The Truth Is the Light (26 page)

Chapter 59

A
ngela and Gramps got Clarence to sign him out of the nursing home once more, the Saturday after their failed attempt to see Arletha on Thursday. Angela had tried calling Arletha on Friday to talk some sense into her. But Arletha was refusing to answer the phone—punishment to Angela for trying to carry out a stunt like bringing someone to her home when they hadn't fully discussed it first. Arletha had called Angela at home and left a message on her answering machine, letting her know that she had indeed heard her phone ringing and that she wasn't answering it on purpose.

Angela knew Arletha could be stubborn when she wanted to be. But she also knew she would never leave her
and
the children to stand outside and not open her door if the children were with her. So she decided to get Gramps, have him sit out in the car until she could talk to her grandmother, and she would work some plan to bring the two of them together, at least to talk.

Angela had Brent the Second stand where Arletha could see him and know she had the children with her. She rang the doorbell that she'd finally talked Arletha into having installed, since knocking wasn't always loud enough for her to hear when she was in certain rooms. After Angela rang the doorbell again, she peeked inside to make sure, if Arletha was spying her out, she would also see Shaun in her arms. Shaun had Arletha wrapped around his little finger. Shaun waved as his mother instructed him to do.

Arletha opened the door with a grin.

“I'm sorry. Okay?” Angela said. “I know how you are, and it was wrong of me to have tried bringing someone to your house to see you without us discussing it first or at least giving you more information.”

“Hey, Great-granny,” Brent the Second said. “Give me five.”

Arletha gently slapped his awaiting palm with her hand. “All right!” they said in unison—something the two of them liked to do. She hugged him, then kissed him on his forehead.

“Hi there, Shaun,” Arletha said. He immediately reached for her. “Look at you. You missed Great-grand, didn't you? Give me some sugar.” She took him. He puckered up in an overexaggerated way and pressed his little lips hard against her cheek while the two of them made their usual “Mmmm-muh!” sound together.

“Grand, you're not going to speak to me?” Angela said.

“Did I not speak to you? Oh, I'm sorry,” Arletha said, barely looking at her.

“I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. I had good intentions,” Angela said after she closed the door and began to trail behind Arletha, who was carrying Shaun and holding on to Brent the Second's hand as they headed for the kitchen.

“Who wants chocolate milk?” Arletha asked.

“Me,” Brent the Second said, raising his hand in the air and waving it frantically.

“Grand, are you listening to me?” Angela said.

“Of course. You were wrong, and I agree.” Arletha took down the plastic, cartoon-laced cups she'd bought especially for them. The one for Shaun had the extra piece to help him with learning to drink from a cup without spilling liquid everywhere. “You've been acting strangely these past two weeks. When I ask you what's going on, you don't want to tell me. Well, the other day, I didn't want you just stopping by and bringing someone, a surprise or not, to my home without me knowing what was going on. It's as simple as that.”

“Okay, I was trying to surprise you. That backfired royally. I confess, I thought I was doing something that you would be happy about later, but clearly I miscalculated. I brought Ransom Perdue here. And I felt bad having that ninety-nine-year-old man standing out there while I beat on your door only for you to pretend you weren't in here.”

“You had Ransom Perdue with you?” Arletha tilted her head slightly to the side. “He was here in Birmingham?”

“Yes.”

“Well, why didn't you tell me that? Wasn't he an old friend of Mother's?” Arletha said, referring to her mother, Pearl. “She wrote something about him in that journal—” Arletha stopped for a second. “Is that why you wanted that journal? You were trying to locate him, and you did. Then you brought him by here, and I had the poor man standing outside. I'm so sorry,” she said. “But you should have told me you were bringing an old friend of my mother's over here. I would have let you in even if I didn't want to be bothered with company. How old did you say he is? Ninety-nine?”

“In fact, he'll be turning one hundred on November fourth, with a birthday party being held for him by his family on November the seventh. He's invited all of us to come—me, Brent, the boys . . . and you. His whole family is going to be there,” Angela said, trying to figure out how to go about this whole thing now. “It's going to be here in Birmingham . . . at my church.”

“Oh, I don't really care about his family. But I still would have liked to have met him. So, he's in Birmingham. Well, maybe you can arrange to bring him over again one day soon.”

“He's in my car right now.”

“What?” Arletha said, shoving a hand in her waist. “You left a one-hundred-year-old man out in the car by himself? What are you thinking?”

“Grand, he's a grown man.”

“Yeah, but you have to treat older people, especially when they get up to that age, like they're children. What if he has Alzheimer's and he's wandered off? You know his family will blame you. Go out there and get that man. And I pray that he's still out there, and that he's all right.” Arletha started fanning herself with her hand. “Goodness gracious, you young folk just don't think things through. What on earth were you thinking? Leaving an elderly man that you hardly know out in a car by himself.”

Angela smiled as she hurried outside to her car. “We're all set,” she said to Gramps with a big grin when she reached him.

“So . . . what all did you tell her?”

“Just your name and that you were sitting out here in my car.”

“All right. I'll take it from here.” He stood up straight and started up the porch.

Chapter 60

S
unday morning Gabrielle arose to heavy bass almost shaking her room with hardcore hip-hop music. She scrambled out of bed, threw on her robe, and ran to find the source of the sound.

“Hey, Cousin! What it is?” Jesse said as soon as she burst through the door of the room where he was staying.

“Turn that mess off!” she yelled.

“I'll turn it down,” he said, pointing a remote control toward the massive stereo system with four-foot, black speakers flanking each side.

“Turn it off!” she yelled again. He complied. “What is wrong with you?” she asked in a quieter voice.

“I just bought it last night, and I was trying it out. My bad. I suppose I should have thought about what time it was. But when you've been out partying all night and you haven't slept and you're already up, I guess you don't think straight. I'll wait until everybody is up and try it out later.”

She smelled bacon coming from the kitchen. She left Jesse and followed her nose.

“Good morning,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “I see you're up and at 'em bright and early.”

“That's because Jesse thought it was a great idea to try to see if he can't demolish the house merely using sound waves. Didn't you just hear all that noise blasting?” Gabrielle said.

“Oh, Jesse just bought that thing last night. He didn't mean any harm. It's a three-thousand-dollar system, and he wanted to try it out to make sure everything is working right with it.”

“Three thousand dollars?” Gabrielle said.

“Yeah.”

“Did he buy the thing hot?” Gabrielle asked, trying to find out if it was stolen, thereby making him, and possibly her, an accessory to a crime.

“Heavens, no. Jesse knows I don't play that. Sure everybody likes buying something cheap, but karma will come back and bite you. You likely call it reaping what you sow. You buy something stolen, and someone will steal your stuff and sell it to someone else cheap. Trust me: that's not a great feeling at all. No, Jesse paid cold hard cash for that mammoth of a thing. I'll have to go see it, now that he's put it together.”

“Wait a minute,” Gabrielle held her hand up as she sat down at the kitchen table. “You're telling me that he actually had three thousand dollars, and
that's
what he chose to do with it?
That?
”

“Yeah,” Aunt Cee-Cee said nonchalantly as she took out a large pan of golden-brown biscuits and placed the pan next to the stove without using anything to keep it from burning the counter.

“Will you please put that pan on that cooling plate so it won't scorch my counter,” Gabrielle said, veering slightly from the subject at hand. Her aunt picked up the pan and placed it on the cooling apparatus. Gabrielle continued. “Back to Jesse and his stereo. You knew about this purchase prior to him making it?”

“Of course. Jesse tells me everything. He's been saving up for that stereo for a year now.”

“I'm sorry,” Gabrielle said, “but maybe I'm missing something somewhere. You all have been evicted out of your home and it's okay with you if Jesse throws three thousand dollars away on a stereo system that, by the way, he technically has nowhere to put or plug into, other than from the kindness and generosity of others.”

Aunt Cee-Cee carefully poured the eighteen whipped-up eggs into the frying pan of bacon drippings. She turned to Gabrielle as she stirred the scrambled eggs in the pan to keep them from scorching. “I see nothing wrong with him taking his own money and using it for whatever he wants to. It's
his
money.” She turned the eye off after the eggs were done and walked toward the entranceway. “Kids, breakfast is ready!” she yelled.

“I'm through now. You can use the kitchen if you want to fix your breakfast,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “But there are no more eggs, bacon, sausage, or biscuits left. There
is
a box of cereal still in the cabinet. None of us really like that kind, anyway. When you come home from church, can you stop and pick up a few more things for me?”

“What do you mean when I come home from church?” Gabrielle said. “I thought all of you were going to church with me today.”

“Kids! Luke, Laura, Jesse, Angie! I'm not going to call you again! Your food's getting cold!” She turned back to Gabrielle. “We're not going to make it today. As you know, Jesse and Luke went out last night, as did Laura. They all came back pretty early this morning. Had to wake me up, calling me on my prepaid phone, using up my minutes, since you won't give us a key to your house so we can come and go as we please. Of course, Angie has her children, and if I'd agreed to keep them,
she
would have been out.”

“So, none of you are going to church today?”

“No, but I promise you that we're going to go next Sunday. You just need to remind us Saturday night so we'll be ready.”

Gabrielle nodded slowly as she pressed her lips tightly. “Okay. Let me see if I can't put this in the best Christian way possible. Hold up, because I don't want to get it wrong.” She got the Bible she kept in the kitchen and turned the pages. “Just so you won't accuse me of saying it wrong or being wrong, this is coming from Joshua 24:15. And it says, ‘And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' You can disregard the reference to the Euphrates, which is what the other side of the flood was. And you can disregard the allusion to the Amorites, which in this scripture was referring to the people who occupied the land where the children of Israel were at the time. But the part that says to choose you this day whom you will serve is relevant to our conversation, as is the part about ‘as for me and my house.' You see, I realize you don't respect me, but this is still
my
house.”

“That's all folks say Christians tend to do,” Aunt Cee-Cee said. “They will take scripture out of the Bible and just use them all Willy Neely however it suits their purpose at the time. If I can disregard the Amotites . . . Amorites or whatever you called them, and if I can overlook the reference to the flood, then I can disregard that statement about
my house
.”

“Good try, but the ‘my house' part stands. Because the Word of God is saying to me right now that anybody living in
my
house, whether invited or not, will be at church or will not be living here.” Gabrielle folded her arms.

“I told you, Gabrielle. We'll go next Sunday. Aren't you supposed to be doing things to win us over to Christ? Aren't you supposed to be showing love and compassion and not attitude and threats? How are you supposed to get us to want to even visit your church if all we hear from you is you complaining about your stuff and things, and what we're using up, messing up, or eating up? God is still working on me. At least, He's gotten my attention, that's for sure. Now, you just need to be a bit more patient. Maybe you should pray for more patience while you're at church today.”

“And maybe you should go to church today and pray for somewhere for you and your family to live,” Gabrielle said. “Because come Saturday, all of you will be out of
this
house, or at least on your way out. I think that's being more than understanding and compassionate. Six more days; I'm giving you six more days to find another place to live. And if that doesn't work for you, then you're more than welcome to leave today.”

Angie walked into the kitchen with all three of her children. “Ma, I don't feel good,” she whined. “Can you keep the children for me today while I go back to bed?”

Aunt Cee-Cee went over and felt Angie's head. “Well, at least you don't have a fever. I sure hope you're not getting that swine flu or H1N1, whatever they call it.”

Angie handed her mother the baby and sat the other two at the table. She turned to leave, then turned back around. “Oh, Gabrielle. Some dude called you yesterday and some lady. The lady called twice, in fact. She said it was important. She said she'd left you a message already the second time, but she hadn't heard back from you yet.”

“Did you happen to get their names?” Gabrielle said.

“I told you the last time that I don't have a pen and paper so I can't write anything down. Besides, I'm not your personal secretary. It's not my job to take messages. They ought to call back. That's what my friends do when they call. They call until they get me. I think the guy's name was Zebedee or Mallory, something like that.”

“Zachary?” Gabrielle said.

“Yeah, that's it. Zachary. Come to think of it, I think he called twice, too. And the woman might have been the same one that called you the other day. Don't even try and ask me her name because I told her you weren't here. When she kept talking, she should have known I wasn't listening because I quickly clicked back to my call.” Angie walked over to the stove and looked at the food. “Ma, can you fix me a plate and bring it up to me?”

“Sure, baby,” Aunt Cee-Cee said, holding on to all three children.

“Oh, and Trey is coming over later so be sure and send him right up to my room when he gets here,” Angie added.

“That's not going to happen,” Gabrielle said.

“
Why
is she always tripping?!” Angie said about Gabrielle. “Will you
please
tell her that I'm grown, and she can't tell me what to do?” Angie said to her mother.

“Angie, I don't want your friends
at
my house or
in
my house. There will be no fornication or anything remotely resembling that going on, not up in here. So you need to call
Trey
back and tell him not to even bother coming to
this
address. Not
here
.”

“I thought you were going to church anyway. You won't even be here for anything to bother you,” Angie said.

The phone started ringing. Angie went to answer it. Gabrielle was closer and snatched it up before Angie got to it. She looked at Angie as though she was questioning her sanity for real this time.

“Hello, this is Jessica Noble. May I
please
speak with Gabrielle?
Please.
”

Gabrielle heard the panicked urgency in her voice. “This is she,” Gabrielle said.

“Thank God you answered. I've been trying to call you for the last three days. I've left you several messages. The doctors have things set up for your blood test to see if you're a good match,” Jessica said. “But we need to hurry. My daughter is getting worse with each passing day.”

“Tell me when and where. Hold on; let me get something to write on.” She pulled paper from a notepad held with a magnet on the side of her refrigerator. Jessica then gave her all the details she would need in order to go forward.

“I'm going to say a special prayer for her while I'm at church today. She's going to be all right. I just know she is. This is going to work. I believe that.”

“Thank you. I certainly believe in the power of prayer. And Gabrielle, thank you for everything you're doing. I know you aren't obligated to do any of this. And this definitely wasn't what you signed up for. I appreciate your heart when it comes to this.”

“I choose to believe God has already worked this all out. We're just going to have to trust Him and move in the way He's directing us to go. That's all we can do.”

When Gabrielle hung up, she looked at the digital clock on the stove. She only had an hour left to get ready and make it to church on time.
Where
did
the time go?