Forever Country (22 page)

On my way walking to Momma and Pop’s house, I
see the preacher getting out of his truck. He takes a few items
from his backseat and walks into the church. It’s still bitter
cold, but at least it’s not snowing. I decide to stop by and see
the preacher before going home. The death of Larry is weighing
heavy on my mind. Maybe Pastor Jenson will know something about his
funeral and his death. I need a newspaper to see if anything new
has been posted.

I knock on the door before
walking in. I yell, “Pastor Jenson, it’s Abel L… Kennedy.” I clear
my throat.
Now Savannah Mae has me calling
myself Abel Lee.

“
Yes, Abel, please come
in.”

I hear him, but I don’t see him. Closing the
door tightly behind me, I can still feel the chill in the air. I
used the back kitchen door to enter the church. It’s the same door
he used to come in. I stand by the door and wait to be invited in
further. It’s the house of the Lord, but I still feel like I need
an invite on a non-Sabbath day. He appears from the other room and
invites me in.

“
What brings you here
today?” He pulls out a chair for me to sit on at the
table.

“
I just got back into town
last night and I heard about Larry.”

“
Ah, Larry Adams.” He nods
and says, “There’s been a lot of talk about him these last few
days.”

“
I’m sure there has. I
didn’t know him outside of the church.” I look at him and say, “Is
there any news other than what’s being posted in the
paper?”

“
I called the Sheriff’s
Department to try to find out what I could, then I went to Larry’s
neighbor’s house when the police couldn’t tell me anything. It
seems that Larry was the last living relative other than a few
distant cousins who live out of town.”

“
He really was a loner. Is
there any news of how or why he died?”

“
Did you read the
Zanesville Times Recorder
?”

“
I did.”

“
According to the neighbor,
all of that was the truth. He asked Larry to ride out the storm
with him and his wife, and Larry refused. He went back to check on
Larry a few days later and that’s when they found him dead. The
neighbor said that when he didn’t see smoke coming from Larry’s
chimney, he knew something was wrong.”

“
So it’s true. He froze to
death.” I look at the preacher and he looks as sad as I
feel.

“
Not sure until the autopsy
report comes back, but that’s what it looks like.”

I stand and walk towards
the kitchen door of the church. “Was there food in his
house?”
Please say yes.

“
The house had very little
food in it, according to the neighbor.”

“
This is a real problem,
isn’t it?”

“
For some people in this
area, it is. That’s why we are so grateful to your folks. They do
so much for the community and it is so appreciated.” He stands and
walks towards me. “I need to thank you for the generous offering
you gave to the church a few weeks back.”

“
Please, don’t thank me for
paying my dues. I should have already had those taken care of years
ago. God has been very good to me, and I should’ve paid my
offerings for that.”

“
Our God is a very kind and
forgiving God, Abel. We try to live our life like He would want us
too. If we do wrong, we try to correct it. We aren’t perfect and we
don’t pretend to be.”

“
Thank you.”

“
The church is very
thankful for your generosity, and we plan to use the money wisely.
That’s why I’m here today.” I look down at him and he has a kind
smile, “The church is in need of a furnace, and with your help, we
are able to get a new one. They should be here very soon to install
it for us. Please, tell your Momma that on Sunday, the church will
have heat as long as the power stays on.” He chuckles and I know
he’s referring to the snowstorm and the lack of electricity
recently.

“
Momma will be happy to
hear that. I need to get going.” I begin to open the door to leave
and I remember I didn’t ask about funeral arrangements for
Larry.

“
Is there any word on a
funeral or a memorial service for Larry?”

“
No funeral. Larry donated
his body to Ohio University in Athens. He made clear his wishes to
his neighbor, and he also carried a donor card in his
wallet.”

“
To the Department of
Osteopathic Medicine?”

“
Yes, that’s
right.”

“
Momma and Pops are also
future donors. It’s a great cause and many people will benefit from
it.”

“
Yes, they
will.”

“
Thank you, Pastor Jenson,
for your time.”

“
Anytime, Abel.”

I leave and walk up the steep driveway to
Momma and Pops. I get a call on my cell phone from a private
number. I answer it, but no one is on the other end. I wonder if
it’s a prank call or poor phone reception. The snow is frozen and
makes it difficult to walk on the ice. My mind races with thoughts
of Larry Adams and of Anna Harris, the girl in New York I helped
just a few days ago. I hope she is able to start over. She seemed
sincere. Was the money I gave her enough to make a difference in
her and her son’s life? I hope so.

I have breakfast and take a quick shower.
Pops has been taking care of the chores while I’ve been away, and
Levi has been snowed in. Momma, Pops, and I talk about Larry Adams.
I learn that awhile back Momma and Pops were discussing their plans
to donate their body and Larry was very interested. They are
pleased to hear that he made the decision to give his body to help
others. Thinking about dissecting a body is gruesome, but it is an
important part of a doctor’s training. Often, one body is used to
train two doctors. One medical student dissects the left side of
the body, and the other medical student dissects the right side.
Two doctors can save many thousands of lives during their
careers.

“
Do you think that we
should have a memorial service or something for him? Seems wrong to
not celebrate that man’s life.”

Momma says, “I know the church is planning on
having something for him on Sunday.”

Pops and I go outside and cut some firewood.
The exercise feels good and I realize how much I’ve missed it. I
visit with the horses and feed the other animals. With these cold
temps, they burn more calories trying to stay warm.

I check my cell phone and I have a message
from Savannah Mae.

Savannah Mae: Mornin’. Did you sleep
well?

Abel: Good morning to you. Still working out
the kinks in my neck, but after a few days, it should be all
right.

Savannah Mae: I’m sorry about that. I should
have offered you a pillow, but I didn’t want to wake you.

Abel: Really, I’m fine. Thanks for the
coffee this morning.

Savannah Mae: You’re welcome. Sorry, you
missed out on the eggs and pancake breakfast. I’m an excellent
cook, but you wouldn’t know that.

Now I feel bad. Maybe I should have
stayed.

Abel: Had to leave early, didn’t want your
son knowing about me spending the night at his Momma’s. He also
might say something misleading to other people.

Savannah Mae: Good thinkin’.

Abel: Raincheck?

Savannah Mae: Sounds good.

There’re lots to do on the
farm, so I busy myself with it. I don’t go in and see Savannah Mae,
although I want to. I’m a grown man living with my parents, and I
have nothing to offer her or her son. My mind drifts back to an
ex-girlfriend and I fight the urge to contact her. Things ended
badly between us, but I have a need to see how she is. I hope
Savannah Mae never finds out about her
or
our break-up, because there is no
way she would understand.

The snow is melting and it looks like the
driveway might be clear enough for us to make it to church on
Sunday. I attach the snowplow to the tractor and help with the snow
removal on the steep driveway. After several trips up and down the
driveway, I can finally begin to see the gravel. The warmth of the
sun should melt the rest of the snow in a day or two.

As soon as I walk into the house, Momma and
Pops are putting on their boots and coats.

“
Going somewhere?” I
ask.

“
Bud needs to get out for a
minute. He was doin’ fine in the house until he heard the gravel
crunchin’ beneath your tires.” Momma laughs. “We’re headin’ to the
grocery store and thought we would have lunch at Peaches Place. I
wanna see Mia and my
soon-to-be-born
grandbaby.”

“
Do you want to come,
Abel?” Pops asks.

“
No, I’m going to shower
and maybe take Colonel for a ride.”

“
There’s some chicken salad
in the fridge if you get hungry.” Momma throws her scarf around her
neck as Pops opens the door for them to leave.

“
Be careful.”

The next day, Pops and I go into Zanesville
and shop at Mattingly Foods and Sam’s Club. There are very few
places where you can buy in bulk without a vendors license. We
stock the church’s kitchen cabinets, freezer, and the refrigerator
full.

On Sunday, we get up early and Momma and Mia
make a large meal for the potluck at the church. Larry’s death is
the reason for the feast and Larry’s death will weigh heavy on all
of us for a long time.

Savannah Mae

Today, Sawyer Jackson and I
have a hard time findin’ a place to park at the church. I think
everyone in the community is attendin’ church today. Mom and Daddy
walk over and Sawyer Jackson takes off runnin’ towards my sister,
Samantha Marie. Daddy carries the food into the kitchen while we
find a place to sit. The church is warm, and I have to unbutton my
coat and remove my scarf. I can’t remember this church ever
being
too warm
in
the winter.

The church is full, but we find a pew in the
back of the room to accommodate the five of us.

“
Mommy, I’m hot,” Sawyer
Jackson says, stretchin’ his neck out of his zipped-up coat. He is
holdin’ a dog made from balloons that Larry made for him a few
weeks ago. The balloon dog is slowly deflating and feels rubbery.
Sawyer Jackson doesn’t care. It’s one of the few things he has to
remember Larry by.

Samantha Marie takes off his coat and hat
before she removes her own.

“
It is warm in here,” Mom
says.

“
It feels good,” I
say.

Daddy joins us and the service starts after a
few minutes. Today’s service isn’t like any other service. Pastor
Jenson starts off by giving thanks to the community for making it
possible for the church to purchase a new furnace.

Next, he talks about Larry
Adams, food and nutrition, and the importance of accepting help
when it’s offered.
To refuse needed help
when it is offered is to be guilty of pride, one of the seven
deadly sins. To offer help when it is needed is one way to show
that you have faith: Both faith and good deeds are necessary to
live a good life. He closes the sermon with talking about giving
the gift of life through organs or the entire body. He reads the
short obituary that was in the paper for Larry. Today’s sermon
wasn’t a sermon; instead, it was a memorial for our friend, Larry
Adams.

The preacher says, “This is from James
2:14-18: what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith
but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or
sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you
says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving
them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also
faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone
will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith
apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my
works.”

Several people are cryin’ and sayin’ “Amen”
in agreement with what the preacher is sayin’. After the service,
we all congregate together for the potluck dinner. I see Abel Lee
and his family and he waves and smiles. I haven’t seen him since he
fell asleep on my couch. I made sure to have my phone on and
charged, but he hasn’t called me. Mia once said they don’t get good
phone service on the Kennedy Mule Hill Farm.

I smile at the thought and I hear a deep
husky voice in my ear. “Thinking of something funny?”

“
As a matter of fact, I
was.” I turn around and face him and he looks handsome.

 ”
I was hoping maybe
you and I could do something later?”

“
Whatcha got in
mind?”

“
How about I surprise you?
Dress warm, and I’ll pick you up at 3:00 p.m.”

“
That doesn’t give me much
time to get ready.”

“
I know. I’ve already
arranged for Samantha Marie to watch Sawyer Jackson.”

When I open my mouth to answer, he turns and
walks away.

Abel Lee

After church, I picked up
Savannah Mae and took her sled riding at Dillon State Park. It’s
the perfect place and on that day, it wasn’t overly crowded or
cold. After sled riding, we went to Giddy’s Restaurant over the
hill and had hot chocolate and marshmallows. We talked and laughed
and we have been officially exclusive ever since.
I like Savannah Mae — she isn’t like anyone else I
have ever dated. I never told Savannah Mae about my ex-girlfriend.
I decided that it’s in the past and it doesn’t need to resurface
into the present. There’s a lot I haven’t told her about my life,
but some things are better kept private.