Mama B - A Time to Mend (Book 4) (9 page)

“That’s why I’m not
understandin’ why we left. If she gonna eventually end up cleanin’ up no matter
what, why can’t we just skip callin’ the police and disruptin’ their home and
help her clean up now?”

“Because she need to know
this ain’t just
us
tellin’ her she nasty. She need to hear it from a
judge
.
Light the fire under her behind to stop being so lazy,” Ida Mae fussed. “We go
in there and help her clean up today, I guarantee, it’ll be back to the same
terrible condition in six weeks.”

LaTonya sighed. “Mama B, the
parents probably need to see a psychologist. No one in their right mind lives
like that.”

“Well, he don’t be there all
that much,” I said, conceding that they had some logic to their points as well.
“Mostly just her and Jeffrey.”

“Is it any wonder why he don’t
want to be there?” Ophelia asked. “Don't no man want to come home from a hard
day’s work to all that confusion.”

“That’s what it is.
Confusion. She’s confused,” I agreed. “Me and the Lord been workin’ on getting
to her heart, and this clean-up was supposed to be the start of me introducin’
her to Jesus, thank you all very much.”

“Honey, Jesus done been to
hell and back, but He ain’t goin’ in
that
house,” Ida Mae said. “You
need to bring her to church.”

“You think she’s gonna be
inclined to join me and the church ladies after all the ruckus we raised
today?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, Mama B,” Myesha
spoke up. “I wasn’t trying to be rude. I really couldn’t breathe.” She covered
her neck with her hand. “My throat closed up.”

“Well, I got to go back to
the prayer closet for Julia now.”

“And I got to make my phone
call to child protection. I can’t turn a blind eye to what I saw,” Ida Mae
insisted.

“You do what you feel you got
to do, Ida Mae,” I murmured.

“I wouldn’t have it any other
way,” she barked back, leading the procession out of my house.

Lord, Jesus. This has been a
total flop.

Chapter 11

Even though I didn’t feel it
was time for me to go back and try to aid Julia again right away, I did
everything I could to let her know I was still thinking about her and praying
for her. Sent over a lemon meringue pie, a smoked turkey-sausage and potato
casserole, and a veggie pizza by way of Jeffrey. I guess Jeffrey said he
wouldn’t let whatever was going on between me and his Momma stop him from
getting a fresh breakfast every morning.

The Allens certainly ate up
everything I made for them. Sent the dishes back by Jeffrey. People can get mad
and hurt as they want to, but they still got to eat. Plus, I knew Julia’s leg
was still broken. She was my neighbor and I was going to treat her the way I’d
want to be treated even if we was only talking through Jeffrey.

“Julia said ‘thank you’,” he
would say when he returned the empty containers.

“You tell her she’s welcome
and let me know if she needs anything,” I’d reply.

I’d have to wait for the Lord
to open up another window of opportunity with Julia.

Meanwhile, Frank wasn’t too
happy about the arrangement. I was so used to talkin’ to him about everything,
I slipped and told him about the blow-up at the Allens’ house, which came as a
total shock to him since I failed to mention that I was plannin’ a mass
clean-up in the first place.

The night I told him, he got
a cross expression on his face. He swallowed the bite of turkey chili he’d just
put his mouth. “So, you went
over there
to clean the house?”

“Yeeees...” Tell you one
thing: Folks who ain’t used to lyin’ and deceivin’ don’t need to take up that
business at age 73.

Frank sucked his teeth. Top
and bottom. “Honey, I thought we’d already decided you were going to keep your
distance from the Allens.”

WE didn’t decide anything.
“Well, Frank, I…I can’t turn
Jeffrey away. He’s
hungry
. Sometimes I think if it wasn't for me and the
other neighbors who feed him, he’d starve.”

“Then Ida Mae was right to
call the authorities,” he said.

Ain’t that something? My
second husband took Ida Mae’s side, just like my first husband used to. “So you
think the next time he comes knockin’ for food, I ought to just dial 2-1-1 and
get the state over here?” I snapped.

“Don’t be silly.” He shook
his head and got back to the chili.

“Well, that’s what you
tellin’ me to do, right?” I pushed.

“All I’m asking you to do is
stay out of the Allens’ business. We’ve got twenty other families on this
street who probably need just as much help. Why don’t you go help
them
?”

“Because Jeffrey’s the one
who’s reachin’ out for me,” I explained. I could feel my face heating up.

“It’s one thing to feed
Jeffrey breakfast every morning. But making the Allen household a mercy mission
is well beyond the scope of ‘keeping your distance’.”

I wiped my mouth with a
napkin. “Since you keep bringing up that term, let me just say for the record
that I never
agreed
to keep my distance.”

“We already know that when
two don’t agree, they can’t walk together. Opens the door to confusion.”

“How can I agree to something
that goes against who I am? I’m a country woman, I’m a mother, a grandmother. I
done raised my own boys and plenty more in my old neighborhood. I don’t believe
in turning away somebody needy. I don’t think it’s right.”

Frank scooted out of his
chair. “All I can say is, you know me. I’m telling you what I think needs to
happen, but I’m not going to put my foot down ‘cause that’s not
my
style, either.” He had a little nip in his voice that time. He took his empty
plate to the kitchen and left me alone at the table.

All manner of evil thoughts
came to my head.
You can put your foot down, up, around,
under—wherever you want to put it, Mister Doctor Frank Wilson, you ain’t
gon’ change me! They don’t call me ‘Mama’ B for nothin’!

Sittin’ at that long mahogany
table, surrounded by all the fine furnishings from both mine and Frank’s
lifetimes, I realized that we was havin’ our first official argument as husband
and wife and it hurt my feelings something terrible. I guess I thought ‘cause
we was older and wiser and both mature in the Lord, we wouldn’t have no real
big disagreements. Thought we was gon’ sit out on the porch swinging back and
forth drinking Country Time Lemonade all the time. But the real truth was
hittin’ me: Don’t matter how old or young you are, how many times you get
married, who you marry, or how saved you call yourself when you get married,
you still gon’ have to work through some problems, period.

Seem like I’d probably told
some of the younger ladies these things back when I used to teach in the Titus
2 ministry at our church. Matter of fact, I
knew
I had taught this. But
now that I was back in a marriage, I needed to be reminded. Right then and
there, I made myself an appointment to talk with the Lord soon as I finished
loadin’ the dishwasher.

I didn’t want Frank to think
I was doing anything drastic like sleepin’ in the guest room, so I returned to
our bedroom. He was sitting up in the desk area looking through his medical
encyclopedias, taking notes on something or another.

I gathered my Bible and
journal from the nightstand. I whispered to him, “I’m gon’ sit up in the den
for while, but I’ll be in later.”

“Okay. I’ll stay up.”

“I don’t know how long it’ll
take,” I said.

He turned to me. “I’ll wait.”

I shut the door, smiling deep
inside my soul all because Frank said he’d wait.

My knees settled on the
shaggy rug as I leaned my elbows into the lounge chair. “Lord God, I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean to get so angry with Frank today, but you know being a godly wife
was always something You had to teach me over and over again. And You a good
teacher, sometimes I just be slow on this one thing. Thank You for Your
faithfulness. Thank You for Frank. Thank You that he ain’t one of them
woman-beatin’ type of husbands, even though I know You would have showed me
that before-hand anyway. I thank You for His gentle spirit,
Your
Spirit.

“Now, Lord, I need to know
how to handle this issue with the Allens. Frank want me to butt out. I don’t
want to.”

Somehow, when I said it like
that, it didn’t sound right. There was more to why I didn’t want to, of course,
but when the words came out so black-and-white, there really wasn’t no other
way to look at it than to answer the questions: Was I going to submit to my
husband or not? Was I going to wholeheartedly follow my husband’s lead or not?
Did I trust God to guide my husband’s heart or not? ‘Cause if the answer was
“not”, I really didn’t have no business getting married in the first place. I
could have stayed a widow if I wanted to do everything my way. “Sure was
easier, Lord Jesus.”

I opened my eyes and flipped
through my Bible. Just so happened, the Thank-You card that one of the ladies
at Frank’s church gave me for donating three cakes to the children’s carnival
was tucked into Psalm. The card was keepin’ my Bible from laying flat, so I
took it out, intending to keep going to the book of Ephesians, where I was
already studying.

But my eyes landed on the
first two verses of Psalm 127. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in
vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of
sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

Well, I wasn’t workin’ on no
buildings, but the Lord spoke to me through these scriptures nonetheless. All
my plans to help Julia clean up
her
house wasn’t gonna work so long as I
was out of order in my
own
house with my
own
husband.

“
My
, my my my. Lord, I
repent. Here I am gettin’ up early, sittin’ up late. Ooh, Jesus, I’m sorry,” I
cried softly.

“But, God, what about
Jeffrey?”

And He asked me in my Spirit:
Do you trust me with Jeffrey?

“Of course,” I answered out
loud.

And that was all He said.

Tickled me a little because
He reminded me of Frank. God say what He got to say and that’s it. He leaves it
up to us to listen or not. End of conversation.

Well, since the Lord left the
conversation, I left, too, and got my self back in the room with Frank. He was
yet looking through those books.

He swiveled his chair toward
me. “That was quick.”

Before the enemy could
suggest that I at least
pretend
like I still had a bad attitude, I
blurted out, “I’m sorry, Frank. I won’t go behind your back meddling with the
Allens anymore. I don’t know how God’s gonna fix all this for Jeffrey, but I
trust He will.”

“B, I don’t have a problem
with you feeding Jeffrey breakfast,” Frank reiterated.

“I know, I know. The hardest
thing for me is knowing that when he’s not here, he’s wandering the streets or
cooped up in that house with Julia.”

“You have valid concerns, B.
We need to pray about them and ask God to intervene. Jeffrey’s getting too old
for wandering.”

I felt better with Frank
simply acknowledging I had a point. So I continued, “Did I tell you that
Jeffrey’s father doesn’t want him to go to school? And Julia claim like they
homeschooling the boy. You think they really serious?”

Frank stood, took off his
glasses. “I see I’m going to have to do something to take your mind off what’s
happening down the street.”

He leaned down and kissed my
neck. Now, how he managed to figure out in only a few months this was my weak
spot I do not know. Worked like a charm. When Frank get his mind set on me, he
got a way of making me feel like I’m the only woman in the world.

Chile, for the rest of that
evening, if you’da asked about my neighbor, I woulda been like, “Jeffrey
Who
?”

Chapter 12

Frank was off the Friday
evening leading up to the first of the month. We spent the day shopping for
early Christmas presents. Well, I was shopping and Frank was tagging along. I’d
see something and ask if his daughter or granddaughter would like it, and he’d
say, “Yes, I think so.”

He didn’t know.

Saturday was reserved for
heading to Peasner. Frank had a date with the men’s choir practice at Mt. Zion,
and I had told Son I’d meet him at my house and give him the key to the shed.
Ida Mae apparently wanted to store a few things out there, and he’d already
given her permission.

Anyhow, I went on into the
house and waited. I walked around, checking everything out. The Holy Spirit
told me real quick to start taking pictures. I hated to hear that ‘cause I knew
He had a reason for telling me to do it. But I obeyed anyway. I must have took
close to a hundred pictures of everything that might be used to show the condition
of my house and whatever property I was leaving behind for her use before Ida
Mae moved in. The walls, the floors, the cabinets, appliances. Everything. I
even did some of them panoramic movies.

I heard Son’s car horn beep.
I put the phone back in my sling bag and walked to the door to greet my son. He
came in looking like a plump version of his father. I remembered the day we
brought Son home from this hospital. Back then, they used to keep you in the
hospital for about a week after having a baby. When I got back home, I was so
mad ‘cause Albert hadn’t washed one single solitary dish while I was in the
hospital! Had it all waitin’ on me when I got back!

Sometimes, those little
random memories pop into your head when your life is facing a big change.

Son gave me a hug.

“How’d you get off work
today?” I asked him. “I thought you was workin’ a lot of overtime.”

“Long story, I don’t want to
go into it.”

Son got a funny way of
holding his mouth when he holdin’ back bad news. “Okey-doke. Here’s the key to
the shed. I already made a copy for myself.” I slid the key off my ring.

Then some strange, skinny man
come bustin’ through the door with his gray hair stickin’ out all over his
head. “Hello there.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Son slapped his thigh like he
forgot something. “Oh. Momma. This is Earl. He’s bringing in some of his
belongings.”

“Earl?”

“Hello. You must be B.” Had
more gold in his mouth than enamel.

I shook his hand. “Yes, but
who must
you
be?”

He slapped his chest once.
“I’m Earl.”

I set my eyes on Son’s.

“Momma, Earl is…Aunt Ida
Mae’s…companion.”

“What?!”

Earl punched Son’s arm. “I
like how you put that, boy. We ain’t married, but we ain’t single.”

“Then you ain’t stayin’
here!” I burst his bubble.

All of a sudden, Earl’s
facial features pointed in toward his nose. Scary-lookin’, if you ask me.

“Momma, let’s go to the
kitchen.” Son gently tugged my arm. “Earl, um…just bring your stuff into this
front room for now, all right?”

“Yeah.”

I gladly followed Son to the
kitchen, just waiting for his sorry explanation so I could shoot it down with a
spiritual .45.

“Aunt Ida Mae and Earl are a
couple. I’ve already done a background check on him. No felonies. No jail time.
He’s clean.”

“I
barely
agreed to
let Ida Mae move in here. You think I’m gon’ let her shack up in my house, the
house me and your daddy prayed for? The house Pastor Phillips blessed and dedicated
to God?” My oldest child knew good and well this was not how I operated.

“Momma, this is
business
,
not
religion
.”

I propped one hand on my hip,
the other on my counter. “You think I’d
agree
to let her sell drugs out
of here?”

Son shook his head. “No. But
selling drugs is illegal.”