Chapter Seven
I pulled back into the apartment parking lot a few hours later to see Stanley, Jarrius, Julius, DeRon, and Willy coming out the front door, decked out in shorts and basketball shoes. Stanley saw my truck coming and said something to the others, pointing, and they stopped, obviously waiting for me to disembark.
Saying a hasty goodbye to the others, I headed toward Stanley. “Hey hey, son,” Stanley told me. “Want to play some ball?”
“Always,” I answered. “Give me a minute to change.”
It was maybe four in the afternoon by the time I bounded out the front door again, the sun about even with the tops of the trees in the west, and the six of us headed toward the park.
“How was the hiking today?” Jarrius asked. “Sorry I missed it.”
“It was good. Great weather for it.”
“Good. Maybe I’ll get out there with you guys next time.”
“Yeah, that’d be nice.”
We arrived at the park, the floodlights illuminating the basketball courts and playground. “Jules and I are captains,” Jarrius announced. “I want Eli first.”
Surprised, I didn’t move at first. Why was he picking me, after the way I had behaved the last time out? Okay, I had apologized, but surely he couldn’t have forgiven me that quickly. I wouldn’t have, if someone had treated me with that kind of disrespect.
But as I looked at the others, it seemed like I was the only one who was surprised. The others just watched me expectantly, waiting for me to move to Jarrius’ side, which I did, giving him a smile and a slight nod.
“I’ll take DeRon,” Julius said.
“Willy.”
“Stanley.”
“And that’s teams,” Jarrius said, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s do this.”
I guarded DeRon, and I played very well, but my heart wasn’t really in it. Something really unnerved me about the way these guys were determined to include me. It wasn’t unwanted, just so alien that it made me uncomfortable. People weren’t supposed to just forgive people who had disrespected them. Trust was supposed to be earned back. Yet here it had been freely given.
DeRon blew past me and put in an easy layup. I put my hands on my hips, frowning at the ground. “You alright?” Stanley asked. “You didn’t even try on that one.”
“Yeah, man, I’m just tired. Walked a good five miles already today.”
“Sounds like an excuse to me,” DeRon said, tossing me the ball. “Your move.”
I got the ball from him and instantly drove to the basket, drawing DeRon and Stanley toward me, then passed the ball back out to the free-throw line where Jarrius was waiting to put up an easy shot. The ball sank easily through the hoop, barely brushing the net on its way down.
“That’s more like it,” I said, satisfied.
“Luck,” dismissed DeRon. “Guard this, if you can.”
He tried a feint down the left side, but I backtracked, staying between him and the goal. I gave him too much space, and he put up a jumpshot, which just drifted over my outstretched fingertips, clanging off the rim before dropping in.
“Also luck,” I insisted. “My turn again.”
“You know there are four other people playing this game,” Julius reminded us. “It’s not the Eli and DeRon show.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, taking a stutter-step toward goal and getting behind DeRon, dropping a late bounce-pass between Julius’ legs, which Willy scooped up and converted to a layup.
DeRon took the ball, and tried to get past me, but I was too close to him. He swung his elbow, trying to switch hands and go the other direction, but his elbow caught me in the face and I dropped to one knee, holding my nose.
“Sorry, brother,” he said, kneeling next to me. “You alright?”
“I’m fine,” I said insincerely, feeling blood drip between my fingers, anger rising in me. Yet along with the anger came a strange sensation, like something else inside of me was second-guessing me. I wanted to lash out, to hit DeRon back, “accidentally,” just to get even, but for some reason I found myself thinking about the mercy they had shown me during our last game, and about the questions I had asked myself at Stanley’s apartment just the previous night, about who I was, and why it wasn’t who I wanted to be. I made a decision in that moment, that I wanted to be a friend to these men, that I wanted to repay their kindness. I stood up, looked DeRon in the eye, and extended my left, non-bloody hand. “Cool?”
He stared at it for a long moment, as if he was surprised at what was happening. But he took my hand, looking back at me. “We cool, man.”
“Good.” I hunted around the court for a stray napkin or paper towel, but couldn’t find any, so I stepped off the concrete and sat down on one of the benches that lined the courts, letting blood spatter onto the hard ground.
The others started playing Horse, waiting for me to come back, but my nose wouldn’t stop bleeding. I leaned forward, squeezing it and breathing through my mouth, but the blood seeped through my nostrils and fingers anyway.
Five minutes later, it looked like I was done bleeding, but I still wasn’t about to go back on the court and put my face in the way of anyone’s elbow again. “I’m heading home,” I told the guys. “Thanks for the game. Maybe we can finish another day?”
“Yeah, we’ll come get you next time we’re going to play,” Julius said. “Thanks, bro.”
“Peace.” I headed back toward my apartment, glancing up at the row of streetlights, then down at the patchwork quilt of light they spread on the sidewalk where I walked. Light, shadow, light, shadow. Another half mile or so and I was pushing in the front door of the building and thumping up the stairs.
After fumbling with my keys, I opened the door to my bedroom, which made an odd scratching sound, like it was dragging something on the ground. Cautiously, in case the door was broken, I pulled it closed, and found a fat envelope on the floor. I kneeled and looked it over, perplexed, wondering where it had come from and how it had gotten through the narrow space between the door and the floor.
Was it even mine? Could I open it? The envelope was plain, unmarked. I stared at it for a few moments before finally deciding that I might as well see what was inside it.
I slowly tore the top off it, peering inside, at a huge wad of money and a plain piece of paper. There had to be some mistake. I unfolded the paper and turned on the light to read it.
“Dear Eli, we know you’re short on money, so please accept this gift. Love in Christ, your friends from New Heart Church.”
I sat back on the floor, staring in disbelief at the letter, then picking up the money and flipping through it. There were tens, twenties, even a few hundreds – it had to be at least a thousand dollars. They couldn’t do this for me. I didn’t need the money. Part of me wanted to take it, because it would definitely help me stop stressing as much, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t accept a thousand dollars. I had to give it back.
I didn’t know exactly who was responsible for this, but I had a feeling that Danny would know something. I thudded up the stairs to the fifth floor, pounding on his door.
Elizabeth answered. “Oh, hey, Eli. Danny’s gone. Can I tell him you came by?”
“Maybe you can help me. I found an envelope with money in it under my door. I wanted to ask him about it.”
“Money?” She frowned, confused. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Danny didn’t tell you he was putting something together for me?”
“No.” I would have assumed she was lying to me, but she seemed genuinely caught off-guard. “I don’t think he did it, Eli. I’m sure he would have told me about something like that.”
“Alright. Well, if it’s not a big deal, can you send him to talk to me when he gets back?”
“You got it.”
I made my way back to my apartment, tossing the money on the kitchen counter as
if to distance myself from it. Maybe Stanley would get back so I could accost him. I was sure that either he or Danny, if not both, had something to do with it. Maybe I could take the note out and slip the envelope back under Stanley’s door.
More than anything, though, I was completely baffled that anyone from the church would even think to collect money for me. Surely there had to be more important things they could do with that kind of money, some people truly in need who could have benefited more. Why, with all the needs they must have known about, had they picked me?
Perhaps Stanley knew that I was going to be waiting for him, or perhaps he was genuinely delayed in getting back, but either way, by midnight he hadn’t showed up yet. Neither had Danny, for that matter. At that point, I decided I’d better go to bed. I was pretty tired, and I would have to get up in the morning anyway to play the music in church. There would be time to clear things up with Stanley and Danny soon enough.
The morning dawned bright and cold, frost on the inside of my window, the kind of morning where anybody with half a brain would rather just stay hibernating under the covers until spring comes around again. Strange as it was, though, I was almost looking forward to church, or at least to playing my guitar again. I showered and, feeling snazzy, even shaved, before heading upstairs again.
As I walked down the long hallway toward the meeting room, it struck me just how much had happened in the last week. It seemed like my life had begun on the day I had moved down here; all the things that had happened since then were vivid memories, strong emotions, and all the things from before were like they’d happened to a different person. I had been to the depths of frustration and helplessness in that first week, and lately, I’d known kindness and acceptance like I’d never felt before. Something was happening here. I just didn’t know exactly what yet.
For the second week in a row, I took a deep breath and walked through the door into New Heart Church.
Part Three
New Heart Church Page 14
