The Pied Pipers of Las Vegas

There are times when it seems that Rachel and Rebecca do not agree on anything, but I suspect they both can agree that I was a very protective father—perhaps overly so. It would be interesting to me to learn whether or not their young memories made any sort of association between our move to Las Vegas and my increasingly strict bearing. Such is my recollection. It didn’t take me long after being appointed to Trinity to realize that Rebecca was within the age range for Don Smith’s predatory inklings, and Rick Altman’s attraction to teenagers put Rachel just ready to cross that threshold. Indeed, Rick’s charismatic charm was being insidiously employed to draw the church’s youth away from the congregation into an almost cult-like program that condescendingly berated both Don and me as hopelessly out of touch with the times. I was confused by Don’s knowing acceptance of Rick’s actions until it finally dawned on me that the two of them were perfectly complementing each other’s perversions. Don was giving up the youth in trade for eyes turned away from his fondness for children. By the time Rick was conducting marathon “interventions” with small groups of youths behind his locked office door as Don and Linda Petty (whose own son was a participant) looked on, I realized that my discovery was going to have to be brought to the attention of authorities beyond the local church. What hurt the most as I went to District Superintendent Nate Holt with my observations was fearing that our impressionable daughters, who were for the fifth time in their young lives trying to fit in and make a whole new set of friends, would innocently believe the venomous lies about me that Don and Rick were generating in their defense.