Meredith is a happy child and today is her birthday. She has been given a wonderful gift; a song called “For Hope.’ She is seven and this is not just any song. Mama has impressed upon Meredith the importance of this song above all others. There will come a time, when Meredith is much older, when she will need to sing this song, to offer it up to the world with all of her heart. As happy as she is to receive this gift and keep it safe, Meredith cannot help but be worried by the look on Mama’s face: behind the smiles and the laughter, Meredith sees a sadness in her Mama, like an ice chip sitting in her heart. It’s like Mama knows something bad is going to happen but she won’t tell Meredith, like the time just before Papa walked away from them for good. Meredith takes hold of Mama’s hand desperate to make her happy again.
In the soothing coolness of the pre-dawn night the chapel stood on the outskirts of the abandoned town. A simple building, square and squat with a rusted crucifix jutting up from the roof directly in line with the single, wooden door. The once white adobe walls were pock marked and pitted, scoured by the relentless winds that whipped off the barren sands. The only source of illumination came from the scattering of cold stars. Silence hung about the old building like forgotten cobwebs.