She was on her way to First Church when she saw them before they saw her. She quickly hid behind a dumpster, and watched the three young women walk by her hiding place. Sue trembled as she overheard their foul-mouthed conversation about some boyfriend. She wondered if the police would come to rescue her yet again from these women Sue called “the dirty-mouths.” The last officers had said Sue was calling them too often, and they hadn’t believed that the dirty-mouths were trying to kill Sue. The officers knew that Sue suffered from schizophrenia, and often did not take her medications because she was afraid the pharmacy had switched her meds for something that was making her look like she was Asian. Most of Sue’s fears came from the delusions caused by her schizophrenia, but the dirty-mouths truly did delight in abusing Sue with their filthy talk. They were also the wonderful people who had given Sue her nickname of “Schizo” that was being used by far too many people in Sue’s neighborhood. And, although the dirty-mouths had never caused her any physical harm, who knew when a verbal attack might escalate into something more dangerous? Sue was smart to hide from them.
Then, as if the dirty-mouths were not bad enough, two street thugs came out of a pawn shop to talk to the young women. Sue knew these guys were both mean bullies, and one of them had actually tried to rape her. The police didn’t believe her then either, of course it did not help that Sue reported that it had been several men with knives who had tried to rape her. Sue told the officers that they had stabbed her three times, but of course there was no blood and no wounds to corroborate her story. The officers walked away shaking their heads, and Sue lived in fear that one or both of the street thugs would try it again.
Sue tried to shrink herself behind the dumpster all the more. There was no way that she wanted any of these people to see her.
Sue need not have worried, because the whole group was focused on a young man with one leg slowly working his way up the street on a pair of crutches. Even two blocks away Sue could hear the group’s taunting laughter. The dirty-mouths were calling to him, and asking if he was missing any other body parts. Their lewd comments made Sue sick.
The man was doing his best to ignore the group, but the two thugs decided they had to defend the “honor” of the dirty-mouths who were being ignored by the man. They crossed the street toward the man, and both of them pulled one of his crutches away, leaving the man balancing on his one leg. They carried the crutches across the street and presented them to the dirty-mouths who were cackling with hideous laughter.
Sue was awe-struck by the courage of the man whom she watched hopping across the street on his one good leg. Her heart went out to him when he fell trying to hop onto the sidewalk curb. When the dirty-mouths started poking at the fallen man with his crutches, Sue pulled out the cell phone that her case-worker had given her. It was one of those recycled phones that would only dial 911, but that was the only number Sue wanted right then.
Sue did not identify herself when she made the 911 call, and she was surprised at how quickly the police responded this time. They reclaimed the man’s crutches, and sent away the dirty-mouths and the two bullies. Sue remained hidden, but she sent up a silent cheer as the man passed her, continuing to work his way up the street on his crutches.
It took some time for Sue’s fears to calm enough for her to come out of her hiding place. When she did, she went the long way around the park, just in case the dirty-mouths or the two thugs had managed to make their way back there to hide in waiting to catch Sue out in the open.
She did not feel safe until she got to First Church, where her friends were. At least she thought of them as friends. They did not know what to think of Sue. She told too many tall tales, and they found her very bizarre and hard to understand. Some tried to avoid her altogether, but they mostly treated her kindly because they felt sorry for her.
“Hi,” Sue said to the first lady she saw, “I came for my Christmas box.”
“All the Christmas groceries are in the room down the hall,” the lady answered.
When Sue stepped into the grocery line, she was surprised to see the man with the crutches right ahead of her. “Long line, isn’t it?” she said to the man.
“Uh-huh” was all the shy man managed to say in response.
“You should thank me,” she continued.
Charlie thought she wanted to be thanked for the long line, but still he said, “Thank you.”
“I called the police.”
He looked at her quizzically until it finally dawned on him what she was talking about. “You mean back on Main Street?”
“Yep. I knew you needed some help. They’re horrible people. They want to kill me.”
By now Charlie realized that there was something a little odd about this pretty Asian girl, but he thanked her again anyhow.
“My friends here at the church are always trying to give me free groceries,” Sue volunteered. “I usually don’t take any, but I thought since this was Christmas maybe I should accept their gift.”
Charlie did not have a clue what she expected him to say in response. So, he just gave her another, “Uh-huh.” Then an idea came to him, and he asked, “You’re a member of this church, then?”
“Oh yeah. I’ve been coming here maybe five or six weeks.”
This time, he had no idea what to say. So he just stared at the line ahead of him.
“They don’t know that I make lots of money as a professional singer.”
“You’re a singer?”
“Yeah, I sing mostly opera, and I make a little on the side doing television commercials.”
“Can we hear you sing something?” another voice asked.
Unknown to the two young people, the church’s choir director had been folding boxes within earshot of their conversation. Always on the look-out for new choir members, he encouraged the surprised Sue again, “Sing something for us.”
Sue, who had never sung anything professionally in her life, did not know any operatic songs, but she did know several jingles from television commercials. And so suddenly a beautiful, strong alto voice began belting out one TV jingle after another.
“You’re hired!” the choir director declared emphatically. “Our choir is doing the Christmas cantata in just two weeks, and do you know how many altos we have in our choir?” He held up the fingers of both hands to form a big zero. “So, how about helping us out?”
“You want me to sing in your choir?”
“You bet I do!”
Unfortunately, being the church’s choir director had never allowed him the freedom to meet new people in the church. He was always busy with the comings and goings of the choir. Otherwise, he would have certainly given a lot more thought before he asked this rather bizarre-acting Asian woman to sing a major part in the church’s cantata.
Never at a loss for giving people unexpected answers, Sue said, “I can’t be in the choir unless my boyfriend comes with me.”
Charlie was surprised to see Sue’s finger pointing at him as the boyfriend. Not knowing what to say, he said nothing.
“Bring him along,” the choir director agreed. “We rehearse again this Wednesday, 7:00, in the church’s choir room. I always start on time, so don’t be late.” With that said, he disappeared with his stack of boxes.
“Did you write that down?” Sue asked Charlie. “Wednesday, 7:00, in the church choir room.”
Charlie had never had a girl-friend before, but he kind of liked the idea. Sue was about as strange as they came, but she was very pretty. And, best of all, he would not have to go through all the agony of working up the courage of asking her to be his girl-friend – she had already assumed that role. So, Charlie pulled a magic marker from his pocket, and wrote on the back of his hand, “Wed 7 ch chr rm.” He showed his hand to Sue, and it seemed to satisfy her.
As they waited for their turn to get their Christmas groceries, Sue told Charlie about when she drove groceries across country in an eighteen-wheeler, and when she worked as a gardener for several Hollywood movie stars, and about her time in the Air Force when she refused to fly in a plane because she was afraid of heights. Yes, Charlie’s new girl-friend seemed rather bizarre, but she was growing on him. She was nice, and she did not seem to care that he had only one leg, and did I mention that she was quite pretty too?
Charlie was not even upset when the church people told him his name was not on their list to receive groceries. So what if he did not have anything for Christmas dinner. He had a girlfriend! And, he had a date with her, or at least what seemed like a date even if it did involve rehearsing with a choir. In Charlie’s mind, he had moved into the big-time!
Wednesday came, and Charlie spent the day trying to get ready for his date with his new girlfriend. This was not easy, because Charlie was living under a bridge. The fire, that had destroyed his home, killed his parents, taken his leg, and nearly killed him, had also left him unable to work and destitute. Government checks were promised, but were still a long way from arriving.
He spent the first part of the day pan-handling for change at the main intersection of town. It took from the morning rush hour through the lunch hour for Charlie to get enough money to buy a bar of soap and have enough to take Sue to eat at a fast-food restaurant near the church. After buying the bar of soap, he used it to give himself a bath in the river. The water was so cold that he had to keep warming himself by the little fire he had built for the purpose. After getting himself clean, he started washing his only set of clothes.
His clothes were still drying by the fire, when a man came down to river and spotted Charlie naked. Charlie thought this surely meant trouble, but the man just shook his head and headed downriver to fish.
Charlie thought his blue-jeans would never dry. He ended up putting them on still a little wet, because he could tell it was getting late. Then he made his way slowly to the building where Sue had told him she lived.
He knocked on her door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. A third knock was greeted by the same silence.
“You looking for Schizo?” a small boy idly tossing his ball against the front of the apartment building called out.
“No, I’m here for Sue.”
“Yeah, same person,” the boy answered. “But nobody calls her Sue. Everybody knows her as Schizo. She’s crazy as a fruitcake.”
Charlie was too new at this boyfriend business to know whether to shout at the kid for calling his girlfriend a name. Besides, she was so bizarre that she just might like being called Schizo. So he just asked, “Do you know where she is?”
“She’s so crazy she could be anywhere, but I know she spends a lot of time at the library.”
Charlie turned to head to the library, just as Sue walked up.
“Hi. What are you doing here?” she asked Charlie.
“Today’s Wednesday. You have a choir rehearsal at 7:00 in the church choir room.”
Charlie was glad he had memorized the reminder on the back of his hand, because it had washed off in the river.
“Great! Let’s go,” Sue said. They got to rehearsal late. Charlie could tell some of the people, including the choir director were bothered by this. He quickly sat down in the corner, as the choir director pointed Sue to a chair in front. He was relieved to finally be inside where he could thaw out after his bath and laundry day, but he could not believe what he heard Sue saying next.
“My boyfriend has to sing too,” she demanded.
Charlie shook his head vehemently to let Sue know he did not want to sing, but she ignored him.
“If he doesn’t sing, I don’t sing.”
“There’s an extra seat in the men’s section,” the choir director answered.
“No, he always wants to sit next to me,” Sue corrected. “Don’t worry though he doesn’t sing very loud.”
Charlie liked the idea of sitting next to Sue, and not singing very loud – more likely not singing at all. So he quickly moved to the extra chair squeezed in next to where Sue was to sit. Several noses turned up as Charlie moved to his seat. Apparently some of the ladies were not used to the smell of river water and campfire smoke.
With Sue and Charlie finally seated, the rehearsal began again. When Sue started singing everyone forgot the late arrival and Charlie’s aroma. She sang like an angel. The whole choir smiled as they practiced the cantata. Sue made the rest of them sound really good. After rehearsal, choir members enthusiastically huddled around Sue, asking where she had been hiding and saying that she had the most beautiful voice.
Sue loved it, and Charlie loved it because Sue loved it. They were both very happy as they headed off to the burger-rama. Charlie proudly paid with the money he had collected that morning. Sue talked about all kinds of crazy things. Charlie, famished from not eating all day, finished Sue’s fries when she said she couldn’t eat anything yellow or orange because food those colors made her skin look Asian. She also explained how she had stopped taking the pills the pharmacy had given her because they were making her look Asian too. Charlie just smiled, and thought to himself that she might just be the most beautiful Asian woman he had ever seen. The evening ended perfectly, because they were going out one door at the burger-rama just as the dirty-mouths were coming in the other door. They made a clean exit, without being seen.
The next Wednesday’s rehearsal went pretty much the same. Charlie smelled like river water and campfire smoke again, and Sue wowed all the choir again with her stunning voice. After the rehearsal, a man who had not been there the previous week approached Charlie.
“I was wondering if you needed a place to stay. My wife and I have extra bedrooms at our house, and you would be welcome to stay with us for a while.”
As the man talked to him, Charlie realized that this was the same man who had seen Charlie bathing and washing his clothes under the bridge the previous week.
“Thank you, but I’ve got my own place already,” Charlie replied trying to cover up his embarrassment that the man knew Charlie was so poor that he was living under a bridge.
“It would be a lot easier to wash your clothes at our house, and take a hot shower too. Weather’s turning colder this week,” the man volunteered. “And your girlfriend would be welcome to stay too. We’ve got two extra bedrooms.”
“No, she’s got a really nice apartment,” Charlie answered.
“Let me level with you,” the man said confidentially. “My wife would be thrilled to be able to tell everyone that the boyfriend of the best singer in our cantata was staying at our house. You’d be doing us a big favor.”
The idea of staying in out of the cold was very tempting to Charlie, but his parents had taught him to always stand on his own two feet. It was bad enough to have to beg for money to get by, but this seemed a bit too much for him. But then the man had said that Charlie would be doing him and his wife a favor by staying with them. And it would only be until the government checks came through.
The man could tell that Charlie was weakening, so he added, “Besides, we’re fellow choir members now. We have to look out for each other.” “Fellow choir members,” Charlie thought. The man made it sound like he wanted to be friends with Charlie. It would probably be alright to accept a little help from a friend, Charlie decided.
And that is how Charlie happened to be in the basement bedroom of his new friend’s house on Saturday night when breaking glass woke Charlie from sleep. He laid quietly in bed as two men crawled through the basement window. Apparently they had not expected someone to be sleeping in the basement. They had no idea that anyone was in the bed they were sneaking past, and never saw the crutch coming at them as Charlie took them out with just two swings.
His fellow choir member happily offered to replace the crutch Charlie broke over the burglars’ heads. The police were thrilled to catch the two men in the act of breaking and entering, because they had suspected these two were responsible for the rash of burglaries in the neighborhood, but had never been able to catch them in the act. And Charlie felt vindicated as the two men who had stolen his crutches a week and a half earlier were led off to jail.
On Sunday morning, when Sue heard what had happened she kissed Charlie right on the mouth. When the congregation heard what had happened, Charlie was an instant hero. People actually came up to him, and said how happy they were to have a real, live hero in their church. And then, when the cantata started with Sue singing her heart out, the whole church sat mesmerized. Never had such beautiful music filled their church. It was like someone had opened a door to heaven, and the angels could be heard singing. And it wasn’t just Sue’s voice that was so stunning, but the whole choir who had been energized as never before. All it had taken was one young Asian woman who had sung with complete abandon and with every bit of energy in her body. She had inspired everyone to give their very best, which they did with an absolutely beautiful effect. God had been praised as never before in this place, and the whole congregation leapt to their feet with a standing ovation of applause that added their praise to God and their appreciation for the choir’s outstanding effort.
The whole morning was absolutely perfect, until Sue saw the dirty-mouths standing right there in her church. “What are they doing here?” she shouted, as she grabbed the front of Charlie’s shirt and pulled him toward them. She rushed over to where they were sitting, with Charlie hurrying on his new crutches to keep up with her.
“Do you see this man here?” Sue shouted at the three surprised women. “This is my boyfriend, and if he hears just one dirty word come out of your mouths, or if you say anything even slightly nasty to me or anyone else, he will take out all three of you like he took out the two meanest snakes in our town. He sent them both off to jail, after he had beaten them senseless! If you don’t want the same, you had better clean up your acts!”
The dirty-mouths turned and left the church – without saying a word.
Two of the church’s ushers came over when they heard Sue shouting. So, Charlie decided he had to explain. “You know that passage from Zephaniah that was read in church today? It’s true. It is all true. I’ve never even heard of this Zephaniah before, but he sure was right about God. God really does lift up those who are beaten down and feeling ashamed. He rescues the lame and gathers the outcasts, and fills them with honor and praise. My girlfriend and I are living proof that this is exactly what God does. Now where can I find some more of this Zephaniah guy’s writing? I want to hear what that fellow has to say, because he is one guy who has his head on straight!
Questions for Meditation, Discussion or Preaching
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
