by Landis Lain
I stared out the window of the car and tried to ignore her chattering as we made our way through the streets of Brooklyn. A glimpse into the rearview mirror told me what I already knew. My father had a grin plastered to his face. He liked this one, but then, they always started out good.
“Dana, I’m so glad you were able to join us. Our church has such a great youth program. You’ll be able to meet some nice young people. Young people that are doing things.”
I rolled my eyes and kept looking out the window. There was no need for all the noise. Now, did I look like I needed a “program”? She obviously had things twisted. It wasn’t like I was some kind of problem child. I went to school regularly and got mostly good grades, and I was generally respectful to my parents, wasn’t pregnant and didn’t do drugs. I’d said I would go today, but I wasn’t trying to enjoy it and I made no promises about going again. And I certainly wasn’t trying to hang out with no church kids. I had my own life, in Queens, with all the friends I needed. What could I possible have in common with any of these people? Brooklyn was just too far for anything. I didn’t drive, and taking the bus or train all the way across town was just crazy.
We pulled up in front a huge, white brick building that seemed to take up the entire block. Crowds of people walked toward it. I was speechless as my father maneuvered the car into a space and we got out. I don’t know why I’d pictured a tiny little cute church, in a storefront or something like that. This building was huge, very old on one end, but it got newer as it went down the block. The corner stone said 1902. There was nothing that old in my neighborhood. Across the street, there was a huge parking lot that took up another city block and that looked like it was filling up, too.
Both Dad and Wanda smiled and greeted people and I tagged behind them. Wanda was the only one that looked comfortable, while my father just looked embarrassed. He was about to be on display like Wanda’s new man-candy. All the church ladies were grinning at him while Wanda walked with her head held high and her huge pink bible tucked under her arm, without a care in the world as she showed off her add-water-stir family.
I felt crazy out of place. All of these folks were smiling and laughing and all seemed to know each other. Me, I felt like a vegetarian at a beef convention. The best I could do was put a fake grin on my face. I couldn’t believe I’d let my father talk me into this. Not to mention, I’d dug to the bottom of my closet to find the dress I had on. I hated it and it felt like everyone could tell I wasn’t comfortable with my outfit. I kept tugging at the bottom to keep it from rising up. To make matters worse, just as we entered the church, I bumped into someone so hard, I almost fell back down the church steps. How embarrassed would I be all sprawled out at the bottom of the steps? What a way to make an entrance. I opened my mouth to swear just as a strong hand caught my arm. It was a good thing, too, because the words I was about to say had no business in a church.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
I found myself looking up into the most handsome light brown eyes I’d seen in a long time. I couldn’t say a word. Even if I wasn’t between boyfriends I would have been speechless.
“He’s the clumsy twin. You have to forgive him. Are you okay?” Another voice said.
My eyes darted back in forth, from one bag of hotness to the other. Oh. My. God. There were two of them. Two caramel-colored hotties, identical, except one had a small mole under his left eye. They wore identical blue suits, but one had on a white shirt and the other didn’t. So I wasn’t hallucinating.
I managed to smile and I suddenly regretted that I hadn’t dug deeper in my closet. “No worries.” I brushed imaginary dirt off my dress just as my father called me.
“I gotta go—“ I was barely able to speak, but it didn’t matter, they were already gone, almost as if they weren’t there in the first place. They’d vanished, like a dream. It wasn’t until later that I thought to wonder if I'd flashed everybody when I fallen. I could've kicked myself as I reviewed all of the things I could have said that would have sounded so much better than “I gotta go”. Somehow, I always managed to find the wrong words.
Wanda introduced my father to every other person we met, grinning all the time and holding his arm showing him around like he was the new “it” bag she’d just bought or something. For the most part, people ignored me, and I only halfway said hello if they spoke.
After what seemed like an eternity, Wanda finally led us to our seats, up in the balcony of the almost completely filled church. I scanned the crowd. There must have been over a thousand people in the building, so there was no way I could even think of spotting the twins. I hadn’t even thought to ask their names. I would surely be kicking myself for days about that.
“Okay, I’ll see you two later.” Wanda had a wide grin on her face like she was proud of herself for getting us to our places or something.
My mouth dropped open a little. I know she didn’t bring us here to leave us in the middle of this place.
“You aren’t staying?” I asked.
“Of course I am. I have to sit with the choir, remember?” She pointed across the church where the choir was gathering. They were far enough away that I wasn’t able to make out any faces, instead, all I saw was a sea of royal blue robes, interrupted occasionally by a flash of gold.
I blushed with embarrassment. She'd probably told me that she sang in the choir while I wasn’t listening, on the ride over. I nodded.
“Break a leg.” My father still hadn't lost his silly grin.
“Okay. You two come on back to the choir room when it’s over. You remember where that is?”
My father nodded quickly. "How could I forget? I spent hours in there when I was a kid."
“I knew you sang with that sexy baritone voice of yours. Sing to me sometime?” she said.
My dad didn’t answer, but instead blushed like he’d just been caught doing something he shouldn’t. He looked at me quickly, then looked away.
Wanda flashed my dad a smile and then turned and made her way through the crowd.
At first, my dad just stood there. I had to tap him in the arm to remind him to breathe. “Dang, Dad. Do you have to be so obvious?” He might as well have drool dripping down his face. It was amazing that he could be so old and still have a woman get his nose wide open like that.
My dad blushed, but didn't answer me. For a second, I was confused by the church-going, obviously whipped man that was next to me. I could barely recognize my father, but I knew he was in there somewhere.
I daydreamed all through the service. I tried to pay attention but it seemed to go on forever. I was so lost in thought, I almost missed the ending. I perked up when the choir sang, though. They seem to have two or three of them and every one sounded like a professional television choir, complete with a very animated choir director and words projected on the wall like we were in a karaoke spot. Between the choir director dancing and one woman who looked like she was about to twerk any minute, they put on quite a show. A long show.
In all the voices, I couldn't miss Wanda if I tried. She was the one hitting the crazy high note in every song. I didn’t know if I was going to like her or not yet, but she certainly had mad skills.
“What’d you think?” my dad asked when she was done.
I shrugged. “Well, I can certainly say I can’t do that.”
He laughed. “I know what you mean. Time to go, honey.” Almost two hours had passed and I'd been lost in my head practically the whole time, except for when the choir sang.
I nodded and followed my dad down to the choir room. “I thought you said this was your first time here. You seem to know where you’re going.”
“I told you, I went here as a kid. Things haven’t changed much in this building since then. That other building, that’s all new.”
It was hard to imagine my father as a church boy. He seemed so normal now, but I bet that he got into his share of trouble as a kid. Maybe he'd gone to church so much as a child
that he never wanted to go now. He must have been a serious church boy at one point though, because he practically marched us right to the choir room, without hesitation. It was right where my father said it would be.
It was packed with people in various states of undress, and robes were everywhere. The whole church must sing in the choir because there was barely standing room. I stood with my back to the wall while he went to find Wanda. Three hundred different church lady perfume scents attacked my nose all at the same time. Good thing it wasn’t too warm. If it were summer, I’d be gagging all over the place. Dad owed me big time for this one.
I stood there, staring into space, when all of a sudden, my eyes focused by themselves. Mr. Fine was no more than a few feet away from me, talking to a group of kids. My breath caught in my throat. It oughta be a crime to look that good. My mother always says God is good, and you know she ain’t never lied this time. God was so good he did it twice. I took a quick look around for Mr. G.Q’s double but he was nowhere to be seen. I hadn’t really seen a guy in a suit that looked this good for a long time. Every time my mother tried to get me to go to church lately, I found an excuse not to go, and the guys at school day wore gear that was fresh, but nothing that looked like this. In another situation, I might say that the suits were corny, but these boys looked hot.
I stood taller and sucked in my stomach. Since I wasn’t falling down any steps, I felt more confident and prepared this time. I wet my lips and stared in his direction. If you stare, people could feel you staring, and I wanted him to feel me, for sure.
He looked up right on cue. Butterflies did back flips in my stomach. Our eyes locked, and I knew right then it was meant to be. If my life were a cartoon, there would be two characters, running toward each other in slow motion to corny music. There was a reason I’d come today and I’d just found it. I smiled, and he came over.
“I didn’t hurt you earlier, did I?” The boy smiled and exposed dimples as deep as the Grand Canyon.
I shook my head. “My lawyer will be contacting you.”
“You got jokes.” He paused. “That’s good. “You tell him to call Jeffrey Barnes.”
The name echoed inside my head. Jeffrey. “And how will he reach you?” If I could have patted myself on the back for that one, I would have. Like I said, I’d had some time to think, and I was ready.
Jeffrey grinned and told me his number. I took out my cell phone and punched it into my phone and saved it, then gave him mine. “I’m Dana Banks.”
“First time here?”
“Of course it’s her first time, you ain’t never seent her before,” some girl said, approaching us. “I know you can read that name tag because you claim to be on the honor roll.”
She pointed to the big blue visitor sticker on my shoulder that they’d given us when we came in. It screamed “visitor” big as day.
The grating voiced-girl walked from behind him. She stood just a little too close, hovering over Jeffrey like a security guard. She practically raked her eyes over me as she flipped her long weave over her shoulder. It started at black at her roots and then faded to some blonde-beige combination at the ends. She was pretty, but she wore a ton of makeup, more than my parents would ever allow, and she had bad skin, covered with the remains of pimples. And then, not to mention, how she’d strung her words together, she could barely speak the English language. It took everything I had not to tell her that there was no such word as seent.
“I came with my father.” I hadn’t been in the building three minutes and someone was already tripping. I was surprised to hear the venom in her voice, but I wasn’t about to let her see me shook. How could you possibly dislike someone so much and you haven’t even met them? It was my turn to rake my eyes over her. Her hair was the best thing she had going for her because from the looks of things, she loved to eat.
“This is my friend, Michelle.” Jeffrey blushed.
Michelle practically pushed him out of the way to get closer. “Yes, I’m his girlfriend. We glad you could visit. Do you think you’ll be back?” She spat her words at me.
Jeffrey fidgeted like he was embarrassed. Our eyes met over her shoulder. I hadn’t planned on coming back, but it looked like I had a reason to come back now. She was challenging me, and one thing I was not, was afraid. I wouldn’t be my father’s daughter if I passed up a challenge.
“You know, I think I will.” A wide smiled spread across my face. “Your choir is off the chain.”
Michelle’s eyes opened wide and if I didn’t know better, I would say that Jeffrey was trying not to laugh. It was obviously on. And I couldn’t wait to make good on my promise.
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