Chapter 4

Although Alicia didn’t find humor when her daughter asked, “If Wendon only has one church, and happens to be named the First Southern Baptist Church of Wendon, isn’t that kind of overkill? Heck, Mom, we don’t even have a Methodist church, let alone a second Baptist church. After all, Alicia had to live with the knowledge of her father hanging himself in the church, and her mother was forced to move from Corbin when her two children were young.

“Milly, your humor isn’t necessary. I never wish to hear you making satirical comments about our Lord’s House again. What if our leader, Dr. Leonard Willis, our church’s President at our convention, should hear you making such mocking comments? What would you tell him if he asked you the basis for your sardonic humor about our faith?” and with a stinging slap, Alicia Suggs slapped her daughter across her nearly naked buttocks.

Smiling in her youthful manner, Milly remarked, “Augh, Mom, don’t slap my butt. I’m a teenager, and parents don’t slap adult children. But in reply to your question, why I’d asked President Willis, why is it that I see a Baptist Church called the ‘First Baptist Church’ in almost every town we visit or drive through.”