The Perfect Christian (9 page)

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Authors: E. N. Joy

BOOK: The Perfect Christian
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Chapter Seventeen
The first three months in West Virginia weren't bad at all for Doreen. She and Willie had gotten along swell. Well, actually, she and Willie had always gotten along. Them getting along never was a problem in their marriage. It was her trying to get along with all his wicked ways that had caused her stress. But never once had Doreen really displayed just how stressed out the things Willie did had made her. Just when hate would try to rise up in her, she'd suppress it with the love of the Lord. Love covers a multitude indeed. But for how long was the question.
“The blue tie or the black one?” Willie held up a tie in each hand and waited for his wife to make the decision for him as to which one to wear.
“Now, Willie, we've been over this a thousand times already, and I keep telling you the blue one,” Doreen replied. “How many more times are you going to ask me? 'Cause I'm telling you now, my answer ain't gon' change none. But if it pleases you, wear the black one then.” Doreen gave Willie the once-over. “After all, anything would look good on you, baby.” Doreen blushed. Talking that way to Willie always made her a little coy. She wasn't used to expressing herself like that. In her head, though, she'd always tell herself how lucky she was to have a man as fine as Willie.
Willie was sharp, so she didn't blame all those other gals for trying to get a piece of him. She blamed Willie for cuttin' 'em off a slice. But that was neither here nor there. It had been three months, and all Willie had been doing was working all week and going to church with Doreen on Sunday. As a matter of fact, that's where the two were headed now.
On the way to their new place in West Virginia, they'd driven past a couple of churches, but West Va. Jesus Is Lord Church of Christ was the one Doreen settled on. Willie had suggested a thousand times that they at least give the other churches a try and visit around. But from the moment Doreen saw it, she knew it was home. Something about that church had just spoken to her. It was as if the Lord Himself had led her there.
“You don't just go attending the first church you see,” Willie had tried to reason with her. “How will you ever know if the others aren't better if you don't try'em out?”
“Willie, now you know I ain't never church hopped my entire life, and there ain't no reason to start now,” Doreen had countered. “Besides, it was like I was drawn to West Va. Jesus is Lord Church of Christ. For some reason, I'm just supposed to be there.” Although Willie wasn't convinced and still tried to talk Doreen into visiting other churches, her mind was set on making it her home church.
Even from just the outside of the church Doreen could feel the pull—the anointing on the building as they drove by it. Her eyes even watered. It was like the Lord was in there waiting on her, and she felt overwhelmed about getting to Him. It pleased her soul to have that feeling every Sunday. She always had a level of expectation when it came to church. Doreen had never been one to attend church out of routine or habit, because she was raised in the church or because it was what was expected of a preacher's daughter. Sunday morning services were like a date with the Lord that she prepared for all week long. The fact that deep down inside Willie seemed to actually like this church too made it all the better.
“Do you mean that?” Willie asked Doreen. “I would look good in anything?”
Doreen blushed as she finished making up the bed. “Of course,” she blushed again. “Am I one to lie?”
“Oooooh, woman, don't you start nothing you ain't willing to finish,” Willie grinned.
Doreen looked down at her watch on her wrist, and then back up at Willie. “Who says I ain't got time to finish?”
And on that note, a few minutes later, Doreen would find herself having to make the bed up all over again. Willie had made her feel so good with his attentive lovemaking that she wore a smile all the way to church. Willie was good; oooooh, Willie was indeed good when he was good. But when Willie was bad, oooooh, Willie was bad.
 
 
Doreen and Willie had arrived at church just as the praise and worship team took the stage. They'd missed opening prayer and the reading of the scripture, but praise and worship was Willie's favorite part anyway. Doreen would sometimes just stand there and admire how into the songs Willie would be. He'd be staring up at praise and worship like he was looking at Jesus Himself. Then she'd have to catch herself and remember that her eyes were supposed to be on Jesus. So she'd close her eyes, allow the words of the songs being sung to penetrate her heart and go into her own personal praise and worship with the Lord.
“Praise and worship was something else today, wasn't it?” Willie said as he and Doreen drove home.
“That church is something else, period. I love it!” Doreen exclaimed. “And you know, I've been thinking,” she turned her body toward Willie, “maybe it's time we join the church. I'm just itching to join the praise and worship team, but you know you have to be a member to join any of the ministries.”
“Praise and worship?” Willie swallowed hard. “I don't mind you joining the church, but I don't really think joining praise and worship is such a good idea. Theirs is different than the one at your mom and pop's church,” Willie reasoned. “I mean, they good up at this church—really good.”
Doreen took offense. “So what you trying to say? That praise and worship back home was bad? So what's that say about me, your wife? You trying to say I can't sing?”
“Calm down. Calm down.” Willie rested his hand on Doreen's. He peeked over at her with a smile on his face, and then studied the road again. “Now you know I've told you that you've got the sweetest voice I've ever heard. As a matter of fact, heck, you'd be able to show their choir a thing or two. But they ain't that good because they practice for only an hour once a week like you all did back at home. They practice twice a week for two hours. And you done started up with that pound-cake business again too. How you gon' take care of home and your husband doing all that?”
Doreen thought for a moment. “Hmmm, I guess you are right about that. I mean, that's a lot of practice. That's a lot of time away from the house.”
“And a lot of time away from me,” Willie winked.
And there was no way Doreen was going to leave Willie unattended that much. Surely he'd find some drinking hole to start hanging out at with that much time on his hands. Things were good right now; too good for her to go messing it up. “Maybe joining the praise and worship team might not be such a good idea, but I still think we should consider joining the church. We need a church here in West VA. that we can call home. So will you at least think about that?”
“Sure,” Willie nodded. “I'll think about it.”
And while Willie was thinking about that, Doreen should have been thinking about just how in the world Willie knew the rehearsal schedule of West VA. Jesus Is Lord Church of Christ Praise and Worship. But not to worry. She'd find out soon enough. And it wasn't going to be good.
Chapter Eighteen
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound . . .” Doreen sang as she piled seven pound cakes into her car. Three had to go to one place, while the other four had to go to another. She was running a little bit behind schedule, but that little bit would make a big difference considering she had two different places she needed to be. Where was that Willie when she needed him? Had he come straight home from work this evening, he could have dropped off one order while she did the other. But he'd been having to work overtime a couple times a week here lately, so Doreen assumed that's probably what had happened this evening. And if that was the case, she had no complaints about that. Overtime meant extra pay. Extra money was always a good thing.
“. . . who saved a wretch like me.” Doreen coughed after a failed attempt to hit that last note. “Oooh, maybe Willie is right,” she laughed. “Maybe I ain't fit for praise and worship anymore. I got to get these pipes tuned up,” Doreen said before hitting the road.
Doreen made it to her first destination with absolutely no time to spare in getting to the next the one. She collected her money and was on her way to the second stop. Having earned an extra three-dollar tip, she was singing a more upbeat tune now. She was rocking her head and smiling. As she zoomed by a couple buildings only to have to screech her wheels at a stoplight, her smile soon faded. It wasn't because she'd gotten caught by a stoplight with one more delivery that needed to be made. It was because of what she thought she might have seen while speeding past those buildings.
“Was that . . .” she said out loud, but then shook the thought away. Had she
really
just seen what she thought she'd seen? “No. No. No. No,” she told herself as she shook her head and forced a smile back on her face. “Oh, devil, I see what you're up to now. You're just mad things are going so good and that God is showing up and showing out in Willie's and my marriage. I will not allow you to influence my mind or make me think I'm seeing things that are not there.” Doreen shook her head even harder.
As the light turned green, in spite of the little pep talk Doreen had given herself, everything in her wanted to turn that car around or at least look through the rearview mirror and double-check. But she didn't. She had a delivery to make. She didn't have time to risk or waste feeling like a fool when what she thought she'd seen she really hadn't.
Pulling off from the stoplight, Doreen picked back up on the song where she'd left off. She wasn't singing it as upbeat anymore, though. She might as well have gone back to singing “Amazing Grace.”
Arriving at her second drop-off, Doreen made the exchange of cakes for money and was on her way back home. She drove in silence this time. There was no singing, not even the humming of a note. She had a lot on her mind and decided to verbalize it to the Lord. “God, I know you ain't gon' let me go running around this town made to be no fool.” She swallowed hard. “I . . . I just can't do it, God. Not this time. Not anymore. I'll break, I swear I'll break.” Doreen's words trembled out of her mouth. “But God, you know exactly how much I can handle, so I trust you'd never put on me more than I can bear. So if there is something that needs to be revealed to me about my Willie, then God, I ask you to do it now so I can get it over with. In Jesus' name.”
Doreen finished her prayer just as she drove past those same set of buildings she'd passed before. Driving a little slower this time, she looked over as she drove by. She scanned the parking lot. She let out a deep sigh and kept driving. She kept driving, but not for long. The next thing she knew, she'd made a U-turn and drove back to the buildings. The second building was a local motel. That's the parking lot she pulled up into; right next to Willie's car. “God, you are so faithful.” Doreen threw the car in park, turned it off, and jumped out of the vehicle. “My Willie may not be, but Lord in heaven, you sure are faithful.”
Now that Doreen was out of her car, she didn't know what to do. There were several motel rooms before her. She didn't know exactly which one, but she knew Willie had to be in one of them. Why else would his car be parked there?
“Lord, you brought me here, now show me what to do.” Doreen paced back and forth before three doors. “Show me what to do,” she yelled. Catching herself, she realized she had to do something besides stand out there looking like some deranged fool. She paused and looked around. Spotting the motel office, she made her way in there.
“Good evening, can I help you?” the clerk behind the desk asked Doreen.
“Uh, yes, well, uh, I hope so,” she stammered, looking down at the clerk's badge to see the word “Manager” printed on it. “You see, it's my husband's and my anniversary. We got a room here under his name. He left to go to the store, and I done locked myself out of the room when I went to get some ice. I could wait for him to get back, but I was really hoping to decorate it up nice while he was gone. You know—to surprise him.”
The manager looked at Doreen suspiciously. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Missy, just what is your husband's name?”
“It's Willie. It's William Tucker. I'm Mrs. Tucker.” Still looking at Doreen suspiciously, the manager proceeded to examine his check-in log. He looked down at the log, and then looked up at her. He was looking at her like she was up to no good, and for good reason too. She was stammering and a sheet of sweat had formed across her forehead. She looked nervous about something. That didn't sit too well with the manager. “What did you say your husband's name was again?”
“It's William—William Tucker.”
“Oh yeah, here it is, right here. William Tucker. Room 111.” He looked at Doreen almost apologetically, then thought for a minute. “And you say you're his wife, huh?”
Doreen nodded, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
“Then you got some ID on ya you can show me?” he asked.
“Yeah, uh, sure. But I, uh, left my purse in the car.” Doreen hadn't thought to grab it.
The manager stood there looking at Doreen as if waiting for her to say something else. She never did. She just looked at the clerk.
“I'll wait,” the manager finally said, not picking up on the fact that there was no logical reason why Doreen's purse should have been in her car. If anything, it should have been locked inside the motel room. And even then, hadn't she just told him that her husband took the car to the store? Thank goodness this guy's picnic basket was light a sandwich or two.
“Excuse me?” Doreen had no idea what he was talking about.
“I'll wait while you go to your car and get it.”
“Oh yeah, right.” Doreen smiled, and then headed out of the office.
“Uh, ma'am,” the manager called out, causing Doreen to pause and look back at him. “I thought you said your husband went to the store. Wouldn't he have driven?” Guess he hadn't missed that little slipup after all.
Doreen hadn't thought about that herself. With only a few seconds to reply before she looked even more suspicious she said, “Yeah, but, uh, we drove separate cars. We met up here. Kind of like role-play; two teenagers sneaking around. You get it?” Doreen hoped he did—get it and believe it.
Still eyeballing her like she'd stole something he said, “You just go on and bring me that ID back, ya hear?”
“Yes, sir, right away.” Doreen scurried out of the motel office. “Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I repent right now in Jesus' name for telling that man a bold-faced lie. I'm sorry.” Doreen opened her car door and pulled her purse out. She went back into the motel office while digging around in her purse.
The clerk watched her with a hawk eye as she scrambled through it. After a moment or so and Doreen coming up with nothing, he began tapping his finger on the counter impatiently.
“Just a minute, I know it's in here,” Doreen said as she continued to fumble around. Stuff began to fall out of her purse onto the counter. Some items even rolled off the counter onto the floor. The manager sucked his teeth. “I'm sorry, sir. I'm trying to find it.” After still coming up with nothing and both the clerk and Doreen getting agitated, she finally just dumped the entire contents of her purse on the counter and began picking through it. “Voilà! Here it is.” She held up her ID as if she were carrying the torch in an opening ceremony for the Olympics. She handed the ID to the manager with a smile.
He eyeballed it while Doreen wiped another wave of sweat off of her forehead. “Hmm. Mrs. Doreen Tucker.” He looked at the ID, then looked at Doreen. He looked back down at the ID again. “That's you, all right,” he sighed with defeat. Then without further delay, he turned around and grabbed the motel key for room 111. “Here you are, Mrs. Tucker.” He handed Doreen the key.
“Sorry about the delay. It's just that we can't go around letting any ol' body into motel rooms. You could have been a murderer for all I know.”
Doreen accepted the key, having no idea that the manager's last statement would contain such irony.

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