Power Rangers is not owned by me.

Sunday was the only morning I would wake up early, any other day and you would need wild horses to drag me out of bed. I glanced over at Sydney's bed to find her snoring loudly in the latest face mask to prolong the fleeting beauty of young adulthood. I crept to my dresser and quietly changed into a pale yellow sweater and black slacks. After a quick trip to the bathroom, I was on my way.

I walk past the square where Jack and I met Bridge, Syd, and Sky for the first time as cops and robbers, into the park and past the gazebo where we held Syd's birthday party. At the end of the park, past the lake and the trees, sat a church, I glanced at the cemetery at its side as I walked up the steps and into the chapel.

Mass was about to start and I was ushered to a pew, not in the very front and not in the very back. It used to bother me that I went to church alone, now that fact has been accepted and company is found among the other parishioners. This Sunday, I sat next to a brown-haired little girl and her family. She stared at me with big brown eyes full of curiosity. It made me laugh when she hid behind her mother after I winked at her. She reminded me so much of a different little girl.

"Lizzie! Lizzie! Time to get up! We have to go to church in 20 minutes!" Little Lizzie Delgado ignored her mother and further sank into her twin sized bed. She pulled the frilly pink comforter over her head and started to make loud snoring sounds to fool her mother into thinking she was asleep.

"Maria Elizabeth Delgado, you get out of bed now!" Her mother had entered Lizzie's room and was promptly pulling off the covers. Lizzie pouted.

"But Mama, I don't want to go to church."

"Mi hija, you have to." Her mother said with a sigh.

"Why?"

"To show respect to God."

"Why?"

"Ay dios mio, do you want to disrespect your abuela in heaven?"

Lizzie looked at her mother quizzically, "Nana will be mad?"

"Yes, Nana will be mad."

"But church is so boring." The little girl said in an exaggerated tone. "Papa doesn't even go."

Flustered her mother answered, "Papa prays at home, we have to go to church."

"But Mama…" Lizzie pleaded.

"Will you go to church if you can wear the yellow sundress?"

That perked Lizzie's interest, "The one with the daisies on it?"

"Yes, the one with the daisies on it. Now go get dressed!"

"Okay, I'll go." Lizzie leaped out of bed and ran to her closet.

"All rise. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…"

I did the familiar gesture of the cross as I stood. I was happy to see that Father Salonga was presiding over the mass. Unlike other pastors, he exuded warmth and had the most beautiful singing voice. Even after 20 years of service in the western world, his voice still reflected the accent of his native land, the Philippines.

"A reading from Matthew:

"Matt 25:14-30 "For it is like a man, going into another country, who called his own servants, and entrusted his goods to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.

Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. In like manner he also who got the two gained another two. But he who received the one went away and dug in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

"Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reconciled accounts with them. He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents besides them.' "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

"He also who got the two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents besides them.' "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

"He also who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.'

"But his lord answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn't sow, and gather where I didn't scatter. You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents.

For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who has not, even that which he has will be taken away. Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"

I followed the reading in the missal as Father Salonga read it out loud. The little girl next to me kept looking over my arms to see the book, to see what interested all the adults around her. I lowered my arm to the side and tipped the book slightly so she could see. As the pastor read, I followed the words with my finger so that the little munchkin could see what we were paying attention to. Her mother looked over at us and smiled. She looked over her daughter and mouthed thank you to me.

Father Salonga finished the reading and started his sermon.

"Back in the days of Jesus Christ, a talent was literally money. Now we can take that literal meaning of talent and use it in our own lives. We were given gifts, gifts to help and gifts to hurt our fellow man. Those with those gifts abundant have the opportunity to help our community and in turn to help God. But those, even if they only have little talent, who use those talents for their own gain and not for God, risk losing what little they have."

I looked at my hands, myself, so much power. It would be very easy to use my own gifts for personal gain. But I chose to be part of something bigger, SPD has given me that.

We were directed to stand for a hymnal. I was pleased to hear the first chords of my favorite song. One sweet pure voice sang, "Hail Holy Queen enthroned above, Oh Maria!"

Lizzie ran into the house, excitedly she began searching for her father. A stream of "Papa, Papa!" could be heard from room to room until she found him in her parents' bedroom.

"What's my busy little Z been up to?" he asked as he scooped her up in his arms.

"They sang a song for me in church today!"

"Really?"

"Yup, it went like this." Lizzie took a deep breath and sang, "Hey muddy bean something above, O Maria!" Her father smiled as she continued. "Do you know why they sang it?"

"Why is that?"

"Cause it's my birthday."

"It is?" he asked in a tone of mock surprise. "Well then I have something special for you!"

Lizzie watched as her father went to the dresser and pulled out a small box wrapped in shiny gold foil. She jumped up and down as he handed it to her and she immediately tore the paper open.

"Oh Papa! It's perfect!" She hugged his leg as he played with her hair. Inside the small velvet box, was a silver Z on a silver chain.

"Salve, salve, salve, Regina!"

I held back the tears as I fingered my necklace. I had the chain replaced many times but the pendant was the same one that my father had given to me long ago. Mass was moving more quickly than I had thought. It was already time for Communion

I watched as the girls in white dresses and the little boys in suits approach the altar to participate in their first communion. I remember the white dress I was so in love with when I had my first communion. I didn't want to take it off ever because everyone called me a little angel. As a congregation, we stood as one to say the Lord's Prayer:

"Our Father, who art in heaven…."

"Hallowed be they name,Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On Earth, as it is in Heaven."

She could hear the whispers as she fiddled with her necklace. There were no more frilly dresses, just a somber black shift that felt like a shapeless sack. Her hands wouldn't stop moving, playing with the rosary beads trying to follow along with the adults. She didn't want to be here, she wanted her Mama and her Papa back. She didn't want to be in this church and looking at their dead bodies.

No one noticed when the hands of Lizzie Delgado stopped moving.

Lizzie didn't know how she did it, but a part of her was outside the church. It was the only way to escape the sadness. Sometimes if she concentrated really hard she could make another copy of herself to play with. Lizzie walked around the side of the church and saw a willow tree growing over the cemetery. She went over to it and sat at its roots trying to figure out what will happen now.

"Lizzie? What are you doing out here?" A much younger Father Salonga had spotted the little girl.

"Father, I don't like it in there." She said as she pointed to the chapel.

"It's alright. Sometimes, I don't like it either. Do you want to talk?"

She looked down at her hands, a copy of the rosary beads were in them too. "What's going to happen to Mama and Papa?"

"They're going to go to heaven like your abuela."

"Can I go there with them? I don't want to be alone."

"Oh sweetie, you can't. You have so much left to do. But it's alright, much, much, much, later in life you can go to heaven and they will be waiting for you. But until then they are going to watch you from heaven."

"Really?"

"Yes." He looked at the sky and pointed his finger. "Do you see that? That ray of sunshine against that dark cloud?"

Lizzie looked up and squinted, "I think so."

"Those are your parents watching out for you."

"Thank you, Father." She said quietly.

"Of course, child. But I think it's time that we go back in." Father Salonga turned away and started walking towards the church. He looked behind him to check that Lizzie was following but was surpised to see that no one was there.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

Mass ended shortly after that and we filed out slowly out of the chapel. I waved goodbye to the little girl as her family walked down the stairs. I made sure that I said goodbye to Father Salonga as he bade goodbye to the other parishioners. I went down the steps and was surprised to see a much more familiar face in the crowd. Bridge Carson looked lost as he searched the crowd. He was dressed in his uniform and looked slightly out of place. A smile blossomed on his face as he spotted me.

"Z!" He yelled out, jumping up in the air and waving his hands. I made my way over to him.

"Bridge, what are you doing here?"

"I was curious to see where you go every Sunday, so I asked Jack." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well, I'm almost done. I just have one more thing to do. Do you mind waiting?"

"No not at all." I led him to the side of the church, to the cemetery. Near the bare willow tree was a large gravestone.

Here lies Roberto and Maria Carmen Delgado, Devoted Parents, and Lifelong Loves.

The graves in the cemetery were well-tended but I still took the time to kneel and clear away any stray grass. I bowed my head and prayed silently. After a few minutes, I lifted it back up and looked into the sky. I found a ray of light against a dark cloud and I said aloud,

"Mama? Papa? It's Lizzie. I miss you very much and I love you." I could feel the tears well up in my eyes feeling heavy, "I'm trying to be the best person I can be so that I can be with you in heaven. This week we stopped lots of monsters and bad people from doing bad things like stealing and kidnapping. I even found the time to work in the food kitchen at the church."

I tried to think of more to say when I heard a rustling beside me. Bridge joined me in kneeling by my parents' grave.

"Um. Mr. and Mrs. Delgado, you don't know me but I'm a friend of Z's, I mean Elizabeth. I just want to let you that she has turned into such a strong, caring, beautiful," I blushed when he said that, "and funny young woman. She brings so much good into this world, and she's a great friend and listener. She even listens to me babble… but I think you would be proud of her. I'll try my best to protect her, even though she doesn't really need protecting because she's really tough."

I laughed as I wiped my tears away and bowed my head again. I said one last prayer and looked at Bridge. He had stood up and held out his hand to help me up. As I grasped his gloved hand, I realized how strong he is. I squeezed his hand gently and was pleased that he squeezed back. He didn't let go as we took the long trip back to headquarters.