by Teisha Mott
It had not been easy for a young pastor to take on a congregation as demanding as those at St. Andrew, but the church was badly in need of a Minister, as the previous senior pastor had been given an appointment with the Conference. He was thrilled when the opportunity arose to pastor his own church at home after being an Assistant Pastor in California, especially since Mary lived in Kingston, and that was the church she attended, but getting confirmation was a nightmare. He was too young, too slick, too inexperienced, and worst of all, too single. The worst thing in the world was to introduce a young, single, un-ordained pastor to a society church like the Seventh-day Adventist Church of St. Andrew. The membership would rip him apart, and the single girls would corrupt his remains. It was a disaster in the making. After much prayer and fasting and supplication, the Conference finally offered him the job, and Matt accepted. Pastor Richards’s shoes had been huge ones to fill. He recalled his first day of preaching at St. Andrew, the sceptical, critical faces of the membership, with only the familiar faces of Mary and his parents who had come in from Mandeville to see their boy at work, to encourage him along. But he did what he knew how to do; what he had been trained for seven years at La Sierra University to do; what he knew he had been born to do; what God had called him to do from he was ten years old. He delivered the word of God with such gusto and conviction that his mother had burst into tears; and eleven people had come to the altar although he had not given an appeal.
That day had been hard, but Matt realised it had been small fries compared to the day that Klao would find out that he was a Minister. She had been so mean to him initially. He had questioned whether it was truly the voice of God that led him to talk to her that night in Megamart. She had looked so alone and sad and angry, and something had told him that he should be a part of her life, but she was stubborn. His faith had surged when she called him out of the blue to help with her car, and ever since that night at La Fa, he believed they had become friends. He did not want his calling as a Minister to change that. As a matter of fact, he hoped that his influence would bring her into the church, and maybe, just maybe, something would happen, and, well, she would like him more than a friend…
Mary warned him about being unequally yoked, but like he told Klao, he was a Minister, but he was also a man, and as a man, he could not help but be attracted to this ornery little trust fund brat. Mary did not try to understand, but since she fancied herself a supportive big sister, she stood in solidarity with her brother, who she had beaten into the world by five full minutes. She also promised not to say anything to anybody about him liking Klao. The Conference leaders would freak if they found out that their charismatic young Minister, who in one year had baptised over 100 souls, and who had singlehandedly opened and successfully managed the first Seventh-day Adventist soup kitchen in Kingston, had fallen for a ‘girl in the world’. They would kick him out faster than he could say ‘Jesus wept’.
Klao looked at him looking at her. There was silence in his office, save for the hum of the air conditioner. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear little children singing and clapping. That must have been the longest moment ever where two people had gone without talking. Klao’s head was spinning. Finally a man liked her. Finally a young, fairly attractive, charming, intelligent man liked her liked her. But just her luck he had to be a Minister – a Seventh-day Adventist Minister to boot! She could never have feelings for a Seventh-day Adventist Minister! It was a good thing she found out now before investing any more time into him, then ending up disappointed – like with Vishal.
“You should have told me!” She said finally.
“I should have,” Matt agreed. “I’m sorry. Does this change anything?”
Klao shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. I still think you’re a pain in the butt!” Although she said no, and offered a joke about the situation, she knew it changed everything. It was obvious that they would have to remain just friends. Fortunately, Matt could not read minds.
He smiled, relaxing. “Good.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Now we go to Sabbath school,” Matt told her. “But I want to ask you something else first.”
“What?”
“Can you just stay and spend the rest of the day with us?” Matt asked. “After service, you could come have lunch at my house. Mary will be there and Marvin and Sheena… Sabbath lunch is always an event. And then we come back for AY – the evening programme… Sabbath is very special to me, and I want to share it with you.”
“Sure,” Klao said, happy to share Matt’s special day with him. She may as well enjoy his company, because it was only going to be for a season. “But I’m going to have to call Stacy to watch Minx.”
“We can take him with us,” Matt suggested. “He cannot come by for AY, but we can pick him up and take him to lunch with us. We can drop him when we are passing back for AY.”
Klao nodded. That sounded like a good idea. Matt told her that week that he lived in a two bedroom townhouse in Long Mountain. There would be a lot of space for Minx to run around.
“Good!” Matt smiled. “Let’s go then. I’m really glad you came today, Klao.”
“I’m glad I came too, Matt,” she responded honestly. Despite everything, she was glad she came. She had seen a whole new Matt, she had gotten a spirit filled message, and she got her answer about whether she and Matt would ever be a couple. She would have to tell Bianca on Wednesday how wrong she was about Matt being her one. It was impossible for him to be anything of the sort. After all, the Bible was adamant about believers not being yoked with unbelievers.
Good thing, she recalled, that she had a date with Ricard Shalkowski next Saturday night. Now that Matt was out of the game, she could examine her other option. Besides, Matt was all wrong for her, even if he was not a Minister. Didn’t she already decide that? He was far too simple to be a part of the ostentatious Persaud clan.
So why, she wondered, as she walked with Matt to Bible study, did she feel so immensely and unequivocally disappointed?
149
On Time
chapter nine
“Is everything alright?” Mary St. James motioned to the seats she was saving for her brother and Klao at the back of the Young Adult Division Sabbath School unit.
Matt nodded and smiled at her. He allowed Klao in the row first, so she was sandwiched between the twins.
“I told you that you are an idiot!” Mary reminded him.
“Shut up!” Matt reprimanded her.
Klao could not help but smile. Even though he was a Minister, he still argued with his sister. Klao thought they sounded a lot like Dylan and Darrin – mirror images of each other, but could not see eye to eye. Dylan was eight minutes older than Darrin, but acted like it was eight years. He was ‘Mary’ and Darrin was ‘Matt’, except that Darrin was a hot head, and Matt didn’t get angry – just sarcastic. Mary was the one who looked as though she would easily flip up like a dolphin.
The director for the division was leading a lively song service, and Klao knew many of the choruses from her Songs 4 Worship CDs that Kamilla had bought for her, so she could sing along. She was particularly thrilled when they started singing ‘You Are My All In All’ in rounds. Again she noticed that Mary and Matt were not singing.
“You don’t know the songs?” She whispered to Mary.
“I’m preserving my voice,” Mary explained.
“Why?”
Mary did not get a chance to answer, because it was prayer time.
The members of the class, all young people ranging anywhere between eighteen and thirty, had lots of prayer requests. Some needed jobs, others needed help with exams, while others needed spiritual strength. Some were sending requests up for others – for friends or acquaintances who were sick, or who needed to come to Christ. Then there were thanksgiving requests – for answered prayers, for victories through the week… Klao wondered whether she had any requests. She did not need a job or money. She was in good health, and she w
as thankful for her family and her friends, and for the comfort of their lives. When she heard about people only having two hundred dollars to last until pay day, which was still a couple of weeks away, she realised how lucky she was. She had everything.
Not everything, a little voice inside of her whispered. Jesus still has not been to your house!
She started, wondering where that thought had come from. She got goose bumps, and she was sure it was not from the air conditioning in the room.
“You okay?” Matt asked, as he took her hand and they stood for prayer.
“Yes,” she replied, not so sure if she was really okay.
After prayer, it was ‘fellowship time’, and one overly enthusiastic individual who the class called ‘Patricia’, went up and started scanning the room for people who she had never seen before, so they had to be visitors. Klao was horrified when she pointed to her and asked her to stand.
“Go ahead,” Matt whispered. “They only want to welcome you.”
“But you already welcomed me!” Klao whispered back.
“This is different!” Matt shoved her to her feet.
“Tell us who you are and where you’re from!” Patricia ordered.
“I’m Klao and I’m from Mobay…” Klao began.
“You are Klao Persaud!” Patricia interrupted, and the entire class turned to look at her.
“Yes…” Klao wished she could curl up and die. Having a grandfather who was as much a celebrity as Donald Trump, sans the three marriages, bankruptcy claims and weird hair was not always fun, contrary to popular belief.
“Welcome, welcome Klao!” Patricia screeched, her voice getting more and more high pitched with every word she spoke. “We are happy to have you, and please come again. Can someone give Klao a 'Young Adult Department' greeting?”
Four young men tripped over each other in an effort to give Klao a hug. Although Patricia said only one needed to hug her, they all insisted that they would, so Klao got four 'Young Adult Department' greetings that morning. She felt warm and fuzzy inside. Matt grinned at her.
“You’re today’s hot ticket, Klao M!”
Klao rolled her eyes at him.
The class moved into lesson study, and Klao found herself in the middle of a lively discourse on the Apostle John. Most of the persons in the unit had an opinion on the lesson, and the director was doing a phenomenal job in keeping them reigned in. Often, he would pounce on ‘Pastor’ to assist with difficult questions or scenarios, and stated it was fortunate that ‘Pastor’ was a member of the young adult Sabbath school unit. Klao did not have a daily lesson study guide, but Matt loaned her his, and she noted all the comments and ideas he had written in the margins. She had not known before that John was somewhat of a hot-headed, ambitious social climber, who had mellowed over the years due to his relationship with Jesus. Klao had read 1, 2 and 3 John near the back of her Bible after James Dobson had discussed it on Focus on the Family, and thought John had been all about love. She realised that where the Bible was concerned, there was always something new to learn. She looked at the cover of the lesson study guide. It was entitled ‘Agents of Hope: God’s Great Missionaries’, and each week dealt with a different Bible character. She wondered whether Matt or Mary or Andie or Nathan could get her a lesson guide of her own. It would certainly make for interesting reading.
At twenty minutes before eleven, Matt nudged her. “Come with me!”
“We aren’t finished in here!” Klao protested. She really wanted to see the study through to the end.
“You can come back in, but I need to talk to you outside!”
Matt ushered her out of the room into the corridor, and Klao could feel the eyes of the remainder of the class on them. She thought they were probably wondering why Pastor Matt was so chummy with a girl who was not in the church.
“I have to go and lead Pastor’s time now,” Matt told her once they were alone. “Then I have to prepare for second divine hour.”
“You’re going to have to preach again?” Klao asked, and he nodded.
“I’m repeating the same message from this morning,” Matt informed her. “You can stay if you want, or you can stick with Mary. She is going up by me after Sabbath school to set up for lunch. She can drop you home to pick up Minx and change if you like; then she’ll take you up the house. What do you want to do?”
Klao thought about it for a few seconds. “I’ll go with Mary,” she decided. “I could help her set up for lunch, and then see you when you come up. What time will that be?”
“About 1:30,” Matt surmised. “I have to go. They’re wrapping up inside church. See you later.”
Klao watched Matt jog off – or try to jog off, as persons kept stopping him to say good morning or to shake his hand. She returned to the young adults’ room and reclaimed her seat next to Mary.
“Matt says you will drop me home after lesson study,” she whispered to Mary.
“You not having lunch with us?” Mary asked, looking surprised.
“Yes,” Klao explained, “but he said I should change and pick up my puppy, and you will take me. Is that okay?”
“Sure!” Mary smiled. “That’s cool!”
Klao decided that despite her divaesque attitude, Mary was cool.
Lesson study ended at eleven, but it was forty-five minutes later before Klao found herself strapped into the front seat of Mary’s little Suzuki Swift Sport. Mary was clearly the toast of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of St. Andrew. She had to stop and meet and greet and chat and socialize before she could make her way to her car. By that time, second divine hour was already in full swing.
“I don’t know why you must chat so much!” Sheena Lee Stewart complained from the back of the car.
Sheena was a petite half Chinese girl, who Klao could not imagine being married to Marvin. That was the epitome of ‘opposites attract’! Together, they looked like Princess Fiona before she turned into an ogre and Shrek! Love was obviously blind.
“You could learn to drive and leave church when you are ready, you know Sheena!” Mary pointed out.
“And you can learn not to hitch so much!” Sheena argued.
Klao smiled to herself as Sheena and Mary argued all the way to Millsborough. Sheena insisted that she did not understand why Mary had to ‘lock the church gate’ every Sabbath. She did not see why she could not leave when church ended. Mary insisted that Sheena was antisocial and miserable, and could not fathom how a social man like Marvin ended up with her for a wife.
Since Sheena was so averse to 'hitching', Klao quickly grabbed Minx, a turquoise Izzy sundress with a yellow cardigan for evening church, and an Izzy denim skirt and a tank top to wear at lunch. Before Sheena could start complaining again about having to wait, she was back in Mary’s Suzuki, and on the way to Long Mountain.
“Do you live here with Matt?” Klao asked, as the security guard let them into the gated country club complex.
“Absolutely not!” Mary replied as she parked outside what was apparently Matt’s townhouse. “This is a church house, and I couldn’t deal with moving at the Conference’s whim and fancy. I live in New Kingston.”
Klao got out of the car and looked around. She had never been to Long Mountain before. It was the bane of her grandpa’s existence. As a real estate man himself, who had residential developments on the north coast, Grandpa did not approve of the Long Mountain Country Club. He thought the city should never have given permits to build those town houses and apartments. She recalled him having an argument with her father and Uncle Andrew about it.
“It is in our watershed!” He had declared. “Those developers have blatantly disregarded our environmental codes. Nobody cares anymore about the ecosystem and what will happen if we get a category five hurricane? All everyone cares about is money and more blasted money!”
Grandma had chastised him for using the word ‘blasted’, and Uncle Andrew had jokingly commented that he was just cross he had not gotten the land to develop himself!
As Klao looked around, she thought that Long Mountain was not that bad. It was well appointed, nicely kept, and the view was phenomenal. From Matt’s front patio, she could see the top of the Ravi P hotel! She thought how awesome the New Year’s Eve fireworks would look from there. She would be in Kingston for New Year’s Eve that year because of Bianca’s wedding. Perhaps she and Matt could watch the display together… Pull up! Now she was thinking about spending New Year’s Eve with Matt? He was a Minister. She could not do anything with him! Klao quickly reformulated her thoughts. Perhaps Matt would allow her and Ricard Shalkowski to watch the fireworks together after the wedding. There. That was more like it!
Although Mary declared that she did not live with her brother, she had a key to his house attached to her fuzzy key ring. She let Klao and Sheena inside. Klao looked around, impressed. Matt’s house was nice. It was neat and clean and smelled like potpourri. He had bright orange accent walls and the furniture was manly browns and reds… Klao could not imagine that Matt, with his low bite taste in ice cream and jeans, could have decorated his townhouse himself.
“Did Matt decorate himself?” She could not resist asking Mary as they headed upstairs to change.
Mary looked at her scornfully. “Matt decorate what? Matt cannot even coordinate his own clothes, or decide when he needs a new belt or shoes, much less decorate a whole house!”