Casting Down Imaginations (17 page)

twenty three

Karen

“Karen, can you fix my tie for me?”

I turned away from the mirror at the bottom of the stairs and
faced Kevin. He was dressed in his Sunday best, except for his tie, which he
held in his hand.

I took it from him. “You look nice, Kevin.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He looked past me and frowned. “Man…”

“What?” I asked.

He pointed out the window. “Terrance.”

“What is
he
doing here?” I asked aloud when I spotted
him walking up to the house.

“I don’t know. Make him go away.”

I looked down at Kevin, surprised that he didn’t want to see
him either.

“Why don’t you like Terrance?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t.”

I laughed and finished arranging his tie for him. Terrance
rang the doorbell.

I fussed at him as I opened the door. “What are you doing
here? We’re about to go to church.”

“Is that Terrance?” Mama called from up the stairs. She poked
her head around the corner, expecting him. “Why hello, Terrance. How are you
doing this beautiful morning?”

I watched in disgust as she made her way down the stairs,
putting on her earrings. I wanted to smack her and then turn around and kick
him. It was too early in the morning for this drama. I wasn’t in the mood to
put up with Mama trying to hook me up with Terrance behind my back. Whatever
happened between him and me was going to be on my time and my terms. Not hers.

“I’m great, Mrs. Stephens. How about yourself?”

“Oh, Terrance, I’m blessed. The Lord is good.”

“Yes, He is,” he replied.

So he was a preacher now? Great.

I cleared my throat. “I was just asking Terrance what he was
doing here,” I said.

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Oh, sweetie,
didn’t I tell you?” She smiled. “Terrance is coming to church with us.”

“No,
Mama
. You didn’t tell me.”

“Humh. Must have slipped my mind. Oh well.” She turned to her
second child. “Come on, Kevin. Let’s leave your sister alone with her guest.”

She sashayed past us into the kitchen, dragging Kevin with
her, and leaving me alone with her collaborator.

“What are you trying to pull, Terrance?” I asked. “You know
you don’t really wanna go to church.”

“Come on, now. You know I’m trying to be wit’ you. Why you
giving me such a hard time?”

“Because you’re not being honest,” I hissed, keeping my voice
down so others in the house wouldn’t overhear.

“What do you mean, I’m not being honest?” he hissed back. “I
been tellin’ you for the longest I wanna be wit’ you.”

“Yeah, only when it’s convenient for you, or when you get
your way.”

His face twisted. “What you talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Terrance, you finally made it,” Daddy interrupted us as he
walked down the stairs. I turned away so he wouldn’t see the angry expression
on my face.

“How you doing, sir?”

“Good. I’m good. Now you’re here, we can finally get going.”

I must have been the only person who didn’t know Terrance was
going to church with us today.

“Everybody ready?” Mama asked, walking back in from the
kitchen.

“Kevin, run and get your coat, dear. Hurry now, we gon’ be
late.” She turned to me as Kevin hurried to the coat closet, suddenly beaming.
“I just had a wonderful idea.”

I already knew it wasn’t as wonderful as she thought it was.

“What?”

“Instead of all of us riding together in the truck, why don’t
you and Terrance go together alone in his truck?”

I shook my head no, but Terrance cut me off before I could
verbally protest.

“Yes,” Terrance answered for me. “That’s a great idea. In
fact, I prefer it that way.”

“Great,” Mama said. “I’m sure you youngsters don’t want to
ride with us anyway. All we’ll do is bore you.”

“No no, Mama,” I said. “I don’t mind, really.”

“Of course you do, sweetie. It’ll be good for you and
Terrance to be alone.” She turned away before I could say anything else.

I rolled my eyes. The only reason she was doing all of this
was because Terrance got me pregnant, and she thought we needed to get married.
She was mad at him at first, but now that she thought he was gonna be some hot
shot celebrity basketball player, she wouldn’t stop trying to get us together.
It was pissing me off.

“Come on Kevin, let’s go,” Mama called.

Already weary, I turned to Terrance. “What are you doing?”

“Just trying to spend some time with you,” he answered. “I
was thinking after church we could go out to lunch. You know, just us two.”

Kevin trotted back into the room with his coat. “I’m ready.”

I acted out the first thing that came to me. “Guess what,
Kevin? Terrance is going to take us to lunch after church. Just us two. Mama
and Daddy are going to stay home. And he said we can go wherever you want to.”

Kevin’s little face lit up. “Yea!”

I was happy to see Terrance’s face full of disappointment.
The last thing in the world he wanted to do was help me baby sit Kevin, but
that was the way it was going to go down today.

“Okay, we better hurry up,” I said, and helped Kevin put on
his coat. “We don’t want to be late for service.”

After Kevin was dressed in his proper winter gear, I grabbed
him by the hand and escorted him outside to Terrance’s truck.

twenty four

Anaya

I stood with the rest of the congregation as Pastor Fields
prepared to dismiss us, happy I was about to leave so my skin could finally
stop crawling. Hearing the same sermon that I’d heard a thousand times before
in a dress that was curiously too tight didn’t put me in the best of moods.
Karen really topped it off when she walked in with Terrance. I could have
jumped up from my pew and popped that fake heifer in her mouth. One thing was
for sure though. Terrance got fine! If he wasn’t all over Karen I would have
tried to get his number. Karen and I weren’t friends anymore so there wasn’t
anything wrong with it. It probably would have put that snob back in her place
to see her man with me. But oh well, I didn’t want what she already had. If
anything, she could pick up my leftovers. But at least she got him to come to
church. That probably made her daddy proud.

Pastor Fields raised his right hand and the rest of the
congregation did the same in preparation for his signature closing remarks.

“Go with God, go in peace. You are dismissed,” he said.

With a sigh of relief I immediately sat down and took my
heels off. They were hurting my feet and I knew it was going to be at least
another thirty minutes before Deacon came out of the prayer room with the rest
of the “new converts.” I knew I should have driven my car, but no. I had to be
nice to Deacon when he asked me to ride with him like we used to. That’s what I
got. It was my own damn fault for being so kind.

I felt a tap on my knee. I looked down to see somebody’s
child trying to get my attention.

“Mommy,” the little girl said to me.

I looked around, trying to find the girl’s parents. It was
hard because I didn’t know the girl or her parents, so I had no clue who I was
looking for.

“Mommy!” the little girl screamed. She was becoming upset,
but I didn’t know why. She wasn’t crying as if she were lost, like I’d first
thought. It was like she was calling me Mommy, even though she knew I wasn’t
really her mother.

“Mommy!” she screamed again. People around us were starting
to stare.

I gathered my things and made up my mind to just leave her
there. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to leave a small lost child alone, but the
place was filled with righteous folks. I was sure nothing bad would happen.

I made my way through the maze of folks chit chatting, trying
my best to be patient.

“Mommy!”

She was watching me and pointing.

“Mommy!”

She looked innocent enough, but this child was evil.

“Mommy!”

“Ebony!” a voice called.

I turned to see a short plump woman scoop the child up in her
arms. Excited, Ebony jumped and buried her face in her mother’s neck.

“I’m so sorry,” the woman apologized to me. She was unsettled
and out of breath, but happy that she’d found the little girl. “I’m so sorry. I
don’t know what happened. She was right there, and then the next minute she was
gone.” She squeezed the little girl tight. “Don’t you do that again, you hear
me?” she scolded the child.

Ebony just smiled. It was clear that she didn’t realize the
severity of the crime she’d just committed. She pointed to me and repeated the
same accusation. “Mommy, look. Mommy.”

I didn’t understand. If this was her Mommy, why was she still
calling me Mommy?

“Does she call everybody that?” I asked the woman.

The lady looked up at me, only just now really seeing me.
She’d been so absorbed with trying to find her baby that she hadn’t paid me any
attention.

She smiled, still out of breath. “Oh,” she stammered out.
“No.” She was suddenly just as puzzled as I was. “What are you talking about,
Ebony?”

Ebony just smiled and pointed again. “Mommy,” she repeated at
me. “Mommy.”

Her mom’s face cleared as if she finally understood. “Mommy?”

Ebony squealed, happy that someone could finally comprehend
what she was trying to relay.

The lady turned to me and smiled. “She thinks you’re
pregnant,” she said and laughed.

I was appalled. What would make her think that? She didn’t
even know me.

“Where did she get that from?”

The lady shrugged as her daughter continued to point at me
and suggest that I had a child.

“I don’t know. She just does that sometimes, you know?”

I shook my head. I was mad and I wanted her to tell her
daughter to stop pointing. Didn’t she know it was rude?

“Well?” the woman asked.

“What?” I didn’t know what she or the little girl she was
holding were talking about.

“Are you?”

“Am I
what?”
I asked, becoming defensive.

“Are you pregnant?”

This grown woman could not be that silly. Surely she wouldn’t
believe the ignorant words of a toddler.

“Excuse me?”

She could see my wall coming up.

“Look, I know it may sound farfetched, but little Ebony here
isn’t a liar.”

“That’s nice, but—”

“I’m serious,” she cut me off. “A little while ago Ebony did
the same thing to my sister. And she tried to deny it and say that she wasn’t
pregnant, but a few weeks later she found out she was.”

“Yes, that may be so. But what does that have to do with me?”

Her eyes dropped down to my stomach. I sucked in, wishing
that my dress were a little bit looser in that area.

“Maybe you’re pregnant,” she said.

I shook my head. “No, no. That’s impossible.”

She tried to get cute with me. “Are you a virgin?”

No she did not just get all up in my business like that!!!

“I’m not married. I’m only eighteen.”

She smacked her lips at my weak defense. I knew full well
that just because I wasn’t married didn’t mean that I was a virgin. But that
was how I was going to play the game right now. We were still in church.

“Well, okay. But Ebony usually isn’t wrong about things like
this. Like one day, she kept telling her daddy, ‘don’t go.’ She kept saying,
‘Daddy, don’t go. Daddy, don’t go.’ But of course he had to go because he had
to go to work. Don’t you know that he got into a wreck? He was okay though. But
I know somehow Ebony knew that it was going to happen. That was God working
through my baby, I tell you.”

Okay. Call Child Protective Services. This lady is coo-coo.
She doesn’t need to be having any kids with her.

“Yeah, well. I’m not pregnant, and that’s that.”

She didn’t believe me. “Alright. Well, maybe one day in the
future.”

Ebony shook her head. “Now. Mommy now.”

Her mom giggled. “Ebony says you’re pregnant now. You better
go to the doctor and take a pregnancy test,” she laughed.

I didn’t see what was so funny. Why would that be funny?
Instead of laughing, she needed to be teaching her daughter to stop lying and stop
pointing her stupid little finger. And she needed to teach her how to shut the
hell up and how not to interrupt grown folks when they were talking.

“I’m not pregnant,” I told her.

She didn’t believe a word I said.

“Listen here, baby. You’re in denial. Go get a test.”

How was she gonna tell me I was in denial when she was
flipping out over the few words that a stupid two year old said? That was
probably all she knew how to say, and this fool was flipping out over it. Who
was the crazy one here? She was!

“I’m not pregnant,” I repeated, fully pissed now. I was about
to go off on her. I didn’t care that we were in the house of God. Maybe a few
licks would put some sense in her dumb behind.

She nodded. “God don’t lie.”

“
God
didn’t tell you that.
She
did.”

“God told her.”

I laughed. This lady was unbelievable.

“I’m not pregnant. Look, if I am, it’s Jesus coming back,
because there is no way that I’m pregnant.”

“Jesus wouldn’t come back through a fornicator. Our God is
too holy for that.”

My mouth dropped open.
JUDGMENTAL B****!!!

Okay, you know what, Anaya? This is crazy. Don’t say
anything, because if you punch her in her face in front of all these folks
you’ll probably get Deacon in trouble.

I bit my lip. I wasn’t going to justify myself to a coo-coo
for cocoa puffs nut and her twisted baby. This was insane! If we weren’t in
church I would have told her just what she could do with her little fake baby
and her fake prophecy.

I smiled to keep from laying hands of deliverance on her.

“I’m going to walk away now,” I said to her calmly.

She sighed. “Look, I know you may be upset, but it’s the
truth. Go get a pregnancy test.”

I curled my lips at her in disgust and turned to walk away.
That was what I hated about coming to church. Everybody thought their child was
so damn special. They all needed to sit down somewhere and find out who Jesus
really was. Then they’d stop giving me such a hard time.