The Grace Abounding Dance Studio still had it’s title on the building, but each and every one of the ballerina silhouettes was now radically altered.
The one that interlaced with the name of the studio now had a prosthetic leg in its fourth position pose. One side of the building had two ballerinas who were also physically challenged. One had her arms in third position, while her body was seated in a wheelchair. The other was in second position, but was minus an arm from almost up to her shoulder. Giselle forgot all about the other long exterior wall, which was fine, since she’d need to cross the street and walk around the side of the building.
Jumping out of her car, she began bouncing up and down next to her car. She was becoming almost delirious with joy. Laughing out loud and dancing, limp and all, around in circles. When she heard Conyer’s voice call her name from two cars to her right, she actually ran to him and threw her arms around him, and clung to him.
“Conyer, look… look!” as she pointed to the dance studio. He never took his eyes off her. Again, she insisted, “Conyer, look!” as she removed one arm from around him and using her hand under his chin, turned his face to see the same thing she was looking at.
Apparently Giselle had no intention of loosening her grip around him, so he joyously closed his arms around her and grabbed hold of both her and the moment.
“All the ballerinas, Conyer, they’re physically challenged. Look at them. All of them!”
“They are! Every last one of them!” he joined in the rejoicing.
Still clinging to each other, they remained in a transfixed gaze at the building that now had captured such delight in Giselle.
Lord! This is so good… You’re so good! Thank you!
Neither one knew it, but the same joyous thanks was coming from each of them to the Lord they loved. Giselle’s thankfulness was that the dance studio was obviously going to cater to physically challenged ballet students. Conyer’s thankfulness reflected his joy that Giselle was so thrilled with the building. It was, after all, for her!
In the closeness of the moment, Conyer rested his cheek on Giselle’s head, and kissed her hair. It was light enough that Giselle never knew it.
As quickly as it had come, the moment was over, but not awkwardly so. They simply broke away from each other as though the hug itself had been a natural, normal happening.
Giselle stepped forward alone a number of steps to continue taking in the sight of the dance studio, now so radically changed, and obviously for the better, according to her own thinking.
More than five minutes passed, when suddenly Giselle turned around and looked questioningly at Conyer.
“Conyer, what are you doing here?!”
“Well, when I saw you today at lunch, you were talking about the changes on this building façade, and I got curious myself, wondering what it looked like now.” He could have told her now that it was he who had orchestrated the changes, because he owned the building and it was his business. But, he didn’t. He still didn’t think it was time. He wanted to make sure that for the time being, any decisions Giselle made with regard to the dance studio and its proffered employment for her would be totally non-related to him… at all.
That explanation seemed to satisfy Giselle’s curiosity, because she began speaking on a new topic, about which she had no idea Conyer already was well-versed.
Her eyes focused solely on the building, Conyer took steps forward to stand by her side, as she shared from her heart. He wished he had the freedom to take hold of her hand as she spoke, but knew that any intimacy of that nature would have to be initiated by Giselle.
“There’s this little girl that I met at the hospital the day I was released. Beautiful little girl. She had these bouncy red curls all over her head, and a smile that would melt the coldest heart.
“I was walking by her room, when she called me in to help her. She needed help and had dropped her nurse pager on the floor. I wondered why she didn’t just get up and grab it from the floor, until I saw her legs. Partials legs, I should say.
“She told me she was having some kind of surgery to make her legs ready for prosthetics.
“I never saw her after that day, until last Sunday at my church. We have a worship dance team and they were dancing that day. I had chosen a seat in the back of the sanctuary, one row behind her and at the other end of the row.
“When the dance team entered from the back, she began dancing with them, seated, of course. It was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen!
“I want to be a part of a dance studio that caters to young girls like her, Conyer!” This statement was spoken directly to him, as she looked up to his face.
Conyer saw two beautiful and glassy, teary eyes looking up at him as she spoke.
Without thinking it through, Conyer reached down for her hand. She didn’t resist.
“I have a feeling that the Lord has some amazing things ahead for your life, Giselle Danvers.”
As he began to release her hand, she resisted that movement on his part, and grasped his hand tighter.
“Let’s pray, Conyer. I know you’re a Christian. You told me at the hospital…” she began, then smiled at the next part, “so that makes us brother and sister in Christ. Let’s pray about this, ok?”
Perfectly content to continue holding her hand, Conyer asked if he could pray. When she said yes, he did just that.
When his thanksgiving and petitions were completed, Giselle began praying.
“Lord, thank you that You brought my brother, Conyer, here at the right time. You knew I needed someone to celebrate with, and he was the perfect choice.” She squeezed his hand. He responded in kind. “I haven’t heard back from the dance studio, Lord, but I ask that You would let them see the value I would have as an instructor.
Oh, you’re going to be much more than a dance teacher, Giselle! Conyer was almost bursting inside. He could hardly wait until she had accepted the position proposal, so that he could tell her what his part was in this. It was so hard for him to practice patience.
“Lord, thank you for Your Answer. We both praise You, Jesus. Amen.”
After their prayer and Giselle was on her way home to the apartment, she made a decision. She knew she had forgiven Conyer for what he’d done to her that day in his car. But, she had been hanging on to some ridiculous notion that until he asked her forgiveness, that they could never be friends. She thought back on the heartfelt prayer they’d just shared, and realized that she had no business making demands of any kind on this brother in Christ. She chose to drop it from that moment on. Instead, as she drove, she thanked the Lord for both the dance studio changes, and discovering that she had both a new friend and spiritual brother in Conyer.
As Giselle pulled into her apartment parking slot, she barely cut the engine before she literally jumped from the car. Ouch! That leg of hers could be such a bother sometimes. But, she refused to let it slow her down as she ran upstairs to the apartment door. She had been waiting all day to finally get home, open her email and find out if Grace Abounding Dance Studio had responded to her application, complete with her long-winded essay.
Chapter 28
Sunday morning! How Giselle loved Sunday mornings since re-committing her life to Christ. She could hardly wait to enter the Lord’s House, joining all His other flawed kids in praising Him, and learning what He had to offer them for the day.
Unfortunately, trying to get ready to leave for church that Sunday wasn’t as smooth as Giselle and Doris thought it’d be.
Doris and she had decided to drive together for a change. That was fine. Trying to get themselves out the door… not so fine!
It started with the box of cereal. Doris had poured herself a bowl, drown it in milk, then promptly dropped it on the kitchen floor. Giselle, of course, helped her clean it up. Once that mess was gone, Giselle decided not to take the time to sit and eat a bowl of cereal. She opted, instead, for just a glass of orange juice, which… she dropped almost in the same location as the ce
real had plummeted. Only in the case of Doris’ cereal, she had used a plastic bowl, so it required only the cleanup of the contents. In Giselle’s case, she had a glass that was glass, so when it hit the floor, the glass shattered, the orange went flying, and then they had to make sure they didn’t cut themselves while mopping up.
Deciding that breakfast was not in the cards for them, they both raced for the shared bathroom. They had actually learned how to stay out of each other’s way while completing their own morning regimen, well… until this morning. During their shared stay in this single small room, in the next twenty minutes, between the two of them, they managed to drop Doris’ mascara tube in the toilet, lose Giselle’s lipstick altogether, accidentally turn off Doris’ curling iron, when Giselle thought she was unplugging the hair dryer, and before Doris was through curling her hair, and spilling Doris’ liquid foundation on the floor, but not before it bounced off both their outfits, spotting them irreparably, requiring them both to go change into something else.
At first they were each perturbed, but when disasters continued, at some point, it became hilarious. Especially after Doris made the comment that all she needed to happen now was for a heel to break off her new shoes, which it did, when she accidentally stepped in an unbalanced fashion onto the floor heater vent going out the front door.
By the time everything was resolved, and they actually closed the front door behind them, they were running a good twenty minutes late.
*****
Sneaking in the doors at the rear of the worship center, Doris and Giselle took a quick visual scan around the auditorium. They were limited where they could sit, without having to exit that section of seating and come back in through a different set of doors. It wasn’t worth the hassle, so they opted to sit separately. Doris ended up almost half way to the front of the worship center in an end seat, while Giselle had to stay in the back row, crawling over seven people before finally settling in a seat behind a man who was so tall, that Giselle’s sight-line to the stage was totally impaired. Her view landed directly between his shoulder blades. The only way she could see what was totally going on up on the stage, was by leaning severely to either the right or left. But, even that caused a problem. If she leaned to the left, she was within inches of a teenage guy who had a severe and almost lethal case of body odor. And, leaning right, she was almost suffocated by the perfume the woman was wearing. Perfume! Loose definition, considering the woman wreaked of a combination of Patchouli and corn chips. Didn’t people believe in bathing and brushing their teeth?!
She’d missed the songs of praise. She’d missed the dedication of those sweet babies that always seemed to choose that time to either cry or spit up on Senior Pastor Johnston. And, if she didn’t get herself situated someplace where she could see and hear things without gagging at her surroundings, she was going to miss something that Associate Pastor Greg was announcing that was coming up in the next few minutes.
Giselle stood up, moved past those same seven people she crawled over coming in, and walked to the rear wall, where she leaned back.
Ok, she might not be in the most comfortable place in the worship center, but at least she’d made it here, and she was looking forward to whatever it was that Pastor Greg had promised them was to come.
Chapter 29
“I know you’ve all been wondering where Connie Dub has been for the last couple of months.” At this moment, Conyer Whitefield came striding up the six steps onto the stage to join Pastor Greg. Giselle was looking down at the moment, reading in her worship service program about the new Bible study series on biblical dating that was starting in a couple of weeks. Oh, she believed she’d go to that! Not that she was dating. She didn’t even have a boyfriend. Interestingly, the mental image of Conyer Whitefield came to mind. She almost dismissed the image, but was reminded of the sweet time they’d shared in the parking lot, talking about- and viewing the exterior changes to Grace Abounding Dance Studio. She could hardly wait to talk with him again. Maybe he’d come to Giordino’s and she could tell him how she’d been hired at the studio, even though it had not been spelled out exactly what she would be doing. She thought it would probably be as a teacher. Consciously, she shook her head slightly and cleared it to return to what was happening up front.
Connadub! What an odd name. Must be a foreign national who was going to share about his conversion experience and ask for prayer and financial aid for the small home church and ministry he had back home.
Giselle’s eyes opened exaggeratedly wide, and she leaned forward several inches, as though both gestures would clarify or nullify what she thought she was seeing… or hallucinating. She wasn’t sure.
There standing on the front stage with Pastor Greg, was Conyer Whitefield. And, they looked kind of chummy, like they’d known each other for some time.
What was going on?! What was Conyer doing up there? And, where was Connadub?!
In the midst of her mental turmoil, Pastor Greg continued.
“Well, he’s been away for that time, in a neighborhood church, whose pastor took ill one evening with food poisoning. While they were treating him, they ran some other tests that revealed some troubling physical problems, so Connie Dub here has been filling in as their substitute pastor.”
Pastor got only this far, when Conyer took hold of Pastor Greg’s mic and pulled it toward himself.
“Hi, I have a feeling I’d better do this myself. Thanks, Greg, but I think maybe they’d rather hear about it from the ‘good-looking’ one.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but you go ahead anyway.” When Conyer punched him lightly in the arm, the whole congregation reacted in laughter. Senior Pastor Johnston stood only long enough to come between them, take the mic, and make one comment.
“Just give them a minute to get this out of their systems. They’ve been doing this stuff since they were both in college.”
Wait! They’ve known each other since college?! Did Conyer go to this church and she’d just kept missing him somehow these last months?!
Senior Pastor Johnston took hold of Greg’s shoulder and led him back to their two upholstered seats where the pastors sat during services, minus whichever one of them was teaching that service.
Conyer looked back at Greg, put one arm up and flexed his muscle and fist, obviously making the point that he was the more powerful of the two. The congregation laughed again.
Now, with a serious demeanor, Conyer took a breath and began.
“Yes, my family and friends call me Connie Dub. It actually stands for Connie W.
“In high school, I had a class with another Connie. Her last name was Stimple. So, we became, in that class, Connie S and Connie W. It helped us know who the teacher was calling on.
Connie W? Did he just say his name is Connie W? Connie W?! Her Connie W?!
“I started coming here years ago when my parents died, and my Aunt Tierney became my caregiver and started ‘making’ me come.” He used air quotes around the word making.
“Funny thing is, though, when I got here, I started hanging out with a different crowd. Among them, Greg here, who I didn’t actually meet until I started college and went into the college department Sunday school class.
Looking back at Greg, he said, “This man was my mentor, of sorts. It was through his help that I came to know the Lord. And, it’s been a friendly battle ever since. Usually either with sports or girls. But, now that he has his Marnee, there’s nothing to compete over anymore, other than this mic, which you just saw me masterfully take possession of from him.”
After a number of giggles in the congregation, he continued.
“Those of you who have gone here to Open Door for very long knew my Aunt Tierney. And, you also know that she died a few months ago.
“We were having a great time out one day in town. She was driving, while telling one of the long tall tales from her life. We were both laughing so hard, and I noticed she was swerving. I was reaching over to grab the wheel, and tell her to stop
laughing and pay attention, when I noticed she was grabbing her chest. Long story short, she went to be with Jesus right there in the middle of telling me the funniest story, that if I didn’t know her better, I would have thought she was making up.”
Conyer paused for a moment, took a long breath, then continued.
“As she was clutching her chest, she rammed her foot down and plowed into another car. The driver was hurt so badly, and has just recently gotten out of the hospital, and resumed her life.
He was talking about her!
“The young woman and I were in the hospital for weeks on end. And while I was there, seeing all the hurting people, and several deaths, and feeling quite aware of my own mortality, it was renewed within me that I needed to be sharing Christ with those so longing to know Him, and not even knowing it.
“And, that brings us to why I’m up here this morning.
“I’ll be leading up a short term missions group going to South America to help build a combination church and school, as well as a hospital in a small village. We’ll be gone the next three weeks. Well… the others will be there three weeks. I’ll be staying longer. There’s much work to be done, and the Lord has put me in a position to be able to stay as long as needed.
“I really solicit your prayers. I’ve never led a missions project like this before, and I feel somewhat lost, and we haven’t even left yet.
“We’ll be leaving between this morning’s services. Our international flight leaves at twelve-fifteen p.m.”
Connie W? Connie W?! As in the greeting cards and the beautiful ballerina sculpture?! Aunt Tierney driving that day of the accident?! Not Conyer?! And, possibly all the special meals at the hospital?! Connie Whittier had nothing to do with any of the really special attention she’d gotten back when she was in the hospital?!
Giselle knew her thoughts were coming in spurts. Random in nature, with no logical order. They simply entered her mind at various times without any real bidding.
But, Conyer was still talking and she didn’t want to miss it.