Redeeming Waters

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  It was good and bad happening at the same time. Good that her husband had gotten promoted. Good that he would be home in about two weeks. Good that she was carrying a sweet little innocent baby inside. Bad that she was pregnant by someone other than her husband. Bad that she would have to deal with this when Unzell came home. Bad that she just might lose him when all of this would soon become said and done.

  Chapter 31

  So the messenger went, and came and showed

  David all that Joab had sent him for.

  —2 Samuel 11:22

  King d.Avid finished the final concert on the leg of his long but fulfilling tour. The stage crew had always arrived prior to him, having to set everything up. With so many concerts, the schedule had been tight and grueling: the breaking down of the stage, loading up all that heavy and expensive equipment, then traveling by trucks to the next destination to set up there, usually with only four to five hours (if that) of sleep.

  It was a lot on those whose job it was to do it or make sure that it got done. But King d.Avid was told that not too many of them had complained about it, too much, anyway. There are always some who’ll complain no matter what. But for the most part, most of them had been happy to have a job and to be working full time. A lot of folks, including those doing what King d.Avid was doing for a living, weren’t working at all. When that happens, there’s a chain reaction, and it affects everyone down the line.

  Say an artist doesn’t get signed to another deal. First off: he or she loses. Then there’s nothing new to sell or promote, so the concert crew and such are out of work. The people who work in the venues—from the ticket takers to the hot-dog man to the cleanup crew—have nothing to do because the venue sits idle, because people aren’t spending money that they just don’t have. Grocery stores and retailers see less business. Farmers and those producing things see declining orders since merchants need less when no one’s buying. The cycle of life takes effect, or more accurately: the wheel of economics gunks up.

  King d.Avid was glad to know that because of the gift God had blessed him with, he was responsible—in a positive way—for others to be gainfully employed. This tour had been jam-packed with back-to-back concerts, in most instances. He’d done this to ensure he stayed relevant during this famine time. But he vowed (after these back-to-back concerts making it sometimes months on end) to never agree to something like this again. It didn’t give enough time between events for anyone to catch their breath. And it was hard. Not as hard on him as it was for the crews that backed him. Essentially, all he had to do was show up, rehearse for a couple of hours, make suggestions or register any complaints that needed to be addressed; and ultimately, someone else took care of it. But this last round of concerts was finally over. And everyone could finally go home.

  So when news came of what transpired after the final concert ended, a concert that rivaled all those that had come before it, King d.Avid was in absolute shock.

  “Say what?” King d.Avid said to the young man that stood breathless before him.

  The twenty-something, lanky guy was trying desperately to catch his breath and talk. “The moving equipment . . . they were disassembling that big heavy piece. The tow motors were holding the truss . . . yeah, the truss . . . up off the ground—”

  “Tow motors . . . truss?” King d.Avid said. “What are you talking about?”

  “The lamps . . . they put lamps inside the truss . . . that big massive steel thing . . . the truss,” the guy said, still trying to catch his breath between words.

  “Okay, don’t worry about trying to explain that part. Just tell me what you’re saying has happened.”

  “Something went wrong. The production manager was supervising everything. Then that heavy thing suddenly came crashing down. It’s bad, sir. It’s bad.”

  “So you’re telling me someone was hurt?”

  “Not only hurt; but someone’s dead.”

  King d.Avid stood to his feet. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, sir,” the young guy said. “One is dead and two were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Jock sent me. Told me to come and tell you before you happened to hear about it on the news or from somewhere else.”

  “Who died and what two were taken to the hospital? Anyone I know?”

  “The production manager. The guy that just got promoted.”

  “What? Is he in the hospital?”

  “No, sir. He’s dead, sir. Unzell Waters is dead. I can’t believe he’s gone, but he is. I witnessed the whole thing with my own two eyes. It happened so fast. Dead. And he was so great to everybody. He looked out for us. In fact, he was the one who ran and tackled the other men out of the way. Had he not run so fast, he wouldn’t have even been there to be hit. He seemed to come out of nowhere—like a bolt of lightning, yelling for them to get out of the way. Had he not reached them and pushed them, those other two men would be dead for sure, too. But they were hurt when it caught a piece of them. If Unzell hadn’t run so fast, he’d still be alive. Unzell sacrificed himself to save them.”

  “You’re telling me the production manager is dead?” King d.Avid frowned with disbelief. He sat down. “Unzell Waters is dead? And he died saving two other workers?”

  “Yes, sir,” the guy said. “They say he used to play football. They say he was once slated for the pros. All I can tell you is: seeing him running like he did and shoving those two big dudes out of the way like that . . . I can only imagine what he was like on the football field. He was something else all right.”

  “The other two . . . the two he saved, what are their names?” King d.Avid asked.

  “I’m not sure, sir. But I can find out. They weren’t part of our regular crew. They were temporary workers, helping us out so we could finish up and get home that much faster,” the guy said. “It’s been a long tour. Jock said to tell you he’s certain there’s going to be an investigation into this. You’re going to get calls from the media. He wanted me to get word to you quick. So I got here as fast as I could. Jock tried to call you, but he said your cell phone was off, and you still have the ‘Do not disturb’ notifications set for your hotel room phone and your room.”

  King d.Avid first nodded, then shook his head. “I can’t believe this.” King d.Avid instantly thought about Brianna. “Has anyone called his wife? Unzell Waters’s wife, has anyone called her yet?”

  “Somebody’s taking care of that as we speak. I think Jock said he’s getting Vincent to handle a lot of these things.”

  King d.Avid rubbed his head, then looked up at the ceiling. “This is awful!”

  “Yes, sir. It is. Unzell was really a great guy, a really good man. Really good. We’re definitely going to miss him. Well, I’m going back now.” The guy started for the door.

  “Thank you for coming and letting me know. Oh, and what’s your name again?”

  “My name, sir? It’s Earl Bates.”

  “Well, Earl, thank you for coming over here so quickly and letting me know.”

  “No problem, sir.” Earl gave a quick nod of respect, then left.

  Chapter 32

  And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

  —2 Samuel 11:26

  Brianna let out a curdling scream as she dropped the phone. “No! No! No! He can’t be dead!” she continued to scream out. “He can’t be! He can’t!”

  She fell to her knees. “Oh, God, please! Please, I beg You. Don’t let this be true! Let them be wrong! Oh, God, please, I beg You! This has to be some kind of a mistake! They are wrong! They’re wrong! Unzell is not dead. He’s not!”

  Brianna was face down on the floor now as she continued to cry. She heard the doorbell and the pounding, but she couldn’t manage to pick herself up to answer it. She felt as though her spirit had vacated her body and only the shell remained. She then heard a voice calling her name. She heard it, but couldn’t do anything but lie there.

  “Brianna, answer the door! Brianna! Briann
a, I know you’re in there. I can hear you crying. Now get up and unlock the door so I can come in,” Alana said. “Brianna, open the door! Answer the door or I’ll knock it down! I promise you, I will. You know me; I’ll do it! Do you hear me? Brianna!” She pounded some more, much harder.

  Brianna finally sat up on the floor. She pulled herself up, using the leg of a wingback recliner. She dragged her body, which felt as though it weighed a ton now, to the front door and unlocked it.

  Alana didn’t wait on Brianna to turn the knob and open the door. She opened it and stood looking at her friend before grabbing her and holding her.

  Brianna began to cry again, crumbling to the floor. “He’s not gone,” Brianna said. “He’s not!” She shook her head hard. “Do you hear me?! He can’t be! Unzell is not . . . gone. He’s not dead, Alana. He’s . . . not!”

  “Come here, baby. Come on.” Alana grabbed Brianna up, walking her as she would someone who was drunk. They eased down, locked together, onto the couch.

  Brianna allowed Alana to hold her as she continued to cry. “Why?” Brianna said. “Why did this have to happen? Why?”

  “I don’t know why,” Alana said. “I don’t understand it either.”

  Brianna pulled away. “But he was a good man; he was a Godly man. Unzell didn’t deserve for anything like this to happen to him. He didn’t. Me, maybe. But not him. He was a good man. And he loved me. He had plans . . . we had plans. It’s not fair that he’s gone! It’s not! It’s . . . just . . . not . . . fair! It should have been me, not him. Me!”

  Alana gathered Brianna up by her shoulders and shook her lightly. “Stop it! Okay? Stop it! Do you hear me? I want you to stop this!”

  “No!” Brianna said, almost snorting the word out like a bull getting ready to charge. “I will not stop it! Unzell didn’t deserve to die. He was supposed to be coming home. One more week, and he was going to be home. One week, Alana. One more week, and he would have been home safely with me!” She poked her finger into Alana’s chest. “Home safely . . . with me! One week. One more lousy week.” She broke down again.

  Alana pulled Brianna in close to her and began to rock her as she would a crying baby. “Okay, Brianna. Whatever you need to do to get it all out, then I want you to do it and get it all out. I know this is hard. I just thank God that I was in the city when whoever that was called and told me what happened,” Alana said. “It’s hard, and I understand—”

  Brianna jerked back from Alana’s grasp. “No, you don’t understand! You don’t understand! You don’t! You’ve never lost a husband. Men come and go like transfer buses with you. But you don’t know what it’s like to lose a husband . . . not a husband.”

  “Okay, Brianna. It’s okay. I’m even going to let you slide on that jab you just delivered me this time.” Alana looked in her purse and found a pack of tissues. Opening it, she wiped Brianna’s face. “I know you’re hurting. And you’re right. I’ve had men leave my life, but none of them were like your and Unzell’s relationship. Yes, I know what it is to lose a loved one. My grandmother died in my junior year of high school, remember? I loved her so much. But no, I don’t know what it’s like to lose a spouse.”

  Brianna cried more. “What am I going to do? What . . . am . . . I . . . going to do?”

  “Your mother and father are on their way. It’s going to take them a few hours to get here. You know they’re a few hours away. But they’re coming. They’re coming.”

  Brianna pulled herself from Alana’s arms and tilted her head sideways as she looked at her friend as though she were foreign to her. “Alana, he’s gone. The phone is not going to ring and it be him on the other end. He’s not going to come driving up late at night trying to figure out how to get in the bed without waking me. He’s not coming home to me ever again. Not ever again. Nothing I say or do now is going to change that. Why would God allow something like this to happen to him of all people? Alana, why do bad things happen to good people? Answer me that. Can you? Can you answer that?”

  Alana shook her head and unsuccessfully tried to smile. Her mouth started to tremble. “No, I can’t. But I know, from having been around you, we can go to the throne of grace and pray right now. I know we can do that. What say . . . you and I pray? Right here, right now; let’s pray.”

  Brianna began to chuckle before it became a full laugh. “You’re suggesting that we pray? You . . . Alana Gail Norwood . . . are the one who is suggesting that we—me and you—pray?”

  “What’s so funny about that? I pray,” Alana said, trying to stay as long as she could on a note that appeared to have calmed Brianna somewhat.

  Brianna gave a quick sharp laugh. “Yeah. You pray all right.”

  “Well, I do,” Alana said. “I might not be living right all the time, but I know the Lord. And we have our moments when we talk. Granted, I’m usually begging Him for something . . . mainly money or something else material that I need. Like, maybe let me not be pregnant. And generally He’s telling me to stop sinning. But still, I pray. We learned how to pray when we were little girls, remember? Remember, Brianna? Our Father . . .”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Brianna said just barely above a whisper.

  “Well, I think we should pray now. We should pray, not that Unzell makes it into Heaven, because you and I know that he had things right with the Lord.”

  “Yeah,” Brianna said. “That’s one thing he told me a long time ago. That he had gotten things straight with the Lord. That he’d given his life to Christ. And that if he died today . . .” Brianna paused as she looked at Alana. “That was exactly what he would say. ‘If I die today, I know where I’ll spend eternity—with the Lord.’ So I know where Unzell is right now. He’s with the Lord.”

  “And even though Unzell left us much too soon, we still know that he’s in great hands. And that he’s in a great place, at this very moment.” Alana wiped her eyes.

  “Yeah,” Brianna said. “He’s with the Lord. He’s with Jesus.” Brianna began to shake her head. “But it doesn’t make it feel any better for me. Because he left me here. I’m still here, and it hurts like I can’t put into words.” She began to cry again. “I’m just being selfish, aren’t I? All I care about is my hurt. Unzell is with Jesus; he’s with the Lord. He’s face to face with our Lord and Savior, and I’m down here wallowing all over the floor because he left me to face this world all by myself without him by my side.”

  “No, you miss him. And it’s okay to miss him. I miss him. Unzell was a terrific guy. He was loving and caring. And if I know nothing else for sure, I know that he loved God, and he loved him some Brianna Bathsheba Wright Waters,” Alana said, bumping Brianna’s shoulder with hers in a playful manner.

  Brianna laughed, returning the bump before looking staunchly serious at Alana. “He did love me, didn’t he? You know he liked to call me Bree-Bath-she.”

  “Yeah. I thought that was so corny the first time you told me that,” Alana said. “But then again, I was probably just being envious. You know, because I didn’t have a man who loved me the way you had a man to love you.”

  Brianna laid her head on Alana’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Alana rubbed Brianna’s face and wiped at her tears that continued to fall. “Pray,” Brianna said, her eyes still closed. “Alana, please pray.”

  Alana cleared her throat. “Heavenly Father, we come to You, first of all to say, thank You. Thank You that, even during our trials and tribulations, even when our hearts are breaking, You are still with us, and we know that You care. You said You would never leave us nor forsake us. We’re counting on and standing on that Word right now. Touch my friend’s heart, I beg You. Heal her hurts and her wounds. And Lord, give me the right words to say. Help me to love on her the way You would have me do. Father God, Unzell is no longer here with us. He’s now home with You. He no longer has to deal with the troubles of this world. And we know that to be absent from the body—”

  “Is to be present with the Lord,” Brianna said, interrupting Alana. “Thank You, Lo
rd. I thank You for sending Jesus to save us. And because of what Jesus did, giving all of us an avenue back to You, my husband . . . my Unzell, though no longer here with us, is with . . . Jesus. He’s . . . sleeping . . . in . . . Jesus.” Brianna burst into tears again.

  Alana resumed the prayer. “Father, we love You. We thank You. We worship and adore You. We magnify Your name. Comfort my friend. Comfort all those who loved Unzell dearly and will miss him equally as dearly. Help us through this most difficult time. These and other blessings we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Brianna said. “Amen.” Brianna got up and kneeled in front of the couch. “Alana?” she said.

  “Yeah?”

  “It still hurts.” She burst into tears again as she laid her head on the couch. “It still hurts!”

  Alana scrambled and quickly kneeled beside Brianna, putting her arm around her. “I know,” she said as she cried with her. “I know.”

  Chapter 33

  Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

  —Ecclesiastes 11:1

  The homegoing service for Unzell Michael Waters was a true celebration of his life. King d.Avid ensured that no expense was spared. He’d called and spoken briefly with Brianna immediately following the tragic incident, then gone to her home when he returned home to Atlanta. Brianna’s parents were there, doing what they could to comfort her. But for Brianna, there wasn’t much comfort to be had.

  King d.Avid had been sincere about his feelings of having lost Unzell. And because Unzell was so loved by so many—those from college, those from his football days, and the concert crews he’d worked with—and so many wanted to attend the funeral, King d.Avid insisted that Brianna let him pay for the use of a church that could accommodate the number of people that were expected to be in attendance.