Try a Little Tenderness

by Isaiah David Paul

  “I’ll be a fireman come this time next year. You’ll see. And I’ll have more muscles than you too,” Julio bragged as he put his blunt back in the bag he had pulled it from, and then put it in his pocket.

  “Dude, you don’t even go to the weight room,” Mateo pointed out.

  “Why go to the weight room when I can lift my body weight anytime I want?”

  “Good luck with that,” Hammer replied as he reached in his back pocket and pulled out a pocket Bible. Mateo recognized it as being similar to the one he received when he first ran into Hammer a little over a year ago when he was dodging bullets for sleeping with and possibly impregnating another man’s wife. Hammer had stayed on top of Mateo and Sonic as they took the first steps toward accepting Christ in their lives. Mateo could see that Hammer was getting ready to do the same thing for his brother.

  “Since you are staying with your brother or at least visiting, I want you to take a look at this book,” Hammer offered.

  “Mi madre got plenty of these laying around,” Julio responded and attempted to hand the small Bible back.

  “Now you have one of your very own,” Hammer responded. “Read it, and if you need help, come and see me or ask your brother. Either of us will be able to help you.”

  Julio cocked his lips and was two seconds away from saying something slick. When his eyes met Hammer’s, he backed away and decided that the confrontation wasn’t worth it.

  “A’ight, old man,” Julio finally said as he flipped through the pages of the Bible. “I’ll give this one more shot.” He leaned forward and faced Hammer. “But I’m gonna hold you to your word to help me with this Jesus thing.”

  “I’m a minister. That’s what I do.”

  Mateo watched as Hammer got up and left them sitting in the parking lot. “You really going to give Jesus a chance?”

  “Muhammad and Buddha already had their chance,” Julio said. “I can at least give Jesus a try.”

  Mateo smiled. He was happy to hear that Julio was going to take his walk with Christ more seriously and possibly begin a walk of his own.

  “Yo, has Hammer always been a minister?” Julio got up and put the Bible in his back pocket. “I get the feeling he’s spent a lot of his time in the streets.” He lifted his chair and carried it back into the motel room.

  Mateo stood up too. “That’s where he started. He’s been in prison just like we have.” He picked up his seat and followed Julio inside and they put the chairs back around the table. Julio sat on the bed and pulled the book out. “Do I read this thing from the beginning or what?”

  “You should start with Proverbs,” Mateo suggested as he looked in the mirror and checked to make sure he was ready. He knew that once he left the room, he wouldn’t be able to come back until his shift at the front desk was over. “It has a lot of wise sayings and stuff to live by. And you don’t have to read the Bible in one day. Just find a passage and meditate on it. When you spend your time in silence, just listen. The spirit will speak to you.”

  Mateo went to the sink and freshened up. He sprayed fresh body spray and applied some deodorant. After applying a new coat of lotion on his skin, he brushed his teeth and gargled again.

  When Mateo got ready to go, he saw Julio laying on the bed and getting into the Word.

  Maybe tough love was all he needed.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  This Is How It Should Be Done

  Amirah was excited to have Achelle Sampson, the founder of His-Love.com, as a guest on her show. She was equally excited that most of the guests for the show had His-Love.com profiles and that some of them were couples who met on the site.

  “I started His-Love.com as a Christian alternative to many of the dating and networking sites and to create an environment where those of us who worship the Lord can pray together,” Achelle highlighted as she stood next to a screen that showcased the Web site. She moved to the opposite end and highlighted the site’s links to Facebook, Twitter, Google + and other major social media sites.

  “I know what I did when I went to the site,” Amirah started her next question, “but what do new members typically do when they sign on to His-Love.com?”

  Achelle touched the screen and a new page came up. “Believe or not, even though we are mainly a dating site, we have a large number of churches, book clubs, and other religious organizations who use the site as an alternative to the popular social media sites to connect with their members. They also contribute to the ads that are found on the top and the sides of the pages. Some of the organizations host dating parties where members can mix and mingle with each other in their local areas.”

  Amirah could feel the positive energy from Achelle and the Web site. She saw Mateo in the audience and smiled, knowing she’d made her connection on the site. She was feeling the grunge shirt that highlighted Isaiah 40:3. She made a mental note to find out whether it was an exclusive shirt for the Burgers & Fries employees or if it was a shirt they were selling on their Web site.

  After the director yelled “Cut!” Amirah relaxed a little bit. She felt good knowing she wasn’t dealing with any foolishness on her show.

  “Amirah, can I ask you something?” Achelle left the stage and walked with Amirah as she headed to a table that had vegetable and fruit trays.

  “Sure.” Amirah wasn’t used to answering questions on her show. She was used to spending the time comforting her guests and helping them get over being nervous.

  “Have you met someone on the site?” Achelle seemed intrigued.

  Amirah was surprised that Achelle didn’t know the answer to that question. She assumed that Achelle knew of all major connections or activity on her Web site. “As a matter of fact, I have. See that guy standing over there?” Amirah pointed to Mateo, who seemed to be engaged in a conversation with some of the members of the crew. “We’re trying to see where we are going. I really like him, and I can deal with his flaws, and he can deal with mine pretty well.”

  Achelle smiled. “I always like to hear things like that. I think it’s good when people find what they are looking for—or what God may have in store for them.”

  Amirah and Achelle enjoyed a few snacks before they were called back to the stage. With the live-streaming of her show, Amirah had to work hard to keep things going at a fast pace. Cue music from Joshua Rogers broke through the air, and within seconds, Amirah was back to work.

  “For those of you just joining us, we have with us Achelle Sampson, the founder of His-Love.com. His-Love. com is a Christ-centered dating and networking site that emphasizes and promotes mixing and mingling with those of like-minded faith. Achelle, I have question for you. Have you met anyone from His-Love.com?”

  “No, I haven’t.” Achelle stunned Amirah and the audience. “I’m not opposed to meeting someone, and sometimes I look at the new profiles created and I wonder if he’s the one, but no one serious has hit me up.”

  “Y’all hear that, single fellas? Achelle Sampson is available,” Amirah said.

  “Sometimes I think it’s me, because I spend a lot of time as a mom first and foremost, and then making sure the site runs smoothly. We have a small staff, so I work with them on moderating our discussion boards, reviewing profile pics, and other day-to-day maintenance for the site,” Achelle explained.

  “What type of man would you go for, if given the opportunity?” Amirah asked.

  “First and foremost, he’d have to be a man of God,” Achelle started, which got a few confirmations from the crowd. “And I guess after that, a job, his own place to stay, some form of stability. I think I can ask for that, because I bring that to the table.”

  “That’s fair,” Amirah pointed out. “What advice would you have for someone entering the realm of online dating?”

  “I think with any relationship you have to take it slow. Get to know one another on and off the boards. But you should ask and seek God’s discernment. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, and while it’s popular, and necessary for me, divorce is sti
ll frowned upon within the faith.”

  Amirah took all that in. She looked for Mateo in the crowd and was pleased to still see him in the front. She chose not to put their relationship out in the open just yet.

  As they closed the show, Amirah was pleased with the outcome. She also had material to bring to the next book club meeting. She could relate to Achelle’s struggle because just like it took time and struggle to build and maintain a Web site, she put that time and energy into getting the show together behind the scenes.

  When Amirah got to her dressing room, she said a silent prayer that the man God had for Achelle would find her, and that His-Love.com continue to be prosperous not just financially, but spiritually, as she saw the site becoming a permanent fixture in her day-to-day routine.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Lawd, Not This Again

  Mateo was lying in the bed with the sheets covering his bare chest and the black-and-red jersey shorts he was wearing. With his hands behind his head, he was listening to and reciting the words to a Drake song about fear, even though he lived his life in the total opposite. The old melody encouraged him to nod his head as he remembered The Revelation’s cover of the song, and soon, he was replacing the secular lyrics with spiritual ones. The alarm buzzed, letting him know it was time for him to get up.

  It didn’t take him long to remember that he and his brother had taken an impromptu trip back to Madre’s house. Mateo hadn’t slept in the bed of his youth in more than five years.

  Realizing this was the fifth R&B or rap song that he was moving his head to and reciting, he looked at the clock and grew furious when the clock struck eight o’clock. He could hear the water in the bathroom being turned off finally, after having been on for about thirty minutes.

  Why do women take so long to get in and out of the bathroom? he questioned angrily as he sat up to get out of bed. He grabbed the red Chicago Bulls T-shirt off the floor and put it on. The shirt used to be his brother’s from when they won the NBA Championship in 1992. This was his third trip getting up and going to the bathroom, and he’d hoped that this time he wouldn’t be turned away. He grabbed his red shower basket that was the temporary home for his personal hygiene products and headed to the only bathroom available for him to use. He turned his nose up at the sour-apple fragrance coming out of the bathroom.

  And it’s not just this woman who takes forever in the bathroom. All of my ex-girlfriends acted like the bathroom was a field trip. Trying to impress guys who really could care less. All that makeup and hair glam stuff is a waste of time. If I thought she was ugly, I wouldn’t be with her.

  Mateo furiously banged on the door again, making it bounce against the frame as the person occupying the room on the other side had yet to open the door. Even my own mama takes forever and a day to get in and out of the bathroom. He shook his head after being ignored for the past few minutes, as he banged on the door again. It sounded as if he was punching it with all of his might, trying to huff and puff and blow the door down like the Big Bad Wolf. And that’s exactly where my sister gets this mess from, our mama.

  To his utter disgust, his sister Luisa forcefully opened the door, and the anger on her face matched his. Mateo glanced at the feminine version of his reflection, wearing nothing but a salmon-colored head wrap and an apple green–colored towel that matched the nasty apple fragrance coming out of the bathroom.

  “Eww . . .” Mateo did a horrible job of hiding his disgust. He could feel the two bean burritos and the cinnamon twist he had last night at Taco Bell starting to make their way up from the bottom of his stomach to the tip of his esophagus, threatening to break the dam in his throat and burst out like a waterfall. His anger returned. “Put some clothes on and hurry up. You know I got to use this bathroom too, and you being all inconsiderate.”

  “Wait a minute,” Luisa snapped and rolled her head just liked the other young girls her age do when they are getting ready to go off on someone. “I know you are not rushing me out of my bathroom?”

  “I said hurry up!” Mateo yelled at his sister, looking her at eye level. I can’t stand her, he told himself. Gosh, she gets on my nerves. A trail of expletives and other mean-spirited words danced in his mind as he contemplated telling his sister how he really felt, even though Madre was downstairs and would surely chastise him for such behavior.

  “Let me tell you something!” Luisa stepped out of the bathroom and put her day-old manicured index finger on Mateo’s forehead, which he impolitely pushed off. “If you and that fast-tailed hussy hadn’t broken the toilet seat trying to be grown, you would have your own bathroom to do your thing in. But this is my bathroom, and if I want to take thirty, forty, eternity minutes in my bathroom, then I will do as I please.”

  “Dang, Ma ain’t fixed that toilet yet?” Mateo pressed his point. He remembered that the toilet had been broken years ago. He was tempted to yank his sister out of the doorway and end her bossy diva moment, but he knew that if he put his hand on her, Julio wouldn’t be too far off on his behind, so he thought better of it.

  “No, Madre had the toilet fixed, but the seat cover doesn’t stay on, and it stopped flushing right a long time ago. You need to give Madre the money for it since you’re the one that broke it. You know these trifling people who manage this place charged her to fix the plumbing y’all managed to pull out of the wall, but they still won’t do anything with the seat.”

  “Why don’t you fix it?” Mateo was heated because he really needed to get inside and handle his business. “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one rocking back and forth on that thing. I know I had some help breaking it!”

  “What is this?”

  Mateo and Luisa stopped their argument at the sound of the inquiry being shouted. Madre was leaning against the wall behind Mateo in her dark navy business suit with the Bible under her arm, preparing for another morning mass at her Catholic church. To everyone’s surprise, Julio was struggling to finish his black-and-gold tie on his shirt that still needed to be buttoned up.

  “Ma, Luisa is taking forever in the bathroom again. She only does this ’cause she knows I got to share this bathroom with her.”

  “Well, maybe you should wake up earlier,” Julio told Mateo .

  Mateo exhaled but didn’t take the disrespect much further because he knew Julio would light into his behind like he was his father if he thought that Mateo was thinking about bucking up to him. Plus, Mateo still had an issue he needed to take care of. Julio had a good four inches and fifty pounds of muscle over his brother.

  “Have you come up with an answer or the money for how the toilet seat in your bathroom broke and how you managed to flood the bathroom?” Julio asked.

  “Okay, I admit it. Five years ago, I had me a chick in there and I wrecked shop.” Mateo could see the look of disappointment in Madre’s eyes. He knew it was more so the fact that it took him so long to tell the truth than what he actually did. “I’m no different than you and Luisa using that spot to do your dirt, so we all need to put in for the toilet.”

  “Well, at least you didn’t tell a lie this time.” Julio finished buttoning his shirt. “I’m proud of you.”

  Mateo remembered telling the lie that he grabbed the toilet seat to keep it from falling. Julio had told him that neither he nor Madre bought that story when he had told it to them. Yet, Mateo refused to admit that he’d snuck a girl into the house, or what they were doing when they broke the seat, causing a flood. Mateo glared at Luisa, and at that moment, he realized that his younger sister was good for not snitching, because she helped both of them clean up the mess and hasn’t said a word yet she knew what her brother and his girl of the moment were doing.

  “Yeah, but at the same time, Luisa, you do need to be more considerate and spend less time in the shower when you know your brother has to use this bathroom too,” Madre said, wiping the smile off of Luisa’s face that appeared when Julio chastised Mateo. “I swear, y’all act like you’re one, nine and eleven all over again.”

 
; “But I’m still a kid,” Luisa said, “at least according to you.”

  “Now both of y’all need to hurry up because, Mateo, you need to catch a ride to go to work.” Julio looked at his phone. “Luisa, you go to your room and change in there and let Mateo use the bathroom real quick.”

  “Yes, sir,” they both replied sarcastically. Luisa grabbed her basket with all of her products in it and the outfit that she was going to change into. Mateo was rushing to turn the water on so he could jump in and jump out of the shower. He knew they would really have to book it if they expected to get to work and school on time. Mateo glanced at his sister, and they each rolled their eyes at one another.

  She makes me sick, Mateo thought. He couldn’t believe that she was still pushing his buttons like this after all these years, and he was beginning to wish that he’d gone back to Heaven’s Inn. At least that way he wouldn’t have had to share the bathroom with anyone.

  Once Luisa was completely out of the bathroom, he quickly locked the door, hopped out of his clothes, and let the warm water soothe his body.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  It’s Getting Late

  Amirah could see Mateo waiting on her as she stepped out of another taping. As the weeks went by, their relationship flourished. It had gotten to the point where they saw each other almost daily. Amirah had come to appreciate the routine they developed.

  “I can’t believe you waited on me until seven-thirty.” She pulled out the keyless remote to her car and unlocked the doors. “Don’t you have to be at work?”

  “Doug is cool with me making sure you get home safe.” Mateo smiled as he opened her door and shut it once she was safe and secure in the driver’s seat.

  Amirah watched as he walked around the front of the car and entered the passenger’s side. Could I see his face every day? she wondered. Amirah hoped she hadn’t come off as vain in the Lord’s eyes.