his concerns. “William never uses religious words in any of these meetings. He doesn’t even use the word “prayer” when he speaks. We don’t promote this as a religious event. Nevertheless, people leave her with a sense of renewal, not because of what we have said, but because they took something of value away that was created in their own minds.”
Betsy paused for a moment to think of the best way to phrase her thoughts before she continued. “As I told you at the beach, the word salvation means things other than just something to do with the deliverance from sin. Salvation can also mean the liberation from ignorance or illusion. Alternatively, it can also mean preservation from destruction. These people were liberated tonight from their ignorance or illusion by finding out what their elected leader was really all about.”
William spoke after Betsy. “I agree with everything Betsy just said, but there is a different reality she didn’t tell you about. All across the world, politics have corrupted religion. This corruption is not limited to any particular faith, as it applies to Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Political leaders and special interest groups have hijacked religion for their own purposes and personal gain. Much to my sadness, the sheep of the world follow right along without questioning any of it.”
Joe looked at William and then at Scott. “What William just said is true and you saw it tonight. Congressman Snyder came here and brought the press and TV reporters hoping they would show him getting the support of the Christian community. He was exploiting this situation for his personal gain.”
Thinking that part of the conversation had played out Michelle was the next to speak. “I would like to say that Bessie Lou just looks stunning tonight. I didn’t even notice your foot long eyelashes until the program was almost over. Your neon blue eye shadow with your hot pink lipstick and that blonde wig just scream out the words, classy lady.”
Betsy took her teasing in stride. “Don’t worry sweetheart. Your aunt Betsy is a woman of many wigs and I know you will look just as elegant as I when we have our next outing.”
Betsy pulled the wig off as she stood up. Without warning, she placed in on William’s head. “Come on drag queen. It’s time to go.”
Scott, William, and Hank worked out a plan where Scott would use Hank’s car to make his trip to Asheville for the interview. He had also been able to reschedule the interview for ten o’clock in the morning.
CHAPTER XXIII
By eleven o’clock the next morning, the local workers had returned and the trucks, equipment, and tents were packed and ready to go. Joe and Anna soon left driving the truck to New Bern while pulling the travel trailer behind. Hank and Nancy would leave for their weekend trip to the mountains as soon as Scott returned with their car. William took the opportunity to take Nancy and Hank to lunch while Betsy stayed with Michelle in the motor home.
After they fixed their lunch, Betsy sat across from Michelle. “We haven’t had a chance to talk in a while and I wanted to see how things worked out for you and Scott at the Beach.”
“It was a dream come true until after you and William left on Friday and then it turned into a nightmare from hell.”
Betsy looked shocked. “Tell me about it.”
Michelle placed her sandwich down and replied, “Do you want the long version or the short story version?”
Betsy in her typical soft-spoken voice replied, “We do have to get back to New Bern today, so maybe we should stay with the short version.”
Michelle started her explanation. “Wednesday night we had a truth conference and then got in the hot tub where we made the water boil, if you know what I mean. Thursday, we got up made love to each other, played golf, laid on the beach, went out to dinner, took a romantic sunset walk on the beach, came back went to bed at nine o’clock and made the bedroom widows steamy. Friday you and William came and left. We went to the beach to talk and get some sun. Beth came over to yell at Scott because she thought he had raped her in his tent while they were on the canoe trip.”
Betsy held up her hands. “Scott raped a girl?”
Michelle was adamant in her answer. “No, it turns out he wasn’t on the canoe trip because of a stomach virus and it was really Moose in the tent with Beth and Scott’s ex-girlfriend.”
&
nbsp; Betsy stopped her again. “So can I assume Beth was raped by a moose?”
Michelle shook her head. No. Moose only had sex with Scott’s ex-girlfriend and he didn’t do anything to Beth except take her shirt off because she had been given a date rape drug. Moose has ethics and he didn’t want to be kicked out of graduate school.”
Michelle took a moment to catch her breath. “Scott had Beth call his ex-girlfriend to confirm he was not in the tent, which she was able to confirm. When we were all in the hot tub, Beth still thought Moose might have raped her so Scott said he would make some calls. He called Moose and Moose told Scott he was only having sex with Scott’s ex-girlfriend, Carlie.”
Betsy took a long deep breath. “So Beth wasn’t raped by Scott or the Moose. I guess she was very relieved with that news.”
Michelle continued. “She was very relieved and I think she was very attracted to Scott even with her history of being in an abusive relationship. She invited me to her party but Scott could not go so he went fishing instead while I went to the party. Beth left the party to hold the shark’s tail while he got the hook from the shark’s mouth.”
Betsy once again held up her hands to stop Michelle but upon further deliberation changed her mind. “Never mind, just go on with the story.”
Michelle nodded. “When Amie cut her arm, I called Scott to help us because I was afraid she was going to hurt somebody or herself. Scott took her to the hospital and told them he would file a lawsuit if they didn’t get Amie into a treatment program. As fate would have it, Beth and I went shopping on Saturday morning leavening Scott at the house. While we were gone, Amie came to the house and Scott took her to lunch and then out to the Fort to talk about her life.”
Betsy rubbed her face lightly with her hand. “Who is Amie and why did Scott need to file a lawsuit on her behalf?”
Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show Page 28
