Chapter 27
The Power of Persuasion
When her alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., Cornelia almost shut it off and went back to sleep. She was tired and the idea of building houses sounded extremely daunting, especially during the first week of December. Cornelia thought it was going to be freezing. She put a lot of thought into the layers of clothing she started to put on.
First she had winter tights, covered up by thermal underwear, then she put on a thick pair of jeans, three pairs of socks and three layers of shirts, including a hoodie. And that was before she added her coat, ear muffs, scarf, gloves and hat after breakfast. Veronica giggled a little at the sight of her daughter all bundled up.
“Thanks mom, that does wonders for my self esteem,” Cornelia snapped.
“Oh, come on, CC. It’s funny and you know it.”
“Says you – the person who isn’t going to be building houses in the freezing cold.”
“CC, it’s your own fault that you have community service. I have two showings today, so I’ll be working. Besides, I thought you wanted to go on a mission trip with these people.”
Cornelia clammed up. She felt like she had Veronica half-way to saying “yes” to the mission trip and she didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. Instead, she put on the aforementioned outer layer of clothing and piled into the car with Veronica.
On the way, Veronica reminded Cornelia that she needed more details about this mission trip before she would give her blessing. Cornelia agreed to find out everything. Veronica dropped Cornelia off at the Family Connection and then went home to get ready for her first showing.
Cornelia entered the front door and looked around for Admeta. She wasn’t there yet, so Cornelia walked up to a group of girls that she had seen Admeta talking to many times. The girls greeted her affably. They all had hot chocolate as they waited for everyone to arrive. Monica and Natalie were talking in Natalie’s office. When Monica and Natalie had finished their conversation, Natalie walked over to Cornelia.
“There’s our girl!” she said, smiling brightly.
“Me?” Cornelia asked.
“Yes, you. We were just talking about you,” Natalie said in a playful tone.
“Me?” Cornelia asked again.
Monica chimed in, “Watch yourself, now, Natalie, it’s supposed to be a surprise.” Natalie looked at Monica and made a motion like she was locking her lips.
Cornelia found the entire conversation quite odd. Just then she saw Admeta walk out of Natalie’s office. She wondered what was going on. Why would Natalie, Monica and Admeta be talking about her? Natalie and Monica walked away and Cornelia greeted Admeta.
“I can’t thank you enough for what you did for Chad,” Cornelia said, as she placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“It was nothing. It was your dad who convinced the judge to see the recording. You should thank him.”
“Really? Are you sure it was my dad?”
“What? Of course I’m sure. You’re so weird, Cornelia,” Admeta said with a laugh.
“Hey, were you guys just talking about me in there?” Cornelia asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Admeta replied, coyly.
“Natalie said you were,” Cornelia said.
“Well I’m not allowed to say anything, so stop asking,” Admeta retorted.
“Oh, come on. Now you have to tell me!”
“CC, I’m seriously not allowed. You’ll find out soon enough.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Cornelia, I really can’t say anything. Can you just drop it? Please?” Admeta requested.
“Fine,” Cornelia said reluctantly, “I wanted to talk to you about something anyway.”
Just then Monica asked for everyone’s attention and started running down a list of rules and regulations for Houses for Humanity. She wanted everyone on their best behavior because they were partnering with another organization and she didn’t want anyone giving the Family Connection a bad name.
When she was through, the rest of the girls and adults put on their coats and accessories and piled into the bus. Cornelia and Admeta sat together and Monica made a comment about wonders never ceasing. The girls laughed. When everyone settled in and the bus got underway, Cornelia started her sales pitch.
“Houses for Humanity has this mission trip to El Salvador in a few weeks that Chad is going on,” Cornelia began, “would you be interested in going?”
“I already am,” Admeta replied.
“You are? Why didn’t you say something?” Cornelia asked, annoyed.
“You never asked,” Admeta said, matter-of-factly.
“Well you would think you would have mentioned it at some point,” Cornelia said.
“It just never came up. Monica helped a bunch of us get passports a few months ago. A lot of people are going from the Family Connection. Mrs. Hakim even got some of the Writers on the Storm signed up to go.” Admeta replied.
“No way!” Cornelia said, excitedly.
“Uh, yeah way,” Admeta replied, confused.
“That’s great!” Cornelia said.
“Why is that a good thing for you?”
“Because I’m trying to convince my mom to let me go and she’ll be more likely to if kids from school are going too.”
“You want to go on a mission trip?”
“Don’t sound so surprised!”
“But it’s to build houses. You know that right?”
“Of course I know that.”
“O.k., CC.”
“What?”
“Nothing, I just think it’s weird,” Admeta said honestly.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, CC. Building houses just doesn’t seem like your thing I guess.”
“I’m doing it today, aren’t I?”
“Well to be fair, we haven’t gotten there yet. You still have time to back out,” Admeta said and then laughed, giving Cornelia a playful jab in the side.
“Shut up!” Cornelia said, pushing Admeta back.
The girls continued joking and talking until the bus arrived at the Houses for Humanity site. They were building two houses right next to each other. Even though they were there quite early, there were already people working on both houses.
After they piled off of the bus, everyone was given assignments. Some people were using nail guns, others were sanding and still others were painting. Admeta and Cornelia were instructed to saw some two-by-fours into different lengths.
It wasn’t as cold as Cornelia expected because the crew had several fires burning in barrels to help keep the workers warm. One of the houses had walls, so it was warmer than the house that only had a frame. Cornelia and Admeta had to cut beside the house with only a frame, but they were close to two fires, so Cornelia eventually took off some of her outer layers of clothing.
Since Admeta had taken shop and Cornelia hadn’t, Admeta was running the electric saw while Cornelia held the two-by-fours. The girls worked well together and eventually got into quite a rhythm. They were turning out boards quite fast before they broke for lunch.
The girls talked about everything from the mission trip to Karl’s lame handling of Writers on the Storm. Neither girl liked the assignment he had given them. It was just as lame as the Thanksgiving assignment. Both girls lamented about wanting Mrs. Hakim back in Writers on the Storm and English class where Karl liked to watch movies instead of reading books.
A group of college students had brought lunch and half the girls ate, and then went back to work as the second group ate. Before returning to the saw, Cornelia asked the site supervisor about joining the mission trip. He didn’t seem to have any problem with it as long as Cornelia had a passport and her mother signed the permission slip.
The passport wasn’t a problem. She had that from the last time her grandmother had taken her to Europe. The permission was going to be trickier. Cornelia thought about
tricking Veronica into signing it, but she was sure her mother would call the police if she left a note saying that she was off to El Salvador.
Cornelia’s nose was bright red by the end of the day even though she didn’t feel cold. Admeta told her she looked like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Cornelia did not appreciate the comparison. The two girls laughed anyway.
They were exhausted by the time they got back on the bus to return to the Family Connection. Their hands had blisters under their gloves, but they didn’t care. They knew they were doing something to help a family in need and that’s all that mattered. Cornelia was surprised that she was able to help build a house.
The next day there were fewer volunteers because some of the girls had to go to church. Cornelia was surprised that Admeta would miss church. Admeta explained that it was alright to miss church if you were doing it for a good cause. Cornelia seemed to understand.
They were assigned to painting on Sunday. They started in one of the bedrooms of the house that had walls. The girls reminisced about how it was through painting that they had originally gotten to know each other. Both girls commented on how far their friendship had come since that first day.
College students once again brought lunch for the girls and the other volunteers. They sat at a picnic table with a young woman who was also eating. As the girls began to speak to the woman they discovered that she was going to own one of the houses when the project was finished.
The woman explained to the girls how her parents had died and she was trying to take care of her siblings on her own. She had to drop out of college to find work to support them but it was never enough. If it wasn’t for Houses for Humanity, she told them that she and her siblings would have been homeless.
Their conversation really put the project into perspective for the girls. When you look at the work site, you don’t always think about who is going to be benefitting from the hard work. The girls had a rare opportunity to put a face with the work they were doing and they were grateful for that.
They were so moved by the young woman’s story that they worked the rest of the afternoon in relative silence. Cornelia was secretly thanking her lucky stars for the life that she had. She thought about the woman trying to raise her siblings all alone and she was sad for her struggle. She was glad that her family had never had to struggle like that. She felt very blessed.
By the end of the day, Cornelia and Admeta were covered in paint splotches. Luckily they had taken their outer layers off so they didn’t get anything on their coats, but otherwise the girls were a mess. The blisters on their hands were open wounds from the paint rollers and their feet were killing them, but they were satisfied because they knew they were making a difference in the lives of others.
The site leader gave Cornelia a handout on the mission trip. It was a two-week trip which was to begin the Wednesday after school ended for the semester. The group would be returning on Christmas Eve. Cornelia realized that not only would Chad’s community service get fulfilled, but hers would as well. The trip was well over 300 hours long and she had already racked up many hours with the Family Connection.
It surprised Cornelia that she felt a small pang of regret at this. She was sure that she was going to continue to volunteer even after her sentence had been completed. She had found something that made a difference in the world and she wasn’t going to give it up.
The girls went home exhausted. Veronica had sold her first house, so Cornelia thought she should take advantage of her good mood. She showed her mother the flyer at dinner. She told her that Admeta and bunch of other girls from school and The Family Connection were going on the same trip. That seemed to put Veronica’s mind at ease. Veronica was also pleased that Cornelia would be returning before Christmas. After a long discussion about what Cornelia was and was not allowed to do, Veronica signed the permission slip.
Cornelia was too tired to be excited. She was happy that she was going to get to go on the trip with Chad and Admeta, but at the same time she was a little worried. After all, she didn’t know anything about El Salvador and she had seen how Admeta’s brothers had acted on Thanksgiving. She didn’t know what to expect. All she knew was that she was being given the opportunity of a lifetime and she didn’t want to mess it up like she had messed up so many other things up in the past.
Writers on the Storm Page 27