Goodness and Mercy Read online

  “Is that right? And pray tell how did you figure that out?”

  “You were always just a little too eager to go over there. I don’t know too many children who get that excited about work,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “Not any that I know of. And then there were the dance videos she obviously gave you that you called yourself sneaking back to the house and watching. You enjoyed working a little too much for me to believe that was all you were doing when you went over there.”

  “Yeah, but you must have forgotten. I got paid to work for Miss Crowe, remember? Money is always an incentive to do something with a smile you might not otherwise like or want to do. Money has a way of easing the pain and embarrassment.”

  Aunt Cee-Cee nodded. “Yes, you did get paid. And before you bring it up, yes, I did take every bit of that money from you except the dollar I allowed you to keep each time she paid you ten. And I really didn’t care that you enjoyed it, because it was at least financially helping with expenses that popped up around the house. And no, I didn’t save it for you and your college like I told you I was doing. But at least the money was spent on things we needed around the house.”

  “But hey, at least I got a tenth of what I made, right? I’ve had to pay my way all the way through life. Remember, Aunt Cee-Cee? You and Uncle Bubba were the ones who told me that I needed to get a reality check about life. That I needed to get my head out of the clouds, to stop dreaming about what kind of life I’d like to have and deal with life the way it was. How dare I think I could possibly attend The Juilliard School of Dance in New York or any other dance school. Or that I might someday dance with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. All merely dreams. I needed to grow up and live in reality.”

  Gabrielle opened her front door. “Well, Aunt Cee-Cee, I think that was great advice then, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s great advice now. I’m certain that you and Uncle Bubba, Luke, Laura, Angie, Jesse, and those darling little grandkids of yours together will find a way to work out your financial woes. Give everyone my love, won’t you?”

  After Gabrielle closed the door, she rested her back against it. Thoughts of Miss Crowe and the days she’d spent at her house were the only things that eased the pain of the memories her aunt had just evoked.

  That was the last Sunday of December. Now that Gabrielle thought about it, that may have been what caused her to dream about Miss Crowe that Tuesday. Maybe her aunt had triggered something, causing her to bring Miss Crowe back into her life, albeit in a dream, at a time when she needed to see and hear her the most. A time when she needed to be warned to change her life and soon, before what happened to her mother ended up becoming her own fate.

  Gabrielle touched her neck as she remembered these things. Tears began to flow.

  Chapter 6

  That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

  —Ecclesiastes 1:15

  Fatima had called Gabrielle on Sunday night to tell her that for the scheduled baptism next Sunday night, the church would provide a white gown for her. All she would need to bring was something to keep her hair from getting wet. They both laughed. They knew black women didn’t play when it came to their hair getting wet, and especially if they’d just gone to the beauty shop that week. Gabrielle realized what she had done in giving her life to Christ. This was a sacred matter and nothing to play with.

  “I hope you get a chance to look over the New Convert/New Member’s Handbook if you haven’t already,” Fatima said. “It tells how the baptism on next Sunday will merely be an outward show of what has taken place on the inside. You’ll be no more saved next Sunday night when they submerge you in the pool than you are right now.”

  “Really?” Gabrielle said.

  “Really. Salvation comes from faith and confession. Water baptism merely symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in your life. When you step down into the water, it shows Jesus being taken down from the cross after the crucifixion. When they submerge you briefly under the water, it shows the burial. And when you’re brought back up out of the water, it shows Christ being raised up from the dead and your being raised with Him. That He didn’t stay dead or buried for long before God raised Him up. It’s symbolic of how you’re now raised up with Christ, just as the scriptures say. You’ll be fine. I just didn’t want you thinking you’re not saved until next Sunday night when you’re officially baptized. I wanted you to understand that you’re saved right now.”

  Gabrielle appreciated her talk with Fatima. She could tell they were going to get along wonderfully. Fatima also invited her to come and help out with the day of service people were participating in on Monday, January nineteenth, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She also told her a little more about the Inaugural Ball the church was planning to have in the church’s banquet hall on Tuesday night, January twentieth, in honor of Barack Obama’s inauguration.

  People all around the country were preparing various celebrations for the inauguration day to feel part of the event. Since everybody couldn’t fit into Washington, D.C., even if they’d wanted to, various events were being planned around the country in neighborhoods and cities to coincide with the celebrations in D.C. Even churches were getting in on the nightly celebrations.

  Gabrielle realized Sunday when she confessed Christ, it was time for things to change in her life. And Fatima had explained the baptism process beautifully.

  Now her first order of business would be to quit her job. She called her boss and told him that effective immediately, she would no longer be working at his establishment.

  “Why?” asked thirty-four-year-old Clarence.

  “It’s time for a change.”

  “I knew it. I knew this was going to happen. It’s this Obama thing, ain’t it? That’s why I didn’t want him to win. I knew it! I knew black folks would start looking at their lives introspectively and wanting their own change. What does change have to do with you working here?”

  “It’s not Obama, although I am so proud that he won. It’s me. It’s who I want to be. What I was doing was fine for a past, but it’s not what I desire now or for my future.”

  “Oh, Lord, don’t tell me. That woman got to you, didn’t she?”

  “What woman?”

  “That meddling woman I’ve caught hanging around trying to tell folks about Jesus and how much He loves them. I’ve chased her away more than a few times. I told Blue to keep an eye out for her. I bet he was somewhere asleep. You know she’s crazy, right? You know she needs to be on medication,” Clarence said. “Any time a person tells you they heard a voice speaking when there’s no one visible to be doing the speaking, that’s a person who needs to run, not walk, but run to the nearest doctor and get some help. There’s medication that will shut those voices right up.”

  Clarence released a sigh, then continued. “Will you think about what you’re doing? Goodness, you can’t just leave me like this. You’re the best I got, and I mean that. Do you know how many people come here because of you? A lot. And I’m not fooling myself. Do you want a raise? Is that what this is all about? The economy’s been tough on everyone. If you want more money, I can do that. I did sort of cheat you when you first came to work here. I actually do owe you.”

  Gabrielle smiled. She knew he’d cheated her in the beginning. But he’d also been the only one to give her a real chance. She could never be mad at Clarence. “I’m saved, Clarence. And that means I can’t continue doing some of the things I used to do. You know what’s funny? I don’t even want to do it anymore. Something has changed inside of me. I’m a different person now. I need to do different things in, of, and with my life. I can’t explain it. But I wish you would come and go to church with me. Maybe you’ll see the light, too.”

  “Oh, Lord, have mercy! Not you. Goodness, I can’t believe this is coming out of your mouth. You’re the woman with big dreams, remember? Do you know how close you are to reaching those dreams? Do you have any idea what you’ve accomp
lished just in the eight years you’ve worked for me? You worked your way up the ladder. That’s the American way. And you did it. Nobody gave you anything! You did it.”

  “Clarence, I’ll tell you right now what I do know. I know one scripture at this point. A woman at church gave it to me. She told me to read it in the Bible. I memorized it because there’s a lot in that one scripture. It says, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.’ That’s Jeremiah 29:11.”

  “Goodness, will you listen to yourself? Mercy, you sound like those people who’ve been brainwashed by church fanatics. It was that attack, wasn’t it? Thursday morning when you were attacked? That’s what’s got you all messed up now. Look, I’ll protect you.”

  “It wasn’t just the attack. The attack didn’t even happen on your property. So, are you planning on protecting me everywhere?”

  “I can hire a bodyguard for you if that’s what it takes to keep you,” Clarence said.

  “I bet you would do that, too,” Gabrielle said.

  “If that will make you stay. At least until my people can find that sicko still running loose out there and take care of him.”

  “I believe that attack was something God used to help me to see clearer.”

  “Oh, so you believe God had that clown attack you so you would come to Him? Is that how you think God operates?”

  “No, Clarence. I’m no expert, although I can’t wait to get to know more about how God operates. But I do believe things happen in our lives, and sometimes God will use what was a bad thing and make something good come out of it. The fact is: I was attacked. Part of it, one might argue, was my fault, part definitely due to my stupidity.”

  “Goodness, girl! I’m sorry, but I’m not going to sit here and allow you to take the blame for something that was undeniably not your fault or your doing. No one, no one has the right to physically attack anyone, I don’t care what or why they claim they did it.”

  “But I’m the one who put myself in that position. What else was I to expect? Well, today I went forward, gave my life to Christ, and now, I’m saved. And do you know what? It feels wonderful! I feel free. That old creature you used to know is gone. Dead! I’m a new creature in Christ. Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?”

  “Sort of.” He paused, then continued. “You know, I could tell you that you have to give me at least two weeks’ notice before you can just up and leave. That is standard protocol when you leave a job. That’s if you want to leave on good terms, at least.”

  Gabrielle laughed. “But you won’t do that. And you know why, Clarence? Because deep down in your heart, deep down in your soul, you know what I’m doing is right.”

  “You’re just going to end up getting hurt,” Clarence said. “I’m telling you. I know a thing or two about church folks. And I’m telling you up front, they’re going to hurt you. You’re going to be greatly disappointed. But you and I have always been straight with one another. So, let me say this. You never tried to do me in or double-cross me while you worked here. So, if you ever want to come back and work here, I don’t care how far down the road that might be, know that there will always be a place for you. As long as I’m the owner here, and I’m paying the bills, there will always be a place for you.”

  “Thanks, Clarence. I hope you know how much I’ve appreciated working for you. And, Clarence?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you ever want a real change in your life, change you can believe in, I would love for you to come and go to church with me. It’s called Followers of Jesus Faith Worship Center. George Landris is the pastor. It seems to be a good place.”

  “Followers of Jesus? Are you sure this isn’t some cult? ’Cause I have peoples,” he said, purposely misstating the word people, “and if we need to, we can come get you out of there. I have peoples; we can break you out.”

  Gabrielle laughed again. Clarence could always make her laugh. “You have peoples?” she said. “Thanks, Clarence, for understanding. And my invitation to go to church with me is always open.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t take this the wrong way, but me and church don’t mix. Just be thankful you didn’t join up with Divine Conquerors Church.”

  “Actually, that’s where I went first this morning.”

  “You did? What happened? Why did you end up at the other place?”

  “I guess I was too much of a sinner for them to want me contaminating their precious sanctuary.”

  “Yep. I believe you hit that one dead on the head.”

  “How do you know about Divine Conquerors, or any church, for that matter?”

  “What? You mean I never told you?”

  “Told me what?”

  “That I was a PK. Yep, that’s right. Clarence grew up a preacher’s kid. On the serious side, you mind what I’m telling you. You be careful over there with those church folks. Watch your back. Thorns on a rose by any other name will still prick you if you’re not careful. You might have signed up to follow Jesus, but everybody at church ain’t walking the straight and narrow the way you might think they are. Hear me when I tell you that the church has its share of hypocrites as well as vipers.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Well, I guess I should get off the phone now. Good-bye, Clarence. You take care.”

  “You too.” He was about to hang up. “Goodness, I just about forgot. What do you want me to do with your final check?”

  “You can put it in the mail.”

  “I can do that. But if you want, I don’t mind running it by your house. Trust me, you’re going to need it sooner rather than later. Trying to find a decent-paying job, especially in this jacked-up economy, ain’t gonna be a picnic.”

  “It’s okay. You can mail it. That will be fine. You take care, Clarence.”

  When she hung up, she couldn’t help but feel the love she knew Clarence had for her. She started to smile. “Bad boy Clarence was a preacher’s kid? Mister ‘I have peoples’ was the son of a preacher?” She couldn’t help but burst into a laugh at the sheer thought of that.

  Chapter 7

  And say, Thus saith the Lord God; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar.

  —Ezekiel 17:3

  “Historic.” That’s what Johnnie Mae Taylor Landris called this day as she spoke to her two children sitting on the sectional sofa close by. Although it was Tuesday, many schools in Birmingham, Alabama, had given the children the day off, in addition to their already being scheduled off that Monday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That’s why so many people, including school-age children, happened to be home witnessing history as it was being made.

  Princess Rose took notes as she sat on the sofa in front of the television on January 20, 2009, watching Barack Hussein Obama being sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States of America.

  Johnnie Mae smiled at the diligence of her oldest child. Earlier, she had said, “Princess Rose, pay close attention. This is historic. You and your brother are officially eyewitnesses to history being made right before your eyes. You’ll be able to tell your children one day when they read in their history books that you saw this as it happened. You’ll be able to tell your children and your grandchildren that you witnessed this day when it happened. Barack Obama”—she momentarily placed her hand over her heart, struggled to swallow, then took her hand down—“our nation’s first black president.”

  Johnnie Mae cried through the entire morning ceremony, much as she’d done on that Tuesday night, November 4, 2008, when the news station she was watching quickly, and at exactly eleven o’clock on the dot central standard time, declared, “Barack Obama will become the forty-fourth president of the United States of America.”

  She got chills every time that announcement replayed, just as she had the first time she’d heard it.

  Princess Rose Taylor turned t
en on December eighteenth, finally reaching that coveted doubledigit number. Her little three-and-a-half-year-old brother, Isaiah Barron Edward Landris, would turn four on June fourteenth. Princess Rose and Isaiah’s last names were different because they had different fathers. Princess Rose’s father was Solomon Taylor, killed in an automobile accident in 2000, right after her second birthday. Her mother, Johnnie Mae Taylor Landris, a famous author, married Pastor George Landris, considered to be famous in his own right, on September 8, 2001.

  Many still called her mother Johnnie Mae Taylor because that’s the name she continued to use on her books even after her marriage to George Landris. Princess Rose didn’t mind that at all. The name Taylor allowed her to feel connected to the family and not the odd person out. The way things stood, she was the only one in her immediate family who didn’t possess the last name of Landris. George and Johnnie Mae had discussed possibly legally changing Princess Rose’s last name to Landris. But Johnnie Mae felt Princess Rose should have a say-so about it. She decided it best to wait until her daughter was old enough to understand what that meant and have some input.

  A few people called her Johnnie Mae Taylor Landris.

  “No hyphen, please,” Johnnie Mae would quickly inform anyone who was intent to write it the wrong way. But the majority of people, mostly church members, called her Sister Landris, while everyone else referred to her as Mrs. Landris or simply Johnnie Mae.

  One of Isaiah’s two middle names, Edward, was after his father’s, George Edward Landris’s, middle name.

  “Daddy Landris,” Princess Rose said, looking over at her stepfather as they watched the inaugural events. “Mr. Barack and Mrs. Michelle hug and act just like you and Mommy do. They look like they’re really in love. I hope when I grow up, I marry somebody who loves me the way you seem to love Mommy and the way Mr. Barack seems to love Mrs. Michelle.”

  “Oh, it’s going to be a good long while before you’ll be getting married to anyone,” Pastor Landris said.