The Atonement (34 page)

“
Allyson! Praise the Lord
and welcome back, chile!” said the older woman taking her into her
arms for a hug.

“
Thank you, Mrs. Sharpe,”
said Allyson feeling a little uncomfortable. Mrs. Sharpe almost
knocked her over with the force of her affection. She was not used
to all the touchy-feely-hugginess that characterized the Sharpe
household. “Nice to see you again.”

“
How you doin’, baby?
Everything good at school?”

“
Yes. Everything’s fine
there. Tim tells me you need some help today.”

“
Don’t you know it? We’re
serving dinner today at the hall across the street, but most of the
ladies that was supposed to be helping me got sick. I guess the flu
season done started already.”

“
Sorry to hear
that.”

“
You don’t know how glad I
was when Tim told me you’d help. Thank you so much sweetheart. I
hope this isn’t puttin’ you out none.”

“
You’re very welcome, Mrs.
Sharpe. It isn’t a problem at all.”

“
You don’t have to call me
Mrs. Sharpe. Call me Mama Lena, like everybody else.”

“
Okay…Mama Lena.”

“
There you go.”

Then Mother Rose suddenly appeared dressed in
a white gown that looked like an old woman’s wedding dress. It had
a lace bodice and silk organza skirt. Behind her were Tamiko in a
stylishly retro royal blue stand collar dress with three-quarter
sleeves, and Allen’s cousin in a gray pantsuit with a short-sleeved
jacket.

“
Lena, dear, I wondered
where you went. The girls and I were just about to head over to the
hall.”

“
Allyson’s going to help us,
too, so I came over to get her,” replied Lena.

“
Is that so?” said Mother
Rose who was looking Allyson over as if she were covered in feces.
She reminded Allyson of Trish, but thirty years older.

“
Yes,” said Allyson beaming
her best fake smile “Tim told me about your situation, and asked if
I’d volunteer.”

“
I see. But if you don’t
feel comfortable because of your – beliefs, then know you are not
obliged to participate.”

“
As long as I don’t have to
hand out tracts, I don’t think there’ll be a problem.”

“
Don’t worry, dear, I
wouldn’t dream of it. That task is usually reserved for those more
capable.”

“
Hi, Allyson. Nice to see
you again,” offered Tamiko.

“
Hello, Tamika,” said
Allyson.

“
It’s Tamiko,” said Riley
giving her a cold look.

“
Oh, yes. Sorry. And your
name, again?”

“
Riley.”

“
I’m confused. Is that your
first name or last name?”

Riley narrowed her eyes, and her mouth became
a thin line.

“
That’s her first name,”
said Lena, who noticed the tension stewing, “She’s a Sharpe just
like Allen.”

“
Let’s head over to the hall
before we’re late. We don’t want to keep people waiting,” said
Mother Rose.

Something told Allyson, this was going to be
a long afternoon.

*****

“What would you like?” said Allyson for what
had to be the thousandth time today. It had to be 1,000 degrees in
back of the steam table she was serving from. Beads of sweat were
starting to escape from under her hairnet. She would have tried to
wipe them away with the back of her hand, but the plastic gloves
she was wearing were covered in grease and sauce from the food she
was serving. Her feet had gone numb from standing in four inch
stilettos for the past two hours, and now this old woman was
standing before her ogling each entrée as if she’d never seen food
before and couldn’t make up her mind. Not that the entrees were
very appetizing to Allyson. There was whiting that looked like it’d
been fried to death, pulled pork sandwiches that were oozing
grease, what she could only guess were seasoned French fries, alien
looking macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and biscuits. “If
they’re going to feed people, they could have at least offered
healthier options,” thought Allyson.

“Let me get one of the little whitings and
some of them chips. And I’ll take some of that ‘tata salad and a
biscuit, too, if you don’t mind,” said the toothless woman after
what felt like ten minutes of looking. Allyson had to dig under the
large pieces of fish to find her a small one and then fixed the
rest of her plate. She put each entrée in a different compartment
of the Styrofoam tray and handed the woman her order, just like
Mrs. Sharpe had taught her. Then the next customer came up. It was
a very heavy-set woman clad in spandex, who had three, disheveled
looking kids with her. Allyson looked down the line, which seemed
like it was never going to end. She wished she were Tamiko who was
minding the dessert counter or Riley, who was on drinks. Their
lines weren’t that long.

“Gimme three orders of fish and chips and
then I want a pork sandwich with macaroni and potato salad,” said
the woman.

Allyson started fixing the fish orders first
and handed them to the woman who opened one to inspect it.

“How come ain’t no ketchup on these fries?”
she asked.

“You didn’t ask,” said Allyson as she
finished fixing the last order and put it on the counter.

“You could’ve offered. After all, you the one
servin’. How am I supost to know if y’all got ketchup or not?” she
replied.

“And how am I supposed to know what you want?
I’m not a mind reader you know.”

“You ain’t gotta get an attitude, snotty
little half-breed.”

“You’re the one with the attitude, crack
ho.”

“Come out from behind that counter and say
that, so I can kick yo’ ***”

“You better hope I don’t. I’ll beat you over
the head with one of your little rug rats.”

“Yo! I’ma ‘bout to jump over this counter and
punch you in yo’ face!”

“What’s going on over here?” asked Lena who
had raced over upon hearing the commotion.

“I just asked this chick for some ketchup and
she callin’ me a crack ho, and with my kids standing here to listen
to that mess!”

“She insulted me first! She called me a
half-breed.”

“That’s a lie! See! That’s why I don’t like
comin’ out to these things! I’m tryin’ the best I can to take care
of my kids, and then you got these people like Miss thing over
there judging and lookin’ down on you.”

“Miss, I’m not judging you,” said Lena
putting a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “And look at these three
beautiful babies you got here. What’s say we get them something to
eat?”

“I don’t want to deal with her.”

“Then you deal with me and tell me what you
want.”

Mrs. Sharpe not only fixed the dinners for
this family, but she also gave the children coloring books and
crayons that she got from who knows where. It made Allyson upset.
It seemed as if she were taking that woman’s side over hers. When
she was done with those guests, Mrs. Sharpe came back behind the
steam table to refresh the dwindling macaroni tray. Allyson wanted
to set things straight.

“I didn’t start anything with that woman. She
insulted me first. You do believe me, don’t you?” said Allyson
stepping back, as Mrs. Sharpe put in a new tray of macaroni in the
table.

“Of course I do, sweetheart. She’s been here
before and done the same thing to myself and to Mother Rose. I
guess she’s having a hard time in life and sometimes she takes it
out on other people.”

Soon another woman came up to take over the
serving as Mrs. Sharpe pulled Allyson aside to talk to her.

“So why do you keep allowing her in? Why not
just put her picture up and make her persona non-grata?”

“Because Jesus says to have mercy.”

“You mean ‘turn the other cheek’?” said
Allyson trying to keep the cynicism out of her voice.

“That’s right. You have to learn to let
little things like that slide.”

“Little things? She called me a half-breed,
and she threatened me!”

“She’s called me a black so-in-so. That’s
just words, Allyson. When you know what and whose you are, you
don’t let those things bother you. I know you’ll disagree, but I
believe we have to treat others according to what God says and not
by how they treat us.”

“Soooo, you’re okay with people treating you
like dirt and getting away with it, or are you into rewarding
people for treating you like dirt?”

“I don’t have to make anyone pay for what
they do to me. When you’re a child of God, He has your back. No one
ever gets away with doing wrong to someone else.”

“I prefer to mete out my own brand of
justice.”

“You’d feel better if you let things go. You
hold onto all that stuff and all it does is eat you up inside and
make you miserable. I let God fight my battles. You may not think
so, but I know God can do more with your enemies than you can.”

“How much longer does this dinner go on
for?”

“We close at 6:00, but our shift will be over
by 4:15 or so. When the second shift comes in then we can
leave.”

“You’ve given away a ton of food already. How
often do you do this?”

“We do it on the first Sunday of the month,
holidays, and when we have outreach events. With all the need
that’s out there, I wish we could do it everyday. We’re trying to
raise money so we can start a food pantry for the children and
seniors.”

“You’d need a lot to feed all these people.
Would you mind if I ask where the money comes from?”

“Sure don’t. Comes from tithes. Pastor Bynum
is a very trustworthy shepherd. The majority of tithe offering that
goes into the collection plate goes to serve the poor in the church
community and the larger community. We used to spread ourselves
thin and try to do some of everything, but it wasn’t having as much
of an impact as we would like. So Pastor decided that we needed to
focus on a few things and do those well. Now we’re just focusing on
feeding the hungry and educating the youth and we’ve got a few
programs to help the community in those areas.”

“You seem to know a lot. How long have you
been a member?”

“I been with this church ever since I was a
young girl, before Pastor Bynum came.”

“You mean Reverend Bynum wasn’t always the
Pastor?”

“No we had another pastor, but he died and
the person who was supposed to succeed him didn’t want to take his
place, and the next in line was so radical that the board voted him
out. Pastor Bynum was an associate Pastor who used to come and
preach sometimes, so we asked him if he would stay with us and
thankfully he did. The church has been growing ever since.”

“Really?” said Allyson. Now she felt like she
was getting somewhere. She wished she’d had her digital recorder
with her.

“Yes, indeed. Before we were just one church,
but now there are three churches. One here, one in North Carolina,
and one in Virginia.”

“Do those churches have a lot of
members?”

“The one in North Carolina is kinda small,
but growing. The one in Virginia would be the same size as the one
here.”

“Does the Pastor receive any money from these
churches?”

“Only if he goes down there to preach. Then
they’ll take up a speakers offering for him, but aside from that
the Pastor doesn’t get anything. The churches will sometimes raise
money for one another. Like when there was a storm that hit
Virginia last summer, we raised money to send to the people in the
church down there who were working on rebuilding their homes.”

“I see. But the Pastor has control of those
churches doesn’t he?”

“Not really. He started those churches, but
there are other pastors that direct them. He does visit them
occasionally though. Sometimes we all get together for a convention
with the other churches.”

“Did he at least get to choose who those
pastors were?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. He can
recommend someone, but ultimately, the board of the church prays
about it before they make their decision.”

“Are you on the church board?”

“
No. I’m not a church board
member. But I am on the mother’s board.”

“Does that mean you get special privileges or
stock in the church?”

“I don’t know anything about all that,”
laughed Lena “but overall I don’t come to church to get anything, I
come to give: I give glory to God, and pray he uses me to give to
others and lead them to Him.”

“There’s got to be something you’re getting
out of all this. Otherwise, why come?”

“Well I do want to get into the kingdom.
That’s the only thing I’m really looking forward to.”

“You mean Heaven, right? Like after you’re
dead.”

Now the interview was going off the course
that Allyson had planned and she was losing interest. She didn’t
want to get into another conversation on Christian dogma.

“Unh-uh, baby. I’m going to be alive. Believe
it or not, I’m going to be living for eternity in the presence of
the living God.”

“But that’s the thing… how do you know that
what you believe is real? It’s not like people can come back from
the dead to tell you what’s out there.”

“Jesus did. He came back and confirmed
everything the Bible said before he went back up into the
heaven.”

“With all due respect, no one in this day and
age has seen Him.”

“I have. When my parents came to this city
they didn’t have two thin dimes to rub together, but I was blessed
to be able to go to college and grad school. When I was 13, I had
to have an operation and have most of my womb taken out. I was
devastated. I had dreams of having a husband and children and after
that I didn’t think any man would want to marry me. But don’t you
know that in February of 1980, one of the rankest sinner’s I’d ever
known came down to the altar call and got saved, and not three
years later, I married him. That’s right – and he’s been a faithful
husband to me for 28 years. Hallelujah! Glory to God! Then almost
four years after that, I was blessed with a beautiful baby boy. I
had a child, and I didn’t even have half a womb! Praise you Lord
Jesus!”