Not My Solution

by T. E. Killian

Roger woke up Sunday morning with a headache and thought for sure that would give him a good excuse for not going to church like he’d promised Jo. But it was virtually gone by the time he finished his shower. Too bad.

  He sat on his bed trying to come up with a reason that Jo would buy. He finally decided there just weren’t any reasons, good or bad.

  Oscar padded into the room, satisfied from eating his dry food as he usually did first thing in the morning. He circled several times as was his habit and finally curled into a ball at Roger’s feet.

  Roger thought about his little cousin Jo or Mary Jo which was her name, but she had always gone by Jo. She had inherited a bar when her parents died in a boating accident. Then she’d moved back from Springfield to run the bar and take care of her younger sister who was now a senior in high school.

  So, Jo hadn’t always gone to church herself. She only went after the bar burned down and she’d started going out with the preacher, Gil Turner.

  He stood up and headed for the closet to get dressed when his cell phone rang. He wasn’t too surprised to see it was his sister, Shelly.

  “Hey Sis, what’s up. Don’t you know it’s Sunday morning and I’m supposed to be sleeping in?”

  She laughed. “Don’t give me that line Roger. I know what you promised Jo and I’m just checking to make sure you will not hurt her feelings by coming up with some lame excuse not to go.”

  “Now, Shelly, would I do that?”

  “Oh yes you would, and you have many times.”

  He laughed. “Well, don’t worry. I actually did wake up with a headache, but it’s gone now so, I’ll be there.”

  When he disconnected the call, Roger realized he’d sat back down on the bed to talk with his sister and Oscar hadn’t moved. He reached down and scratched behind the dog’s ears for a minute then went back to the closet.

  When he pulled into the church parking lot, he was surprised at how full it was. It sure hadn’t been like that with the last pastor. In fact, by the time the old guy left three years ago, the church had really gone down.

  As soon as Roger stepped inside the foyer of the church, Jo was on him. He was surprised at first but then he saw her husband, Gil, right behind her. They must be at the front of the church to greet everyone when they came in, not just him.

  “Oh Roger, I’m so glad you came. I just know you won’t be disappointed.”

  She turned to Gil. “I’ll take Roger in so he can find the family easy, okay?”

  Without waiting for an answer, Jo still holding on to Roger’s arm, almost dragged him through another set of doors into the main part of the church.

  She led him about half-way down on the right where he saw the rest of his family already taking up a whole row of seats. She sat him on the end right behind his parents and left him to go back out to the foyer.

  Roger looked around and was surprised to see quite a few of the people he’d grown up with. Many of them waved at him and then he smelled some kind of strong, expensive perfume and looked up to see Violet Easton leaning over him on his right where the row of empty seats was. She was saying something he didn’t hear at first but then she repeated it.

  “Mind if I sit here Roger?”

  He knew he had no reason not to let her. He and Violet had gone together in high school and only quit when he’d joined the Army. She sure had matured in the last twelve years. Her hair was blond now, and he was fairly sure it hadn’t been that blond back in high school.

  “No, go ahead.”

  That was when he saw three other women in their late twenties with her. They all sat down next to Violet who introduced each one to him. He didn’t pay too much attention to two of them but one of them really caught his eye.

  He thought Violet had called her Brandi. She was tall, close to six feet, and she had beautiful long black hair and dark eyes to match.

  Violet talked non-stop for the next five minutes. He was looking around hoping to find something or someone to get him out of the situation he was in.

  But Violet just kept talking as if she wasn’t aware of the fact that Roger was getting more uncomfortable all the time. Did she talk like that back in high school? He sure couldn’t remember that little fact. He was sure he never would have gone out with her back then if she’d talked like she was now.

  Movement on his left caught his eye, and he saw Shelly pushing Miss Fuller’s wheelchair right up to where their parents were.

  * * *

  The traffic surprised Nicole when she approached the church. There were vehicles coming from all directions into the parking lot ahead of her. She hated crowds. She wished now she had asked Shelly how many people would be there. From the number of vehicles, there would definitely be more than she was comfortable with.

  She had also been afraid Shelly might meet her in the church parking lot and push her into the building. She hated depending on anyone for any reason and therefore was glad when she parked and was able to make it all the way to the door before Shelly came out to meet her.

  It wasn’t so bad when Shelly pushed her up to the doors which opened and a redheaded man wearing a tie was holding a door open for them. He retreated to the side of a short redheaded woman who was very pregnant.

  Shelly stopped the chair in front of the couple. “Nicole, this is my cousin Jo and her husband, Gil Turner, the pastor.”

  She reached out a hand, and they both shook it. For such small people, they both had nice firm grips. Nicole hated to shake limp or sweaty hands. She thought it said something about who they were.

  “Okay, Nicole, let’s go on in and find the rest of my family. They all sit together. It’s become quite a group now. In fact, my whole family is here today for the first time ever. Jo finally got my brother Roger to come.

  That surprised Nicole. If she’d have thought about it, she would have been sure he wasn’t the church going type, just like she wasn’t. Then she realized it must be his first time too. Interesting.

  Shelly pushed Nicole’s chair down the aisle to a large group of people on the right. She saw the lawyer right away. He was sitting in an aisle seat.

  Shelly pushed her past him, thankfully. But she did stop next to the row in front of him where an older couple was sitting.

  “Dad, Mom, this is Nicole Fuller, she’s an English teacher at the high school. Nicole, this is my dad and mom, Harold and Dixie McCracken.”

  After that, Shelly introduced Nicole to the rest of the family finally turning her around to face the lawyer.

  “And this is my long-lost brother Roger.”

  “We’ve met.”

  They both spoke at the same time.

  Shelly looked surprised for a moment but then looked down at Nicole. “Your chair can sit at the end of the aisle. Would you like to set next to my dad or Roger?”

  She was already sitting next to him but facing him, so she just turned her chair around and locked it next to his chair.

  Shelly smiled a little too broadly and went down the row to sit next to her husband. Nicole didn’t like the thoughts that smile put in her mind. What was Shelly up to?

  Nicole hoped the service would start before she had to talk to the lawyer. She suddenly didn’t feel very sociable. Ha! When did she ever feel sociable?

  That was when she looked down the row the lawyer was sitting on and saw four women sitting in the seats next to him. And they were all leaning forward trying to get involved in the conversation the nearest one was carrying on with McCracken.

  Then she almost laughed when she noticed that he seemed to be rather uncomfortable. At the same time, she realized that no one was talking except the bottle blond on his right. Every time someone else would try to say something, she’d talk right over them.

  Nicole couldn’t help it, she had to turn her face away to hide her big smile. That was when she felt a light touch on her arm. McCracken looked like he was trying to say something to her.

  This time, when she looked back, she realized she knew one of the other women.
It was Brandi Leonard who was a science teacher at the high school.

  The lawyer asked her a question when she looked at him. “It sounds like this is your first time here.”

  She nodded. “I’m afraid Shelly talked me into it.”

  He laughed. “We always said my sister could talk a coon out of a tree right in front of a pack of hounds.”

  She’d seen enough colloquialisms like that one in her three years in Crowleyville that it didn’t surprise her the way it had in the beginning. She was surprised that it came from a lawyer though.

  “Did she say it was your first time here too? How could that be? Your whole family goes here.”

  He shook his head. “I’m afraid it is. You see, I’ve been gone for the last twelve years, just moved back a few months ago and started my law practice here. None of my family went to church anywhere back then.”

  “Oh.”

  Just then the music started thankfully ending the conversation before it got any more personal. She let out a silent sigh of relief. But she realized it wasn’t silent enough when she saw the big grin on the guy’s face.

  Nicole sat back wondering what the music was like. Then she realized the words to the songs were on a big screen above and behind the praise team. She was surprised to see that there were ten people up there. Two playing guitars, one on the keyboard and one playing the drums and all ten were singing. Even though she couldn’t hear it, she liked it because of the words. She really liked it.

  Soon, the singers left the platform, and the pastor stepped up into the pulpit. She had to sit up a bit to see his mouth as he spoke, but she was able to read his lips well enough to get almost all of what he was saying. She liked every word she did make out.

  When he finished, and they sang another song, Nicole was almost disappointed that he’d quit talking. Not only had what he said seemed good but everything he said made sense too. She’d never thought too much about God but all the things he said about Jesus Christ had her almost wanting to find a Bible and check on what all he’d said.

  She was deep in her thoughts when the service ended and was startled out of it when the lawyer stood. She realized she was blocking his way and quickly unlocked her chair and rolled backward a little only to collide with someone behind her.

  While she was apologizing to them, she felt her wheelchair moving and looked back to see that McCracken had pulled her out into the aisle and away from the others.

  She grabbed her wheels and pushed herself toward the exit so he wouldn’t. She looked up to see Shelly walking beside her with her husband right behind her.

  Shelly leaned down as she walked. “My mom said she would love for you to join us out at our farm for Sunday dinner. It’s always a big thing around here with the whole family there.”

  “No, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want to intrude on your family time.”

  Shelly laughed. “It’s not like you think. All of us live out there except Roger. So, it would be great to have a new face there today.”

  When Nicole took a little too long to answer, Shelly barged on. “Why don’t I ride with you, so you won’t get lost going out there.”

  With that, she straightened up, and they were soon in the foyer where the pastor and his wife shook her hand again then she was outside with Shelly walking beside her. Maybe Shelly understood that she wanted to do it herself after all.

  * * *

  Roger laughed as he watched his sister. She went with Miss Fuller and basically didn’t take no for an answer on going to the farm for dinner. He couldn’t get over the feeling he was getting every time he was around the woman. Why? She was as prickly as a porcupine and probably meaner when she got her back up.

  Every time he’d been around her, she’d been mistrustful and almost unfriendly. But …

  He was brought back to the present sharply when someone tugged on his sleeve. He turned and suddenly remembered Violet was there. Violet! What had he ever seen in her? But, to his defense, she’d changed more than her hair color since high school, and he didn’t really want to be around her if he could help it.

  “We’re all going out to that new steakhouse for dinner. Why don’t you join us Roger?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t. My mom is expecting me out at the farm.”

  Her face puckered up. “Oh yeah, I forgot about your family’s Sunday dinners. I went to some of them, remember?”

  If she was finagling for an invitation, Roger wasn’t about to give her one. But then, by the look on her face, he didn’t think she wanted to go, anyway. She must not have liked them back in high school. He couldn’t help it. He thought that was funny all of a sudden.

  “Well, I’ll see you around Violet.” He leaned past her. “Nice meeting you ladies. Good bye.”

  He then headed for the exit as fast as he could without appearing to be running away from them, which he was.

  When he made it to the foyer, he wasn’t surprised to see Jo waiting for him with her husband. There was no way around them, so he braced himself, stepped up to them and shook the hand that Gil was thrusting at him.

  He turned in time to see Jo’s arms coming at him and going around his neck. It sure was hard to hug a pregnant woman.

  “You’ll be back next week, won’t you Roger?”

  What could he say? Her husband, the pastor, was standing right there with a grin on his face. The guy knew what he was going through and was laughing at him. He started to get mad but quickly realized that if he was watching, he’d be laughing too.

  “Okay, Jo, I’ll be here.” He placed his hands on his hips. “Now, are you satisfied?”

  She laughed and waved at him as he escaped out the door.

  On the way out to the farm, Roger had all sorts of thoughts flying around in his head. First, was Violet.

  He had to admit that when he’d first gone into the Army, he’d missed Violet really bad. But as he thought about it now, it wasn’t really her as such. It was more that he was missing female companionship period.

  What a relief that was. He hadn’t really thought about it in years, but he was happy to know that he had no strings attached to him by any female. That was a wonderful feeling.

  When he pulled into the yard at the farm, he parked next to Nicole’s van. He stepped up next to it and looked inside. Man, that was some rigged out van. It had everything she might ever need, and it was all setup for her wheelchair.

  He went on inside quickly since it was starting to rain or sleet or something.

  Once inside, he joined the men in the living room. His dad, Floyd, his brother Myron and Shelly’s husband, David were all there All the kids where there too, Shelly and David’s kids, ten-year-old Ashley and eight-year-old Davey along with Floyd’s daughter Penny and Sue Ann’s son Andy. Sue Ann must have Mary Ann with her in the kitchen.

  Roger had just relaxed into a stuffed armchair when Myron looked at him and laughed. “Looked like you were surrounded by five pretty women at church this morning. Must be nice. I can’t even get one.”

  Floyd gave Roger a look and a wink. “Yeah, Myron, none of those girls want to be seen with a giant like you.”

  Everybody laughed and Roger appreciated Floyd coming to his rescue that way.

  He wasn’t home free though. When he looked toward his dad, he knew something was coming.

  “I was right proud to see you there in church with the family today Son.”

  He tried to keep it light. “You can blame that on Jo. You know how she is. Once she sets her mind to something, it’s going to happen no matter what anybody else does.”

  His dad laughed and Roger remembered where Floyd got his laugh. He thought that was the end of it, but he was mistaken.

  “Saw that little teacher in the wheelchair sitting next to you. You met her last week, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I’ll tell you Dad. That is one prickly little woman. Did Floyd or Shelly tell you about her?”

  He shook his head.

  “She was an MP captai
n in the Army and was in a hummer when it got blown up. She’s deaf too, but she reads lips better than anybody I ever heard of.”

  His dad just smiled at that and they all sat back to watch the football game on TV.

  * * *

  Since there was no ramp up to the front porch of the McCracken farmhouse, Nicole had to suffer the indignity of being carried up there by Floyd and his brother Myron. It was like being carried by two giants. She hadn’t been around Myron much yet, but he was the biggest of the family and he was huge.

  But she had to admit that once she was in the kitchen with all the other women and Sue Ann’s four-month-old Mary Ann, she was beginning to feel almost comfortable.

  They had let Nicole chop vegetables for the salad. They’d pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and she sat there working while all the women talked about a variety of subjects.

  She couldn’t understand why but she was a little embarrassed when they talked about Roger and his coming back home to set up his law practice.

  Nicole had just finished the vegetables and rolled her chair back from the table when Sue Ann suddenly set a sleeping Mary Ann in Nicole’s lap. Wow! What was going on here? She had never held a baby before in her entire life. It was weird. It was … nice.

  She couldn’t keep her eyes off the little face with the puckered lips and little button nose below a full head of red hair. Of course, it would be red, but Nicole had noticed before when they were open that her eyes were blue.

  Nicole didn’t realize it, but Sue Ann was watching her closely.

  “You look natural with a baby in your arms Nicole.”

  She was startled out of her daze by Sue Ann’s comment.

  “I’ve never held a baby before.”

  “Never!”

  All three of the other women spoke at once.

  Sue Ann then leaned toward her. “Floyd told me all about your time in the Army. That must have been an exciting time.”

  Not wanting to talk about it, Nicole only shook her head. “Not so much really. Most of the time it was terribly boring.”

  Nicole looked past Sue Ann and noticed that Shelly had a pained expression on her face and was trying to get Sue Ann’s attention.