Excerpt
From Chapter NINE

More students moved into Snowy Mountain Hall that Sunday afternoon.

But Sandy felt restless in her spirit. She had to see her sister Sally. And Dotty wished her Godspeed.
Sandy took off in her pale green 1970 Ford sedan and drove a dozen blocks to Olive Street. Soon she was knocking on the basement door.

No answer.

She heard a stir inside and saw the curtains move. Someone was home. Sandy double checked the letter. She had the right address.

“Sally?” asked a male voice from above.

Sandy twitched.

For a second, she thought it was God talking to her. She looked up and saw a young man at the top of the stairs.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

The kid had a kind face. He was tall, blond, and cute.

“Sally is my sister.” Sandy felt assured that she was at the right address.

“I didn’t know Sally had a sister.” The boy returned a pleasant smile.

“Easy mistake. We look very much alike.” Sandy stared back with big brown eyes as she walked up the stairs.

Both Sandy and Sally had light brown hair with blonde highlights. They often wore their hair alike. And they used to wear each other’s clothes.

“Twins?” the boy asked.

“No, Sally’s a year older.”
“Hi.” The teenager offered a hand. “I’m Aaron Renfrew.”

“Sandy Bennett.” They shook in the driveway. “Do you know where Sally is?”

“Thought you would know.” Aaron wrinkled his forehead.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.” Sandy cocked her head. “You two friends or something?”

“I wish. Saw her the other day. Helped her with her groceries.”

“Is she okay?”

“She looked well enough...as far as I could tell.”

“That’s a relief.” Sandy asked, “Did you meet her roommates?”

“She clammed up when I asked about them.” Aaron raised his blond eyebrows. “But she let it slip they were guys.”

Sandy hummed.

Now, some of Sally’s caution made sense. Dad would go ballistic if he ever found out that one of his girls was shacking up.

Then Aaron asked, “Wish to meet my family?”

“Erm—” But Sandy thought it could buy her some time. Perhaps she would spot Sally coming or going from the basement apartment.

Who knows? The upstairs neighbors might have more information.
...

“It’s good to meet you, Sandy—” Pastor Bill Renfrew invited her inside after the two exchanged some brief pleasantries on the doorstep. “I didn’t catch your last name.”

“Because I didn’t give it.” Sandy flashed her teeth.

Pastor Renfrew grinned back. “Well, you’re here. Praise the Lord!”

“Are you Pentecostal?” Sandy asked.

Pastor Renfrew stared back and blinked a few times.

“We freely say, Praise the Lord, like you just did in my church,” Sandy said. “You’ve just got to be Pentecostal.”
Pastor Renfrew had been accused of being many things. But being Pentecostal? That wasn’t one of them.
Meanwhile, Aaron stifled a chuckle.

He thought he would never see the day that someone rendered his father speechless. He could fall in love with this girl.

Then Aaron broke the uncomfortable silence. “My father is pastor of The New Testament Fundamentalist Temple.”

“I’ve heard of Fundamentalists.” Sandy nodded knowingly. “We have them back home in my neck of the woods.”

Then Sandy felt more eyes staring at her. Two pair of baby blues. A teenage boy and girl, both blond, both wearing wide grins.

Pastor Renfrew rattled off, “Then you must know we are a Bible believing, Bible teaching, Bible preaching, fundamental, evangelical, pre-millennial, New Testament church.”

Sandy actually knew what all those words meant. Yet she didn’t trust anyone that used long strings of adjectives to describe themselves.

Mrs. Renfrew slipped out of the kitchen, wearing an apron over a brown skirt. “We’re just an iddy, biddy, baby church.”

“An iddy, biddy, New Testament church?” Sandy asked.

Pastor Renfrew gave a firm nod. “Just like the early church in the New Testament.”

“Oh, really?” Sandy tucked her chin. “Did anyone die?”

The Renfrews returned puzzled looks.

“So, you’re claiming you’re just like the early church in the New Testament?” Sandy asked.

“Absolutely.” Bill Renfrew squared his shoulders.

“If you knew your Bible, you’d know all about Ananias and Sapphira in the early church.” Sandy recounted the familiar story in The Book of Acts. “And God struck them dead for lying to the Holy Spirit.”

Aaron chuckled. “Well, this girl knows her Bible.”

Sandy smirked. “Not only do I know my Bible, but I’m Pentecostal and I’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit and I talk in tongues. There you have it.”

After the initial shock, the Renfrews were ready for her. They knew they were face-to-face with another apostate whom the Lord had sent their way to straightened out.

“I need to get back to the dorm.” Sandy looked at her watch before the Renfrews had a chance to start round two. “But will you let me know if you see Sally?”

“Sure, if you tell us how to contact you.” Pastor raised his eyebrows. And Sandy knew what he was thinking.

“Just leave a note for Sandy Bennett at the front desk of Snowy Mountain Hall,” Sandy said. “They’ll put it in my mailbox.”

“We have a girl in our church that’s living there,” Mrs. Renfrew spoke up. “Would you care to meet her?”

“Not really.” Sandy turned to the door.

She didn’t want to deal with these people. But, then again, she would do most anything to help her sister. Even put up with this.

She thought Aaron was cute, even though he was younger than her.

But not that much younger.