“Yuck. Y’all need to do something about her. She’s disgusting.” Erin put her books in her book bag and left the table.
Kenneth ate dinner, then sat and talked with his children until their bedtime. He wouldn’t give that up no matter how tired he was.
“You ready for bed?” Elizabeth asked Kenneth as she tucked Danae in.
“Yeah, baby. Take me to bed,” Kenneth said.
She smiled as they walked hand in hand to their bedroom. Their life had not been smooth sailing. In fact, there had been so many bumps in the road of their love; Elizabeth thought she should wear a helmet.
In bed, Kenneth pulled her close and told her about his day. “I think I saw Tommy today.”
She sat up. “Where?”
“He was in the food line at the Hope Center.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to hear about Tommy Brooks.”
He put his hands up to halt her explosion. “Now, hold on, Liz. If that was Tommy, he’s really hit rock bottom. Maybe we need to help him.”
“Why would you want to help him, Kenneth? After what he did to us, you should be just as upset with him as I am.”
“I was upset with him, Liz. But I put all that to rest when I realized that Tommy hadn’t stolen your love away from me.” Kenneth shook his head. “I don’t know, maybe I was wrong for telling you the whole story about my captivity in New York. I was just trying to get you to see that I believed in you; but I never thought it would cause you to turn your back on someone that was in need of help.”
Elizabeth got out of bed and knelt on the floor. She stretched out her hands to Kenneth. “Pray with me, please. If Tommy is in need, I want to help him; but God has to release the anger I have in my heart toward Tommy first.”
Kenneth bowed down next to his wife. Understanding that where two or three are gathered together, God is in the midst. Tommy would need God tonight. Kenneth felt it in his bones. But Elizabeth would also need God to help her to forgive a friend in need.
27
By the time Tommy arrived at the other shelter, all the beds were taken. He walked away feeling humbled and dejected. No room in the inn. No wonder Joseph and Mary took refuge in a stable. Beggars can’t be choosy, and neither could he. It was back to that hard, but reliable, park bench.
He was beginning to shake, and not from the cold. Tommy needed to score, but with one dollar to his name, what could he afford? Maybe if he found a crap game, he could win enough money to get his buzz on and forget about the fact that he was using a park bench for a bed.
Felons usually congregated in alleys to shoot dice. He stayed on the path toward his bed, but kept an eye open for a back-alley crap game. A white dude followed him. Dirty blonde hair sat scraggly and unkempt on top of his head.
What the devil? Why was this white boy following him? He turned another corner and picked up his pace. He was still being followed. He turned to face his stalker. “Look, weirdo, I only have a dollar to my name.” He went in his pocket and pulled out the only dollar he owned and threw it at the man.
Tommy fast-walked through a field. The field dead-ended into an alley. He would have been happy to see this alley about twenty minutes ago, but with the white-boy stalker on his trail, an alley was the last place he wanted to be. Footsteps clattered behind him. He looked around and prayed for the earth to open up and swallow his stalker. Or maybe a tidal wave would sweep him away. Any catastrophe would do. Tommy wasn’t picky – just do something. Do You hear me, God? Wake up and finally do something to help me for a change.
Tommy thought he’d found refuge in an old rusted tool shed. But a pit bull chased him out. He slammed the door shut, chest pounding, as he propped himself against the door. The footsteps were coming around the shed. Tommy was tired. He had walked several miles today, all on one bowl of stew. If his ribs weren’t sticking to his guts, he might have found the energy to run.
“Turn around, nigger.” The man grabbed his arm, spun him around, and shoved him against the shed. “Empty your pockets right now, before I cut your heart out.” The knife in the man’s hand convinced Tommy that he just might cut his heart out.
Either this was a practice run, or this guy needed Remedial Robbery 101. He was sure the first page said something like, FIND A PIGEON WITH SOME MONEY. This guy must have slept during the training sessions. Tommy wanted to clap and tell the guy how good a job he did. He had scared him, real good. Now run along and find your real victim. Instead, he tried wiggling out of his hold. “What do you want, man? I ain’t got nothing. Leave me alone.”
“This is a sweep, dirty boy. I’m cleaning the streets of America, one bum at a time.”
Didn’t he already feel bad enough about not showering the last couple of days? He smelled bad, but that wasn’t reason enough for name-calling. What if Tommy called him crazy-boy, or commented on how he looked like Norman from that Psycho movie?
He put the knife to Tommy’s throat. “Time to die.”
Tommy’s eyes bugged out. “Come on, man. Haven’t I been through enough?”
“Shut up, nigger. Empty your pockets like I told you.”
28
Kenneth rolled over and grabbed for Elizabeth to pull her close to him. She wasn’t in their bed. He couldn’t sleep when she wasn’t next to him. He forced his eyes open, turned on the light, and searched the room. There was his baby, sitting in the recliner, feet in the chair, knees pressed to her chest. Worry etched its grimace throughout her perfect face. Kenneth pulled back the covers and got out of bed.
“Look at you,” he said as he noticed the dried tear stains on his wife’s face. He attempted to bend down on the floor in front of her, then realized that his bad knee wasn’t going for that. He stood, picked up his wife and put her on his lap as he took her place on the recliner. “I miss you, when you’re not in bed with me.”
She leaned her head into his chest. Her sob vibrated through him.
“Baby, it will be okay.”
“Will it, Kenneth?”
“How can you doubt it, baby? You’ve been praying. I’ve been praying. We’ve got to trust God on this one.” Funny thing – his wife was in his lap, crying over another man, and he wasn’t jealous. He hoped his mature attitude stemmed from the trust he and Elizabeth had built, and not from the fact that Tommy was homeless and the only thing he was probably attracting right now was fleas.
She lifted her head and looked at her husband. “Don’t you see, Kenneth? I made Tommy what he is today. Me and every other fake Christian he ever ran into.”
“You’re not a fake. You love the Lord.”
“Today, yes I do, with all my heart.” She grabbed some tissue off the table next to the recliner and wiped her nose. “But when Tommy managed my career, I wasn’t in love with Jesus. He was the last thing on my mind.” She cleared her throat and continued, “I didn’t tell you this before, and I really hope you don’t take it the wrong way now.”
“Baby, just spit it out.”
“Well, you read the tabloid, and I also told you that I caught Tommy with a man. Right?”
“Right.”
She put her index finger in her mouth and bit off her nail. The same nail that took three months to grow in the first place. “I went over to his apartment to sleep with him.”
Now he was jealous of Tommy again. He tried not to show his disappointment, but Elizabeth saw it anyway.
She cupped his face in her hands. “Baby, I’m sorry. I don’t want to lie to you about this, okay?”
He didn’t have a problem with her lying. Liars didn’t gut punch you. They smoothed things over, helped it go down like butter. Matter-of-fact, some of his best friends were liars. But he bent down and kissed her forehead like a fool in love. “It’s okay. Keep talking.”
“Tommy knew why I had come over that night. He also knew that my actions had been less than Christ-like the entire time we were working on the CD. Every so-called Christian he’s run into has probably given him a reason to doubt God.”
/> Kenneth massaged her back. “That might be true, but every man, woman, or child is still given a choice. You can either become what you see, or you can seek God’s will for your life. There are no excuses, Liz.”
She leaned her head back and let it drop on the arm of the recliner. “Yeah, but then I turned my back on him. These last two years I’ve been so angry with Tommy that I wanted nothing to with him. And look what my anger has done; Tommy needed us, and we were nowhere around.”
“Stop it, Liz. You are going to get rid of this gloomy mood right now.” He looked at the clock on their dresser. Just after five in the morning. “You’ve got to meet with your back-up singers in three hours.”
Elizabeth rubbed her eyes. “I know. If I weren’t practicing for your celebration, I’d cancel it.”
“Ah, Liz. I still can’t believe it. In just three weeks, we will be celebrating the opening of the new and improved Hope Center. There were so many days when it didn’t look like this was going to happen.”
She stood and walked over to the bed. “Well, it’s happening.” She held up three fingers. “In three weeks. So, Mr. Underwood, you open the doors and I’ll sing my heart out. How does that sound?”
“Sounds perfect.”
The phone rang. Something was mentally wrong with a person that could ring somebody’s house before daybreak. He snatched up the phone. “Yeah!”
“Is this Kenneth Underwood?”
“Who else would be answering my phone at five in the morning?”
“Be nice,” she instructed, still standing.
“I’m sorry to have disturbed you. This is Dr. Corney. I work at South Fulton. A man was brought into the emergency room an hour ago. He had no identification on him, just your business card.”
Kenneth turned to face the opposite wall. “Oh my God, what happened? Is he all right?”
“He was stabbed six times. He just came out of surgery. Look, we were hoping you could come down and ID him.”
Kenneth’s breath caught in his throat. He looked back at Elizabeth. She had a tell-me-what’s-going-on look on her face. He turned and whispered, “Is he dead?”
“Not yet, but it doesn’t look good.”
“I’ll be there in an hour.” He hung up and walked toward the closet.
“Who was that? What happened?”
He pulled on a pair of stone washed jeans. “Get in bed, baby. One of the homeless men from the shelter got into a bit of trouble. I’m going to the hospital to see about him.”
***
Kenneth walked into the hospital, hoping he was wrong. He kept trying to remember who else he’d given his business card to. Unfortunately, his question was answered the minute he walked into the intensive care unit.
It was Tommy all right. How was he going to break this news to Liz? At least he didn’t have to report that Tommy was dead, although he looked like death warmed over. He didn’t just get stabbed, they must have beat on him awhile. His right eye was swollen shut, lips busted, cheeks black and blue. The priest was doing the deathwatch. But if Kenneth had anything to say about it, Tommy wasn’t going out like this.
Looking at him, Kenneth saw Tyrone and every other down-on-his-luck brother he’d tried to save but couldn’t. He thought of the angel that whispered in his ear at Ground Zero. That angel gave him hope, a reason to keep on breathing. Maybe he could do the same for Tommy. He walked to the head of the bed; bent down, and whispered, “Don’t give up. Don’t you ever give up.”
Tommy’s eyelids fluttered. The left side of Tommy’s lips curved into a half smile. A cinnamon-brown nurse walked into the room carrying official-looking papers. Her sandy brown hair barely touched the nape of her Winnie-the-Pooh smock. Kenneth turned to greet her.
She returned the salutation, then asked, “Are you related to the patient?”
Kenneth shook his head.
“Do you know any of his family members?”
“No, sorry.”
“Not half as sorry as our patient will be.” She looked at Tommy and shook her head. “Mmph, mmph, mmph.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
She bit her lip. “I guess we’ll have to move him to the Grady Hospital.”
He shrugged away her concerns with a wave of his hand. He and Elizabeth had invested the money they had left at the time of his return. They were doing all right. “I’ve got it covered. My wife and I will pay his bill ourselves. Just get him better.”
“Look, do you mind signing these papers? I will have to get approval from the administrative office. Hopefully, they won’t give us any problems.”
Kenneth took the papers in one hand, then stretched forth his other. “I’m Kenneth Underwood.”
She took his hand and shook it. “I’m Taijah Hughes.”
Kenneth sat down to fill in as much information as he could. Taijah snapped her fingers, “Hey, you’re the one that’s building that center for the homeless, right?”
He had been in the newspaper two Sundays in a row. He was becoming quite famous in his community. Kenneth’s eyes moved from the papers to Taijah and smiled. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“Oh my God!” Taijah screamed. “You’re married to Elizabeth Underwood.”
The smile dropped just a bit. His wife was the famous one in their house. He was going to have to roll over and accept it. “That would be me also.”
“Oh my God!” She jumped in the air, putting her hand over her mouth and looking back at Tommy. “Oops.” She grabbed a chair, sat next to Kenneth and whispered, “I bought her CD. It was so awesome; I went back to the store and bought three more. I gave those copies to friends of mine. I’ve been waiting on another CD from her. What gives?”
“Wait no longer,” Kenneth said proudly. “Her new CD, Life In Him, releases next month.”
“Oh my God!” she repeated, then clamped her mouth again, before whispering. “I can’t wait.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her that. She’s hoping that this CD will be well received.”
“Well, of course it will. Why wouldn’t it? What took her so long anyway?”
“Even God’s wounded need time to heal.”
To Taijah’s credit, she didn’t pretend to not remember Elizabeth’s attempted suicide. After all, it was front-page tabloid news for several weeks straight. She shook her head and patted his hand. “That was a bad time for her.”
Kenneth was grateful for people like Taijah. They weren’t the stone throwers. No, people like Taijah extended God’s grace, and allowed Him to be the judge of His people.
Kenneth pointed toward Tommy. “Your patient’s name is Tommy Brooks. He used to be my wife’s manager.”
Once again Taijah didn’t pretend to be unaware of the circumstances. “He’s the one, huh?”
“Yeah, he’s the one, and he needs our help. Somebody has to convince this man that Jesus loves him, before it’s too late.”
Taijah stood and walked over to Tommy. His face was battered and bruised. She lightly touched his bumpy skin. Her compassionate eyes kept searching as she stood over him praying. “It’s like you said.” She turned back to Kenneth. “Even God’s wounded need time to heal. I’ll help out as much as I can.”
Kenneth’s voice was caught in his throat. This nurse wasn’t like the one he’d had. Doing good deeds, with selfish motives. Taijah believed in God. He could feel it all the way through his bones. “You are a beautiful person, Taijah Hughes. Both inside and out.”
“Aw shucks, now you’re making me blush.”
Kenneth laughed as he finished filling out the forms. His insurance would not cover Tommy, but he could write them a check without feeling too much pain. With the money he and Liz were going to make once the CD dropped, they certainly could afford to spread a little of it around.
29
Elizabeth arrived home about five minutes before Kenneth. She kicked off her shoes and plopped on the couch. She rehearsed the same song for five hours. Either she or one of the back-up singers kept messing up. She l
eaned back on the couch just as Kenneth hit the garage door opener.
She jumped up and ran to the garage. She had to make sure her husband was all right, and not losing his mind over yet another victim of the streets. Tyrone’s death hit him hard, but her man was a survivor and she would help him remember that. “Hey, baby, let me take your jacket. How did everything go at the hospital?” she asked, as she hung his jacket in the closet.
“He’s still alive,” Kenneth answered.
“That’s good, right?” She coaxed him toward the family room. “Come on, baby. You need to get off your feet for awhile.”
Kenneth sat down and Elizabeth stood behind him. She massaged his aching shoulders with great care. “You’re all knotted up. You can’t allow these things to stress you out so much.”
“What else can I do, babe? Some days I feel like I’m making progress and then something happens to knock me right back to square one.”
Her husband’s voice was angry and full of pain. The pain was for the victim, and the anger, for the perpetrator. She was proud of him. His work with the homeless was his ministry. He really cared about them. They weren’t nameless and faceless people to him. When he discussed his day with her, he talked about the people he dealt with and called off their names like family members. “Have you ever mentioned this guy to me, Kenneth? What’s his name?”
He put his hands over hers to stop the massage. “Do we have anything to eat, honey? I’m tired of talking. I just want to eat and take a nap.”
She started to say something, then let it go. “All right, let’s see what’s in the kitchen.”
Kenneth followed her.
She made him a turkey sandwich, and kept him company. She told him about her rehearsal, and he told her about Taijah.
A tear formed in the corner of her eye. “You’re not kidding, are you?”
“No, babe. She said she couldn’t wait for your next CD. She was genuinely excited. She’ll probably end up being the president of your fan club.”
Abundant Rain Page 17
