A Deal With God: The Power of One (22 page)

The Atlanta theme park is one of the largest in the world. It features a towering roller coaster that appears to defy gravity. Leon stayed on the ground with Luke because Luke was not tall enough or quite ready to ride something quite that imposing. However, Matthew, Mark and Deana were willing to give it a try.

As the ride began, it actually felt like they were soaring like birds to the top of the park. Two seconds later, following an enormous drop, it seemed like they were underneath the park. They were suspended from the rails one second, then falling on a straight drop the next. It was literally the ride of their lives.

During the day Matthew and Mark ran into some teammates from their football team. They asked Leon and Deana if they could spend a couple of hours at the park with their friends. Deana was all right with the idea because it would give her a chance to go on some family rides with Luke and Leon.

Luke asked his parents to take him on the Scary Mansion ride. The theme music was very cool and eerie and the ride featured playful monster animatronics. It was like the car you were riding in was driving into the middle of a 3D movie.

As they got off the ride, Luke had a huge smile on his face. “That was the most amazing ride ever; those were the coolest special effects.”

“It was incredible,” Deana agreed.

Later, Luke, Deana and Leon went on the Wild River Rapids Raft ride. The raft ride was one of the featured attractions at the park. White water and rolling, roaring rapids created a rafting adventure the three of them would always remember. Luke liked the fact they got real wet on the ride. Deana was happy she wore a dark colored tank top.

“Mom and Dad, this was the best Christmas gift ever,” Luke said as the day started to come to an end.

Next weekend would be almost as fun. New Year’s Eve was Saturday night; New Year’s Day was Sunday. Deana had another four day weekend. Most of Saturday and Sunday were spent out on the lake in the johnboat fishing and picnicking.

Leon had to be back to work on Monday, so Deana took the boys to the movies. They went to a matinee so Deana could be home in time to make dinner and have it ready for Leon.

Tuesday, early afternoon, she took the boys bowling. Deana wanted to spend time with the boys, especially Matthew and Mark. They were at an age where they’d want to start spending more time with their friends, like at the theme park. More time with friends meant less time with Deana; it was inevitable.

April 13th, 2017, Matthew turned 15 years old and Deana took him to a really big concert in Atlanta that month to celebrate. Matthew spent most of the concert texting his friends. He was getting close to six feet tall. Soon, he’d be an adult; Deana was not quite ready for this.

Sixteen days later, it was Leon’s birthday. It was on a Saturday. The weather forecast called for beautiful weather. They decided it would be a perfect day to go to the lake; they had not been there together in a while. The fish were biting. It was an incredible spring day and all of nature was in bloom. The smell of wild flowers was in the air. It was spectacular.

That Tuesday, Matthew had a funny story from his High School. Apparently a couple of boys did not have time to study for a biology exam. Before the teacher got to class, the boys pulled the hinge pins out of the classroom’s entrance door. When the teacher arrived to the classroom he went to open the door. It fell forward when he pushed the door and the glass part in the middle shattered into a million pieces. The maintenance man had to come to the classroom to clean the mess and try to fix the door. Needless to say, the test got postponed. There were some very happy biology students that day.

What happened at Vito’s restaurant one night was even funnier. It was close to nine o’clock one weeknight and towards the end of Deana’s shift. Mr. Cullen, a Vito’s regular, came in and sat in Deana’s station. Mr. Cullen liked to drink.

She brought Mr. Cullen three beers within forty–five minutes. Mr. Cullen rapidly downed all three and wanted more.

Deana was not sure that was a good idea. “Mr. Cullen, I know you drove here and I don’t want to see you get yourself into any trouble. I’m going to have to cut you off.”

“Your new cook, Leo, lives on my street. He can drive me home.”

“Let me go ask him if it’s all right. If so, you can keep on drinking.”

Deana went back into the kitchen to check with Leo. “Leo, can you drive Mr. Cullen home tonight? He’s had a lot to drink and he wants to keep on drinking.”

“Sure, it won’t be a problem. He lives close to me.”

Deana brought Mr. Cullen number four. Then he asked for a fifth beer. He quickly drank it. When he finished the fifth beer he looked into his jacket pocket at a picture of a woman.

“I need one more beer,” Mr. Cullen informed Deana.

Deana told Mr. Cullen it would have to be his last one. Leo was almost ready to leave.

Mr. Cullen guzzled his sixth beer and then looked at the picture of the woman again. Deana saw a slight smile on his face.

Deana prepared his bill. As she brought back his change, she asked, “What’s the story with you and the woman in the picture?”

“That is no woman; it’s a picture of my wife. When I look at her picture and she starts to look good to me, I know I’ve had enough to drink.”

“That is absolutely terrible, Mr. Cullen,” Deana chided as she put his change on his table. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself!”

“You lift weights like a man, Deana,” Mark said one early June day. It was Deana’s favorite time of the year. The weather was warm and she had her boys home from school for the entire summer.

Deana smiled at Mark. “Is that meant as an insult or a compliment?”

“It’s just that Matthew and I outweigh you by about sixty pounds and you lift almost as much as we do.”

“I’ve been training hard since I was thirteen years old and I’ll be thirty in a couple of months. I’d better be strong.”

“Deana, you bench close to double your body weight. That’s pretty impressive.”

“Like I said, I’ve been training hard a very long time. I’ve never used drugs, never smoked cigarettes or pot and drink very, very little alcohol.” Deana paused for a moment. “Since we’re kind of on the subject, do you see a lot of drug use at your school Matthew?”

“Some, but not a huge amount. I mean there are potheads, a few pill users and a couple of hardcore druggies, but it’s not like it’s out of control.”

“Are any of them in your circle of friends?”

“No, most of my friends are on the football or basketball teams. If you’re an athlete and you get caught with anything, you can’t play sports anymore. I think they call it zero tolerance.”

“That’s good. Mark, I hope you take the same path as your brother when you start High School next August.”

The second to last week August, 2017, had two huge events. Tuesday, August 22nd was Deana’s 30th birthday. Friday, August 25th was Matthew and Mark’s first High School football game.

Mr. Vito threw a big party at the restaurant on Tuesday night to celebrate Deana’s big milestone; she was very popular. It was probably the most crowded it had ever been on a Tuesday night.

Similar to Deana and Leon’s wedding, there was a big group from church. She also had a lot of friends, mostly customers she’d served and befriended working at Vito’s. It was hard to imagine she’d been there for almost five years.

In a way, her 30th birthday was a five year anniversary of a lot of things related to her arrival in Dothan. Deana had belonged to Dothan Christian Church five years. She’d worked at Vito’s five years. Most importantly, she had been the woman who took care of the Samuels boys, Leon included, for the last five years. Matthew, Mark and Luke were each about a foot taller than when she first started “using their stove.”

The Jacobson Brothers set up a stage in the corner of Vito’s. The music was loud and energetic. Mrs. Jarvis couldn’t attend, but Gary and Deana performed with the brothers on quite a few songs.

The non–church people drank, danced and partied. The church people mingled and socialized. Everyone had a great time.

Leon gave Deana a past, present and forever diamond necklace as her birthday gift. It sparkled brilliantly around her neck as she tried it on. She had to sneak into the break room so no one would see her cry.

The Morrison High School football team was coming off a 2–8 season. They were definitely no football powerhouse. Deana made a deal with Mr. Vito. She agreed to come in Fridays and Saturdays at 3:55pm, if she could leave Fridays at 7:30 on the nights of Morrison’s home games. Because so many people in town went to the High School football games, the restaurant was never very busy when a game was being played.

Deana would not be able to attend the away games with Luke and Leon, but she wanted to see as many of the home games as she could.

Tonight was a home game. The restaurant was busy early with people trying to eat before the football game. Around seven o’clock, it started to empty out. Deana jumped into her Status and sped to Morrison High School. She wore a red jacket which was the color of Morrison’s home jerseys. Deana was still wearing her Vito’s uniform under the jacket.

When she got to the stadium she found where Leon and Luke were sitting and sat down between them. The first quarter had just begun as she entered the stadium. Leon explained to Deana the coach only planned to play Matthew and Mark on passing downs, to best utilize their pass rush skills. Unfortunately, the other team got a big lead and predominantly ran the football.

By halftime, the boys had been in on only a handful of plays.

“Matthew and Mark are just as good against the run as they are at rushing the passer,” Deana said passionately. “I bet they could help slow down their running game.”

Toward the end of the third quarter the visitors scored another touchdown. The score was now 28–3. As the 4th quarter started, Morrison turned the ball over again. This time the coach put Matthew and Mark in at the same time. Matthew lined up at right outside linebacker and Mark played left outside linebacker.

On first down, the opposition did a pitch toss to the strong side. The running back streaked toward the sideline expecting to make a big gain like he’d done all night long.

Mark honed in on him before he even got to full stride. Mark hit him hard and solid for a five yard loss. The running back looked like he didn’t know what hit him. The opposition’s coach thought he would teach Morrison a lesson. On the next play he ran a lead pitch toss to the same side. They brought an extra tight end to the strong side. They ran the same play except this time they had their fullback leading the play.

Mark split the fullback and extra tight end and dropped the running back for a six yard loss. The stadium erupted as the formerly quiet Morrison crowd finally had something to cheer about. The cheerleaders got louder; even the mascot looked more enthused.

On third down the opposing offense needed twenty–one yards to make a first down. They decided to go with a passing play. One of their wide receivers was wide open on the play. As their quarterback went to pass the ball, Matthew hit him from the blind side and the ball fell harmlessly to the ground. It was ruled an incomplete pass.

On 4th down, Morrison’s special team’s players sensed the momentum was changing. The punter kicked the ball well but Morrison’s punt returner played it perfectly. He caught the ball in full stride and ran the ball sixty yards for a touchdown. The other coach spent the rest of the game keeping the ball as far away from the Samuels’ as possible.

Morrison got a late last minute touchdown, so the game ended 28–17. Now they had something to build on for the rest of the season.

The following Thursday, was Leon and Deana’s 4th wedding anniversary. They both had to work and the boys all had school and practices. Leon asked Deana if they could wait until Monday to celebrate. Monday was Labor Day and everyone in the family would have the day off. Leon wanted to get up early Monday morning and drive the family to Savannah to show the boys where he had proposed to Deana. The boys had never seen the Atlantic Ocean in person.

Deana loved the idea. Even though there’d be a great amount of traffic and a lot of time sitting in the truck, Deana loved being with the boys and doing family things together.

As expected, there was a lot of traffic and parking was almost impossible to find. Nonetheless, the Samuels’ family persevered and by 2pm they were all swimming in the Atlantic Ocean near the spot Leon proposed to Deana. Everyone in the family had a fantastic time.

On the way back home to Dothan, Leon had an unusual request for Deana.

“The last time we drove home from Savannah, you had your feet up on the dashboard like you do now and you left toe prints on the glass. I really liked that.”

“Leon, the last time we drove home from Savannah I was very nervous. I didn’t do it intentionally.”

“I know you didn’t, that’s what made it so sexy and cute. Your toe prints on the glass reminded me of you even when I was alone driving to and from work.”

“You are so sweet.” Deana smiled and pushed the bottom of her feet onto the inside glass of Leon’s windshield.

Luke was now in third grade. His teachers and coaches adored him. If you ever needed anything from Luke it was always “Yes sir,” or “Yes ma’am.” Luke had all of the tools to be a really great soccer player; he was tall, fast and very smart. He was also a great teammate. He was just as happy getting an assist as he was scoring a goal.

Luke had an even temperament. He never got too excited when they won or too upset when they lost. He was, however, very competitive. He made the other players around him much better by being a leader on and off the field. He always hustled and played hard but never dirty. Luke’s teams didn’t lose very often.

The third week of Morrison’s High School foot ball season was a home game against Billings High School. Matthew and Mark were both in the starting line–up this week. Morrison’s offense had trouble moving the ball but so did Billings. Mark spent most of the night in the opposition’s backfield chasing down play after play. Matthew was very solid on his right side, he just wasn’t quite as dominant as Mark. Morrison lost by only three points. The final score was 6–3.