Chapter 48

PIERCE

We had one church in Pelican Bay. It started out as an old Quaker establishment when the town was first settled, and then over the years turned from one denomination to the other until now we used it as a nondenominational building, which hosted services every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening.

If you wanted any of the big mega churches with the fancy lights and music, you had to leave the area, but none of the traditional families did. It was a town right to cram yourself in the little church each weekend. A long-running rumor said more than one woman kept attendance on those who showed.

Three years ago, I paid to have the parking lot paved, but when I drove up that afternoon there were already so many cars in the lot, they forced me to park in a makeshift dirt section of additional parking. My car did not enjoy the lackluster accommodations. It still hadn’t recovered from allowing Katy to drive it the other day. The paint would never be the same.