The Atonement (19 page)

Nineteen

“Greater Apostolic Church of Christ, Julius
Bynum Pastor,” read the sign in front of the building. “This has to
be the one,” thought Allyson. She knew the words Greater Apostolic
were in the title and she had heard her brother mention the name
Bynum before. She put her car in park and got out and looked
around. It was a modest looking, pastoral church: a red and white
brick structure no bigger than a two-story walk-up. The service had
probably been underway for some time because she could hear the
music all the way across the street, however, she could see that
there were still a good number of people who were entering, so she
didn’t have to feel self-conscious about interrupting anything.
Even so, Allyson couldn’t help feeling somewhat on edge, as she
didn’t know what to expect.

She smoothed down the front of her designer
pink and gray, tweed suit, adjusted the strap on her leather purse
and tipped her matching felt hat with tweed bows and proceeded to
cross the street to the entrance of the church. When she got there,
she wasn’t about to take her four-inch, flesh colored, patent
leather, platform pumps to the stairs, but walked up the wheelchair
access ramp. Upon opening the door, she was jolted by the loud
music and the stage lights that were being used to light the
sanctuary. It would have been enough to send her back out had she
not seen a familiar face that confirmed this was indeed the place
she was looking for.

“Praise the…”

Allyson could tell he was shocked to see her
and it made her feel at ease and more in control. She liked
shocking people.

“Hi, Allen,” she said giving him a sly smile
and taking the program he held in his hand. “Would you know where
my brother is?”

“He’s over by the altar, performing in the
band. He always plays guitar for us on first and third Sundays,”
said Allen pointing to the area where Tim was.

Allyson followed the motion of his hand with
her sea green eyes that finally happened upon her brother in the
midst of the worshippers. She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed
when she saw him totally absorbed in his task.

“Yes, I see,” she said after swallowing hard.
“So where do you all sit?” she said trying hard not to show how
uncomfortable she was.

“We usually sit up front when we’re not on
duty. I’ll show you.”

Allyson grabbed his arm and Allen led her
down the aisle. As they walked along, it seemed like a lot of the
other members were losing their minds. They had passed some woman
vehemently banging her tambourine while doing some type of crazy
dance. Then there was a man who was doing what looked to be the
same kind of babbling that her mother told her Tim had done at the
hospital. He had his head back and he was crying with his arms
stretched out in the air, palms upward. There were a few rational
looking people who were sitting or standing and just clapping their
hands but the majority of these religious devotees looked to her as
if they were high on something. There were even people in the choir
that had lost it. The atmosphere in the church was unnerving,
indeed. “What the hell has Tim gotten himself into? What have I
gotten myself into?” she thought while holding tightly onto Allen’s
arm.

Allen stopped when they had reached a pew
that was the third from the front row.

“Here we are.”

Allyson was astonished. This had to be the
worst row yet. Every single person there was going crazy,
especially, the older woman on the end who had even taken her shoes
off.

“Are they…okay?”

“Yeah,” said Allen giving her a funny look.
“They’re just praising the Lord.”

Allen left her there to take her seat, but
Allyson was still hesitant. None of them seemed to have noticed
when she approached, and she was actually glad about that. She took
a seat at the end of the pew farthest away from them, leaving
several spaces between them. Allyson couldn’t help staring at them
as they engaged in what she considered to be such wild behavior.
The older woman was starting to run back and forth near the aisle.
There was also an older man who was bent over and looked like he
was running in place. There were even some younger people in her
row that looked like they could be Tim’s age. They were probably
his friends. One young man was swaying back and forth on a crutch,
crying while another was dancing next to him. Finally, just over
from them, were two young women who were almost as bad as the older
woman on the end. The first was a taller woman in a pants suit with
a huge afro, with what looked like a tea cozy attached to it with a
hairpin. The other was much shorter and prissy looking in her three
quarter sleeve foulard print secretary dress with a pleated skirt
and decorated with a bow tie at the neck.

“Hallelujah! Glory to Your name! Praise you
Jesus!” the shorter woman called out in a loud voice.

Allyson felt like she recognized this woman’s
voice. She could barely see who it was because the woman was
wearing a cloche hat and had her hair swept forward which obscured
her features. Allyson moved forward just a bit to get a better look
at her. Now she was able to recognize who she was. “Not the crazy
midget girl!” she thought. Allyson moved back to the end of the pew
and tilted her hat to the side so the midget girl wouldn’t be able
to recognize her. Then she sat back and perused the program Allen
had given her. It seemed the service went from 11:00am until
2:00pm. Allyson checked her watch: it was only 12:00pm – there were
still two more hours to go. “Good gravy!” thought Allyson “I only
hope it doesn’t get worse. If they start some kind of cult ritual
stuff, I’m outta here!”

After a while the music stopped and the
service settled down. Some guy came up to the Altar to announce a
meditation period and Allyson was thankful for that. The loud music
and shouting parishioners were starting to give her a headache.
During the meditation period someone sang a solo and the rest of
the church was quiet, with the exception of a few members who
called out ever so often- or praised the Lord, as Allen described
it. After the meditation period was over a really tacky looking
older woman came to the altar to welcome people. Just like the rest
of the people in this church she was all drama. She had an enormous
purple satin hat with huge white taffeta flowers reminiscent of
something from the Victorian era. That combined with her purple
silk floral print beaded dress made her look ridiculous from
Allyson’s point of view. “Now I know why Tim likes it here. He
probably feels right at home amongst his own kind,” she mused.
After the tacky woman left, some guy came up and announced
different events that were sponsored by the church.

Now it was starting to resemble a normal
church service. “The sermon will probably be next – boring!” She
could already feel her eyelids growing heavy with fatigue. She knew
the next time she came on a scouting mission to Tim’s church she
would have to forgo drinks with Jason, with whom she was on more
than friendly terms again, now that he had gotten rid of the boho
chick he was with. Allyson sat back and leaned her head to the side
into the corner of the pew. After a while she, began to zone out in
her own thoughts. “I should be safe so long as I keep a low
profile,” she thought to herself as she yawned deeply. “When the
service is over, I’ll just grab Tim and get out of here before
anyone notices. With any luck I’ll never have to come back.”

*****

“
Allyson.
Allyson!”

She heard someone calling her. It was
probably Courtney.

“
Just go ahead of me, I’ll
shower when you’re done,” said Allyson still half asleep. She had
forgotten where she was.

“
Allyson!!!” said Tim,
shaking her.

“
Oh!”

Allyson awoke with a start to see her brother
and his friends surrounding her. She noticed her hat had fallen
from her lap as well as her purse and scrambled to pick them up
with several of the gentlemen assisting. Then she stood up,
adjusted her hat, and smoothed out the creases in her suit.

“
It was a very long service,
I must say.”

“
Allyson, what are you doing
here?” asked Tim looking bewildered.

“
You invited me,
duh.”

“
And you said you would
never set foot in here.”

“
I’ve a right to change my
mind. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends or are we
just going to stand around and stare at each other?”

“
These are my friends, Davis
Martinez, Jim Reid, Chris Lodon and you already know Allen and
Tamiko. And this is Allen’s cousin Riley Sharpe. Everyone this is
my sister, Allyson.”

They all greeted each other stiffly and they
were all looking at her as if she just dropped out of the sky, her
brother in particular. She knew Tim was probably trying to figure
out why she was here and she was trying to think of a good
explanation that wouldn’t arouse his suspicion before he asked.

“It’s nice to see the faces to match the
names to. Tim has spoken very highly of all of you and
this…institution. It’s made me curious enough to want to come and
see things for myself.”

“That’s nice to hear. Did you enjoy the
service? I mean, the part you were awake for at least,” said
Allen.

“Sorry, but propaganda tends to have that
effect on me. Oh – look at the time. It is rather late and I have
more important things to do. Tim would you care to escort me to my
car?”

“Of course. If you’ll excuse me for a
moment.”

“Nice meeting you all.”

Allyson grabbed his arm and Tim escorted her
up the aisle to the door. Neither one of them said anything until
they were outside the church doors.

“I am sooo glad that’s over. I was afraid,
I’d never make it out of there in one piece.”

“Okay, so now do you want to tell me what
this little visit is really about?”

“I already did. I really was curious to see
what you do here.”

“Allyson, please. I’ve known you and my
mother long enough to know better.”

Allyson had to give her brother some credit.
Though he was a jerk, that didn’t mean he was stupid. He was well
aware that she despised him and would never spend any time with him
unless his mother forced her or unless there was an agenda. There
was no way Tim wouldn’t have known what they were up to. She’d have
to come at this with a totally radical approach – one that would
give her a significant advantage, no less.

“Alright, I was sent to spy on you. Mother’s
worried about the integrity of the Russell brand.”

“Not this again. Why can’t she just let me
live my life?”

“Because being the only male with the Russell
name, you’re the savior of our family,” she mocked. “Like you’re
not enjoying this.”

“Believe me, I’m not. You don’t know how many
times I wished you’d been born a boy just so she’d cut me a
break.”

“Who knows? She just might anyway– depends on
what I report back to her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Timothy, we can both make this work to our
advantage. Our mother is determined to get information, which I am
in a unique position to provide. Now I can relay information that
portrays your activities in a favorable light or I can present
information in a way that will increase her anxieties and
subsequently her interference, hence, making your life
miserable.”

“And what would I have to do to gain your so
called assistance?”

“Just a small donation to the Allyson Russell
fund every once in a while.”

“Not happening, sis.”

“Have it your way. Then I tell her exactly
what’s going on and how you and these crazy people carry on like a
bunch of chickens with the heads cut off. Maybe I’ll even say that
your chief guru drugs people to make them act like that.”

“Say whatever you want. The way I see it, you
need this escapade to carry on far longer than I do. Once your job
has ended so will the stream of money that I know my mother is
paying you. And don’t try to kid me. I know you’d have nothing to
do with this foolishness if it wasn’t so.”

“Would you rather she employ me or a real
detective? Because if our deal doesn’t work out she’ll just hire
someone far more insidious who can do way more damage at the
expense of your precious little friends.”

“Let me ask you a question, Allyson: would
you rather be paid something or nothing?”

Tim had her in a corner and she hated it.
Even when they were younger, he always knew how to pull the rug out
from under her feet. She did need the bonuses her mother was giving
her for this little escapade. At the same time, she didn’t like the
idea of helping Tim without getting something out of it in
return.

“I don’t like doing favors if its not
worthwhile.”

“I know. So I’ll make this more palatable for
you.”

Tim took a pen out of his jacket pocket and a
piece of paper. He started scribbling something on it.

“I have to get back to church because I have
a Bible study to attend. In the meantime, I’m going to give you
this,” he said handing her the piece of paper when he’d finished
writing.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the address to Allen’s house. I want
you to come to dinner there tonight. It starts at 5:30. Don’t be
late,” said Tim as he began to walk back to the church.

“How do I know I’m not being set up to be an
offering for some kind of crazy, ritual sacrifice?!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“I’m not coming!”

“You have to! It’s part of your
assignment!”

“I just wasted 3 precious hours of my time in
that silly church and now he wants me to come to some stupid
dinner,” thought Allyson petulantly. Tim was right, though, it was
part of her mission. Her curiosity also was beginning to get to her
as well, as she began to wonder what she would learn or find when
she went.