Hometown Favorite: A Novel (28 page)

"Our mama didn't teach me anything about being a woman.
Tyler did, and even though he was mean sometimes, he always
said he loved me and he always was around. I guess I'm like
those baby animals that love the first thing they see once they
open their eyes. Tyler was the first person I saw who acted like
I was somebody that had value. I guess I loved him for that."

"And you want to give him another chance?" Bruce asked.

"He's different now. I know that. I can see it in his eyes and
by the way he treats me. Don't tell Aunt Rosella, but we've been
seeing each other besides at church, and he's changed. He's
really changed. He is really trying to start his life over, make
something of himself. I'm not saying we're gonna get married
or anything. I'm just saying he's sweet to me, and I want to give
him another chance."

Bruce laid his head back on the pillow, but this time not facedown as if hiding from past shame and future uncertainty. He
laid his head on its side, which Sabrina took as a hopeful sign.
It was not an outright rejection of what she was proposing.

Bruce did not want to hurt or disappoint his sister, but he
wondered whether he could trust her. Was she about to invite a
demon back into their lives, or had Tyler become a real miracle story of God's intervention? Was Sabrina insightful enough to
discern Tyler's nature? Was she safe with him? Was any of the
family safe with him? He looked at her.

"If he hurts you, he won't take the bat away from me next
time;" he whispered.

Sabrina smiled and pinched Bruce's cheek.

"We'll both have us some bats"

Dewayne and Rosella never thought they would see Tyler again,
but if they did, they knew it would be on the evening news,
some correspondent reporting about his latest crime spree
and his arrest. They never expected to see him in church, sans
dreadlocks and T-shirt, dressed in a three-piece suit.

He was not just in church, but also in front of the whole
church, introduced by an associate minister as one of the newest members of the community to join, and not just any pewwarming member, but one who would be contributing his
talents to help promote the music ministry of the church. There
was even the possibility of signing the church's worship band
to the record division of the company that employed Tyler.

Would that all new members follow this young man's example, the associate minister admonished. Amens and hallelujahs
popped into the air like verbal popcorn as the minister gave
a brief and sanitized history of Tyler's former ghetto life and
how God had done his Damascus Road thing on Tyler while
in juvenile detention.

Here was a bona fide testament to the power of God, the minister said, and all God's children said amen, all God's children
except Bruce. He withheld his judgment. Rosella and Dewayne
shook their heads in disbelief as they added their amens. Sabrina beamed as she enthusiastically said her amen.

And so the experiment began. The rebuilding of trust was the
first order of business, and Tyler was very careful not to force
his way into the family. Life remained normal in the Jobe house,
except there was a new addition to the dynamic. Even though
he was a frequent topic of conversation, Tyler did not receive
any invitations to dinner nor was he invited to accompany
them on any family outings.

In the initial weeks, discussion of Tyler still caused tension; no one was able to altogether shake the memories of a
sullen Tyler slouched over the sofa in Bonita's apartment, the
knowledge of his drug business, and the horror of seeing his
handiwork on Bruce's body. Rosella and Dewayne wanted to
observe Tyler, and they were not willing to push Bruce into a
relationship in which he did not yet feel comfortable. To help
buy this new image of Tyler, Bruce needed time.

In the beginning he was allowed to sit with Sabrina and
the family at church, and they could date, so the sneaking
around ended-much to Sabrina's relief. But Bruce always sat
on the opposite end of the pew and made sure Dewayne was
between them.

Once while Dewayne was out of town for a weekend shooting
another commercial, Bruce bumped into Tyler coming down
a hallway at church. The fight-or-flight syndrome began to
pump up Bruce's heart rate.

Before he dropped his head, Bruce saw Tyler tuck his Bible
under his arm while he spoke to a couple in the worship band
of the church. Bruce inched his way along the wall, eyes cast
down, listening to Tyler spout off some of his promotional ideas
for the band. As Bruce walked by, the couple thanked Tyler,
took one of his business cards, and departed. Bruce could hear
Tyler's footsteps coming up behind him, and he froze.

"You don't need your big bad uncle to protect you, little
brother," Tyler said. "Why you always hiding behind him?"

"I don't hide behind him."

It was just the two of them in the hall.

Bruce had no bluster of confidence. He pressed his body
into the wall.

"You're looking at the new Tyler. That old Tyler is gone. Ain't
nothing to fear, little brother, but fear itself."

"I'm not your little brother." Bruce looked up and down the
hall for a friendlier face.

"You're my little brother in Christ;" Tyler said. "Can we be
friends?"

Tyler extended his hand, but Bruce just stared at it as
though it were an unrecognizable gesture. Tyler bobbed his
hand up and down to indicate an urgent desire for a handshake that could be the representation of forgetfulness, to let
bygones be bygones, to press on to a new future. Bruce was
not buying it. A handshake was not enough to forget what
it felt like being beaten with a baseball bat within an inch of
his life, to forget the time in the hospital, to forget his battered image he observed in the mirror for months after the
altercation. Sabrina got a confession and a request for pardon
from Tyler.

Where was his?

"There you two are;" Sabrina said as she scooted down the
hall. "Come on, church is about to start'

Bruce sidled up beside his sister and put his arm around
her waist, starting a forced march toward the sanctuary with
Tyler trailing behind them. It would be weeks before the two
of them would have another opportunity for a private conversation.

Rosella had negotiated a new national endorsement deal with
a power drink distributor for Dewayne during the off-season
that netted him another signing bonus of $7 million and $1.5
million per commercial-six commercial commitments over
the next two years-and an additional $1 million for print ads.
Between his conditioning regime and workouts at the Stars'
facility and his flying to film endorsement obligations, the kids
in school, and Rosella running their business, there was little
time for vacations.

If the family was to see each other, Franklin and Joella had
to come to Houston. They made a brief visit and brought encouraging reports of Bonita's recovery: she would soon be out
on her own, she had gotten a job while still in the halfway
house, and there was a picture proving positive signs of her
upturn-weight gain, a new coiffure, clothes that appeared to
be purchased for professional work, and a smile. As for Cherie,
she preferred to come when football season was in full swing
and the Houston temperature was not so severe.

When the church announced back in the winter the intention
to take a mission group to Dominical, Costa Rica, to work in
remote jungle villages, no one in the Jobe clan thought much
about it, even though the planned trip would occur during
Sabrina and Bruce's spring break. But when Sabrina mentioned
Tyler had signed on to go, she began to encourage the idea as
an option for a family vacation. The group from church would
spend the week building an orphanage during the days and
holding a vacation Bible school in the evenings. In spite of Tyler's presence, Bruce took to the idea of having an adventure to
some exotic place and being a part of a mission they could do
as a family along with other kids and their families at church.
Dewayne said he would be willing to take time from personal training, and Rosella agreed to go when Joella said she would
come and take care of Robert Jr.

What struck the group of short-term missionaries as they traveled three hours by bus from San Jose to Dominical were the
extremes: extreme poverty, extreme wealth.

They spent each day at the construction site in a jungle
village working on the orphanage. It was part of a broader
ministry outreach from the local church in a village not ten
miles from this wealthy resort area in Dominical, with homes
carrying million-dollar price tags-and much, much higher
ones. Impoverished villagers lived in structures they made
from scraps of plastic, tin, tree limbs, and discarded materials
"borrowed" from the wealthier neighborhoods.

Seeing such poverty was a first-time experience for most of
the group. Dewayne and Rosella shared the conviction that the
wealth they were accumulating could find a benevolent use.
They discussed establishing a foundation to support similar
mission programs on a year-round basis, and they dreamed
of sponsoring events back home to raise people's awareness of
the plight of these people.

Bruce took to the work as though he were born to do it.
He knew nothing about building a structure, but with minimal instruction from a team leader, he tackled his assignment
and finished it before anyone else. Then he asked what else
he might do. By the middle of the week, he was assisting the
crew supervisors on the more difficult tasks of raising walls
and installing windows. At night after vacation Bible school
was over, he sketched ideas for different rooms within the orphanage that were modeled after his own room-a budding
architectural skill straight from the bloodline-and began to dream of ways he could raise funds to equip the orphanage
with the technology to which he had become accustomed in
a short time. He understood the poverty of these Costa Rican
kids, and if they were anything like him, most would excel,
given half the advantages given him.