God Has Spoken (28 page)

A week later, Eleanor stood outside the offices of BDO Jamaica waiting on Dwight to come and pick her up from work, beaming from ear to ear. Usually she stayed inside until Dwight got there, but she was just too happy to be confined to the office. The last few days had been some of the best for Eleanor. She had been spending a lot of time with Dupree, getting to know her daughter and vice versa. Eleanor was surprised at how much they had in common. With her eyes fixed on the ground, a smile on her face, her thoughts were consumed with Dupree.

“Can you spare some change, ma'am?”

Eleanor's eyes swept over two dirty, skinny, sore-infested feet swallowed up by a pair of grimy flip-flops. Moving upward, she took in the small, stained, raggedy dress torn in multiple places, falling off the skeletal frame. Sympathy filled Eleanor's heart as she stared at the yellow, sunken eyes in the bony face, decorated by big pimples and acne scars. Suddenly Eleanor's breathing sped up. “Dear God,” she muttered, her eyes widened in recognition. “Dolly, is that you?”

“Tiny? Girl, I didn't even know it was you in your fancy clothes and things.” Dolly smiled, revealing a mouth full of rotten teeth as she scratched at some sores on her arms.

“Oh, Dolly.” Tiny moved closer and hugged her, fighting against the tears that threatened to fall. “I'm so sorry.”

Some people stared in surprise, others in fascination at the contrast of the expensive business suit enfolding someone wearing dirty rags; the business executive embracing the stinky junkie.

That was the sight Dwight saw as he pulled up alongside the pair. Quickly parking the car, he hopped out and approached his wife and company.

“This is my husband, Dwight,” Eleanor made the introduction, her hand around Dolly's bony waist, not fazed by the strong odor emanating from her old friend. “Baby, this is Dolly.”

Dwight's eyes enlarged with shock. “Huh? Hmmm, hello, Dolly.” He stretched out his hand and shook hers, before releasing it. It felt like a piece of dried stick.

“Tiny, you done got you a fine man here, high yellow with pretty hair and colored eyes.” Dolly winked at Dwight, who looked away embarrassed. “From the looks of the two of you, he has money too. Handsome, beg you a few dollars to buy something to eat.” Dolly stretched out her hand to Dwight.

“We are not giving you a cent to go and buy drugs,” Eleanor told Dolly. “But we can help you if you want us to.” Eleanor had taken one look at the fidgety Dolly and knew that she was on something other than marijuana. It had been on the news for the last few months about Jamaica being infiltrated by cocaine and heroin. Jamaica's National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) vowed to intensify its drug law enforcement and increase drug arrests and seizures.

Dolly hung down her head in shame. She had been hooked on cocaine for almost a year, doing a little heroin also when it was available. In order to get her daily fix, she sold her body. But as the poison took its toll on her once curvaceous body, even that was hard to do now as no one wanted her. She was homeless and walked the streets begging for a few cents to get the monkey off her back. “Why would you want to help me, Tiny? I left you on the streets when you came to me for help.”

“I was mad at you for a while, but now I'm glad you did. Now that I look at it, you actually did me a favor.” Eleanor's voice was filled with kindness. “I had to follow my own destiny, Dolly. It was all a part of God's plan.” She felt Dwight take her hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Just like you running into my wife today,” Dwight added. “It's God's will for us to help you.”

Dolly looked down at her grimy feet in the beat up flip-flops. “God don't deal with the likes of me. I have done too much dirt.”

“It's just the opposite, Dolly.” Eleanor moved closer to her. “Look at me,” Eleanor demanded and waited until Dolly's wet, sunken eyes met hers. “God specializes in people like you; people who need Him.”

“So are you ready to make a change, Rockin' Dolly?” Dwight grinned at her.

Dolly threw her head back and laughed out loud, Eleanor joining in. “I see you told your man all about me,” Dolly said to Eleanor. “I'm not rocking anymore, but I sure would like to again,” she told Dwight.

“Good. I have a client who has a big inpatient rehabilitation center in Portmore, St. Catherine. He started it here in Jamaica about two years ago and has a few in the USA after his only brother overdosed about six years ago,” Dwight told Dolly. “I know it's full to capacity, but maybe I can call in a favor.”

“Dolly, please do this.” Eleanor's eyes pleaded with her. “This is not the way for you to live. You know that.”

Dolly looked from Eleanor to Dwight with uncertainty, rocking back and forth on her heels. “I'm not so sure . . .”

Eleanor stepped closer to her, a determined look on her face. “Not sure, huh? I thought you wanted to be a performer. What happened to those dreams?”

Dolly's face lit up. “I used to perform in my own show.”

Eleanor shuddered at the thought, forcing the image from her mind. “Not those shows, Dolly,” Eleanor said dryly. “I meant the Pantomime.”

“Really? You think I can still do that?”

“First you need to get clean and get your life back on track,” Dwight informed her. “My wife and I will pay for all your expenses. We will also help you get a job when you finish the program.”

Dolly went and wrapped her arms around Dwight, her tears wetting his jacket. Dwight awkwardly patted her on her bony back and waited a few seconds before untangling himself. They both turned to face Eleanor.

Eleanor smiled. “We will visit often. I'll also take my daughter to meet you.”

“You had a girl. I left before you had the baby, and I never even asked you the last time I saw you. I was so nasty to you. Sorry for what Big Dread did to you, Tiny. I'm sorry for everything.”

“That's okay. Come on, let's take a drive over to Portmore.” Eleanor got ahold of Dolly's hand and moved toward the car.

Dwight opened the doors for the women to enter the car. Dolly sat in the back, with Eleanor in the front passenger seat beside him. After strapping himself in the car, he drove off, headed toward St. Catherine. As they drove to Portmore, Dwight called his friend and informed him about Dolly and that they were on the way. Meanwhile, Eleanor and Dolly caught up with each other. It was apparent that they both had been through some tough times. Eleanor made a promise to herself to help Dolly get back on her feet.

“Here we are,” Dwight announced as he pulled up to a tall, iron gate. A massive, white, multistoried building stood behind it. The rehab center had high fencing all around it and was isolated, the nearest property miles away.

Dolly hung her head out the car window and stared in awe, hope plastered across her face.
It's almost like looking up at heaven,
she thought, tears swimming in her eyes. This place represented a new life for her. “I'm going to do this,” Dolly stated loudly. “Rockin' Dolly will be back, mark my words.”

Eleanor and Dwight looked at each other happily. Everything was finally falling into place.

“Get up off my bed, Bighead.” Dupree grabbed a pillow off the bed and threw it at Tony, hitting him in the stomach. “You know you don't live here, right?”

Tony laughed and returned the favor, the pillow bouncing off Dupree's head, landing on the floor. “Aunt Clover says I'm family too, and I'm always welcome, thank you very much.”

Dupree laughed and went to lie down beside her brother. “Well, you practically took over the guest room so what else was she going to say?”

It had been a little over a year since Dupree started attending New York University the spring of 1997. As Dwight promised, she lived with his aunt Clover in Midtown Manhattan instead of staying in a dorm. A wonderful Christian woman, Aunt Clover reminded Dupree a lot of Aunt Madge. Tony, wanting to spend a lot of time with his sister, had practically moved in, spending more time at the apartment than at his dorm. Dupree loved having her brother around. It made adjusting to the Big Apple so much easier.

“You know you love me being here,” Tony teased just before his cell phone in his jeans pocket rang. He took the phone and answered it, shooting a sideway glance at Dupree. “Hi, Dad, hmmm, hold on a second.” Tony got up off the bed and stood up. “I'll be right back,” he said to Dupree and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going?” She stopped him in his tracks. “It's okay. Come back.” She patted the space beside her on the bed.

Tony looked at her hesitantly for a few seconds before he walked back over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. “Dad? How are you and Mom?” Tony listened for a while. “Yes. I'm with her.”

As Tony talked to their father, Dupree's mind travelled back to the talk she finally had with Officer Gregg last Christmas. While it was easier for her to forgive her mother, Dupree held a lot of resentment for her father. “If he hadn't threatened you but had taken responsibility for what he had done, our lives would have been different,” Dupree had told Eleanor when she begged her to speak with her father before she left to study abroad. “I don't want to deal with him now. I'm still praying about it but not now.”

Dupree also refused to let Officer Gregg pay her college tuition, so Eleanor and Dwight did. “He saw me when I needed money and never offered. So I don't want his money now.”

True to her word, Dupree left for New York without seeing or speaking to Officer Gregg or his wife. Getting settled in a new country, in a new school, took up a lot of her time, but Dupree's relationship with her father weighed heavily on her mind. She tried to ignore it, but it was like a big zit on her forehead full of pus that wouldn't go away.

“Fast, pray, and ask the Lord to wash away all the anger and malice, baby,” Aunt Madge had told her. “You can do it. You are a young lady of great faith. You know God for yourself.”

So Dupree did as Aunt Madge suggested. She began attending church with Aunt Clover, feasted on the words of God by reading her Bible frequently, but most importantly, Dupree prayed. There were some prayer sessions when all she could do was bawl. The pain of her past felt like open wounds, still bleeding, still hurting.

She never got a miracle of forgiveness instantaneously, but she had gotten to a place that when she went home for Christmas, she finally met with her father. Sitting between Eleanor and Aunt Madge on Mrs. Scott's verandah in Falmouth, her hands tightly clasped in both women's, with the Greggs sitting across from them, Dupree finally listened to Officer Gregg's story.

“I went to church almost every Sunday. I was the perfect husband, the perfect son, the perfect man in everyone's eyes but God's. I wasn't saved, Dupree. I went through the motions but I never knew God,” he began, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at his daughter. “So when I saw your mother, lust filled my heart and I gave in to it. I didn't think about my family, my job, or anyone but myself. I mean, I felt flattered that this beautiful, young girl wanted to be with me. I was just a selfish man.”

Dupree stared at him without saying a word.

“At first it was exciting. You know the thrill of doing something forbidden without getting caught. So when Tiny told me she was pregnant, it was like someone threw a bucket of ice water over my head and woke me up. It was then that I realized what was at stake for me. Again, I was only thinking of myself. My wife would leave, and I would disgrace my family. But, the worst was that I could go to jail for being involved with a minor.” Officer Gregg paused and took a deep breath. His face was stained with tears.

“Something snapped in me. Dear God, I acted like an animal.” He bent over with his hands resting on his knees, his face fixed on the floor. “I attacked the poor girl and almost killed her so I could keep my dirty secret hidden. Lord, help me, but I also thought denying you as my daughter would make everything better for me. Again, I was just a selfish bastard.”

Officer Gregg stood up and walked over to Dupree. He knelt before his daughter, crying. “I wish I could go back and do it all over again, Dupree,” he sadly concluded, his eyes pleading with his daughter for understanding, “but I can't. I can only move forward and try to be the best father I can be to you from now on. Please let me try.”

Dupree stared at him silently, her head slightly tilted to the right, as she studied the face that looked so much like her own.

“Being good Christians now makes a big difference in our lives, Dupree,” Beverly said softly. “Second Corinthians 5:17 says ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' Your father and I have asked the Lord for His forgiveness, which I know He gave us. Your mother and Aunt Madge have given us theirs. Now we are begging for yours.”

“Well, I'm not that mad anymore.” Dupree felt Eleanor give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “I no longer wish you would drop dead, so that's progress, right?” Dupree looked at her father.

Officer Gregg nodded his head. “Yes, that's a step in the right direction.”

“I don't hate you, Mrs. Gregg. To be honest I don't even resent you that much anymore,” Dupree stated. “So by the grace of God, I'm trusting that it will get better with each day.”

“Thank you. I'm so happy that you are willing to give it a chance.” Officer Gregg's face lit up eagerly. “Your eyes see the best in people, your heart forgives the worst, and your faith is anchored in God. So we can do this, my daughter. I know we can.”

Dupree gave her father a little smile in agreement. They had certainly come a long way.

The next day Dupree was hit with another test of forgiveness. As she sat in Mrs. Scott's living room with Mrs. Scott, Aunt Madge, Miss Angie, Eleanor and Dwight watching television, Dupree felt her heart leap in her chest. The room got quiet before Eleanor jumped up and rushed over to the television to turn it off.

“No! Please leave it.” Dupree's eyes were fixed on the face of the man that had haunted her for years. A face that was slowly but surely becoming a very distant nightmare.

“I'm here at the maximum security St. Catherine's Adult Correctional Centre,” the pretty reporter said into the camera. “Today I am interviewing Deacon Livingston, a man who was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for brutally attacking a teenage girl. Now you may be wondering why. Well, Deacon Livingston has formed a Christian ministry here in the prison. It has become one of the largest that prison officials have ever seen in Jamaica. Every Sunday, dozens of prisoners gather in the prison yard to listen to this man tell them about God.”

“Can you believe this?” Miss Angie looked at Dupree, but she was absorbed in the news.

“Deacon Livingston, many people are wondering if this is a scam for a possible early release from prison or are you for real,” the reporter said.

Deacon Livingston smiled and looked directly into the camera. “A few months ago I wanted to die for what I had done to an innocent, young girl and the shame I brought my family. I prayed for death every second of the day. But one night God spoke to me and said He has work for me to do here. I mean, why would God want to use me? I still don't know, but that night has changed me. I was just like Saul on Damascus Road. I was converted into Paul. For years I faked being a Christian, but today, I can say that I am a child of God. Hallelujah!” Deacon Livingston rocked to the right, then to the left, before he began to do a little jig as he spoke in tongues.

The interview continued for a few more minutes with prisoners who had gotten saved giving testimonies and praising Deacon Livingston for bringing them hope in their dismal situation. “The man is a prophet,” said one prisoner. “He showed me that all is not lost when you have Jesus. Yes, man, I love him for that.”

After the interview, the room was lulled into silence. Every concerned eye was on Dupree, unsure of what to do.

“It's good to see Deacon Livingston doing something worthwhile, isn't it?” Dupree glanced from one face to another. “He seemed genuine. If he is, I'm glad that he has found the Lord so when he comes back to society, he will do some good and not harm anyone again.”

“Chile, you know you are a little too grown for your age,” Aunt Madge remarked, breaking the tension in the room.

“I'm almost twenty-years-old, Aunt Madge.”

“As I said before, too grown for your age.”

Dupree and the others laughed. This time there were no tears, only laughter. Dupree was getting there.

For the rest of the Christmas holiday, Dupree had a blast. She alternated her time between Falmouth and Kingston, spending a few nights with her mother and Dwight and the rest at the apartment with Jas and her new roommate, Vanessa, a coworker at NCB. Before Dupree had left for New York, Eleanor had informed Jas that not only could she stay in the apartment but she was free to get a roommate so she would have some company. Dupree and Jas were super thrilled.

“Dupree? Dupree, are you hearing me?” Tony reached over and shook Dupree's leg.

“What?” Dupree looked at him as if she was surprised he was there. She was so consumed with her thoughts that she actually forgot about Tony.

“Dad would like to speak to you?” Tony posed it as a question. He knew that his father and Dupree had been communicating ever since she came back for Christmas break, but there was still a little tension between the two of them. It was best to play it safe.

Dupree took the phone from Tony. “Hi. Yes, I'm doing fine, thank you. How are you and Mrs. Gregg doing?”

“We are doing well, my dear.” Officer Gregg was happy to be talking to Dupree. “I wanted to tell you that Beverly and I will be coming up in a few weeks for my in-laws' fiftieth wedding anniversary.”

“Really? Please bring some roasted breadfruits and ackee. Also, ask Miss Angie to bake one of her delicious potato puddings for me. Tell Mom to make some grater cakes and drops for me too.”

Tony began to laugh. “Bring the entire Jamaica, Dad,” he shouted.

“Shut up, Bighead.” Dupree rolled her eyes at him. “Father, don't listen to him. Also, please bring some sugar cane for me.”

Officer Gregg's grip tightened on the telephone, a big grin on his face. “She called me ‘Father,' sweetheart,” he whispered to Beverly who was standing close by, as Dupree continued listing items for him to bring from Jamaica.

Beverly smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “One day she'll say ‘Daddy.' I can just feel it.”

Officer Gregg beamed. He felt it too.

 

 

A few days later as Dupree entered the apartment the telephone rang. She hurried and picked up the phone in her bedroom. It was more than likely her call anyway. She got one almost every night from her loved ones in Jamaica.

“Hello, darling. I'm so glad I got you,” Eleanor said excitedly when Dupree answered the phone.

“Hi, Mom. I was planning on calling you later as well.” Dupree let her backpack fall to the floor and found a space to lie on her bed among the books covering most of it.

“I wanted to call before Dwight's parents get here for dinner.”

“Really? Dinner?” Eleanor had told Dupree of the strained relationship Dwight had with his parents and their dislike of her.

“Can you believe it? Last week they invited Dwight and me to their house for the first time,” Eleanor replied as if she was still in shock. “Things were a little tense at first, especially between his mother and me, but it turned out to be a pleasant enough evening. That's a start, right?”

“Yes, it is.” Dupree was happy for Dwight and her mother. “How is my favorite stepdad doing?”

“You only have one stepdad.” Eleanor and Dupree laughed. “He is right here anxiously waiting to talk to you. How is school going?”

“School is great! New York is out of this world,” Dupree gushed happily. “But I miss you guys too,” she added soberly.

Eleanor laughed. “I know you do, sweetheart. I'm happy you are happy.”

“Aunt Clover is spoiling me rotten, and I love it,” Dupree squealed, waving her hand in the air as if her mother could see her.

“So when are you coming to visit?” Eleanor asked.

“Mom, I was just there for Christmas.” Dupree giggled, switching the telephone to her other ear. “Aunt Madge called last night and asked the same thing.”

“What if we have a special reason to celebrate?”

Dupree sat up straighter on the bed. “What reason? Come on, tell me now.”

“You are going to be a big sister!”

“Yay!” Dupree jumped off the bed, screaming and dancing around her room. “Yes, yes, yes.”