Getting Lost

     Wellll....that sure didn't go as planned.

     We were supposed to head down to Sallisaw(about an hour south) tonight for a special re-do of that award-winning "Everything" silent skit for the dessert theatre fundraiser for a revival.

     We get there to our takeoff point of the BCM basement just before five, set to leave at 5:20, except a couple people are late. So we play ping pong and nervously check all the props while waiting. They get there, and we discover we've lost two of the most important props, a huge wad of fake cash and a beer bottle. So we have to make a quick detour to Dollar Tree for the money and the other half of us go to Wal-Mart, buying a six-pack of root beer. Then we head out, Justin and Ja Li Si in his truck, Susan, Elizabeth, Bubba Jacob and me in Becca's car, and Caleb and some random girl none of us really know riding with Holly. It would probably be a pretty drive, if it wasn't so dark and foggy...lots of twists and hills and curves and trees, mostly in the middle of nowhere.

     We make it to Sallisaw about 6:30, giving us half an hour to find the church and get set. Easy enough. Except we can't find the address on our phone's maps. So we drive through town, inspecting churches, stopping in three parking lots that are the wrong ones. It would be a really cool town to explore around in, like on a Saturday or something. So finally we talk Bubba Jacob into calling the pastor, who gives some very confusing directions that sounded really simple. "At Wal-Mart, turn right onto Maple and then drive a ways, then another right." So we hunt down Maple, and begin searching again....it's raining pretty hard by now, and we find ourselves in a neighborhood that looks pretty sketchy.

     "Um....let's try that one?" someone says on seeing a parking lot next to a church that turns out to be the Assembly of God. "So, now what?" Becca asks. "Uh....we ask somebody here, I guess. There's lights on." Susan and I both say at about the same time. "I'm not doin' it." Elizabeth says firmly. "I'll do it...but I'm not going by myself," again, we say about the same time. (We're in a strange place, in a strange town, and things look kinda scary. And it's VERY DARK.) So Susan and I walk up to the doors and try them. They're locked. Knocking on the window brings two construction-worker type guys who stare somewhat alarmed. (Susan's already in costume as Death, using the Killer's robes.)
     "Hi. We were wondering if you've ever heard of this church, and would you know how to get there?" One of the guys says, "Uh...well, no, I've never heard of it. But there's a Baptist church near the firehouse down there..." "Okay, thanks, we'll try that."

    We relay this information to Justin and Ja Li Si, and promptly lose them at this gas station called Cox's Corner Store. "This place looks....sorta dangerous. I don't think I like it here..." Elizabeth says, Bubba Jacob agreeing. The rest of us disagree. "No....I've seen much worse." "You have no idea...." The church near the firehouse turns out to be First Baptist, which is very much the wrong one.
     Finally Bubba Jacob volunteers to go ask the clerk for directions, and comes back with this report: "Well, he had no idea, said he'd never heard of the place, but there's apparently supposed to be this church that used to be called 'Blood Baptist Church' down here, maybe that's it, they were supposed to have had a name change." "Blood Baptist Church??!!!" "Yeah, like, Christ's blood, y'know?" "Uh...well, yes....but...." "I don't like this..."
     We follow this new rabbit trail several miles out of town, pass three extremely empty and rather burned-out buildings that used to be churches. "Umm....you were right, Wes....this has been an adventure....I just didn't want to admit you were right," Elizabeth mutters. "I don't really like it at all....feels like we're in a horror movie." Still nothing but empty bare blackness. "We gotta turn around, as soon as possible. We're in the middle of nowhere, and there is nothing out here." Becca says. "I'm starving!" Susan complains. "Me too." Elizabeth adds. "So am I! And it does feel like a horror movie..."
     Regroup back at the gas station, we've now been searching fruitlessly for an hour and fifteen minutes. Quick vote, five for giving up and getting something to eat, none for trying to get to this place. We tell the others, they gratefully agree, sick of driving in circles. "This is so frustrating....but it's almost funny, too..." Bubba Jacob says. "Yes!" "I'm sure we'll, like, look back and laugh at this later..." "We're laughing right now." "Yeah, cause we're so mad."

    We get food and make the return drive back to Tahlequah, blasting the radio and singing "Don't Stop Believing" spontaneously(which was awesome.) Much quiet, then we turn the radio back on to K95 and sing along quietly to the songs we know. It seemed like something Sam and I would have dragged Josh and Dylan into, or if at camp that Jon would have masterminded, with Jed and Amanda jumping onto and pulling a couple others along. The more things change, the more some stay the same...
     We drop our stuff off at the BCM building, then collapse our separate ways as we halfheartedly try somewhat to finish homework. James texts me after Bubba Jacob explains what happened while dropping the props inside, "Well, how was the road trip?" "Eh....it was interesting."

     There's a lesson in here somewhere...I'm just too worn-out right now to find it. Probably it's "Don't accept spontaneous invitations on two days' notice without careful planning!" But "Deliverance Baptist Church" either is invisible, or it doesn't actually exist.