Sunday again! Today I went to church with dad. When we arrived at the church no one was there. Dad opened the side door and we went in. It was very dark and smelt a bit odd. It was quite cold. There are long seats everywhere and stairs that go up to where dad speaks, like a tower. You can see everything if you stand up there and the people look like they are far away. There are no snacks or drinks in dad’s church. Dad says the people don’t like to hang around. But dad bought me breakfast pancakes from McDonald’s so I sat on the big steps with carpet on them and ate them there. A lady came in and said good morning but then starred at me. “You can’t sit there,” she said, “You might spill that.” So she moved me to the side on to the hard seats. She said, “You can smell that throughout the church!” I smiled at her. I was pleased she liked the nice smell. Pancakes and syrup do smell lovely. Mum says it’s important to have a house that smells nice when people come to visit. That’s why she spends so much on fancy candles that smell of cherries or lemonade.
After I’d eaten some of my pancakes I went to find dad and he was setting up microphones. I climbed up to the tower and accidently kicked over a glass of water that was lying on the floor. That was a silly place to leave it, I thought. Dad said I should go and count all the long seats. I thought it might be fun to see if I could climb over them. They did remind me of hurdles on a racing track. I began to count them but that lady shouted at me to get down. So I went back to dad in the tower. More people were arriving but it was still very quiet. Dad took me out to the front door and said good morning as people arrived. There was a huge stair case there and I didn’t know where it went. I kept trying to get away from dad but he was holding my hand tight. He said it was dangerous up there so I couldn’t go. I wanted to see what he meant. But then he took me back inside and sat me at the front on the hard seats. There were not many people there and no one sat next to me. I looked around and there was a girl sitting right at the back of the church in a corner with an old lady. I waved to her and she smiled at me. I wondered if she had brought a snack too.
We sang a song I didn’t know and I couldn’t hear the words to understand what they were saying. Dad spoke and said a prayer. I could understand him but it was getting a bit boring. I wondered when the fun things would begin? There was more singing and then someone read from a huge bible on a stand. I’d never seen a bible that size before and went to have a closer look. Dad shook his head and told me to sit down, so I just sat on the big step at the front. Then there was another song so I decided I would go and see the girl at the back. She was bigger than me and was very quiet. I said hello and she just smiled. One man asked if I wanted to make a paper airplane and he showed me how to make it with a bit of paper with writing on it. I took it back to the front to show dad. I needed to tell him that I had to go to the toilet. He said he needed to do something when the singing stopped and that I’d need to wait a little while. He seemed a bit annoyed so I went over to the hard seats and ate some more of my pancakes. I noticed something hanging off the side of the seat and tried to see if it would go back in. Then that lady came over to me wagging her finger at me. “You’re a very naughty boy,” she said, “you’re not allowed to touch things in church and you have to learn to sit still and be quiet.” Dad was speaking but he walked down from the tower, took my hand and led me up the steps with him. I sat on the tower floor until he was finished. Afterwards there was another song and dad took me out to the toilet and said it wouldn’t be long until we were finished.
At the end, that lady came over to dad and said she was very angry with him because I didn’t behave. I was a bit scared because she was very loud. Dad told her off and then took me out. I wanted to go home to mum but we had to go to another church. When we arrived there were lots of people there. A lady asked if I wanted a biscuit and a drink but I told her I was full. A man asked if I wanted to see how the music worked and said I could help him move the buttons. That seemed fun. There’s no tower in that church and at the beginning dad had all the kids up at the front for a game. Everyone was laughing. Dad reminded us about how we need to help one another; then all the kids went to the big hall with some leaders. Afterwards, we had drinks and snacks and all the adults got to join us too. We played hide and seek and went out to the garden too.
When we got home, mum asked how it was. “I liked the good church,” I said. I turned to dad and asked, “Am I not allowed back in the other church dad?” Mum looked at dad. “You’re allowed in any church, son,” he said.
