It was after eight that evening when James first had a chance to step back from running around organising games and ice cream, and survey the group of teens on the lawn outside the church hall. There were about thirty teenagers clustered around the long gutter, which had been laid on the grass on a long piece of black plastic and filled with ice cream, sprinkles and sweets.
“Make way, make way!” Anya was fighting her way towards the gutter, brandishing a large brown plastic bottle. Despite the warmth of the evening she was wearing a pink and white fluffy onesie with huge bunny ears. “Chocolate sauce coming up!” She walked up and down the gutter, swinging the bottle back and forth, getting a lot of it on the plastic and on her bare feet in the process. David was standing at one end of the gutter with a tub full of plastic spoons.
“On your marks,” he said. “Get set, go!” He tossed a handful of spoons in the air and chaos erupted, as the teenagers grabbed for spoons, knelt down beside the gutter and got stuck in, screaming and laughing.
“It’s going well so far, James,” said Jill, coming up to him with a bowl as he stood to one side, watching.
“Is that for me? Thanks Jill, you are such a star. And thanks for doing the gutter. It looks even better than last year!”
“Sure,” she said. “Jobs involving ice cream are always a pleasure.”
He took a spoon and winced. “Whoa,” he said. “The bunny went a bit nuts with the chocolate sauce!”
“That girl,” said Jill. “She just can’t be normal.”
They both looked at Anya, who was poised elegantly on the grass beside the gutter, scooping out ice cream with a fork. She noticed them watching her and waved.
“No spoons left!” she called, across the din of shrieking kids, shrugging her shoulders and carrying on.
James and Jill laughed. “Your friend came,” said James, nodding towards Alex, who was sitting on the grass talking to Ricardo and Fez. The guys were clearly talking about surfing because Ricardo was up on his feet demonstrating something with his arms out.
“But not his sister,” said Jill.
“She’s a little old for this,” said James. “Can you picture her here?”
“Nope,” said Jill. “No way, actually.”
“So … has he given Anya any more reason to gossip? Are you two getting friendly?”
Jill sighed. “I kind of want to say that’s my business, but then you’ll get the wrong idea. He’s friendly, okay. Very friendly. That’s all.”
“I know you, Jill, I won’t get the wrong idea. But just be careful. You might think you’re being friendly, and he might think something else.”
“No, he won’t,” said Jill confidently. “We talked about it and I told him where I stand on things like that. So, we are friends. That’s all.”
James lifted his eyebrows. “You talked about it?”
Jill shook her head. “James, you wouldn’t go out with a girl who wasn’t a Christian, would you? If Christians shouldn’t marry people who don’t share their faith, then surely the same applies to dating?”
“Dating isn’t marriage, Jill,” he said. “And then there’s a difference between getting to know someone and getting into a serious relationship.”
“Yes, but …” Jill was confused. “Going out with someone, even once – doesn’t that suggest you could be interested in relationship?”
“I think it depends on a lot of things, Jill. I could ask someone for coffee just to hang out and get to know her, or I could be asking her out because I’m interested in her. But no, I wouldn’t get into a relationship with a girl who wasn’t a Christian.”
Jill sighed. “It’s so hard, James,” she said. “I just want to do the right thing.”
“I know, Jill,” he said. “Go with your conscience on this one. I think that’s the best thing to do. But now I think it’s time to start the music.”
“All right,” said Jill, as James headed to the front of the hall where someone was tuning a guitar. She turned to look at Alex and caught him looking at her. She smiled and dropped her eyes. He’d better have got the message the other day, she thought. She didn’t want any awkwardness like there had been with Josh.
The gutter had been pretty much licked clean, and the spoons collected and put in the sink. James called the milling, rather sticky group of teenagers inside. Soon they were seated on the plastic chairs in the hall, facing the band: Josh on the drums, James and another girl on the guitar, Ricardo on the bass and Bianca on the keyboards. David and Anya stood in front holding microphones, Anya thankfully wearing proper clothes again.
James faced the group and took a mic from Anya. “So, did you enjoy the gutter sundae?” he asked.
The reply from the group was enthusiastic yes.
“Ohhh yeeeah,” said David, in his deepest voice, right into the mic. Everyone laughed.
“Well then let me just say welcome to all of you, the regulars and the locals …”
There was a loud whooping and cheering from a group of kids at the back of the room.
“Yes, yes, our locals, and our visitors as well. We are so glad you joined us this morning for the volleyball, and this evening for the ice cream! Remember, more volleyball tomorrow, same place, nine to twelve in the morning, and then another evening event. And tomorrow the Lifesaving Club have kindly let us use their clubhouse. So, tomorrow evening, fun and games at the beach!”
There were more excited whoops and cheers from the back of the hall.
“Thanks Fez and co,” said James. “So, part of what we do here at MBCC is that we sing praises to God. With our awesome band here –”
He gestured behind him, but his next words were drowned out by Josh Kramer suddenly launching into a drum solo, his eyes closed and long hair flying. Everyone laughed again.
“If you don’t know the words don’t worry about it,” said James. “They will be up on the wall, so sing along if you want to. But first, let’s pray.”
There was silence, and James closed his eyes. “Lord,” he prayed. “Thank you so much for this evening, and for the fun time we’ve had. Thank you for old friends and new ones. Thank you that your Holy Spirit is with us, and please bless our time together. Amen.”
Alex sat at the back of the hall with Fez. He had wanted to sit near Jill but she had been busy in the kitchen, probably washing up or something, he thought. So far, this youth group thing was going all right. Nothing was too cringy or religious yet. The average age was pretty young, but luckily, he had Ricardo and Fez to hang out with. There were a lot of younger girls, who he avoided as much as he could.
When he saw the band getting ready to play he wondered how this was going to work. Were they really going to sing along? Like singing class in primary school? Then James started praying. Alex kept his eyes open and watched. Everyone seemed to close their eyes, and some bowed heads or even looked up. James stood at the front with his guitar, his eyes closed while he spoke. Alex was surprised at how short and informal the prayer was – the only prayers he had ever heard were read out of a prayer book, and he had never had much of a sense that the person reading them out was actually talking to God. God, thought Alex. Is he really here? His Holy Spirit, as James said? He had no idea.
James finished the prayer and the music began. Everyone stood
up. Alex considered staying seated but decided he should just go along with it. So, he stood up, keeping his arms firmly folded in front of him. Besides, he was going to do this – put in his time here and do what they did. He was going to give it a chance, see Jill every day, get to know her better, and hopefully get her to change her mind about him.
The band got going. James was pretty good on the guitar, and so was the other girl playing. Ricardo held his own on the bass; although he wasn’t doing much more than a simple bass line, and Bianca was just filling in with some chords on the keyboards. Some of the teens started clapping and moving around when they got hold of the beat. The singing wasn’t that bad either. David and Anya sang really well, David taking the lead confidently. There was a part where Anya started singing the wrong words and didn’t realise for almost an entire verse, but they got past it. Alex was too busy watching everyone to notice the words much, but they mostly just seemed to be saying things about how great God was and how they wanted sing to him and praise him. It seemed a little pointless to him, and he certainly didn’t plan to open his mouth and join in, but some of them really seemed to be getting into it. At one point, Anya stuck her hand up in the air and closed her eyes; in fact a few of them seemed to be doing that. Wow, he thought. These kids were really serious. This wasn’t like chapel at all.
He looked around for Jill and saw her standing on the other side of the hall, slightly behind him, singing without looking at the screen. He had to turn his head to the front again, so he wouldn’t be caught staring.
After three songs the music was done, and everyone sat down again. James put his guitar down on a stand at the side of the hall and went up to the music stand at the centre where David had been singing. As the band members left their instruments and joined the group, he put a big worn-looking Bible and some notes onto the stand. Here comes the sermon, thought Alex. Was he really in a church, on holiday, about to listen to a guy read the Bible? He would have liked to leave, but everyone would see him. He was stuck.
“That was great, guys,” said James. “It’s great to be able to make music together and praise God, isn’t it?”
There were murmurs of agreement from the room.
“I’m going to talk to you for just a few minutes about something important today – and that important thing is this: Who is Jesus? And why should I care?”
Good opening, thought Alex. I guess I would like to know the answers. Especially the why should I care part.
For the next ten minutes Alex found himself listening with interest as James spoke about Jesus. He recognised some of what James was saying from school, but some of it was new to him. He had never realised before how Jesus had claimed to be God himself, and how the miracles and signs he had done had all been a way to prove that. Do I believe this? he wondered. That he calmed storms and raised people from the dead? James explained carefully, clearly, sometimes even making a little joke and getting a few laughs out of his audience. He ended with a challenge.
“Imagine,” said James, “that your next-door neighbour starts claiming that he is Nelson Mandela. He starts walking up and down the street telling everyone that he is the reincarnated soul of Madiba.
What would you think of that?”
“I’d say he’s a nutcase!” piped up someone in the front row.
“That would be a perfectly valid opinion,” said James. “He might really think he is Nelson Mandela, but you know he’s Pete the plumber and he’s done this kind of thing before. You might also think he’s just having you on, right? He’s making it all up, pretending to think he’s Mandela, just to get a reaction. Or for some crazy social experiment. There’s only one other option – that he’s telling the truth. And for you to believe that, he’d have to prove it. He would have to know something that only Mandela would know.
It’s the same story when you look at Jesus, guys. Jesus claimed to be God himself, one with the Father, he said. You have three options. Is he a lunatic? Is he a liar? Or is he telling the truth? To say he was a good man, a prophet, a moral example, isn’t really a valid opinion, because the guy claimed big things. You wouldn’t say the Mandela guy was a good citizen, a great example, an upstanding member of society, would you? Don’t think that you can say that about Jesus, guys. He’s either who he says he is, or he’s a nutcase or a conman. It’s up to you to figure that out.”
Wow, thought Alex. Clever. James bowed his head to pray again and Alex took the opportunity to look at Jill. He felt no need to pray. She sat straight up, her head bowed and her eyes closed. He had to look away quickly before James said “Amen”. The talk hadn’t been too terrible. He had been expecting to be bored but the ten minutes had passed pretty quickly. He supposed it was quite interesting, all that evidence that Jesus really existed and walked around in Israel all that time ago. He had never really thought about it. He had never read the Bible for himself so what James had said about the claims Jesus had made was new to him. And this liar, lunatic or really God thing – he’d have to think about that. It couldn’t be that simple, though.
He looked at his watch. It was a few minutes before nine. He’d asked Anna to come and get him in the car at 9.15. It was a little far to walk all the way back and probably not safe at night. There was still time to get to talk to Jill.
The hall was buzzing now with kids talking, stacking chairs and packing away the music equipment. He looked around for Jill, who was stacking chairs, and went up to her.
“Hey,” he said. “Hi!” she said. “So?” “So what?” he said.
“So did you have a good time? Better than beer and pretty girls?”
He felt his face go a little red at that. He was glad she didn’t know about Saturday night.
“Maybe,” he said. “The ice cream was good. Lots of chocolate sauce.”
She laughed. “That seems to be the consensus. Do you have a lift home? Anya’s dad is taking me back; I didn’t think to ask you before
…”
“No, it’s okay. Anna will pick me up.”
“Oh. Good,” she said. Was he dreaming, or was she acting a little self-conscious? A group of younger girls brought a chair each to be stacked.
“Hi Jill,” said one of them, shyly, handing her a chair.
“Thanks,” said Jill. “Put them down here and we’ll stack them.” The girl looked at Jill, and then at Alex, and giggled. She turned back to her friends and they all giggled, looking back at Alex as they moved off in a bunch.
Jill paused, a chair in her hands. Alex felt irritated. Girls that age were the worst.
“The Alex effect,” said Jill. “It must be a burden.”
Was she serious? Was she teasing him? What was he supposed to say to that? He stacked the chairs the girls had brought. He could still hear them giggling in the corner. Luckily Ricardo came up to them.
“Flip, Ace, you got the girls going nuts here,” said Ricardo, jabbing his thumb at the twittering group.
“They’re all talking about the hot bass player,” said Alex, trying to deflect. “They were asking Jill for your number.”
“Ah, twak man,” said Ricardo. “One of them is my cousin. Just ignore them, they’ll get over it.”
The three of them moved outside where kids sat on and hung around the church steps, waiting for their lifts. Ricardo’s dad caused a little stir when he arrived to fetch him in a police van.
“Cheers,” he said to Alex. “Volleyball tomorrow? Maybe a surf later?”
“You’re on,” said Alex.
As soon as the police van left, Anya’s dad arrived in his Kombi. “Papa is here!” called Anya. “Everybody who is coming with me, come now! Papa doesn’t like to wait!” At least six kids made their way to the old van.
“That’s my lift,” said Jill. “I’m glad you could make it, Alex. Hopefully see you tomorrow.” She smiled and waved as she climbed into the van. Great, he thought. He had hardly spoken to her at all.
James came up and sat next to Alex on the stairs. “Hi,” he said.
“Do you need a lift home?”
“No,” said Alex. “My sister’s fetching me in a few minutes.”
“Ah,” said James. “Shot for coming, though. This can be quite a different environment if you haven’t grown up with it.”
“It was okay,” said Alex. “Not my usual thing, but it was okay.” “What is your usual thing?” asked James.
“Mostly school stuff,” said Alex. “Sports matches, socials. Parties at friends’ houses. Surf Club sometimes.”
“You looked right at home with the volleyball.”
“Yeah well, that’s sport. This evening was different. I still can’t believe I ate ice cream out of a gutter.”
James laughed. “I only started going to church when I was your age. The first time I came to this youth group they were eating green spaghetti and playing some weird game where they wrapped each other up in toilet paper.”
“My age? Really? I just assumed …”
“No – I went to boarding school like Jill, at the boys’ school near hers.” He told Alex the name. Alex was surprised – it was a school he had heard of. His school had been on sports tours with them and they were really good at rugby. “My parents aren’t Christians. I never went to Sunday school or anything, like Jill. I became a Christian when I was in Matric.” “Wow. Why?”
James laughed. “I like that – why? But I understand why you ask. I used to think the guys in the Christian Union at school went there because it was part of their identity, you know, like being Australian or something. A friend of mine started teaching me how to play the guitar and said I should come to their meetings to play along with the music, and I’d learn faster. So I did, and heard more than the music. I realised they were mostly there because they believed the Bible and loved God. I started reading the Bible and found in time that I believed it too.”
“Then you decided to be a pastor?”
“No, I studied business at University. This church career idea is a new thing. I’m still trying it out, studying Theology at the same time.”
Alex was surprised. He had also thought what James had said, that Christianity was a culture, a way people identified themselves, not really a conscious life choice. Imagine he went back to school and said to his friends, ‘Guys, I’m a Christian now. Let’s read the Bible at break and go to the Christian Union!’ It was laughable.
Just then Anna drove up in their dad’s car, a black BMW X5. It looked almost ridiculous next to the rusty blue hatchback and the Nissan bakkie that were also outside the church picking kids up. Alex got up, but Anna parked the car and got out. He and James walked down the steps to meet her. She was casually dressed in jeans and a silky top, but she looked as if she had stepped out of a magazine. There were a few of the giggly girls left on the stairs. Her appearance caused a flurry of whispers and stares.
“Hi,” said Anna, mostly to James.
“Nice to see you again,” said James.
“You too,” said Anna. “Nice shirt.”
James grinned. “You are looking more than decent this evening,
Anna, if I may say so.”
Anna laughed and flicked her hair back, flashing perfect nails. “Oh my gosh, the way you talk … you need to give the Cape Town guys some lessons.” Hmm, thought Alex. She must have found somewhere in the backwater dump to get her nails done. And no wonder she had been so willing to pick him up.
“Have you had a good evening?” asked James.
“Pretty boring,” sighed Anna. “This place is so sleepy. Is anything even open now?”
“There’s a coffee shop that’s open until 10.30 in season,” said James. “How about I buy you a cappuccino? We can’t have our visitors getting bored.”
“That would be nice,” she said. “We can drop Alex home first.”
James went inside to tell Pastor Tim, who was locking up, that he was leaving.
“What are you doing, Anna?” Alex asked his sister, as they sat in the car waiting for James. He felt bit peeved that he had to sit in the back seat like a kid. He also felt annoyed that Anna had managed to get James to ask her out when he had been turned down.
“How is that your business?” she asked. “I like him. We’re on holiday. Let’s have some fun.”
“Maybe he’s just being friendly,” said Alex. “Maybe he’s just going to invite you to church.”
“So what?” said Anna, checking her make-up in the rear-view mirror and glancing back at him. “Maybe I’ll go to church then. It’s nice to meet a respectful guy who asks me for coffee instead of shooters or beer, and gives me nice compliments instead of calling me babe or chick. I know you like that Jill girl. Why don’t you do the same?”
Alex didn’t reply. “Well?” said Anna. “Don’t deny it.” “These church people do things differently,” he said.
Anna looked confused. Then the penny dropped. “Oh, my,” she said. “No way! Has it happened at last? Have you actually met a girl who’s not into you?” She laughed at his sulky face in the mirror.
“Shut up,” he said. James was back, getting into the front seat next to Anna.
“What’s the joke?” he said.
“Oh nothing,” said Anna airily, as she started the car. “Just giving my little brother a hard time.”
They dropped him off in the driveway and he went inside, still feeling put out. Anna got to go for cappuccinos with James, and he had hardly got to speak to Jill at all that evening. Well, it hadn’t totally sucked. He even found himself thinking about James’ talk, and looking on the bookshelves at the house for a Bible to look at. But there weren’t any, only decorating magazines and some glossy coffee table books. He thought he could probably find one online on his phone but it seemed like too much of an effort. He went to bed looking forward to seeing his new friends on the beach the next day.
Next morning it was a little cloudy, and cooler than the last few days had been. By eight thirty Alex had done a session in the home gym and was showered and ready. He thought he would go over to Jill’s house to see if he could walk to the beach with her. Before he left he stood at the mirror in the bathroom that adjoined his room. He smoothed some gel into his hair, running his fingers though it until it looked just how he wanted it. He stood and looked at himself in the mirror for a while, trying to imagine what Jill saw when she looked at him. Why hadn’t he managed to get things going with her yet? The guy in the mirror looked really good; he knew it. He smiled at himself. Girls liked it when he smiled at them. He was going to have to turn on the charm today if he wanted to get anywhere. He pushed his fingers through his hair one more time. He was ready.
As he approached her house he saw he was in luck. Jill was just closing the gate behind her, a beach bag over her shoulder.
“Morning!” he said. He gave her a smile. First of many, he thought.
“Oh … hi, Alex!” She seemed very surprised to see him.
“I just thought I’d see if you wanted company down to the beach.”
“Sure,” she said, a little uncertainly. They made their way down the road towards the entrance to the path.
“What’s Simon up to this morning?” asked Alex.
“He’s gone fishing in the lagoon with James’ dad, Uncle Harry,” she said. “He loves that almost as much as swimming in the sea.”
“Sounds brilliant,” said Alex. “This must be a nice place for a kid to grow up.”
“I guess,” said Jill.
“Have you always lived here?”
“Yes, I was born here. Simon too. My dad used to coach sport at the primary school. My mom loved living here. She’d be on the beach every day, summer and winter.”
“And he lives overseas now?”
“He teaches in London,” said Jill. “He doesn’t want to live here. Too many painful memories, he says. So far, he hasn’t asked for us to go and live with him. So here we stay.”
“Wow. But you’ve visited? Would you want to live there?”
“Maybe. I loved it when we went there. Have you been overseas?”
“Yes,” said Alex. “A few times.”
“Where?”
“We went to Brazil in June this year. New York last year. The winter before that we went to Europe. And Thailand once. We travel a lot.”
“Wow,” said Jill. She couldn’t imagine having been to all those places.
“My dad’s a lawyer, an advocate,” he said. “He works so much we hardly see him when he’s on a big case, but then he likes to go away on big holidays to make up for it.”
“Wow,” she said again. “Do you enjoy the travelling?”
“Sure. Are you looking forward to volleyball?” he said, hoping to change the subject.
“I am,” she said. “Yesterday was fun.”
They had arrived at the parking lot, and as they approached the steps he stood back for her, and put his hand on the small of her back as she walked past some people coming the opposite direction.