The Pastor's Daughter

Chapter Five

The first thing we did was talk to Mrs Gerber about our plans for the orphans, and she thought it was a fabulous idea. That was her favourite word, by the way- fabulous. When she'd realised that I knew my lines on Monday, she said , "fabulous", and for the next two hours, whenever I'd finish up a scene, she'd say it again. By the end of rehearsals on Monday I'd heard it about a million times. Hayley, in the meantime, was getting really excited about performing for the orphans. During a break in rehearsals she pulled me aside and thanked me for thinking of them for thinking of them.

"There's no way you would know," she said almost conspiratorially, "but I've been wondering what to do for the orphanage this year. I've been praying about it for months now because I want this Christmas to be special for them."

"Why is this Christmas so important?" I asked her.

She smiled patiently, as if I'd asked a question that didn't really matter.

"It just is," she said simply.

The next step was to talk it over with Mr Thompson, the director of the orphanage. Now, I'd never met Mr Thompson before, being that the orphanage was in Walmer Location, and I'd never had a reason to go there. When Hayley surprised me with the news the following day that we'd be meeting him that evening, I was sort of worried that I wasn't dressed nice enough. I knew it was an orphanage,but a guy wants to make a good impression. Even though I wasn't as excited about it as Hayley was (no one was as excited as Hayley was),I didn't want to be regarded as the Grinch who ruined Christmas for the orphans. Before we went to the orphanage for our meeting, we had to walk to my house to pick up my mom's car, and while there I planned on changing into something a little nicer. The walk took about ten minutes, and Hayley didn't say much along the way, at least until we got to my neighborhood.

The homes around mine were all large and well kept, and she kept asking who lived where and how old the houses were. I answered her questions without much thought, but when I opened the front door to my house, I suddenly realised how different this world was compared to her own. She had a shocked expression on her face as she looked around.mo doubt it was the fanciest home she'd ever been in. A moment later I saw her eyes travel to the paintings that lined my walls. My ancestors. As with many families, my entire lineage could be traced in the dozen faces that lined the walls. She stared at them, then turned her attention to the furnishings. The furniture had been handmade, carved from mahogany and cherry and designed specifically for each room. It was nice, I had to admit, but it wasn't something I really thought about. To me it was just a house. My favourite part of it was the window in my room that led to the porch on the upper level. That was my escape hatch. I showed her around, though, giving her a tour of the sitting room,the library,the den, the sitting room and the family room, Hayley's eyes growing wider with each room. My mom was out on the Sun porch, sipping a glass of wine and reading, and she heard us poking around. She came back inside to say hello.

I think I told you that every adult in town adored Hayley, and this included my mom. Even though Brixton was always giving sermons that had our family name written all over them, my mom never held it against Hayley. So they talked while I was upstairs rifling through my closet for a clean shirt and a tie. When I came back down the stairs, Hayley had already told my mother about the plan.

"It's a wonderful idea,"Hayley said, beaming at me. "Ryan's really got a special heart."

My mom- after making sure she'd heard Hayley correctly- faced me with her eyebrows raised. She stared at me like I was an alien.

"So this was your idea? She asked. Like everyone else in town, she knew Hayley didn't lie.

I cleared my throat, thinking of Siya and what I wanted to do to him. It involved molasses and fire ants,by the way, "Kind of," I said.