by Teisha Mott
“Well, I’m nice to all dumb creatures!” Matt assured her. “All of them. Look how nice I am to you!”
Klao punched him on the shoulder, and he laughed out loud.
She was really enjoying her time with him. One entire day almost, and he didn’t get on her nerves. They teased, they laughed; they were serious… He was so comfortable to be with. So what if he is a Preacher Man, Klao asked herself, as they pulled into St. Andrew’s for the second time that day. That should not matter.
“What do we do for AY?” She asked as she got out of the car.
“They’re having a cantata this evening. You’re going to get to hear Mary sing!”
“Mary sings?” Klao asked in awe.
“Like an angel!”
“But she didn’t sing the hymns in church!”
“She was probably preserving her voice. She is down to do two or three items this evening.” He looked at her. “Did I tell you I liked your dress?”
Before Klao could respond, a girl about their age marched up to them. She gave Klao a cool appraisal, and for the first time for the day, Klao did not feel welcome.
“Matt, can you do me a favour?” She asked, not even offering a greeting. “Steve is not here yet, and we need somebody to play…”
“I’m coming,” Matt told her good-naturedly, and she flounced off.
“Who’s that?” Klao asked.
“Georgia. She’s in charge of the programme this evening.”
“What does she want you to do?”
“Play!” Matt pushed the church door open, and ushered Klao inside.
Klao spotted Mary sitting close to the front of the sanctuary. “Play what?”
“The piano!”
Klao looked at him. “You play the piano?”
“A little, yes.”
Klao did not believe that there was one more thing she could learn about Matt. She had learned so many new things already in the past twelve hours!
“You are just full of surprises, aren’t you, pastor?”
“Well, what can I say?” Matt grinned. “I’m an enigma!”
Klao rolled her eyes and sat next to Mary as Matt took his place around the piano. She noticed that the rest of the orchestra had not returned.
“Matt told me that you’re going to sing!” She whispered to Mary.
“Did he tell you who else is going to sing?” Mary asked.
“No. Who?”
Mary smiled. “I like you.” Was all she said, before turning her attention to Georgia and the other young people who had gone up to lead the singing.
Klao looked at Matt seated at the piano. He flexed his fingers and ran them over the ivories. She resisted the urge to giggle. He said he played ‘a little’, but there he was, caressing the keys as though he was Ludwig Van Beethoven! She found out a few minutes later that Matt’s ‘a little’ translated into either a natural, God-given talent, or years and years of practice – or perhaps a combination of both! He played with as much fervour and passion as he preached!
“You call that ‘playing a little’?” Klao asked him when the song service was over, and he took a seat next to her.
“My mother’s fault!” Matt explained with a shrug. “She forced me to take piano lessons although I hated it!”
“You hated it? Why?”
“Too girly! I wanted to do manly things like play football, or the drums!”
“That from the ‘man’ who would crease pages in Mommy’s Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook when he saw a recipe he wanted to try!” Mary chortled.
“Anybody see you, my girl?” Pastor Matt glared at his sister.
“I don’t think playing the piano is girly,” Klao said. “I think it’s cool!”
“Of course you’d think it’s cool because Matt does it!” Mary countered, as they stood for the AY aim, motto and pledge.
Matt had to return to the piano for the AY song, and Klao watched him as he pumped every last sound out of the keys, and sang along to the happy little song that was projected on the screen.
“For someone who thinks the piano is girly, you certainly play it with all your might!” She told him once he was through.
“Well, whatever I am called to do, I do it to the best of my ability! I don’t do things half way.”
“You are so full of it!” Mary commented. She got up to find Sheena, as they would be doing a song together.
Klao found herself thoroughly enjoying the AY cantata and wished that Bianca and Andie and Samantha were there to witness it. There was so much talent, and Matt told her that all the people performing were from St. Andrew. The theme was Psalm 150, so there were sections for string instruments and wind instruments and voice. There were violin performances, and one guy, who could not be more than 25, made a saxophone holler. One man even played his mouth! He just cupped his hands to his lips and blew through them, and, “You are the source of my strength”, one of Klao’s favourite Brooklyn Tabernacle songs, came out! She was mesmerised. She had never seen anyone play their mouth before! Even the congregation got a chance to perform when they were asked to sing ‘This is My Father’s World’ from the hymnal, which could be Matt’s favourite, based on how absorbed he was when he was playing. Klao got chills when Mary and Sheena went up to do a duet of ‘This too Shall Pass’. And Matt was right. Mary sang like an angel. Both girls did, actually, and later when Mary went to sing ‘How Great Thou Art’ by herself, she hit notes that Klao did not even know were on the piano!
“You sing really, really well!” She told Mary, when she reclaimed her seat after the church gave her a standing ovation.
“Thank you!” Mary told her, popping a Strepsil into her mouth.
“Are you going to sing again?” Klao asked.
“A duet to close the programme.”
“With Sheena?”
“No… With Matt!”
“With Matt?” Klao looked at Matt who was blushing.
“You chat so!” He chastised Mary.
“You sing too?” Klao asked incredulously. “Is there anything you don’t do?”
“I don’t dance!” Matt told her, referring to the stories Klao had told him earlier in the week about the summer she had spent at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. “And I certainly don’t sing like Mary.”
Klao rolled her eyes at him. He certainly was an enigma. She was excited to hear him sing. Perhaps she could report to Bianca that she was right, and he could sing ‘Ole Man River’. She was twitching with anticipation when Georgia finally announced ‘an item from Pastor Matt and Mary’.
They went up together, with Matt, forever the gentleman, allowing his sister walk slightly ahead of him. He checked her microphone before handing it to her and selecting one for himself. They waited for their track to start playing, and for the first time, Klao noticed the resemblance between the twins. They were both tall and slim; both had clear brown skin and well chiselled features. Matt was taller, but Mary had a fuller figure. They were not drop-dead, bowl-you-over gorgeous, but they had ‘je ne sais quoi’ – that certain ‘it factor’ that made them more beautiful than they really were. And as they harmonised on the chorus of ‘Another Time, Another Place’, Klao realised they were also remarkably talented. Matt, surprisingly, despite his deep voice, could not sing ‘Old Man River’, but his tenor rocked. No wonder their parents doted on them so much! If they were her children, she would dote on them too. Brother Lennie and Sister Gwennie, as Sheena had referred to them during lunch, must be extraordinarily proud of their miracle twins – Matthew, the charismatic young Minister, and Mary, the stylish young teacher/Designer! Looking at them made Klao want to have twins!
Soon, their song ended, as did the programme, and the ‘O’ shaped man who had prayed during the service gave a vesper thought. The sun had set, the Sabbath had ended, but church was far from over. There was still so much happening in the church yard, and Mary, the social butterfly, was in the middle of everything. She stopped by the domino table, popped in and out of me
etings, played with little children, kissed a million babies… Klao trotted behind her like an obedient puppy, since Matt was busy, according to Mary, ‘pastoring’, and she was introduced to everyone Mary came in contact with. She met so many people, and would be damned if she could remember ten names! Mary even had a few words with Georgia, the girl who had chaired the AY cantata, and as soon as Georgia walked away, she turned to Klao.
“I don’t mean be a hypocrite, but I really cannot stand that girl!”
“Why not?” Klao asked.
“Long story, short time! She led Klao to another domino table, where Marvin was in deep concentration, as he tried to give his three opponents six-love. Sheena, the dutiful wife, stood by his side, encouraging him along, and feeding him a saltfish fritter. “If you decide to become a regular here, just don’t trust her.”
“Don’t trust who?” Sheena asked.
“Georgia!” Mary answered.
“Ugh!” Sheena commented. “Don’t even go there tonight!”
“Stop the evil surmising, baby!” Marvin instructed as he slapped the domino to the table.
“I am not the evil surmiser!” Sheena clarified. “Georgia is!”
“And she is so madly in love with Matt!” Mary added.
“Who is madly in love with Matt?” Matt asked, coming up behind them.
“Georgia!” Klao contributed, suddenly aware that she was not being paranoid earlier when she thought Georgia had glared at her.
Matt frowned, but offered no comment. He turned to Klao. “You okay, Klao M? Ready to go home now?”
“I’m fine. Have you finished ‘pastoring’?”
“If you mean ‘have I finished meeting with members who wanted to talk to me and signing a million and one documents’, then yes! I’m yours – wholesale – for the rest of the evening!”
Klao was more than happy to have Matt’s attention for the rest of the evening, even if it meant meeting more people and getting dirty looks from Georgia. It was almost ten o’clock when he finally dropped her home, and although she was dead tired, she had to admit that it had been one of the best days of her life.
“So what is your verdict on today, counsellor?” Matt asked as he walked her to her door.
“I had a fantastic time! Thanks for taking me to church with you.”
“Will you come back next week?”
“Provided I don’t have to wake up to get there for quarter to eight!” Klao kidded. She opened the door, and Minx came running over.
Matt smiled at her. “Well, I don’t have to give the word so we can make the second service. By the way…” He presented her with a copy of the lesson study guide. “I got this for you today. Figured you might be interested…”
Klao was touched. She had not asked him for the study guide, but he thought she would want one. “Thanks, Matt!” She flipped thorough to the following week’s lesson. The title was ‘From Folly to Faith: The Apostle Peter’. “I’ll definitely read it.”
Matt stood there for a moment, just looking at her, as though he would never see her again.
“What?” Klao asked.
“Nothin’. I’m just really happy we’ve become – you know – this…”
“Yeah, although today, I realised that I really didn’t know you at all!”
“Well, you didn’t expect to know everything about me right away!” Matt said, trying to appease her.
“But I expected to know some things!”
“You knew enough to come with me today!”
“Do you have any other secrets? Are you a superhero of some sort?”
“Yes. By day, I’m Matt St. James, but at night, I turn into Matt Man!” Matt declared, striking a superhero pose, and putting on his best ‘He Man’ voice. “My superpower is speaking the word, and my Bible is my magic sword. Only three others share my secret – Miss Mary the Magnificent, Master Marvin the Fat, and Madam Sheena his wife – well now four, with the addition of Lady Klao, the girl who makes Matt Man’s heart beat fast! Tell you a secret? She might be his cryptonite!”
Klao laughed out loud. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”
“Hey, don’t deride Matt Man!” Matt warned her, with mock severity in his voice. “Bad things will happen if you do!”
“Yeah? Bad things like what?”
“You can never tell with Matt Man!” Matt said solemnly. “His protection comes from way up!”
He was looking down at her, and Klao felt her throat go dry. For the first time in way too long she was looking into another pair of eyes apart from Minx’s. His gaze roamed all over her face, as though he was trying to remember what she looked like. When it came to having an intense stare, Minx had nothing on Pastor Matt St. James! He was a pastor, she reminded herself. But who the hell cared what he was? He said himself that he was a man but also a Minister, or something like that… She could not remember. All she could think was how awesome it would be if he kissed her. She wondered what was a Seventh-day Adventist Minister’s stance on kissing…
“Klao Melissa Persaud…” He whispered.
“Yes, Matthew Levi St. James?”
“You know you are something special…”
Klao’s heart did a triple somersault that could have won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. He was going to kiss her! She closed her eyes and waited. She waited, her lips tingling. Every cell and nerve ending in her body waited. Waited for him to close the distance between his lips and her lips… What the hell was he waiting for?
Klao opened her eyes. He was still looking at her and smiling.
“I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”
“What the f…” Klao thought.
He squeezed her hand. “Goodnight, Klao M!”
And that was it. He left her standing in the doorway, feeling flushed and ridiculous at the same time. Now that was disaquartment. It was worse than disaquartment. It was – disagallonment!
Klao watched Matt get into his car through eyes blurry with tears. Why hadn’t he kissed her? She picked up Minx and held him close to her.
“Am I kissable, Minx?”
Minx replied by licking her all over her lips.
“Yeah, you think so, but the preacher clearly doesn’t agree!”
She locked up her apartment, had a shower, and flopped in front of the TV. Her answering machine showed her that she had eleven missed calls – perhaps from her parents, and her cousins. They were probably worried, having gone an entire Saturday without hearing from her, but after the anticlimactic end to what could have been the perfect day, she was just too distressed to care.
165
Teisha Mott
chapter ten
Klao stuck her head into her Senior Partner’s office and waved. “Mrs Reyes, I’m off for the day!”
“It’s Wednesday already?” Mrs Reyes questioned, looking over the top of her glasses. “Isn’t the week just flying by?”
Klao smiled, although she was not in the smiling mood. She was not in the lunch mood either, but she could not come up with a viable, justifiable reason to cancel on her cousins. Besides, she had to show Mary and Sheena’s book to Bianca. Although she did not like Matt very much right now, she had made his twin sister a promise, and she was not going to renege on it.
Klao had not spoken to Matt since Sabbath. He had sent her a couple of text messages, wishing her a good day, to which she had responded with a simple ‘thank you, and yourself’, but he had not called, and there were no marathon Facebook conversations. Klao found herself wondering whether the previous week had been a dream. She wondered whether the day spent with him on Saturday was a figment of her imagination. What had gone so dreadfully wrong since that ‘non-kiss’ at her door after he dropped her home from church?
She knew she had not made up the day. She realised it when Mary had stopped by totally unannounced on Tuesday night to drop off her book.
“I hope you don’t mind me just dropping by like this!” She had said, breezing into Klao’s apartment. Minx recog
nised her and came over to sniff her shoes. She gave him a friendly pat. “Are you still going to ask your cousin to let me and Sheena plan her wedding?”
“Of course!” She looked at Mary, instantly feeling short and insignificant in her Tinkerbelle pyjamas. Mary was once again dressed to the nines. She, too, wore no-named jeans, but she wore dark washed, skinny no named jeans that looked as hot on her as a pair of Izzy Jeans would. She also wore a bright orange empire-waist top that showed off her cleavage and orange peep toe stiletto pumps. Trust Mary St. James to make off-the-rack look couture! Klao wondered where she was coming from.
“Good!” Mary smiled, and instantly, she turned into Matt. Klao turned away.
“I brought my book!” Mary took a seat on Klao’s overstuffed love seat. “I have everything in here – all our suppliers and decorators, and photographs… Look…”
Klao sat next to her and looked – not at the book, but at Mary. She noticed that Mary smelled like ‘Curve Crush’. She was just so pretty and poised. She looked like the kind of girl who never sweat or had menstrual cramps. Klao was sure that if she was standing on a doorstep with a guy, even if the guy was a Minister, he would not have refrained from kissing her.
“You alright?” Mary asked, looking curiously at Klao.
“I’m fine!” Klao managed to smile. “Let me see what you have here!”
They looked through Mary’s portfolio, and Klao was impressed. She decided if she were getting married, she would have Mary plan her wedding.
“You can tell Bianca that if she hires us, all she has to do is turn up!” Mary said. “I’m a perfectionist – slash - control freak like that! I’m going to be such a bridezilla on my wedding day!”
“Are you seeing anyone?” Klao asked her, suddenly curious.
“No,” Mary admitted. “Not many guys want to date the Pastor’s twin sister!”
“That’s dumb!” Klao declared.
“Well, guys are dumb!” Mary shrugged. “And deaf and blind too. But they better get with the programme, because I have no intention of going back to God like Sister Rittie!”