Good to Me (13 page)

She looked at the clock on her VCR and hoped it was not too late for her to call Pastor King at home. She needed an escort
for the banquet and knew he would have a recommendation on whom she should ask.

“Hello, Sister King. This is Charity, how are you?”

“Fine, Minister Phillips. How are you?”

“I’m good. I hope it’s not too late to be calling, but I wanted to ask Pastor for some fatherly advice. I need his recommendation
for an escort to a banquet.”

Mrs. King laughed. “And you gone trust Pastor?”

Charity joked. “I know, right?”

“That’s sweet of you. I’m sure he’ll be honored. Hold on a minute.”

Charity listened closely to see what Mrs. King would tell her husband about the caller waiting for him on the line.

“Hello, you’ve reached the Love Connector,” Pastor King joked.

“Lord, I got a feeling I’ll never be able to live this one down.”

He chuckled. “I hear you need a date for a banquet?”

“No, I need an escort,” she clarified. “I sit on the board of directors for Grace House, and their annual black-tie formal
is Friday. Who would you recommend that I ask to escort me?”

“Do you want a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or a sheep in a wolf’s outfit?”

“Pastor.” She cast a look she’d never give him in person.

“Okay, okay. I have three people I’d recommend, knowing I won’t have to worry about you while you’re with them. I’ll go a
step further and say that I recommend them in this order. So if the first one can’t go, then call the second one.”

“Okay.”

“My first choice is Minister Adams.” Charity rolled her eyes to the ceiling; she should’ve known he was going to recommend
him. She’d be glad when April would make it known that she liked the man. “If he can’t make it, call Brother Stratford. And
my last choice is Brother Ingram. Now, if he can’t make it, I suggest you don’t go,” he laughed.

“Thank you, Pastor. That helps a lot.”

“Do you know how to reach them?”

“Yes, Love Connector. I know how to reach Minister Adams. He may know how to reach the other two.”

“All right. I’m just trying to help you out. If you want any beauty secrets, I’ll have to put my wife back on the phone for
that.”

“That’s okay. You know Sister April will help me with that.”

“She sure will. You know what I call her, don’t you?”

“Oh Lord, what Pastor?”

“I call her a first lady. She carries herself like she’s the President’s wife.”

“She does, doesn’t she? Thanks, Pastor. Tell Sister King I’ll talk to her later.”

“You’re welcome. Let me know who’s going with you so I can call and make sure they’re in line.”

“Pastor, I think it’s past your bedtime.”

“Good night, Minister Phillips.”

Charity would not trade her pastor for the world. She looked in her minister’s handbook to get Minister Adams’s phone number.
He was not home, so she left a message for him. “Hi, Minister Adams. This is Charity. I’m calling because I need a favor,”
she said in a childlike voice. “I called Pastor for his help and he recommended that I call you. I have a black-tie affair
to go to on this Friday night—way short notice, I know. But I need an escort. Will you check your schedule and see if you’ll
be able to go with me? I already have the tickets. Don’t worry about a tux, a nice suit will do. Oh, the banquet starts at
seven, and it’s at the uptown Adam’s Mark Hotel. Call me when you get this message. Thanks.”

Her stomach turned flips as soon as she hung up the phone. She hoped Minister Adams wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
I did tell him that Pastor King recommended him, right?
Then nervousness set in. What in the world were they going to talk about? Then she decided that she’d had enough of this.
She dialed April’s phone number.

“Hey, Toot, what are you doing?”

“Ironing my clothes for tomorrow. What about you?”

“Eating ice cream and watching your woman of God.”

“You know I’m on it. She’s talking directly to me.”

“I called to let you know that I called your pastor to ask him who I should ask to escort me to Grace House’s banquet on Friday.
He gave me three names. Guess who they are?”

“If they go to Damascus, you ain’t got but three choices,” she joked.

“Guess.”

“Who?”

“Your husband, Brother Stratford, and Brother Ingram.”

“Who are you going to ask?”

“Well, he suggested I ask them in that order.”

“Oooooh, I hope you go with Michael so you can put in a good word for me.”

“Oh, now you want my help?”

“Might as well.”

“Since when did you start calling him Michael? Ya’ll on first-name basis now?”

“No, but we will be after you talk to him on Friday night.”

“You’re silly. I was actually hoping you would talk to him before then. Like at Bible study.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Girl, this has gone on for long enough. He’d be married by the time you got up the nerve to tell him. Don’t you think it’s
time you said something to the boy? It has been a year and some change.”

“That’s why you’ve got to do it for me. I’m scared. What if he doesn’t like me?”

“This is not the April I know. But who else could bring out the weakness in a woman, but a man. Go on and finish ironing your
clothes. I’ll talk to you later.”

Iesha adjusted her shower spout to receive a massage from the downpour of steamy water. She closed her eyes and turned backward.
She tilted her head back into the water and allowed herself to be cleansed from head to toe. She shampooed her hair and lathered
her body with Caress soap. As she rinsed herself with the hotter-than-tepid water, visions of the day’s activities flooded
her mind. She felt herself shake inside. When she could no longer contain her emotions, she gave herself permission to cry,
and her whole body quaked. She fell to her knees and thanked God for giving her a second chance to raise her children right.

After she dressed in her pajamas, she found in a junk drawer the only Bible she had in the house. It was one of those pocket
New Testament Bibles that included the books of Psalms and Proverbs. She opened it to the Psalm she halfway remembered from
her childhood Sunday school classes—Psalm 23. She felt stupid when she did not understand the first verse. She called Charity
for clarification.

“Hey, Sis, you sleep?”

“Almost. Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, I just have a question.”

“Yes?”

“I’m reading Psalm 23 and I’m trying to figure out why it’s saying that the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want Him.”

Charity could not help but snicker. “I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you. When I first started reading the Bible,
I thought the same thing.”

“So, it doesn’t mean that?”

“No, it’s saying that because the Lord is our Shepherd, our Guide, and our Provider, we will not want or need anything.”

“Oh, I get it.”

“Do you mind if I get my Bible and we go over it together?”

“No, I would like that.”

Iesha was so proud of herself when she got off the phone with Charity. She felt good about her new life. She knew she needed
to call her mother but decided that she did not want anything or anyone to ruin what she was feeling. She said the Lord’s
Prayer before retiring to bed, then slept like a baby.

JUST WHEN HE WAS ABOUT TO BE OVERWHELMED
with loneliness, Joseph received a blessing. While the godsend was not a wife, he felt it put him one step closer to her.
There was no other way to explain it. His magazine subscription lapsed more than two months ago. When he didn’t receive an
issue last month, he was not expecting the one that came today. Out of all the issues that could have come, he received the
February one, whose cover touted the headline for an article on Valentine’s Day for singles. Just what he needed—some encouragement.
He read
Today’s Gospel
magazine expectantly. Midway through the publication, the title “I Have No Man,” caught his eye. As he read the testimony
of a single woman from Charlotte, North Carolina, his heart beat so fast he thought it would leap out at her on the page.

He was so stirred by the story that he ran to his best friend’s room to tell him about it.

“Man, you’ve gotta read this,” he said, shoving the magazine in Allen’s hands.

“Okay, Brother Word. What message from God have you found this week?”

He overlooked Allen’s suspiciousness. “No, man, this is different.” He pointed to the photograph on the page. “I think I just
found my wife.”

Allen shook his head. “Okay. I know you are a man of faith and I know that you
do
hear from God. But, come on, don’t you think this is a little extreme?”

“I know this sounds crazy. But I know what I felt when I read her article.”

“And what do we know about feelings?”

Like a child being chastised Joseph parakeeted, “That they come a dime a dozen.”

“That’s right, we are not moved by our feelings; by what something feels like. We move by a knowing, which God gives us through
His Holy Spirit.”

“I know that you’re right, but—”

“Joseph, you soak up everything. You’re a sponge for the things of God. When you hear a preacher preach something, you hold
on to it fervently. Whereas the rest of us hear something and we forget about it after a couple of days. But you continue
to watch the words you speak, you make your confessions daily, you sow seeds all the time… and you’re the one who gets
results. You’re the one who signs and wonders follow. But
you
have to find balance because you’re walking a fine line between sanity and insanity. And thinking that you’ve found your
wife between the pages of a magazine would be—”

“Insane.” He took the magazine from Allen and held it up as if he were going to read it to him. “I know, man, but just hear
me out. This minister from Charlotte wrote this article called, ‘I Have No Man.’ It’s like her testimony of being single and
struggling to be content. In it she likens herself to the paralyzed man in John 5 who’d been lying at the pool of Bethesda,
the one Jesus asked if he wanted to get well.”

Allen shifted his weight impatiently. “And? She’d be your wife because?”

“I’m getting to that. The paralytic didn’t answer Jesus, but he told Him that he couldn’t get well because he had
no man
to help him into the pool when the angels would stir it. And that’s how she got her title, ‘I Have No Man.’ Isn’t that clever?”

Joseph saw the look on Allen’s face that seemed to ask,
And?
So he continued talking. “She was saying that she gets lonely and sick of being single sometimes when she dwells on the fact
that she doesn’t have a man to come home to, or to spend time with, or to help her care for her son. But—”

“Wait a minute, your
wife
has a child? You’re willing to marry a woman who has a child that ain’t yours?”

“Just as Joseph did for Mary, and raised Jesus.”

“Whatever. Just tell me what
thus sayeth the Lord
,” Allen mocked.

“God hasn’t said anything. I just feel—believe, that she’s the manifestation of my prayers. She’s everything I prayed for
in a wife. I asked God specifically for someone who has been through something; she’s divorced. I asked God for Juanita Bynum,
but seeing that she’s married now, I’ll settle for a woman in the ministry. Now, tell me this ain’t God.”

“I know better than to challenge you when you’re bent on a revelation.”

“I’m just attracted to the anointing on her. The way she writes, how she interpreted the Scripture, and she didn’t mind exposing
herself and telling her testimony. And to top it off, the woman is beautiful. My heart thumped the whole time I read her message.”

“So, you think she’s your wife because your heart thumped?”

“Never mind, man. You don’t understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand what you’re saying. But I do understand what it feels like to be out here with no family
and no one to love. I do understand the desperation to do anything to get rid of loneliness and the aching for someone to
call, to write, or to have them visit. I understand that. I just don’t want you to believe something stupid and make it worse
on yourself. That’s all.”

“I am going to write to her. I just want her to know that her missive blessed me.”

“Write her?” Allen took the magazine. “What kind of magazine is that where you can write to people?”

“It’s
Today’s Gospel
. And her address isn’t in here.” He snatched the magazine back. “It says here that she’s a minister at Damascus Road Baptist
Church in Charlotte. I’m going to send a card for her there.” He continued as if he could read the perplexed expression on
Allen’s face. “What makes it all more ironic is that my baby sister lives in Charlotte. I’mma ask her to look the address
up for me.”

“I should’ve known you already had a plan.”

“Can’t you see God’s hand in all this?”

“You’re a better man than I am, that’s all I can say. So while you’re doing all of this are you going to tell her that you’re
at least six hours away? I mean if she as lonely as it sounds, don’t you think she’ll be disappointed to know where you are?”

Joseph dropped his head. “Okay, how about I do this? How about I bring the situation to intercessory prayer team tonight and
see if something comes from there before I proceed?”

“I think that’s the smartest thing you’ve said since you’ve been here.”

Joseph turned to leave the room.

“Wait,” Allen stopped him. “I still wanna read that article. I want to witness this anointing for myself.”

Joseph tossed the magazine to his friend. “See ya in about thirty minutes.”

At 7:30 p.m., Joseph answered the knock on his door and let the nine members of the intercessory prayer team into his room.
The men were always on time, starting and ending promptly. For those of them who had wives or girlfriends back home, 8:00
p.m. was the best time to call and if they were going to get a good place in the phone line they needed to be there at 8:00
on the dot. The lines for the phones could be ridiculously crowded.