The Devil in Pew Number Seven
D.I. by Jamie Eiland
Rebecca:
Daddy’s instructions had been simple: I had to be a big girl, run down the street as fast as my legs could carry me, and get help. There was nothing complicated about his request. Except for the fact that I’d have to abandon my hiding place under the kitchen table and risk being seen by the armed madman who had barricaded himself in my bedroom down the hall. And so I ran. Even though Daddy struggled to appear brave, the anguish in his eyes spoke volumes. Splotches of blood stained his shirt just below his right shoulder. The inky redness was as real as the fear gnawing at my heart. Making no more sound than a leaf falling from a tree, I inched my way out from under the table. I stood and then scanned the room, I felt watched, I inhaled the distinct yet unfamiliar smell of sulfur lingering in the air, left behind from the repeated blasts of gun. I was our family’s lifeline While I hadn’t asked to be put in that position, I knew Daddy was depending on me. I could see that my daddy was an ex-navy man, was incapable of the simplest movement. The man who I had loved more than life itself, whose massive arms daily swept me off my feet while swallowing me with an unmatched tenderness. Regardless of their age, no one should have to witness what I just had to experience in that house – let alone a seven year- old girl.. I ran on. To get help for Momma And Daddy. To escape the gun man. To get away from all the threatening letters, the sniper gunshots, the menacing phone calls, the home invasions- and the devil who seemed to be behind so many of them
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Narrator: The Devil in Pew Number Seven is a true story by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo.
Rebecca: Momma was effervescent as a freshwater stream.. She was the life of the party. Daddy, the pastor and the most handsome man Momma had ever laid eyes on. He was kind, understanding and patient.
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Rebecca: They were headed to sellerstown, North Carloina to do the Lord’s work.They were offered a job at the Free Welcome Holiness Church. Sellerstown was a little more than a tract of farmland, no businesses, no banks, no city hall. Just acres of farmland.. On Thanksgiving day 1969, Robert and Ramona Nichols moved into their new home,
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Rebecca: The high-pitch jangle beckoned for the third time.
Daddy:“Hello? Without identifying himself , the anonymous man proceeded to deliver a threat to our family. The phone went dead.”
Rebecca: Daddy had done nothing wrong, certainly nothing to merit this sinister treatment..
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Rebecca: At age sixty-five
Mr Watts: “Mr. Horry James Watts”
Rebecca: who lived across the street from us, was a wealthy, well-connected, and respected business man.
Dad: Mr. watts was an upstanding citizen and happily married, devout family man with nine children, but he had a sinister side. Mr. Watts had a reputation as a womanizer,and a control freak. Mr. watts seemed to own or control everybody and everything. within his power- he even managed to control the church affairs at Free Welcome.
Mom: His favorite pew was the back row, pew number seven. Even though Mr. Watts was neither a professed church believer nor a church member, the church followed his wishes without opposition.
Rebecca: That is until Daddy arrived on the seen.Daddy made changes to end his dominance. Mr. Watts wasn’t accustomed to being rebuffed, nor did the rejection sit well with him.
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Mom: During the days, weeks, and months ahead, someone hiding behind the cover of anonymity would call our home and quickly hang up. Some days there would be several hostile calls.
Rebecca:. An unsigned letter arrived at our house on December 23, 1972.
Dad:. For in it, the threat of inflicting bodily harm to our family was taken to a new level.
Rebecca: After suggesting Daddy take a leave of absence, the writer promised we’d be leaving Sellerstown… crawling or walking, running or riding, dead or alive.
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Rebecca: In January of 1973, the personage had been violated. Someone had poured about fifty gallons of water in the fuel tank, causing the heater to malfunction. A shattered window .When mamma attempted to use the faucet she witnessed a an oily substance oozing from the tap.No heat, no water, no phone.
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Rebecca: I was four at the time. When our home was burglarized a second time a second time in, I knew something was wrong. That time the intruder had stolen both of my daddy’s hunting riffles. When Mr. Watts did his best to disrupt the worship service, my parents didn’t allow him to define their joy
Dad: Mr. Watts made obnoxious faces in the middle of the service, he’d clear his his throat with gasps, coughs, and grunts.
Mom: Mr. Watts would rise from the pew and make a sudden, noisy exit, slamming the doors so hard the frame rattled.
Rebecca: Daddy had the front doors of the church changed from thick, solid wood doors to glass that, being lighter, didn’t shake the building when Mr. Watts stormed out. This, of course, only made Mr. Watts all the more irritated.
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Dad: Wielding a knife with precision, they sliced through the telephone line. They slashed the rear tires of both cars. Our mail box was shot up. The mercury vapor light behind our home was executed with a gunshot.
Mom: The men positioned ditching dynamite in the in the ground. At 4:30 A.M the earth shook.
Rebecca: Daddy, Daddy!.
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Rebecca: Daddy told the church
Dad: “ Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Leviticus 19:18.”
Mom: Our nerves were on edge.
Rebecca: For me going to sleep proved to be a challenge. Even with my daddy’s bedside prayers, it would take weeks to feel safe enough to sleep in my own bedroom. Alone.
Rebecca: A 9:28 pm.a match was struck, igniting dynamite. We screamed. We cried. We covered our ears with the palms of our hand. Daddy didn’t fight back.
Dad: Violence typifies the spirit of the opposition. They are not Christian people. I know they are violent, mean spirited people. I will only leave this church if it is the lord’s will. And if it is the enemy’s will for us to leave, then it is God’s will for us stay.
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Rebecca: Daddy incoherent and slumped over the steering wheel of his wrecked car. No doubt daddy had fallen asleep at the wheel. As they loaded Daddy and his luggage in the car, Mr. Watts strolled into his front yard like a vulture anticipating the death of a wounded animal, Mr. Watts smiled and gloated and all but rejoiced at the broken man he saw across the street. Daddy was admitted to the university of south Alabama medical center.
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Dad: Hello?
Mr. Watts: “ You’re a thorn in a friend of mine’s side… and the best thing you can do is leave the community.
Dad: God bless you.
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Mom: On Wednesday, October 13, Mr. Watts ignited yet another bomb. Ten bombings in two and a half years..
Rebecca: Daddy could only take so much. For the next two weeks he was hospitalized for mental distress. And the devil in pew number seven remained committed to his crusade to drive us from sellerstown.
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Rebecca: I heard someone yank the screen door open by the carport. He caught us completely off guard while we were relaxed and in the middle of a family time. At age seven I had my share of trauma.
Dad: How are you doing?
Intruder: not too good.
Rebecca: Pulling out the deadly weapon, took aim (and shot my daddy in the right shoulder…act out) This couldn’t be happening, not here, not now.. The stain of fresh blood splotched its way across the front of his white shirt. Daddy, unarmed, turned and took three steps toward the assailment. That’s when the gun (thundered again.) The second shot shattered daddy’s left hip knocking him to the floor.With a cold indifference of her life as a mother he fired a single bullet to her chest. The moment the bullet pierced her heart, my heart shattered too. I managed to ask a question.
Rebecca: Daddy are you going to leave us again and go into the hospital?
Dad: Yes, but it will only be for a little while sweetheart.
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Rebecca: The reporter said daddy was in the ambulance. When the reporter announced that a woman had been shot and killed, my heart rocketed to the bottom of my heart. Yes, momma was really gone. Stricken with a grief so profound, so overwhelming, daddy wept bitter tears. Momma wouldn’t be preparing our breakfast or any other meal ever again. She wouldn’t be getting me ready for school or walking me out to the bus with a big smile on her face or be enveloped in one of the big hugs when I returned from school. Scene close:
Rebecca:. Momma was dead and daddy was gone into sort of a living death, a zombie like, disoriented state of being. According to the newspaper Mr. Watts was arrested June 9th.When asked by the press about his reaction to the news Daddy described the mental torture.
Dad: I have to take tranquilizers, and I just got out from a six-month stay in the hospital. All of this pain is a result of one man’s jealousy.”
Rebecca: On march 11 1981, Mr. Watts was put behind bars.
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Rebecca: I was informed that Daddy had passed away. A blood clot lodged in his heart took his life. I turned on my heels and ran screaming noooooo! (That’s when the phone rang.) do when turned around.
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Rebecca: Hello?
Mr. Watts: Hi, becky this is Mr. Watts.
Rebecca: Hi, Mr. Watts.
Mr. watts: Becky I’m out of prison… but I’m not the same man you used to know. Believe me when I tell you I’m different now. I…I was wrong for what I did to your family Your parents didn’t deserve any of the things I put them through. I’m sorry about what I did. Becky, when I was in prison I got right with God. I need to know that you’ll forgive me for what I have done.
Rebecca: I’m sure what I said next surprised him.I told him I did forgive him. I explained, Jesus said, “ But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
