The Masked Saint Page #2

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more than we can handle.

In the interview, they said they

wanted a fighter, didn't they?

- Literally or figuratively?

- I think in your case, they're

getting a little bit of both.

- Got it!

- Oh...

- She gets that from you!

- Here you go, Piper.

Mom, where are we?

- Doesn't look that bad!

- Gotta trust His plan, right?

- Yeah!

- Yeah.

- Are we there, yet?

- Soon, Carrie.

Right, hon?

- I...

think so...

- You think so or you know?

- Uh... that's a "think so."

I don't really know

where we're going.

- Nice guy, thinks he can drive

in the middle of the road!

Ask and ye shall receive.

It looks huge.

Come on, Piper, we're here!

Can you believe it?!

- You're good?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Alright.

- Pastor Chris,

Mrs. Samuels,

welcome to Westside!

Come on in! Hi!

Hi, I'm Tim McDonald,

Westside's treasurer.

Takes me a little

while, sorry about that.

- Hello, Mr. Treasurer!

- Hello! You must be Carrie!

Hi, I'm Tim.

- Hi, nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Can I go play in the snow?

- Oh, I... Is she

alright in the courtyard?

- Absolutely!

- Of course, sweetie.

I'll be out in a second.

- OK!

- OK, let's go!

- Oh, wow!

It's beautiful.

- Yeah.

- Let me introduce you to...

Is everything OK?

- Yeah, everything's fine, Tim.

- Perfect, actually.

- Fantastic, then.

Let me introduce

you to Mrs. Beasley,

our choir leader

and finance chairperson.

- Oh, he's younger

than I thought he'd be!

And all bunged up too!

- My wife and I look forward to

working with you, Mrs. Beasley.

- No, only on Wednesdays.

- I'm sorry?

- Why?!

- Sorry, Chris,

Mrs. Beasley doesn't

understand things

so well anymore.

- That, there, is my organ.

- I hope you like

the sound of screeching cats,

'cause that's our choir.

They give a whole new meaning

to "make a joyful

noise to the Lord."

- I'm outta here.

- Meow!

Judd Lumpkin.

You must be the new

pastor the search committee

was so hasty to approve

while I was away on business!

I hope you last

longer than the last two.

I do lighting.

- Uh, pardon me?

- I own Lumpkin Lighting.

Out, just in Tennessee

with a big-name rock band

that rhymes with "The Bones."

Yeah, we gave 'em a great show

for the tour. Pa-pa-pa-pa!!

You want tickets? I can get tickets!

- Uh, I don't think...

- Uh, Judd, Judd, this

is Pastor Chris Samuels

and his wife, Michelle.

- Nice to meet you, Mr. Lumpkin.

- Call me Judd,

unless we're in court!

Saw your daughter

in the parking lot

with that little rat.

Needs to be on a leash.

- Oh, well... well,

she is and...

and Piper's actually

a really well-behaved dog.

- Oh yeah, well... I don't wanna tell you how

to run your church, Mrs. Samuels, no, no, no.

But I will! Haha! I'm the

chairman of the board, here!

And I'm also Westside's

biggest supporter.

- Well, I hope there's

a lot of church supporters.

- Not recently,

if you catch my drift.

- Yeah.

- The leg! How's the leg doing?

I mean, you look pretty fit otherwise.

You think you'd be ready for rec league?

- Rec league...?

- Oh, come on, wh...

God gave us the Bible

and basketball, son,

ya know?! Starts in a couple of

weeks and I need some fresh blood.

Nothin' wrong with the townies, here.

No offense, Tiny Tim. But you,

you look like an athlete, huh!

- Yeah, I just, uh... - Excellent! OK, Tim,

make sure they get to the house

alright. It's beautiful!

One of my investment properties

that I loan to the church.

One of the perks of being me!

Adioso!

- And that was Judd!

- That blowhard gone?

- Here's Westside's books;

Among other things, it shows

how behind we are

on maintenance,

a recent drop in attendance

and our tithes, which

we have very little of.

- We should change that.

- What are you thinking?

- Well, when I was in seminary,

they taught us when a pastor moves

into a new church, he should

go out in the neighborhood

and introduce himself.

Maybe bring in some new members.

- In THIS neighborhood?

Good luck with that!

- I think it's a great idea,

Chris, I will go with you.

Is there somewhere

we can leave Carrie?

At daycare, or..?

- Well, Mrs. Samuels,

you're looking

at the church board here.

We're a little understaffed.

- Well, maybe that's

something I can change.

- That would be

wonderful. In the meantime,

Miss Edna can look after Carrie

for you, she'd be delighted.

- Miss Edna?

- She's one of our church's

greatest supporters.

- Like Judd...?

- Oh, better than that Lumpkin!

- Some strange man

just called Piper a rat!

- Oh, come here,

sweetie, it's OK.

Have a little faith

Feel His mercy and compassion

Have a little faith...

- Is this the place?

- This is the address

Tim gave me.

- Oh!

Hello! Hello, Pastor Chris!

- Hello!

- I'm Miss Edna Clark; Everybody

likes to call me Miss Edna.

Please, come in, come in.

- Is it OK if the dog comes?

- Every creature is

welcome in my home.

- Thank you.

- Dollhouse! Cool!

- So you're saying the church

hasn't been able

to support itself in years?

- Well, Judd is the only

thing supporting that church.

But, unfortunately, Judd is also

the reason our congregation

has fallen to less than half.

Nobody can stand that man.

- Maybe Judd needs

an attitude adjustment.

- Chris! Um...

you'll have

to excuse my husband, Miss Edna,

sometimes, he forgets

he's a pastor now.

- My husband and I gave

everything we had

to Westside Baptist and,

when the pastorship opened

again, I asked Tim:

Please, Tim, find us a fighter!

- That was you!

- That was me.

You forgot your umbrella.

- Thank you.

- So, go find some lost souls.

- We will.

- Bye, guys!

- Bye!

- Let's go play with the dollhouse,

Miss Edna. - It's a deal, come on.

- Should we do this

the old school way?

- Door to door, baby.

- Ha!

I don't think it's gonna rain.

I told you it would rain.

- Yeah.

Hi, I'm Pastor Chris, this is

my wife, Michelle. We're from

Westside Baptist. We're

having service on...

That was fun!

- There's bound to be

at least one family

around here that wants

to greet us!

- Yeah.

Hi, I'm Pastor Chris,

this is my wife

Michelle. We're

from Westside Baptist!

Hi, I'm Chris Samuels,

this is my wife, Michelle.

The new pastor, Westside

Baptist. We're just

in the neighborhood

and we thought that...

Well, that was successful!

- Just means there is

still work to be done.

Alright!

- No.

- What?

- My leg's killing me.

I just... it's just...

it's raining,

can we just... I'm spent.

Can we just call it a day?

- Have we really tried our best?

Hm? Miss Edna said

she wanted a fighter!

OK, fine,

one more.

See? No one's home.

- I think someone's in there.

- Who are you?

- Hi, I'm Pastor Chris Samuels

and this is my...

- Hi! I'm Michelle and

this is my husband Chris.

He just became pastor

at Westside Baptist church.

- We don't go there anymore.

- That's OK,

we just wanted to introduce

ourselves to the neighborhood.

- Alright, then.

Come on and sit if you want.

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