“Listen Pastor,” Calvin began, once they were all seated. “I’m not here to tell you your business. But ain’t nobody interested in your little street ministry because you’re not meeting us where we’re at.”
Isaac leaned back in his seat and looked over at Keith to make sure he heard what Isaac was hearing. Keith nodded. If Calvin had come here to get Isaac to stop pulling souls out of the pits of Hell, then he wasn’t going to be happy today.
“No disrespect to you, my granddaddy was a preacher and I loved that man like he was my daddy. He taught me to respect men of the cloth, ‘cause he took care of me and my brothers while my mama was strung out and running the streets.”
Okay, maybe Calvin didn’t come here to cause trouble. Maybe the young-un had something to say that Isaac needed to listen to. “So, what am I missing?”
“The people who talk to me on them streets everyday,” Calvin pointed toward the window, indicating the streets beyond the church, “they ain’t tryin’ to hear none of that ‘peace be still’ stuff you be preaching. Too many of our family and friends getting gunned down in the streets.And the messed up part about it is,” Calvin stood up, getting animated with the flapping of his arms, “if we ain’t out there killing our own brothers and sisters, then the police is doing it for us.”
“Don’t you think I know that folks around here are just waiting on a chance to go off? That’s why I’m preaching,” Isaac imitated Calvin, “that ‘peace be still stuff’.”
“Ain’t nobody tryin’ to hear that.” Calvin threw up his hands. “Look, I’m only here out of respect. Word on the street is that you’ve got another one of your street revivals planned for next weekend.”
Isaac nodded.
“I’m just here to serve notice that you might want to rethink that date.”
“What’s wrong with our date?” Isaac asked, not understanding.
“Let’s just say that we about to extract some street justice for all of our brothers killed by the police, and we don’t need this revival of your to steal our thunder… Ya feel me?”
Keith sucked his teeth as he joined the conversation. “What kind of street justice are you talking about?”
“I can’t give away all our secrets… let’s just say we about to take back our city.”
“I hope you don’t think that getting into a shoot-out with the police is going to make things better for the people in this community.”
Calvin shrugged his shoulders. “If the police don’t start none, won’t be none.”
“Just what are you planning to do, Young Blood?” Keith stepped to Calvin as he added, “Tensions between black people and the police are stretched thin as it is. But if you cause trouble, innocent lives could be destroyed.”
“That’s not my concern. And in case you haven’t noticed, innocent lives are already being destroyed. Did Michael Brown have a weapon when that cop shot him down like a dog? What about Walter Scott over there in South Carolina? They had that man on film running when that cop shot him in the back. And I guess Freddie Gray asked those pigs in Baltimore to break his spine?”
Isaac understood the anger that so many people were feeling. He had much anger built up inside about those incidents as well. But, Isaac had channeled his anger into something productive—trying to help get these kids off the streets and change their mindsets so they aren’t police targets in the first place. But based on the hatred Isaac saw in Calvin’s eyes as he talked about the dead black men at the hands of the police, he knew Calvin’s method of ‘taking back the city’ would not bring anything but more bloodshed and destruction. “This ain’t gon’ be good, Calvin. You might want to rethink this whole thing.”
Calvin got out of his seat, a look of defiance on his face. “Ain’t nothing in my life never been all good. Sometimes you got to take the good with the bad, and I might as well put Dayton back on the map while I’m at it.”
“And you think what happened after Freddy Gray’s death put Baltimore on the map?” Keith asked.
“Dang right it did,” Calvin bobbed his head, clearly proud of what occurred in Baltimore, as if it was something akin to the March on Selma.
Shaking his head, Keith stood up, walked over to the door and opened it. “Thanks for coming by, we appreciate the heads up.”
“So, what’s up?” Calvin turned to Isaac. “You gon’ cancel your revival or what?”
Isaac shrugged as he pointed toward Keith. “Keith manages our street team, so you’ll have to talk to him about that.”
Calvin stepped to Keith as if he had a beef to settle. “So I guess you gon’ play tough and get in my way while I’m trying to do something to wake the people in this community up?”
“If you want to do something for the community, why not join forces with us and help out with this street revival?”
Calvin laughed in Keith’s face. “I’m not on all of that Jesus stuff. You can preach that non-sense all you want, but count me out. I got too much money in my pocket to ever need Jesus or any of his disciples either.”
“I guess that respect for preachers just went out the door,” Keith said as the young man approached.
Calvin was angry; he wasn’t used to being defied. “I gave you respect by even coming here. But y’all don’t want to listen, got some death wish.” He pushed past Keith, “That’s on y’all, not me.”
Keith closed the door behind Calvin, then he and Isaac shook their heads at the folly of the young man.
Pointing towards the door, Isaac said, “We used to be just like him. Only I didn’t have respect for anything church related.”
“Neither does he.”
“He thinks he respects the cloth. But I’ve got a feeling that the life he’s lead has caused him not to trust God.” Isaac knew what that was like, because after watching his father kill his mother, Isaac had been ready to curse God to His face and take the consequences.
“And now here we come with this ‘peace be still’ stuff. How in the world do we expect people like Calvin to listen to a word we have to say next weekend?” Keith looked concerned.
But Isaac threw it back in his lap. “You’re the one who told Calvin we weren’t backing down, so you’ll just have to figure something out.”
~~~
“You’re coming to my graduation, right?” Ikee looked into Marissa Allen’s eyes, daring her to refuse him.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ikee. Your family will be there and they are bound to have questions about our relationship.”
“That’s why I want you there. I’m walking across that stage next week to make my mama proud. It’s going to be the most important day of my life as far as my parents are concerned, so I want you there with me.”
“Don’t you think it will ruin the moment for your parents when they see me?” She patted her extended, rounded, stomach to drive the point home.
Ikee smiled at Marissa as he rubbed her stomach. He didn’t care that she was seventeen and pregnant. He didn’t care that she dropped out of high school a few months shy of graduation. A lot of kids in the neighborhood she grew up in did the same thing, they didn’t see a future past the moment they were living in, so getting that piece of paper certifying completion of something meant next to nothing to them.
But Ikee knew that Marissa had a future. She was worth more than what others thought of her. And not just because of her beauty. Although, he freely admitted that her deep brown eyes had been the first thing he noticed. He then noticed the high cheek bones and buttery coated skin that seemed so silky and smooth that Ikee couldn’t help but run his hand along her jaw bone, like he was doing now. “It would ruin the moment for me, if you don’t show up. I need you there.”
“But your parents…”
“My parents aren’t nearly as scary as people think they are. Well, my father is, but my mother is a sweetheart. She will absolutely love you.” He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her soft, supple, lips.
When their lips parted, Marissa stare
d at Ikee as if he had been sent down from Heaven, wrapped in a bow, just for her. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Then I’ll be there, baby.”
“Good, now that we’ve settled that, come sit over here and tell me about your day.” Ikee pulled Marissa into his arms as they sat on the worn sofa in her mother’s small house.
“You always ask me about my day. And I keep telling you that I haven’t done nothing but sit around here, watching TV and eating all the food in the house.”
“What did you watch on TV?” Ikee asked, as if the answer was really important to him.
She looked at him for a moment as if she was trying to figure out if he was just trying to be polite. “You really want to know?”
“Marissa, how many times have I told you I want to know everything about you. You’re my girl, and I like hearing the sound of your voice, okay? So, talk already.”
Giggling, she told him, “Okay, but I’m as boring as they come. I do the same thing every day. But the highlight of my mornings is when I watch Creflo Dollar.”
“See, right there, you and my mom have something in common. She loves Creflo Dollar and records his messages so she can play them back in the evening when she’s done working.”
“Well, we don’t have that ‘work’ thing in common,” Marissa said with a sadness in her eyes that was almost too painful to behold. “I don’t have a job, I’m not in school. I’m nothing and your parents will see that and hate me on the spot.”
Ikee tried to pull Marissa closer so he could take away all the sadness. But she pulled away from him.
“No Ikee, you can’t make this better. I’m a complete screw up.” Touching her belly she added, “I even managed to screw this up.”
Ikee went to her. “Don’t say that. How can you be a complete screw up if you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me?”
She leaned into him and, as their foreheads touched, a deep sigh escaped her lips. She wanted to stay connected to Ikee for the rest of her life, but she couldn’t just be some scrub who was dragging him down, causing him not to reach his highest heights. And she needed to figure out what she was going to do after she had this baby.
So, as bravely as she could, she put her hands on Ikee’s face and looked at him for a long moment. Then she told him, “You have to leave. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do. And I need to be by myself to sort out some things.”
He started to object to being thrown out when all he’d wanted to do was make her feel better, but he didn’t want to upset her. “Okay, tell you what. I’ll be back tomorrow and then you and I are going to have a serious talk.”
She kissed him, letting him know that she had much love for him. Then she let him go.
As Ikee stepped outside and began walking toward his car, he noticed that the Range Rover parked behind his car was the same black-on-black as his daddy’s. Then the door to the Range Rover opened and he saw it was his dad. Ikee’s eyes bucked out of his head. “You followed me?”
Without even the slightest hint of concern about his actions, Isaac shrugged and told his son, “Your mom is worried about you. I had to figure out where you’ve been sneaking off to.”
“I’m not sneaking anywhere.”
Isaac leaned against his SUV and pointed toward the house. “Who’s the girl, son?”
Ikee hesitated a moment too long. Isaac pushed off the SUV and headed toward the house.
Ikee got his voice back. He quickly said, “Marissa, okay? Her name is Marissa.”
“That’s a nice name.” Isaac was now standing next to Ikee on Marissa’s porch. He lifted his fist to knock on the door, but Ikee pulled him back.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to meet this girl.”
“I already told you her name. Why do you need to meet her?”
“Why wouldn’t you want me to meet her?” Isaac threw the question back at Ikee.
Ikee knew he wasn’t going to convince his dad to just go back to his car and pretend like he hadn’t seen what he thought he saw, so he simply said, “Okay, but before you go in, there’s something you should know.” Ikee’s heart was beating so fast he thought it would come out of his chest. But then he man’d up and said, “She’s pregnant.”
Chapter 5
Graduation weekend finally arrived. Elizabeth and Kenneth were all packed and headed to the airport for Ikee’s big day. They brought extra luggage because they were taking a week-long vacation in Puerto Rico before coming back home.
As Kenneth drove them to the airport, Elizabeth’s cell phone rang. She was tempted to not answer it because it was her agent and she still didn’t have an answer for him. But then she decided to be a woman about it and just face the awful music that was to come. “Hey Allen, I didn’t think I would hear from you today.”
“I know that you’re on your way out of town, but this couldn’t wait,” Allen told her with grit in his voice.
“Kenneth is driving, so I can talk, at least until we get to the airport.”
“I just received a call from the executives for the reality show. They love the idea we proposed, but they aren’t willing to wait forever for you to sign the contract.”
“I know this, Allen. But, I need some time on this.”
“What’s the problem? I thought you wanted this. You and I talked about how much this reality show could mean for your career, which could use a boost, in case you haven’t noticed,” Allen said, as if he was enlightening her.
Elizabeth had been number one on the gospel charts for so long that she thought it would always be so. But the last three singles barely made the Top 20 list. Kenneth told her not to worry. She was just in a slump and she would be back on top with her next release. But there were too many talented singers for Elizabeth not to worry. “I am very observant, Allen. So yes, I know that my numbers are down. It’s just a little more complicated than I thought it would be.”
“If that is code for ‘your husband doesn’t want to do the show’, let me suggest that you explain the ins and outs of this business to the man.”
Elizabeth side-eyed Kenneth as she said, “I can’t discuss this right now. I’ll call you back when we return from our vacation in about a week or so.”
“That’s not good enough, Elizabeth. If I don’t have your contract back by next week, this ship has sailed.” He hung up the phone.
She couldn’t deal with this. Her children were grown and living their own lives. She didn’t have any grandchildren yet, and Kenneth was always busy with the homeless shelter. What would she do if her career was suddenly over? Would she be content being the little woman at home again? Keeping the house clean and making dinners from scratch and waiting for him to come home to notice her? And would Kenneth then become the cheater he had been back when she was only a housewife?
“Allen still trying to pressure you to do that reality show?” Kenneth asked, pulling her out of her Betty Crocker/house-wife dream.
Kenneth was the man she’d married over twenty-five years ago and planned to spend the rest of her life with, but at this moment, she didn’t even want to be in the same car with him. “Allen is concerned about my career. He knows that this reality show will put me back on top. But you don’t care anything about that.”
“Whoa… hey, wait a minute.” Kenneth lifted his right hand while steering the car with his left. “Who says I don’t care about your career?”
“You don’t have to say it, Kenneth. You’re actions are speaking loud and clear.”
As he pulled into the airport, Kenneth declared, “You’ve had a wonderful career. Everyone loves your music, even people who don’t typically listen to gospel music love the songs you sing.”
“Where have you been, Kenneth? My numbers have slipped so far that I’m not even a Top 10 artist anymore.” She lifted a hand as he pulled into a parking spot. “Never mind, don’t answer that, because I know where you’ve been—at your precious homeless shelter, worrying about them
rather than trying to help me with my career.”
Kenneth opened his mouth to respond to the allegations. But the words got stuck somewhere deep in his throat as he stared at his wife. He then opened the car door, stepped out, and pulled their luggage out of the trunk.
Refusing to be ignored, Elizabeth jumped out of the car and snatched her suitcase out of Kenneth’s grip. “I’m right and you know it. That’s why you have nothing to say.”
As she attempted to walk toward the terminal with her luggage, Kenneth reached out and held onto her arm, causing her to turn back to face him. “I didn’t say anything to you, because I finally realized how stressed you must be over your declining sales, and I would rather pray for you than attack you at a moment like this,” Kenneth tried to explain.
But Elizabeth wasn’t having it. “You could do a little less praying and a little more signing on the dotted line so we can get this reality show rolling, but you won’t do that, will you?”
When he didn’t answer, Elizabeth smirked, “I didn’t think so.”
~~~~
As Isaac walked into their bedroom, his mind was on Ikee and Marissa. Nina had been right to worry about Ikee’s reasons for putting college on the back burner. Isaac had thought she was overreacting because his son was so dedicated to the ministry that he hadn’t imagined anything else was pulling him away from college. Now he had to tell his wife what he’d just discovered, and he wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. But Nina was already in an uproar about something else.
“Did you catch the news this afternoon?” Nina asked Isaac.
Isaac shook his head. “I’ve been too busy. I don’t think I’ve watched the news in a few days.” He strolled into their walk-in closet.
When he reappeared wearing a pair of pajama pants and white t-shirt, Nina told him, “Sounds like you need to cancel that revival. I don’t think this is the right environment.”
Rain in the Promised Land Page 4
