Boweaver had caused Junior to start going to Sunday School with his stories about Miss Holloman and the Christmas pocketknives.
After accidentally attending Sunday School every Sunday for a full year, Boweaver found that Miss Holloman, the superintendent, gave little parties every Christmas with rewards to pupils with good attendance records. In cases of perfectly attending boys, the reward was a big pocketknife, with three blades, a can opener, a bottle opener and a screwdriver.
Boweaver and Junior decided that such a pocketknife every year would be well worth the sacrifice of Sunday mornings. So once a week, rain or shine, they walked up Main Street for Sunday School lessons and points for the prize.
They kept it up for three years, and it began to look to officials of the church that Boweaver and Junior were prime prospects for full-fledged religion.
Technical maneuvering was necessary first. This consisted of having Boweaver and Junior answer before the congregation – that portion of the congregation that could be salvaged from movies and baseball on Sunday afternoon – as to their reasons for wanting to become Grade A Southern Baptists.
When the stage was set, the preacher asked Boweaver how and why he felt he had received the call. Boweaver, always a step ahead with the books, gave the right answers.
When Junior's turn came, his mind went blank, but he recovered enough to stammer that "where Boweaver went" he "wanted to go."
The preacher didn't exactly smile at that. He retreated to the end of the room and entered into quiet conversation with Miss Holloman and several others.
Returning from his conference, he again addressed the younger boy.
"Junior, are you saying you want to join church just because Boweaver is joining, or are you saying you want to join for the same reasons as Boweaver?"
Junior sensed the offer of a lifeline, and grabbed it. "The same reasons," he said. "The same reasons that Boweaver said."
The preacher pondered a moment, then returned to the end of the room for another short conference.
"Well, Junior, that's fine," he said. "That's fine. We'll baptize you and Boweaver both next Sunday night."
So Boweaver and Junior were baptized into the church.
And just about the same time, the whole religion thing began to pall on the pair.
Miss Holloman became Miz Holloman.
The preacher all of a sudden started coming down harder on "bank night" at the movies and Sunday baseball.
And this was right after Boweaver and Junior became regulars on one of the Sunday teams, and right after Junior's sister won $50 at a Wednesday "bank night" movie.
A couple of Sundays later, Boweaver stopped by Junior's house. "Sunday School, Junior?" he asked.
Junior looked at his ball and bat in the corner. He thought about the pocketknives. He thought about Miz Holloman. He thought about his sister's $50 at "bank night."
"Boweaver," he said. "Let's go play baseball."
~~~
Ahoskie Baptist Church
Sunday school was on the ground floor
~~~
Gwendolyn and Jim Pearce, c. 1944
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