Molly Meets Blaze
It was an unusual friendship. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. When Molly spotted that charcoal,
grey pudgy mouse-she licked her lips, and felt sadistic glee when she thought about what a nice dinner
he would make. Her plan was to trap him into a situation where she could pounce on him, choke the life
out of him, and chew on him for a while-then drag him to the feet of her human! As she imagined how
tasty he might be, her mouth began to water. Then when she imagined the squeal of disgust, her human
would make-she almost felt giddy with excitement!
Blaze was a fat little church mouse-who had it made. He had been living in the kitchen pantry of a
Pentecostal church for many years. In fact, he had been born right there in that pantry. His momma-
Gertrude had gone on to be with the Lord many years ago when a precious saint named Sis. Shortree,
got in the spirit during a prayer meeting, and began to stomp the devil and dance. Gertrude was hiding
out in the prayer meeting watching all the excitement and was so engrossed in what she saw that she
did not even notice Sis. Shortree’s feet getting close, Suddenly, Sis. Shortree began to holler and jump
and she came down hard right on top of Mother Gertrude’s plump mid-section. And that was the end
of Mother Gertrude’s days on earth. Blaze grieved his mother’s demise for days, but left her body right
there where she had been stomped to death-just to teach them a lesson. It was not until the church
began to smell like rotten eggs, that someone began to search for the source of the awful scent. The
Pastor’s wife found Gertrude, and my-did she ever give the cleaning team a chewing out at the next
Ladies’ Auxiliary.
After Blaze was orphaned, he began to make himself at home, roaming around the church at all times.
Though he was alone, he was rarely ever lonely. He discovered that there was much action going on
around that Pentecostal church. They were a lively bunch! There was always something going on.
They had church 3-4 times a week, Sunday school classes, youth programs, Drug rehabilitation classes,
Christian school classes, games, and recreation in the gym, Ladies Auxiliary meetings, Prayer meetings,
choir practices, and more. There was always something to view, and people to scare!
Blaze’s top two favorite things that happened around the church were church services, and church
fellowship dinners. He discovered early on that Pentecostal people liked to shout and eat! Though, they
were a bit confusing at times, Blaze loved the church services. They were filled with excitement from
beginning to end! The church folks would gather in every Wednesday evening, Sunday morning, and
Sunday evening. About a half hour before service began, Blaze would make his way to the sanctuary.
Sometimes he would sit up on the balcony rail and watch folks enter in. Other times, he would roam
around the sanctuary, going in and out of the prayer rooms. He noticed that those who came early to
pray in the little rooms, seemed to be the loudest, and most excited during the service. But then again,
Pentecostal folks were all loud. There were a couple of blind people who went to the church, and he
especially liked to hang around them. He would run over their feet, and snuggle up next to them while
they were praying, but they could not even see him. He could see that they were aware of him, but
could not imagine what it was that was annoying them. It was all he could do to keep his chuckles in. If
they could only see him-what in the world would they do?
Church services always started out with vibrant singing, then there would be testimonies, and almost
every time one or more people would just start running or jumping. The best he could understand
from what they said during the services-was that they were getting their blessing. He even heard some
refer to it as: “getting their praise on”. Whatever it was-it sure seemed like a lot of fun, though most of
them looked really funny when they did it-especially the fat ones. Sometimes they would have “victory
marches”. Thought Blaze did not understand what a victory march was-it was one of his favorite things!
He would wait until they all got lined up, one behind the other, then he would run and jump in line
too. He prided himself in being able to weave in and out of the line between their feet as they were
marching, without getting stepped on. A few times though, he did get his tail pinched. Blaze did not like
the way that felt at all. It hurt so badly, that he was tempted to get in the prayer line, and asked to be
anointed with oil and prayed for, but he figured that the pastor would probably scream when he saw
him, and then the whole church would think the pastor was getting his praise on, and they would start
running and jumping, and he would never get prayer anyway, and might even get squashed in all the
excitement. So, he just tucked his tail, and took it like a man, however, mousey he was.
Although these services were so exciting, he was always glad to see them come to an end on the times
when dinner was being served in the fellowship hall. It seemed that no matter what they served, there
would always be some kind of cheese involved.
He would peek through the door of the pantry into the fellowship hall, and would wait until everyone
had been served, and was sitting down. They would all be talking and eating, and having a great time.
They called it fellowshipping, whatever that meant.
Blaze would slowly make his way out of the pantry into the fellowship hall. He would often scurry
around under the tables, and eat food that they dropped onto the floor. It was very easy to find food
like that around the areas where the children sat. He liked children-they were messy and always spilled
or dropped their food. On several occasions, Blaze did something that he knew he shouldn’t have done,
but it was so exciting that he certainly did not regret it! While he always enjoyed getting whatever food
he could find at these gatherings, to his utter delight one Sunday afternoon, Blaze saw something, that
made him want to do a few mousey flips, and he had to catch himself before letting out a loud squeal
of delight! For, on this day-they were serving taco salad, and he saw a giant pan of shimmering melted
cheese dip. It looked so delightful. He was determined to get to it. So, he waited until all the servers
had walked away from the serving table. He quickly ran under the counter and jumped up and slipped
into the pan. PLOP! He sank his fat little body into the cheese dip. It felt like a cheesy swimming pool.
He did flips, he did flops, and boy did he ever lick his chops! Oh what a time he had, and what a feast he
had found. From that time on, every time they served taco salad-he always made his way back into the
pan of cheese deep. A few times, people even came back for seconds, and he would hide in the corner
of the pan. Covered in cheese, they assumed he was just a lump of cheese, and didn’t even notice him.
Oh what they would have done if only they had known there was a mouse in their cheese dip! He often
amused himself with such thoughts.
It was on such a day as this that Molly was walking by this Pentecostal church. Finally, she had escaped
from her home while her human was rushing out the door. She hid behind the house, peeked around
the side, and when she knew her human was gone for sure-she began to take her stroll. In her short
lifetime-she had only been outside her human’s home 3 times. Who knew what adventures were out
there to explore? She walked for a while, enjoying the sounds of people, cars, insects, and other animals
buzzing around her, everyone out doing their own thing. It was such a lovely day, the kind that she
normally watched from her spot in the window. The sun was shining so brightly, the smell of freshly cut
grass was wafting in the air, and though she wasn’t certain of what they were called-brightly colored
things were flying through the air. She later heard an adorable little blonde girl refer to it as a butterfly.
And Molly thought to herself-oh the things you learn when you finally get out of the house!
As she began to get close to the Pentecostal church, she heard the sound of laughter, and the smell of
food. These were two of Molly’s favorite things in the world. The only people she had ever heard laugh
were her human, and her human’s friends and family. And usually, they were eating at the same time. In
fact, she thought they probably all ate too much, certainly more food than she was given. And she had
always wondered about that.
As Molly thought of what might possibly be in the building where the sounds and scents were coming
from, she began to salivate, and her heart began to race. So, Molly broke out into a run! She ran as fast
as her little legs would allow. This was exciting. She had never done this before! In fact, she and her
human lived in a space of approximately 1,000 square feet. She had never had room to do anything. And
she had always hated that.
When Molly got close to the back door of what she would later find out was the fellowship hall of the
Pentecostal church, she began to slow down, and try to catch her breath. Unsure of what she might
discover, but driven by her curious nature, she crouched down and peeked through the door. What she
saw was almost too much to comprehend. She saw over a hundred people who looked a lot like her
human, sitting at tables loaded with food. In fact, it seemed as if there was food everywhere. People
were laughing, and talking. It was really exciting to see. And just when she was thinking that she would
settle for the crumbs that fell from their tables, she spotted something that looked so delicious. She
had never seen anything like it before! It was a mouse! And it jumped right out of a pan. The mouse
was covered in cheese from the tip of its pointed nose to the tip of its pointed tail. It looked happy and
scared at the same time. She began to salivate once again, and her heart began to race. She started
looking around. She knew she had to get through that door. She had to get that mouse! She had to
pounce! For, she was a cat that had finally been set free, and if anyone deserved such a prize-it was her.
She determined within herself that she would get that mouse. A mouse, she would later discover, who
called himself, Blaze.
Just as Molly was about to give up, she saw that door open up, and a very large white haired man
walked out talking on his cell phone! She had never seen anyone like this in person. Was this Santa
Clause? She had heard about him, and seen him on the internet. Since she was not allowed out of her
human’s house, she had become very tech savvy while her Master was at work. She had learned all
about how to use her human’s MacBook. In fact, she even had her own Facebook page!
As soon as “Santa Clause” walked out, Molly rushed into the crowded room. Not one person even
noticed her. She ran into the first open door that she found, and to her delight, she found exactly what
she was looking for; A MOUSE!
Blaze was so excited! He had just done it again! Once more, his sneaking into the cheese dip pan had
paid off! He was so full from all the cheese he had consumed, but it was so good, he could not stop
licking it off his cheese covered body. In fact, he was using his tail in the same manner a wind shield
wiper is used, to slide the cheese from the back of his body to his mouth! Blaze was so involved in what
he was doing that he did not even notice that a cat had slipped through the door of the pantry room!
As Blaze was licking the last of the cheese from his tail, he got the feeling that someone was watching
him. He slowly opened his eyes, and before he knew it, he had squealed: eeeeekkkkk……! He was so
scared, he just stood still. Slowly, the cat began to walk toward him. She did not take her eyes off him.
He felt as if she was saying: “I’m going to get you”. His heart was pounding in his chest. His life even
flashed before him. But Blaze did not wince; he showed no obvious signs of fear. For, he was not your
ordinary church mouse. He was brave. You have to be brave to live in a Pentecostal church with all its
noise and activity. You can’t be mousey, even if you ARE a mouse.
Just when Blaze thought she was going to pounce on him, the cat just sat down in front of him and
stared at him. He would later find out that she had never seen a mouse before, and certainly not up
close, so she was more curious than anything. For, like him, she was also not ordinary.
Blaze mustered up all the bravery he could find within himself, and he lifted up his head and said,” Hi, I
am Blaze, what’s your name?” Molly then plopped down in front of him, because as always, she wanted
to be on the same level with the person she was observing. She then curled her paws under her chest,
and said, “Hi, Blaze. My name is Molly”. Blaze, feeling only slightly relieved, said “hi Molly, what brings
you here?” So, Molly told Blaze of her journey, and Blaze listened intently. After hearing all the details of
how she came to be there, Blaze forgot for a moment that he should fear her, and began to tell her his
story. As he told Molly of his birth in that church, of his mother’s death, and then of his daily adventures
of life in the Pentecostal church, Molly became so curious, and she told him that she too, would like to
see some of these things. So, Blaze rose up to full stature, and extended his tiny hand, and said; “let’s
be friends Molly. “ Molly had never had a friend before, other than her human, who sometimes gave
her attention, and sometimes did not. In fact, her human had been known to go out of town and leave
her for 2 weeks at a time, while near strangers popped in every day or so, to fill up her food/water bowl
without even a kind word. No one had ever told Molly that she wasn’t supposed to be friends with a
mouse. So, even though Molly still desired to POUNCE on the mouse, she thought she would wait a
few days, and see how this friendship thing went. And thus began the journey of friendship between
a Mouse named Blaze, and a cat named Molly. Two, out of the ordinary, brave creatures dwelling in a
Pentecostal church. Oh the adventures they would have.
By the time these two had gotten acquainted, the church folks had cleared out, and they were now,
alone in the church. Molly told Blaze that she was hungry, and he asked her if she would like to go on an
adventure to find some food. She agreed, and they slipped out of the pantry, and began their food hunt.
After they found Molly some food, and they both had their bellies full, they decided to take a Sunday
afternoon nap. Blaze told Molly that most of the church members take naps on Sunday too. In fact, he
thought it was part of their religion. Molly said she liked that idea, and would certainly be interested
in converting, if that were true. Not that she had any religious beliefs. Blaze said he was going to be a
Pentecostal Mouse ‘til the day he died. Just like his momma.
So, the two of them decided to take a nap. Just to be on the safe side, Blaze waited until he could hear
Molly softly snoring, before he dared fall asleep, and for even more good measure, he climbed up and
slept on Molly’s back. If she decided to pounce, at least he would know it was coming. Blaze thought it
was a good idea to rest up before Sunday Night LIVE at the Pentecostal church. He couldn’t wait to see
Molly’s face when it all started.
Molly woke suddenly, and looked around. Something wasn’t right she thought. She wasn’t sleeping at
home on her human’s bed, nestled into her side, or at her feet. Where in the world was she, and what in
the world was that thing on her back? And then she remembered everything…..!
Molly twisted her adorable little head as best she could without waking Blaze. She thought about
her human for just a minute, and felt a twinge of guilt, and sadness for having left her. But when she
thought of all the adventure that might lay ahead, the curiosity to find out what might be, was greater
than anything else she might have felt.
Satisfied that Blaze was still asleep, she began to chuckle to herself, and gently stood up and began to
slowly walk around the room. The more she thought about how hilarious it was that she was walking
around with a mouse on her back; she began to shake with laughter. That action woke Blaze, and she
felt him dig his tiny little feet into her back. To think that Blaze was surprised to wake up and find
himself riding on her back was even funnier to her, and she laughed so hard, that her furry little legs
buckled beneath her, and she rolled over on the pantry floor, and laughed so hard that tears ran out of
her eyes. She had never experienced this before! It was exhilarating!
When Molly rolled over onto the floor, Blaze slid off her back and rolled his eyes. He hated to be
awakened suddenly! And this cat! She seemed to be laughing at him. He just knew she was. But he
didn’t let Molly intimidate him one bit with her fun making. He knew that she wouldn’t be laughing
tonight-not when she saw those Pentecostal folks in action! Eeeeeeekkkkk!
Molly’s laughing session came to a sudden halt as she heard a door slam, and the sound of humans
laughing! She stood up on her paws, and looked wide-eyed at Blaze. Blaze silently mouthed; “The
Pentecostals are here”.
As soon as they heard the humans pass by the door of the pantry room, Molly gently slid the door open
with her nose, and peeked out into the hallway. She saw humans everywhere she looked, coming into
the church from one entrance after the other. They seemed to be a friendly bunch, greeting each other,
and laughing. Blaze whispered and said that it was almost church time, and perhaps they should make
their way into the sanctuary to watch the action. Just for a little cat humor, Molly lowered herself down
and jokingly said to blaze: “You want a ride?” He said nothing, but just hopped onto her back, and thus
began their way of traveling together.
Blaze told Molly to walk down the long hall way, and enter the first door to the left. Upon entering that
door, they would first visit the prayer rooms. It was about a half hour before service time, and many of
the saints liked to attend pre-service prayer. The lights were dim during pre-service prayer, so it was
easy for them to saunter about unnoticed. The prayer rooms were set up to the left of the sanctuary.
The prayer rooms were two open door rooms divided by a middle wall. Each room could be entered
from the sanctuary, but the women’s prayer room could be entered from a side door as well.
They decided to visit the men’s prayer room first. The room was decorated with posters and pictures
of missionaries and preachers, in efforts to remind the men to pray for them. There were also names
of political leaders on the wall, and scriptures about praying for those in authority. Molly supposed she
should pray for her human. She was a minister, and always seemed to try to take authority over her. At
least she thought she had authority.
The furniture in the room consisted of a wooden bench, and a few chairs. There were men kneeling at
the wooden bench, and on the floors, some were sitting here and there, others were walking the floors.
All of them were praying. This was no surprise to Molly. In fact, she’d watched her human do it often.
Though sometimes her human would cry for hours and speak things she could not even understand.
She often found it quite amusing. The funniest thing to Molly though, was one guy who kept beating
the floors, and saying “Lord, I don’t want to be a fool” over and over again. It was probably the most
entertaining thing Molly had ever witnessed in her life.
After watching the men pray for a while, Molly and Blaze made their way over to the women’s prayer
room. This room was full of women who looked so much like Molly’s human! In fact, it looked like her
human was sitting in a corner chair praying with her back to Molly. Molly’s heart began to pound. Could
it be? If so, she was praying much more quietly than she did at home. Was this where her human came
on Wednesday’s and Sunday’s? This room was much like the room next to it in regards to the posters,
pictures, scriptures, and furniture. Only this room smelled a lot better.
After a few moments of watching the women pray, Blaze leaned down and whispered into Molly’s ear,
and suggested that they go up to the front entrance, and watch people come in. Molly really wanted to
stay and watch the woman who looked like her human, her stomach ached as she realized how much
she missed her, but she had committed herself to this adventure, and she would stick with it. So, though
she was reluctant to walk away, she straightened her back, and turned away.
Molly and Blaze had to be careful while making their way to the front. It was getting much closer to
church time, and the place was really filling up. They had to dodge the feet of a lot of children, and even
had to watch out for wheel chairs and canes. Molly made eye contact with a man in a wheelchair, who
looked familiar. She heard him tell his wife he’d just seen a cat with a mouse on its back running down
the hallway. But she told him he ought not to be lying in the church. Molly sprinted away as fast as she
could, while Blaze held on for dear life.
In the front entrance, they hid under a table, and watched as all different types of people made their
way into the church. Old and young alike were greeted by people Molly later heard referred to as
ushers. She would also later come to realize that they were the same ones who passed around a “plate”
and took people’s money, and she would wonder what they did with it.
Finally, the big moment came when all the lights came on, and everyone settled into a seat! The singers
took their places on a big stage, musicians took their places at their instruments, and the preachers
went to their chairs. Then Molly heard the most amazing sounds she had ever heard! Sounds of music
that seemed to come straight from Heaven! An Organ, Piano, guitars, and drums! This was amazing! The
church came alive as they began to sing, “My God is more than enough, He will supply all my needs…..”
It was all Molly could do to take in all the action! Everywhere she looked, somebody was doing
something. People were clapping, jumping, running, singing loudly, everyone seemed excited, especially
the children. Sure, there were a few sour faces, but not for long. Eventually, even the sour faces were
looking happy.
After about 20 minutes of this vibrant singing, and worship, everything calmed down, and then Molly
saw her! Molly’s human! There she was! Walking on the stage, taking the microphone, and greeting
the crowd! Molly wasn’t even sure what her human was saying, but whatever it was, the crowd was
going crazy! They started running, jumping, and dancing! Then her human started singing a song titled:
“God ain’t never done me nothing but good”. Molly was so excited, so this is what her human did!
Molly wanted to run to her human, and brush against her feet. In fact, she wanted her human to pick
her up and scratch behind her ears, and rub her, and speak sweetly to her like she sometimes did. Not
often, but sometimes. As if Blaze could anticipate what she was thinking and feeling, he bent down
and whispered; “Don’t do it” in her ear. Molly almost shook him off her back, and ran to her human,
but then she thought about what her human would do, and what everyone might think, and that fear
sobered her, and caused her to pull herself together, and continue observing from her spot in the
balcony.
After her human finally finished singing, everyone calmed down again, and a couple of preachers got
up with inspirational testimonies, then a group of men got up and began to sing a song titled: “What I
have” which got everyone worshipping and shouting again. At that point, Molly realized one thing; she
was going to be a Pentecostal cat. She loved this!
Just when Molly thought she had heard/seen the best of everything, the pastor asked the “church choir”
to sing. All of a sudden from all over the sanctuary people begin to line up on each side of the church,
and walk to a loft above the stage. Molly would later learn that this was a “choir loft”, and it was where
the choir always sat/stood to practice and sing.
Then the music became even more Heavenly than she had ever imagined! In fact, she had nothing
to compare this sound to, nothing in this world. The organist was phenomenal, as was the keyboard
player. In fact, all the musicians were great. The choir was amazing, even the lady standing in front of
them telling them what to do, was a fabulous singer. Molly heard someone refer to her as the “choir
director”. As the choir began to sing a song titled, “Behold Zion”, people began to stand and clap again.
When that song ended, the choir began to sing: “Ride on King Jesus”, and you could feel expectancy
in the air. Molly couldn’t wait to see what happened next! After that song, they began to sing a song
titled: “It’s about time for a miracle” and that was it! They didn’t even get all the way through the song,
when people began to run off the stage, and dance in the spirit. Everywhere Molly looked, people were
rejoicing, and shouting for joy. Molly didn’t understand everything she saw, but she knew what happy
looked like, and these people were happy people. And she liked them very much. She was very glad that
her human was one of them, and that she too, was happy. She loved her human very much, and she
loved this place, these people. She loved being a Pentecostal. She never wanted to be anything else as long as she lived.
Story Written By Rev. Amy M. Hanna.
