The Great Good Summer by Liz Garton Scanlon

Author:Liz Garton Scanlon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beach Lane Books

Here’s how the research portion of our adventure goes:

I open up Mama’s phone.

(Yes, her phone is the kind you have to open up. The kind with actual buttons instead of a touch screen. “Smart people shouldn’t need smartphones,” according to Mama.)

So I open up the phone and I dial 411, which is what smart people without smartphones do to find other people’s phone numbers.

After the computer determines that I want service in English instead of Spanish, an operator answers.

“What city and state, please?”

“Tallahassee, Florida,” I say.

“How can I help you?” she asks.

I pause a second and then give it a try. “Do you have the number for The Great Good Bible Church of Panhandle Florida?” I say.

“I do not,” she says, which is what I expected. But I couldn’t just not ask, could I? “Would you like another listing?” she asks, almost sounding sorry.

“Yes,” I say. “Yes. I guess I’m looking for a Baptist church.”

“I find a number of Baptist churches,” says the operator. And then she lists them. “Bradfordville First Baptist Church. Celebration Baptist Church. First Baptist Church. Highpoint Baptist Church. Immanuel Baptist Church . . .” She goes on and on, in alphabetical order. I scrawl them down in Paul’s spiral notebook as quick as I can. I mean, my handwriting’s barely legible even when I’m sitting at a school desk, and this bus is no help at all.

“Would you like the number for one of the churches I’ve listed?” asks the operator, and I say, “Yes, I’ll try First Baptist Church.” I just say that ’cause it seems like “First” is a good place to start.

And then a computer connects me. My face flushes hot, and I lick my lips and the bus rolls on as I listen to the phone ring at the First Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida. We are heading in that direction, I think, but we don’t even know if that’s where we want to be.

“Greetings,” says the voice on the other end of the line. “First Baptist.”

“Oh, um, well, hi,” I say.

Dear God, I did not expect someone to pick up the phone.

“May I help you, ma’am?” she says, which makes me less panicky because she apparently thinks I’m a grown-up!

“Yes, I hope so. We’re looking for a church. The Great Good Bible Church of Panhandle Florida,” I say. And the woman doesn’t say anything when I pause. So to help her out, I say, “We were wondering if you know of it.”

“Is it in Tallahassee?” she asks. But before she lets me answer, she says, “It can’t be in Tallahassee, ’cause I would’ve heard of it, and I’ve never heard of it.”

“Oh. Well. Okay, thanks.”

It’s discouraging, during the research portion of an adventure, to hang up without any new information at all. And, especially, to repeat this particular portion of the research portion again and again. I call back and ask the operator to connect me to Immanuel Baptist Church. And then Northwoods Baptist Church, which I think is kind of funny since we’re in the South.

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