“I’d like to talk to you about the ministry,” Isaac said.
“What about it?” Donavan asked defensively.
“Well, I was wondering if you’d given any thought to giving up your investment business and coming back to the church.”
Donavan almost fell off his chair. Had he heard right? With a nervous laugh, Donavan said, “Don’t you already have a youth pastor?”
Isaac nodded. “I do, but what I need now is an associate pastor. Someone I can take under my wing and teach everything I know about growing in grace and building a ministry.”
“You do remember that you kicked me out of the ministry, right?”
Isaac shook his head, searching for the words that could restore his relationship with his son. “I never meant to put a wedge between us. I thought that after your suspension, you would come back to the ministry with your head on right and we’d move forward.”
Donavan stood, anger dripping from his pores. “You are such a hypocrite. You think I don’t know about the mistakes you made with women when you first got started in the ministry?
Nina rushed into the waiting area. She had this look of joy on her face. But it instantly fell as she heard her husband and son arguing.
“Donavan, what on earth has gotten into you? Why are you over here yelling in this waiting room as if you couldn’t care less that your sister,” she pointed to the double door just outside of the waiting area, “is back there struggling to bring my first grandchild into this world?”
Donavan turned toward Nina and jabbed a finger in his father’s direction. “Will you tell him that I am my own man? I make my own money and I don’t need his hand outs anymore.”
Nina’s brow lifted as she turned from Isaac and then back to Donavan. She took a deep breath and then laid into her son. “I don’t know what kind of man you think you have become, but don’t you ever disrespect my man in my presence again.”
“But Mom.” Donavan felt like he was eleven again, trying to state his case between two people who wouldn’t listen to a word he had to say if they thought they were being disrespected by a child who lived under their roof. Well, he was a grown man and had his own roof, so they were finally going to hear a few things from him.
Isaac stood, looking like he had taken enough mess, and wasn’t getting ready to take no more. “And what does being your own man, making your own money have to do with anything? You must have forgotten about the check me and your mama gave you, that provided the money you needed to do all your little wheeling and dealing.”
Donavan stepped back ready to pull the lent out of his pocket and hand it to his dad. Better yet, he’d write his father a check and pay him a dime back. He was just about to open his mouth to say as much when Johnny burst through the double doors and announced, “It’s a girl! It’s a girl!”
”That’s what I came out here to tell y’all. But arguing seemed to be more important than the real reason we are at this hospital.” She tossed her hand in the air as she began walking away from them. “Stay here and argue. I’m going back to the delivery room with my grandbaby.”
Isaac, Keith and Donavan huddled around Johnny. “Is she doing okay?” Isaac asked.
Can we see her, Johnny?” Keith asked.
“Sure, sure,” he told the men. “Hurry up in there before she falls asleep.”
Donavan had his hands in pockets and a chip on his shoulder. He looked directly at Johnny, acting as if he wasn’t a part of the group Johnny had just spoken to, he asked, “Will I be able to see my sister, too?”
“Of course, Donavan, come on.” Johnny pushed the button to open the double doors and the whole family rushed in. Iona was holding her bundle of joy and Nina and Cynda were standing over mother and child oohing and aahing. Isaac and Keith both wore their proud papa smiles and Johnny started passing out candy canes as if they were cigars.
Iona handed the baby to Cynda and then glanced up at her brother. “Hey Golden Boy,” she said, her voice was tired, but it held concern, and a bit of her usual sarcasm. “Why are you over there looking like I stole your Christmas cookies. I just gave birth to your niece. Don’t you want to see her?”
“I’m sorry, sis.” Donavan walked over to the bed and planted a kiss on Iona’s forehead. “I am thrilled about the baby, but my head is not in the game right now.” He pointed towards the door. “I’m going to go get some sleep and then I’ll come visit you and the baby first thing in the morning. Okay?”
Iona put her hand on her brother’s arm. “I love you, Donavan. You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” his mouth said, but his body language told a different story as he looked everywhere but directly at his sister. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
***
Not wanting to spend one more night under his father’s roof, Donavan got a hotel room.. It was two in the morning when he climbed in bed and drifted off to sleep, trying to relieve his mind of the stress of his day.
Donavan didn’t think he’d slept more than a minute before someone started tapping him on the shoulder. He pulled the covers over his head. “Go away, I’ll talk to y’all in the morning,” He said, thinking that he was at his parent’s home and either his mother or father, had decided they needed to talk in the middle of the night.
“That will be too late. We need to resolve this situation now.”
Donavan didn’t recognize that voice. He pulled the covers down and opened his eyes, preparing for a fight if an intruder had found his way into his room. But all he saw was this blinding light. It was so bright that it appeared to Donavan that the sun had swallowed the darkness and illuminated the room. Donavan jumped out of bed and went over to the window to close the blinds. But they were already closed.
Did someone have a flashlight on him or something? As he slowly turned back around, Donavan was wondering what kind of twilight zone he was in. As the light began to dim or either his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a man in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, something he would wear himself. But there was something off about this man… like the glow that clung to him. “Who are you and what are you doing in my room?” Donavan tried to sound tough as he questioned the man, after all, he was Isaac Walker’s son. He had a reputation to live up to.
“Didn’t Amarri tell you about me? I’m a Christmas angel.”
8
“A Christmas what the who?”
“You do believe in angels don’t you, Golden-Boy? Isn’t that what Iona called you tonight? And don’t those words still haunt your very soul?”
How did this man know that his sister called him the Golden-Boy, or for that matter, how did he know those words bothered him.
For years, his father dreaded going to sleep, because he never knew which night he would be battling demons for his very life. Was Donavan now seeing angels in his sleep?
“You know it’s true, don’t you Donavan. You know that I’ve come for you?”
“But why? All these years, I’ve never been bothered by angel or demon. I’m not my father, so why are you troubling me now?” His father had told him all about his travels to Hell and back. The first time he went, an angel had guided him through the awful place, so none of the demons bothered him. But each time he descended back into the abyss, Isaac Walker had had to fight for his very life. Donavan stepped back until his back was against the wall; a thought hit him. “You’re not getting ready to take me to Hell are you?”
“No Donavan, you’ve been living your own personal hell. I’m here to snatch you back.”
“Great!” Donavan threw up his hands. “Someone else who thinks he knows better than I do about my own life.”
“Your family cares about you. They just want what’s best,” the angel told him.
“Ha,” Donavan responded. “They just want me under their thumb.”
Shaking his head the angel crooked his index finger, beckoning him as he said, “Come with me.”
“Come with you where? I’m not going anywher
e but back to bed.” Donavan grabbed his covers and attempted to get back in bed, when before he knew it, he was standing inside Iona’s hospital room again. He looked around, confused as he witnessed the somber faces of his family. “What are we doing here? Why are they so sad? Iona just had a baby, shouldn’t they be rejoicing?”
“They can’t. They’re too worried about you,” the angel said.
“I just want my son home, where he belongs,” Isaac told the group.
“Yeah right,” Donavan mumbled under his breath, and then whispered to the angel standing next to him, “The man fired me and would have stood by and watched me get evicted if my mother hadn’t given me the money from my secret trust account.”
“You just have to keep the faith, baby. Donavan will find his way,” Nina told her husband.
Isaac shook his head. “The boy got his stubborn streak from me. He refuses to forgive me. All I was trying to do was lead him in the right direction so he could handle being in ministry.”
“Is he kidding? The man fired me.”
“Did your father really fire you, Donavan? Or does your guilty conscious just want to believe it happened that way?”
Before Donavan could answer the angel, his sister joined in the conversation.
“I wish I had never opened my big mouth to tell him about Diana. It turned out that I was all wrong anyway. And now look what I’ve done… just made two people perfectly suited for each other, the loneliest people I know.”
“You were right to tell me about Diana, Iona.” When his sister didn’t look his way or seem to know that he was speaking to her, Donavan turned to the angel. “Why can’t she hear me?”
“They don’t know we’re here. We’re just listening in.”
“I just wish Donavan knew how much Diana really loves him,” Nina added.
Donavan balled his fists in anger. “Diana doesn’t love me. Why does my mom even think such a thing?”
“Because it’s true,” the angel said, “From the moment Diana spilled that coffee on you, and you responded to her with kindness, she started falling for you.”
“She was a prostitute. She would have fallen for anyone with enough money.”
“About that,” the angel said as he whisked Donavan away from his family and transported him back in time to the day Diana had the misfortune to tell her friend about her financial problems and how she was about to be thrown out of school if she didn’t come up with her tuition money. Her friend had hung out with her that night, and showed her how to earn the money that she needed.
Donavan and the angel followed Diana as she ended up on a strip that most people stayed away from at night. The girl Diana was with told her that they needed to get out of the car and go earn their money. Diana looked hopeless as she got out of the car. The first man who approached her, offered her forty dollars for twenty minutes of her time. Tears sprang to Diana’s eyes as she turned and ran away from the man. She sat in her friend’s car and sobbed until the police officer knocked on the car window. Donavan watched as Diana and her friend, along with several others, were handcuffed and shuffled off to jail.
He turned to the angel wide-eyed and asked, “She didn’t go through with it?”
The angel shook his head. “Diana’s not the kind of person who could easily give of herself like that. She might have been raised poor, but her mother instilled morals in her. That sister of hers… she is another story.”
That revelation sparked a light of hope in Donavan’s eyes. “So when we were together… what we had was real?”
“As real as it gets. She has since kept her vow to God and hasn’t been with another man.”
Donavan grinned so wide his dimples did a little dance. “She’s been waiting on me to come back home, huh?”
“So you say,” the angel said while shaking his head at Donavan’s arrogance. “I doubt if she’d take you back the way you are now.”
Donavan looked down at himself and then stretched out his arms. “I’m still the same man. Nothing’s changed about me.”
The angel sat down on the bus stop bench. “Diana gave up a lot for you. Your father’s enemy was willing to pay her tuition if she helped that prosecutor file sexual harassment charges against you.”
“I didn’t harass her.”
“I know that, and Diana knew it too. But that wasn’t going to stop the people who hated your father. They were searching for any and everything they could find to bring him down. And because of your, shall we say, lack of control,” the angel let those words linger before he began speaking again, “your father’s ministry could have been marred by scandal. But Diana is a woman of conviction and principals. She wants a man with conviction and principals.”
Thumping his chest, Donavan said, “That’s me.”
“That used to be you. But since you left your father’s church, you’ve changed.”
“Doggone right I’ve changed.” Donavan puffed out his chest. “I’m successful. Worth more that my mother and father put together.”
“Show me a man at peace with himself, and I’ll show you a successful man.”
“Huh?”
“There are a lot of rich unsuccessful people in this world, Donavan… you need to learn to see it the way God sees it again.” The angel stood up, started walking down the street.
“Where are you going?” Donavan demanded.
“I think it’s time that we visit an old friend of yours…”
With that Donavan was trapped in a whirlwind that went around and around until it dropped him in the middle of a home with ceilings so high that the angel began to grow and grow right before Donavan’s eyes.
“Finally,” the angel said, “A place I can stretch out in.”
Donavan picked himself up off the ground and began looking around. “This isn’t a house. It’s a five car garage mansion.” He turned back to the angel. “Who lives here?”
In answer the angel pointed Donavan toward the ballroom. A lavish party was in full swing. The men were in tuxedos and the women were in their finest. No bargain store shoppers in here. The DJ was playing all the Christmas hits and everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves.
“Eat up, drink up. No one knows what will happen tomorrow, so you might as well enjoy life while you can,” a man barked over the microphone.
Donavan looked around, trying to find the person who was speaking. He recognized that voice, but had no idea why it sounded so familiar.
“He’s over there,” the angel lifted a finger and illuminated the spot next to the DJ’s booth where Mark Smith stood. He was in a tux, lifting a champagne glass in the air to toast the guests.
“This is his house?”
“The last time you saw Mark was about twenty-two years ago, right?”
Donavan nodded and the angel continued, “Mark has been working very hard, trying to prove to himself that he deserves to be alive.”
Donavan twirled around, looking at the grand place, with its high ceilings and spacious rooms. “I’d say he proved it.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?” Donavan asked as Mark stumbled past them. He was unsteady on his feet and had the look of someone who’d taken in three or four too many drinks. Women were either hanging on him or trying to get his attention, but Mark kept pushing them away.
Mark bumped into as he was trying to get away from the second woman calling after him. The guy turned around and put up his fist. “Don’t start with me tonight, Mark. I will fight if I have to.”
“Aren’t these people friends of his, why would the guy assume Mark wanted to fight just because he bumped into him?”
The angel explained, “Mark has been arrested for assault on a few occasions. He likes to brawl when he can’t find anything else to do.”
“What’s wrong with him? Over by the microphone, he sounded like the life of the party. But now he looks as if he wants nothing to do with this party.”
“He gets like this sometimes. Come o
n, let’s follow him,” the angel said.
They walked out of the ballroom behind Mark. He took the winding staircase, climbed his way up, and headed for a room at the end of the hall. As he approached the door, Mark took a key out of his pocket.
“He keeps his bedroom door locked?” Donavan asked.
“That’s not his bedroom.”
Mark unlocked the door, stepped in and then locked it behind him. As Donavan stepped into the room, he was amazed by what he saw. Wall to wall posters and framed pictures of Mark and JC playing basketball, Mark and JC posing for the camera at what appeared to be a nightclub.
Mark walked over to a poster of him and JC holding up a basketball trophy. The two were full of confidence and smiles for the camera. “We put it to them that night, didn’t we, JC? What was the score?” Mark snapped his fingers and then said, “ninety-four to sixty-two.” He stepped back, lifted his hand as if making a shot. “Nothing but net.” Mark was smiling as his memories took him back.
There was a life size cut out of JC, in motion as he made his way down the court. Mark stood in front of the mannequin he’d commission several years back. Tears streamed down his face as he touched his mannequin-friend. “I miss you, man. Why’d you have to flunk that drug test and get thrown out of school? Why’d you help me, when you could have just kept on living?”
“This is not healthy. He needs to let that go. JC and Baby Dee would have found a way to get themselves killed even if Mark hadn’t needed money,” Donavan said.
“He’s taken good care of JC’s mother through the years. Paid for rehab, made sure she stayed clean and moved her into a beautiful home. He even paid for her to go back to school. But no matter how much he does for JC’s family, it still doesn’t absolve him of the guilt.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. He has so much, why doesn’t he just enjoy life and forget about the past?”
Mark moved away from the mannequin and walked over to the safe he’d had embedded in the wall. He punched in a few numbers opened it and pulled out a gun.
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