Breakfast came and went.
Frank had gone back to his room to pray. On average, Frank prayed for almost five hours a day.
Nobody liked bothering him during his prayer time and they didn't. Not unless it was an emergency. However, his oldest son - 8 year old Honest sometimes joined him in prayer.
Honest is Frank's son with his second wife Sheila. The little boy's full name is Honest Levi Ephraim Gallagher. And just like the definition of his name, he is honest. It's hard to believe. Some people don't believe it, but Honest has never told a lie. He never lies. He's always honest. Sometimes, to a fault.
Frank had been praying with his son Honest for about half an hour when 20 month old Temperance came bounded into the room, her little voice ringing out 'Daddy!' These days she is being pretty clingy to her daddy. The only thing she loves as much as her daddy - or maybe more than - is toys.
Of course Frank recognised his daughter's voice. He opened his eyes, looking over at her, "Hey Tempy. You wanna pray with Daddy and big brother?"
"Daddy." Temperance repeated.
Temperance, whose full name was Temperance Faith Barrett, wasn't much of a talker. She used as few words as possible and right now she just wanted her daddy to know that she wanted him.
Frank nodded, reaching out his arms to welcome his almost two year old daughter, "Come on, baby. Come to Daddy."
Temperance practically jumped into Frank's arms, "Love Daddy."
"Love you too, Tempy." Frank told the little girl, holding her in his arms before going back to his prayers.
Frank's eyes were already back to being closed by the time Temperance's mother - 19 year old Elouise Adeline Barrett appeared in the doorway. Noticing that Frank was praying, seemingly unbothered by their daughter's presence, Elouise decided to leave it alone and just let Temperance be. So she turned around, walking away from the doorway and back in the direction she had come from.
Elouise is Frank's sixth wife. She has two kids with Frank. Temperance is the youngest. The older one is a little boy named Typhoon Adriel Barrett. He would be turning three years old next month.
Once Frank was done with his morning prayer session which was usually about an hour, it was time for chapel. Everyone had already gathered in the church and was waiting for Frank. The adults and the older children were sitting quietly. The younger kids were playing near the stage platform that Frank preached from. The kids - mostly those that were three and under - liked to play and sit around Frank's feet.
In addition to Frank's own kids, several of the children of Mount Horeb loved Frank. He was like a father to them - the fatherless children. Like 3 year old Chelsea Luna Barradas.
Chelsea's mother, 31 year old Juliana Isabella Morillo-Sanchez was a single mother. She has a total of five children with two different fathers between them. Frank had kind of adopted the children as his own. He was especially close with Chelsea and her 5 year old brother Ishmael Enrique.
When Frank walked into the church carrying Temperance and with Honest walking in front of him, he looked around at all the people sitting down and the kids sitting on his stage with dolls and toy cars.
"Hello family." Frank announced, smiling as he carried Temperance up to the stage with him while Honest had sat down beside his mother.
He used the term family very loosely. Frank considered everyone in Mount Horeb to be his family, because according to the Bible we are all brothers and sisters through Christ. The Bible also teaches that men should be as husbands to the widows and fathers to the orphans. That's why Frank treats all the kids in Mount Horeb as if they were his own.
"Hello Saint Francis." The adults called back
While Frank was preaching he felt a tugging on his leg. He glanced down to see his 7 month old son Gianni Ettore Ruffino.
Gianni was going through his speed crawling stage. All of Frank's children went through it. Gianni had started crawling at almost five months of age, and was actually getting close to walking now. All of Frank's children walked early. They were all so smart, just like him. But to quote David Koresh, 'A child is a child'. And it wasn't just Frank's children that were smart. All the children were smart. For example, Chelsea was already reading. She's not even four yet. She'll be four next month, but she's been reading since December of last year, shortly after turning three years old. And she's a little girl who loves to read. She's a little bookworm. She will devour book after book, but she especially loves reading thee Bible and learning more about God, learning what it all truly means. It's unusual for a child so young, but it's truth. Chelsea is always sitting right in front, sitting on the edge of the stage as she stares up, wide-eyed at Frank, taking in his every word.
Still looking down, Frank smiled as he set Temperance down on the stage and then picked up Gianni before resuming preaching.
Frank was very good at preaching, very entertaining and very mesmerizing. When he was up there on stage, it was hard to turn away from him. He could capture and keep your attention, even the kids. Though the kids were young, and they didn't understand most of what he was saying, but he tried to break it down so they could understand too. He tried to make his sermon interactive for the sake of the kids, instead of him standing up there just preaching and talking at them. It wasn't always easy, but he did his best.
Today's message was one of the harder ones. He was teaching from Isaiah 66. He had just finished up the first four verses, and was now doing the recap for the children.
"Where is God's throne?" Frank asked
"Heaven!" The kids yelled
Frank nodded, "And what is his footstool?"
"The Earth!"
Frank smiled proudly before moving onto the next section in the chapter.
Hope you enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated.
What would you like to see happen next?