A Prayer for Spencer Drummond

The beginning of this story takes place at the victory party of Spencer Drummond who had just won a seat on the city council. The press heralded him as a champion of education and a strong advocate for local businesses. As was expected there were many reporters and cameras to capture his acceptance speech teeming with optimism and well-wishes for his opponents for a hard fought campaign. Even though he was a seasoned politician for his age (at just under the age of forty), he remained remarkably enthusiastic to take office. Because the media attention was so prominently following Councilman Drummond that evening, Cassandra Brady was naturally following Councilman Drummond.

Cassandra Brady was a young woman in her mid-twenties, attractive (though not conventionally so), and had recently taken a new direction in her life, the kind of direction one takes when finding oneself at rock bottom. At first, Cassandra joined the church seeking spiritual fulfillment after having graduated college with little more than a piece of paper saying she had graduated college. She formed a small prayer group that later became an offshoot of her local church called The Crusaders of Light to bring awareness to issues of religion and state. Cassandra realized that all her faith needed to be bolstered is constant dedication in following the light, which she found was closely related to the public limelight.

Spencer made his way to the stage where flashes of light and falling balloons and confetti welcomed him to the podium. He took to the microphone and made his victory speech with his family close by his side. The festivities continue as he stepped off the stage, shaking hands with congratulatory colleagues and sycophants alike. The Drummond campaign manager guided Spencer to a seating area just behind the stage where he would meet with press and mingle with citizens shortly after. Cassandra was not one for patience and decided to storm the first interview.

“Councilman Drummond!” She waved from behind the first reporter. Spencer just smiled and waved. His attention was still with the interviewer but that did not deter Cassandra who summoned the rest of the Crusaders of Light behind her. While it took more effort than it should have, the first interview was over and the Crusaders decided to charge at Spencer.

“You are a tenacious group!” Spencer said as he hid his annoyance with a politician’s smile.

“That we are,” Cassandra responded, “Congratulations, Councilman Drummond!”

“Thank you, Miss--”

“Brady. I’m Cassandra Brady but you can call me Cassandra.”

“Thank you, Cassandra; I appreciate you and your friends’ vote.”

“That’s just it, Councilman. We didn’t vote for you.”

“You didn’t? I don’t understand.” Spencer looked up and saw that his campaign manager was on his way to getting security.

“I, along with my good friends here, represent the Crusaders of Light. We’re here to ask you one simple question.”

“And what would that be?” Spencer’s eye would dart back and forth between meeting Cassandra’s eyes and looking at the approaching security guards.

“What do you have against God?”

“If you are referring to my stance on education, I assure you that that is not going to affect my time in office.”

“But it already has.” Cassandra now spoke with more confidence as she could sense the camera’s turning towards her and the rest of the Crusaders. “In your time as school superintendent you made a concerted effort to take God away from the children.”

“My intent was not to take God away from anyone, just to ensure that there was no misinformation being taught in classrooms. It just so happened that the purveyors of said misinformation did so under the guise of religion.”

“The Crusaders discovered that you would consider yourself an atheist, is that right?”

“Not that it should matter, but yes I am. I have nothing against people who do worship, such as you fine people. Now if you will excuse me.”

Spencer was dragged through the crowd of Crusaders by his campaign manager who signaled for security to escort the group out of the building. All of them, including Cassandra, held their hands and not-so-quietly prayed for Spencer Drummond as security guards herded them towards the exit.  Before completely exiting, Cassandra poked her head through the doors and yelled out to the newly elected Councilman.

“We’ll pray for you, Councilman Drummond! The Crusaders of Light will pray that you find God!”

Cassandra and her Crusaders would show up for every council meeting that was attended by Spencer Drummond in the first year of his term. They would not be disruptive but they were every bit as distracting particular to the few viewers watching on public access television. It was assumed that Cassandra found more important things to do after that first year since she would only be seen when the more popular news stations would be present to cover more controversial measures that were brought to council. To a passing observer, it would seem that a high quality camera improved the level of prayer for the Crusaders of Light as they prayed in larger numbers when higher quality cameras were present near Councilman Drummond and his family.

“Why don’t you just ask them politely to leave you alone?” Spencer’s wife, Jennifer, asked at the dinner table one night.

“Because they’re free to believe what they believe, worship who they worship, and are protected under free speech to do so as they are, that is to say in a peaceful and orderly manner.” Spencer answered. The words were those of a politician but the tone was that of an exasperated man staving off the urge to forgo diplomacy with Cassandra using a nine iron.

“It’s ridiculous that’s all. Don’t they know that you married a Christian? And to top it off, I used to go to the same church as Cassandra before she started this Crusaders nonsense. She’s the goddaughter of the woman that used to run the bake sale.”

“Did you say ‘used to?’”

“Poor thing was interviewed shortly after that debacle at your victory speech. She couldn’t stand being painted in a negative light, being connected to Cassandra in such a way.”

“Cassandra or any of her followers haven’t been harassing you in anyway, have they?”

“No. They’re more of an annoyance than anything. The few times I had run into them, they’ve been altogether nice if it wasn’t for the implication that you’re somehow morally bankrupt on account of your atheism.”

Spencer scoffed.

“Now, don’t scoff Spencer. I’m insulted that they would think such things about you.”

“I’m sure this thing will work itself out. We’ve already seen them ease up on their approach since the media calmed down from that first time I met Cassandra.”

The phone rang and Spencer went to answer it. Jennifer saw a subtle smile crawl across her husband’s face before he hung up.

“Who was that?” Jennifer asked.

“I’ve got good news and bad news from my campaign manager,” Spencer replied.

“What’s the bad news?”

“It doesn’t look like we’ve seen the last of Cassandra.”

“And the good news?”

“It seems I might be able to run for mayor when my term on the city council is up. The numbers look to be going in my favor.”

Jennifer was unsure how to respond to the news. She was happy for her husband but was wary of the business of politics and the attention that came with it; particularly from the overzealous. It would be some years before Spencer was sworn in as Mayor of the city but it seems the election reinvigorated Cassandra’s movement. It had gotten to the point where the media themselves grew tiresome of the farce that was the Crusaders of Light. They prayed by candlelight vigil, which was in of itself strange as the ceremony was held in the morning. And just in case their message was not clear enough, some members of the prayer group held up signs declaring they were saving Spencer Drummond’s soul.

Whenever Cassandra would lead a prayer, it was sure to be louder than the last prayer to make sure the press got every blessed word that came from their mouths. Some of the Crusaders would camp out by city hall, follow Mayor Drummond to town meetings, and on one occasion held night long vigils outside of his house. It was at that point that Jennifer decided to draw a line that would end when Spencer would leave the office.

“Our house and our personal lives may have been thrust in the public eye but that in no way condones anyone to encroach upon our privacy,” Jennifer said tearfully to a news reporter. Having heard Jennifer’s relation with her godmother, Cassandra forbade any Crusader to go near the Drummond household.

However Cassandra made her presence known to the community whenever Mayor Drummond signed a publicized ordinance, gave away a key to the city, praised a local hero from coming home from the war, and even on the last day of his term when Spencer declared he was done with politics. Other than the exhaustive efforts of Cassandra and her Crusaders of light, Spencer was quoted to saying that he was ending his political career to “do some good.” A reporter asked if that meant that Spencer didn’t feel as if his time was well spent. Spencer simply responded, “There comes a point when you realize that it’s easier for an ordinary citizen to do more for a community than any person in power ever could. I have chosen to become an ordinary citizen.”

Some reporters speculated that the reason Spencer Drummond had retired from political life was due to the fact that Jennifer was pregnant. Whether that was true neither would confirm as they scarcely talked to reporters once the new mayor was sworn in. As was expected, the Crusaders of Light became no more than a novelty that few remembered once the limelight was nowhere near the Drummond family. Spencer and Jennifer ended up running a modest used bookstore on the edge of the suburb where they first met, not far from the city. The lovely Drummond couple ended up having two children, one boy and one girl. The girl would grow up and become a doctor while the boy became an author of high repute making his name in historical non-fiction novels and the occasional children’s book.

The city decided to present Spencer with an award on his eighty-fifth birthday commemorating his service to the public both as a member of the council and mayor. There was little media attention to be found but enough to draw Cassandra Brady out of hiding who camped outside the ceremony with the few Crusaders of Light who still remained. They prayed just as loudly showing how adept Cassandra was at finding the center of attention even when locked on the outside of the room where all the attention was focused. There would only be one more time the Drummonds would see or hear from Cassandra some years later.

Were Jennifer younger than she was, she would be infuriated at seeing Cassandra show up outside of the hospital where an ailing Spencer was being cared for. Instead, Jennifer could not feel anything but pity for Cassandra who spent the majority of her life praying away for a cause that only a handful of people felt worth fighting for. Time had not been kind to the aging Cassandra as she had not spent hers very wisely. Her voice was hoarse, it seems, from praying one last time for Spencer to find a god who he did not believe in.

“I pray that you find God and that God forgives you for your life of sin, Spencer Drummond!” Cassandra can be heard yelling from outside the hospital.

“She’s still going on, Spencer,” Jennifer said to her dying husband. “I feel bad that she wasted her life with such harmful tunnel vision.”

“It’s a good thing I don’t believe in God,” Spencer replied, “If I did, I would have to tell Him that if He was in ever need of a good public relations manager, it would do Him good to put Cassandra Brady on the bottom of that list.”

Spencer passed away later that night. He was surrounded by his closest friends and both his children came to visit with their own families. Those that were there say he went peacefully. While he was indeed an atheist until he breathed his last breath, he let his church-going wife say a short prayer when he finally died.  Because it had been years since the Drummond family was in the spotlight, only one or two local news teams covered his passing. And when all the lights and cameras and reporters had gone so had Cassandra Brady who no one heard from again after that night.