The Atonement (16 page)

“I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.
I’m sorry I…”

Before Riley could respond, Tamiko and Tim
came over to chat.

“So, Jim, are you excited to have Riley back
with us?” asked Tamiko.

“Not as excited, as I know you are. I bet you
got your sleeping bag hidden around here somewhere, ready to stay
the night,” said Jim.

“Actually, Riley is staying at my place,”
said Tamiko.

“For Real?” said Jim brightening a bit. He
considered it a fortunate turn of events. If Riley were preoccupied
at Tamiko’s maybe she wouldn’t have time to get in his
business.

“Yeah, after all, it’s going to be a bit
crowded around here,” said Riley.

“You sure you gonna be able to make it a
whole month with Mother Bynum?” chuckled Jim. Riley narrowed her
eyes at him.

“What’s so funny?” asked Tim.

“My mom doesn’t always think Riley’s such a
good influence,” said Tamiko.

“I can handle Mother Bynum,” said Riley.

“You might want to change out of those pants
before you go over there,” said Jim snickering.

“Shut up,” said Riley.

“But they’re not going to even have a chance
to butt heads because I have so much planned for us to do. The city
has changed so much since the last time you’ve been here and
there’s lots of things I thought we could do together. I was just
talking to Tim and he’s going to get tickets for us to go see that
new Christian play, ‘The Choice’ that they’re showing off
Broadway,” said Tamiko.

“Well, well, well, how nice of you, Tim. Will
you be accompanying the girls on this little adventure?” asked
Jim.

“No. Since Miko doesn’t get too see Riley so
often, I thought it would be a nice way for the two of them to
spend time together by themselves,” he replied.

“You’d pay for my ticket and you don’t even
know me like that?” asked Riley.

“Al and Miko are like family to me, so that
means you are, too,” said Tim.

“You really mean that?” said Riley.

“Of course,” said Tim.

“Then can you do me a solid? I could use
$20.00,” said Riley.

Everyone laughed.

“What y’all laughing about? I’m serious. I
could really use $20.00. I was going to ask Miko, but since you put
yourself out there…”

“Riley!” said Tamiko.

“It’s not a problem, Miko,” said Tim taking
out his wallet.

“Tim, man, no - you don’t have to go there.
Riley you need to stop,” said Jim.

“No! People need to watch what they say,”
said Riley.

“
Here you are. Sorry, I
don’t have anything smaller,” said Tim as he handed her a
fifty-dollar bill.

“
Thanks, man. ‘preciate
you.”

“
Riley, you are going to pay
him back every last cent before you go home,” said
Tamiko.

“
It’s not a big deal, Miko,”
said Tim.

“
See, we cool. Like the man
said – this is a family thang,” said Riley.

“Oookaaay. Soooo – Who are you and what have
you done with Tim?” asked Jim.

“What are you talking about?” said Tim.

“I mean first you got saved, now your
engaging in selfless acts. What’s going on with you bro?” said
Jim.

“Just growing up I guess. I’ve learned there
are more important things in life than getting ahead and
stockpiling cash,” said Tim.

“And what brought this on?” asked Jim.

“I’ve been through a lot while you were away.
You remember that really bad health scare I told you about?” said
Tim.

“
Yeah?” said Jim.

“
I didn’t tell you this
before because I didn’t want to freak you out, but I even had to
have surgery.”

“For real?” said Jim, looking at Tamiko for
confirmation.

“Yes, we were all worried for a minute, but
then we had faith that God would intervene,” said Tamiko.

“I know I wouldn’t be sitting here right now
if it weren’t for Him. Nothing like nearly losing your life to make
you think about what’s really important,” said Tim.

“Losing your life? What was wrong with you?”
asked Jim.

“It was a brain tumor,” said Tim after a
nervous pause. Jim could tell that it was difficult for him to talk
about even after all this time.

“You mean, cancer?” said Jim. He couldn’t
believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah.”

“Wow,” said Riley.

“But he’s fine now,” said Tamiko “He’s had
several physicals since the surgery, and the doctors haven’t been
able to find anything.”

“I guess you know you’re blessed,” said
Jim.

“So are you, dude. You were pretty bad off,
but I thank God for answered prayers.”

“Amen,” said Tamiko.

Jim knew his friends were right, but at the
present moment his second chance didn’t feel much like a blessing,
but a huge burden.

*****

After a few more minutes, Allen came back to
the living room with some 2X3 inch pictures. It seemed that the
game was about to get started.

“Everyone, if I could have your attention.
It’s time for the guess the picture game to start. I’m going to
need everyone to find a seat,” he said.

Everyone sat in the living room in a circle.
Allen explained the rules of the game to the guests before taping a
picture to each person’s hat. Instead of using pictures of common
objects, Tamiko had decided to take pictures of the guests and
others that they knew and use these pictures for the game. The
players would have to guess who was in the picture on their hat.
The game wasn’t very difficult and everyone was able to guess the
person in his or her picture within the customary three guesses
afforded them. The incorrect guesses elicited a lot of laughter and
light-hearted banter from the group. The overall levity the game
created helped Jim to relax a bit. He also noticed that Chris
wasn’t talking a lot, which also gave him a sense of relief. When
the game was over Tamiko collected the hats, while Allen collected
the pictures. When they were done, Allen started the dominoes
tournament.

“Okay, now we’re going to get started with
our dominoes tournament. Now I know everyone here knows how to play
dominoes, but some of us are more advanced than others so I created
brackets. We’ll play as partners then winners in each partnership
will move up until we have a winner”

Allen brought out a chart with the playing
pairs on it. Tamiko was paired with Chris, Richard was to play
Callie, Davis faced off against Riley, Jim played Daniel and Tim
went head to head with Allen. After the first round, Callie, Chris,
Davis, Jim, and Tim were left. The others milled around and watched
the remaining pairs, cheering on their favorites. Allen headed back
to the kitchen to check on the food that was heating. After the
second round, only Callie and Jim were left, but the final round
would be postponed when Allen came in from the kitchen to announce
that dinner was ready.

It was still daylight and the afternoon
autumn air was crisp enough to lightly ruffle the fringes of the
umbrella over the table. Everyone filed into the yard and took a
seat at the picnic bench as Allen and Davis helped to serve. Jim,
Riley, Tamiko, Richard, and Daniel took up one side of the bench
while. Callie, Allen, Tim, Chris, and Davis occupied the other
side. It was a little tight with so many people, but this didn’t
dampen the spirit of the guests at all. The table was filled with
all of Jim’s favorites: barbecue chicken and pork ribs, macaroni
and cheese, red rice, corn on the cob, and salad. There was a
cooler of sodas off to the side where the guests could choose from
cola, iced-tea, and seltzer. This was the most tense time of the
evening for Jim because, it was around the dinner table that people
did the most talking and he was afraid of what would come out of
Chris’s mouth and what Riley would think of it.

“It’s kind of cloudy out here. I hope it
doesn’t rain,” said Callie.

“I did hear that it was supposed to rain this
afternoon, but it looks like God’s holding it back for us,” said
Allen.

“So, Jim, how does it feel to be back?” asked
Tim.

“Good. But I have to admit I feel a little
out of the loop. So much has happened since the last time I’ve been
around.”

“But you’ve been caught up on all of it,”
said Allen, “there aren’t any more surprises left that I can think
of.”

“Yo, Al, can we tell him ‘bout what happened
at the hospital when we went to see Tim?” asked Richard.

“I don’t know, man…”

“It’s okay, Al. Jim knows about my
surgery.”

“And Rich is itching to tell it, so…”

“Jim, check this out. Tim’s mom had the
hospital on lockdown. There was a special visitor list and you had
to have two types of ID. She even had a private security guard in
front of his room. It was crazy! We had to try like three different
times. It was like trying to get close to the president!”

“So how did you guys get in?” said Jim.

“You know I know how to parlay with the best
of them and I knew how to read the situation. Now, the last time we
went, we were finally able to get passes and get upstairs but then
when we got up there, they had this big security guy in front of
the door and he told us we couldn’t see Tim. So Al tried to reason
with the brother, ‘bout how we had come a long way and everything,
but he wasn’t tryin’ to hear nothin’. Then Miko started getting a
little hysterical and she was crying real hard and I seen the guy
staring at her like she was crazy, so I took him aside and I told
him a little story, slid him some cheese – just like I do at the
club. Next thing you know we was in.”

“You were crying?” asked Tim.

“We hadn’t heard from you since you left and
I was worried. We all were – right, Allen?”

“We were worried, but you were the one with
the drama,” said Allen.

“Tim, how come you didn’t tell them what was
going on?” asked Jim.

“I couldn’t. The doctors felt that it would
be best if I had the surgery right away. I entrusted my mom with my
phone and told her to contact everyone to let them know what was
going on, but instead, she wiped all your numbers from the cache,”
explained Tim.

“Cold snap!” said Jim.

“Cold is right. Anyway, Rich, you ever gonna
let us know what you told that security guy?” asked Allen.

“I just told him that Miko was Tim’s fiancée
and his mom didn’t approve of the marriage because they was from
two rich families that was at war with each other, kinda like Romeo
and Juliet.”

“What?!” laughed Tim.

“Richard! How could you?!” said Tamiko.

“ ‘Cause I knew he would fall for it. He
looked like a sucka for drama. Dude was readin’ a chick-lit book
when we rolled up on him. Anyway, it was for a good cause. We got
in.”

“But it wasn’t over. Tell Jim what happened
next,” said Allen.

“
Oh, yeah – then Tim’s mom
showed up with his sister and some thick brother (and you know they
don’t like us no way) and they started yelling at us. Makin’ a
scene all up in front of Tim, getting’ him upset and everything. I
was like how you gon’ set it off like this when yo’ boy tryin’ to
get better?”

“
For real?” asked
Jim.

“
For real! Then the doctor
and the nurse came and they was ready to bounce everybody, and his
moms was trying to make it seem like we was startin’ the trouble
and the sister she was real nasty. You know she had the nerve to
call Miko a ‘ho’” continued Richard.

“
No, she didn’t!” said
Riley.

“
She did. But we checked
that.”

“
So did you guys end up
leaving?” asked Jim.

“
No, cause they asked Tim
who he wanted to stay and he chose us. So the
double-stuffed-Stedman-Graham-lookin’ brother and the ferocious
females had to go.”

“
Wow. And I thought my
family had issues,” said Davis.

“I now believe you, Tim. Your mom really does
have control issues. How did you manage dealing with her all those
years without becoming a basket case?” said Allen.

“Easy. It’s called boarding school,” said
Tim.

“And what’s your sister’s problem? Why is she
so…so…so…mean?” asked Tamiko.

“You too nice, Miko. I was thinkin’ of a
whole other word,” said Richard.

“I know you haven’t seen the best side of
her, but she isn’t all bad. At least she wasn’t when we were
younger. It might be hard to believe, but she used to be a sweet,
bubbly little girl. I remember I used to call her cupcake because
when she was little she would always beg me for cupcakes,” said
Tim.

“Really? What happened to her?” asked
Davis.

“Life, I guess. She and I have been through a
lot, and maybe she was affected more deeply. I just pray for her,
now.”

“Maybe we should all pray for her. She needs
it,” said Allen.

“She’s not the only one,” said Richard
sending a glance in Riley’s direction.

“Speaking of prayer, Allen, tells me you’re
thinking about coming back to church,” said Daniel to Jim.

“Uh…yeah,” said Jim.

“When you do, you might want to join the
Brotherhood Bible study we have going on. It’s just a bunch of us
getting together to discuss what being a man means according to the
Scriptures. We meet after church on Sundays from 2 to 4”

“I don’t know man,” said Jim.

“Everybody here is in it - Allen, Tim, Davis,
Chris, and some of the other young brothers from our church. It’s a
real support group where we exhort each other and strengthen each
other with the Word,” said Daniel.

“Yeah, and with everything the enemy is
throwin’ at us nowadays, it’s a real help. Fa real,” said
Davis.

“I’ll think about it,” said Jim.

“It’s helped me a lot,” added Chris
reticently, “I don’t know if I would have been able to stay clean
the past 10 weeks without it,” Chris was looking straight at Jim
when he spoke.