The church that my family attended while I was growing up in Vermont was a one-room church up in the hills. It had creaky wood floors, creakier pews, and because there was no running water the only bathroom was an evil smelling outhouse. The church itself had thin walls and a high ceiling so the heater couldn’t keep up with the cold in the wintertime. I remember Sunday services when nobody took off their coats or hats, and we could see the preacher’s breath as he gave the message. The Pastor, Glen Bingham, was one of the last of the circuit riders. He had multiple churches and every Sunday he would preach at each one in turn. Then after the service he would run out the door to get to the next one.
In the winter time Pastor Bingham wore a huge fur hat. It was the sort somebody in Siberia might wear- outlandishly furry and with ear flaps tied up. When he would clomp into the church on Sundays he would put his hat and jacket on a table in the back directly behind where I sat.
I was just a boy then, and so I often had little toys in my pockets. On one particular Sunday I had brought along a small, plastic figurine of Dale from the chipmunk duo, Chip and Dale, and the idea came to me that it would be a fun experiment to see if I could secret Dale behind one of Pastor Bingham’s ear flaps on one Sunday and see if it would come back to me the next. So when the pastor wasn’t looking, I snuck Dale under one of the ear flaps on his hat. I can remember watching with nervous curiosity as he put the hat on. He didn’t seem to notice the stowaway.
All that week I wondered about Dale. "What if he puts the ear flaps down?"
But when the next Sunday rolled around I snaked my finger in behind the warm furry ear flap and produced Dale...my brave intrepid traveler. He made it!!!
