Redeeming Waters

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  Brianna had looked forward to Thanksgiving. She was hoping Unzell at least would be off from work and home on Thanksgiving Day. Originally, he was supposed to be. But when he was promoted to stage manager, he went to a new assignment. It really was a fantastic assignment. He would be setting up the concert stages for none other than King d.Avid, who was starting up a new leg of his “Destroying the Yoke” concert tour.

  Brianna had already invited her parents; her brother, Mack; and her grandfather Pearson to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. Her folks hadn’t visited her in Atlanta since right after she and Unzell moved there in July. Mack had yet to visit her new home. And once again, he had things going on, so he called and said he wouldn’t be able to come this time around, either. But her parents and grandfather came.

  Dinner included the traditional turkey and dressing along with gravy, yams, and cranberry sauce. Brianna cooked everything, so her mother got a true break for a change. Usually, her mother did all of the holiday and Sunday cooking. But Brianna told her this was her day off this time around. And on this day, she was to do nothing but rest and enjoy. Diane didn’t argue with her about that at all.

  Dinner was fabulous. Brianna’s parents went into their bedroom to lie down after stuffing themselves. Brianna and her grandfather sat in the den watching television.

  “That was some kind of a dinner you cooked there, little lady,” Pearson said.

  “Thanks, Granddad. I’m just glad you were able to be here.”

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” He patted her leg. “It’s not often I get to see you these days. And I’m sure it was a little hard not having your husband home for your first official Thanksgiving as a married couple.”

  Brianna smiled. “I should have been prepared for this. If Unzell had been playing professional football like we’d thought, it’s possible his team would have been playing on television today and he wouldn’t have been home.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sure you weren’t expecting that, especially now that he’s not playing in the pros,” Pearson said.

  “I’m just glad he’s found something he seems to love. And he’s obviously good at it; he was promoted in less than six months, which was ahead of his goal. They’re talking about him moving up to a production manager, possibly in as little as a year’s time.”

  Pearson leaned forward, tapping the matching fingers of each hand against the other. “That really is an accomplishment. But Unzell is a smart young man; a quick study. He’s more than just muscles, that’s for sure. The man has brains . . . and drive.”

  “I told you whose concert stages he’s setting up.”

  Pearson nodded. “Yeah. My former client, David R. Shepherd, now aka world-renowned, famous recording artist King d.Avid. I came up with that stage name, you know.”

  “No, I didn’t know that. But King d.Avid is mega these days,” Brianna said.

  “ ‘Mega’ is not even the word. Although if I know him, I’m sure King d.Avid is working on inventing a new word to describe what he has become.”

  Brianna turned to her grandfather, smiled quickly, then dropped it just as quickly. “Granddad, what happened between you and King d.Avid? I remember meeting him when I was ten. You brought him over to the house. He wasn’t mega back then. In fact, no one had even heard of him—at least, as far as I knew.”

  Pearson leaned back on the couch. “It’s the usual things that happen in business-related matters. People start out with good intentions. But somehow, problems always seem to come back to money. At first, money is tight, and it’s hard to get the things done that you need to. But you persevere . . . you find ways to make it work. Then, if you stick with it and continue to sharpen your skills and your mission plan, and things start to work in your favor, you get in. And when things are truly flowing, you end up getting where you once only dreamed of. Then money becomes an issue again, only it’s due to a profusion of it.”

  “So you and King d.Avid fell out because of an abundance of money?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that. King d.Avid is really a great guy. At least, he was back when I had dealings with him. I can honestly say he was a man after God’s own heart. That’s rare to find these days. I see that in you; you’re a woman after God’s own heart. Like most of us, King d.Avid had a few friends that truly stuck by him along the way. King d.Avid didn’t have a lot growing up. But if he was your friend, and he made you a promise, you could rest assured he would do all he could to keep that promise. When he came into money and power, he tried to help those who’d been with him from the start.” Pearson looked toward the kitchen. “Could I trouble you for a glass of sweet tea, please?”

  Brianna hurried and got the tea. She handed him the glass.

  He took a swallow. “Ah, that’s good.” He shook his head. “You have the art of making tea down to a science. Your mother taught you well.”

  “Yeah,” Brianna said. “It really is an art of science. It’s all in the brewing time—no less than three, no more than five minutes—that’s what keeps it from having a bitter taste. And of course, the right amount of sugar: not too much, not too little—”

  “But just right!” Pearson laughed as he took another swallow, releasing yet another “ah” of sheer satisfaction. “Sounds like Goldilocks.”

  “Yeah, that did, didn’t it?”

  “It’s good to have passion. That’s what makes successful people. Whatever you do, do it with passion. That’s what your husband does; that’s what your brother is doing.”

  “How did you know I was thinking about Mack?” Brianna asked, sitting back.

  “I know you were disappointed that Mack didn’t end up making it today.”

  “I just don’t get him. He’s taken in a child who has trouble getting around, and he’s not even blood to him. I learned he was doing this earlier this year. I don’t get it.”

  “Just like you, Mack is a good-hearted person. Melvin Samuelson—that’s the child Mack’s been looking after these past years and who has become a part of his family as a foster child, for now, with permanent hopes later—is the son of Jonathan Samuelson.”

  Brianna shrugged. “Jonathan Samuelson. Who’s Jonathan Samuelson?”

  Pearson took another swallow of tea. “Jonathan Samuelson was a true and dedicated friend of David’s before there ever was a King d.Avid. In fact, Jonathan is credited with saving David’s life when they were mere teens.”

  “You sure know a lot about King d.Avid, don’t you? You should write a book.”

  “I know enough. Anyway, what he did wasn’t anything heroic like diving in a pool to save him from drowning or stepping in front of a bullet. Nothing like that. But the word was that Jonathan’s father was out to get David. Of course, Jonathan didn’t believe that was truly the case, but he decided to find out for sure. You see, Jonathan and David were in this singing group. David was a better singer than Jonathan, but Jonathan’s father had gotten behind them, putting up his finances and resources to front them.”

  “So naturally, Jonathan’s father thought his son should be the star of the group,” Brianna said.

  “You got it,” Pearson said. “But Jonathan was a true friend. He knew David was destined to take the group where it was going. Most times, he deferred to David, which only made his father that much madder. So the father tried to expel David from the band using some trumped-up reason. Jonathan told his father if David wasn’t in it, he wouldn’t be in it. So Jonathan’s father tried to set David up to go to jail. Some say he was really trying to get David killed, but I don’t want to believe an adult would even think that way about another adult, let alone a sixteen-year-old kid.” Pearson shook his head, then picked up the glass of tea and drank some more.

  “Anyway, to make a long story short: Jonathan told David he would find out for sure whether or not his father really was trying to harm him. He set up a little test to see if his father was truthfully trying to get David mixed up in some kind of gang rivalry where David would either have
to get in a gang to be protected or possibly be accused of a crime he didn’t do. Jonathan and David were supposed to be meeting up at a gig where they were scheduled to perform. Jonathan told David to lay low in the venue. The two friends set up a coded message. If Jonathan discovered that his father, in fact, was trying to set David up, he would say one thing. If things were fine, Jonathan would say another. Turns out, Jonathan’s father was trying to set up his best friend, that very night.”

  “Whoa. That had to be hard on Jonathan.”

  Pearson nodded. “I’m sure it was. But Jonathan loved David. They were more like brothers, more than mere friends. David left the group, graduated high school, then began his own thing. Getting nowhere, he was told to seek me out, which he did. I knew about the music business from my brief recording days. He told me he felt I could help him get where he was trying to go. With his talent, I agreed. The rest, they say, is history.”

  “But I don’t understand what Mack has to do with Jonathan’s son.”

  “After I took on King d.Avid as a client and he started to get bigger, Mack became interested in getting into the business. He hung around me as much as he could so he could learn the operation. I think Mack was preparing to take over once I retired.”

  “I was ten when you came to our house with King d.Avid. Mack would have been thirteen,” Brianna said.

  “Oh, this was some years later. Mack was just about to graduate from high school. He was seventeen, and honestly, good at managing. But as I said, he’d been hanging around me, soaking in as much as he could prior to then. He met Jonathan. Shortly afterward, King d.Avid and I parted ways. Jonathan was killed in a home robbery. The only one to survive that horrendous day was Jonathan’s son, Melvin, who ended up lame from the incident. I believe Melvin was five when those hoodlums broke in, threatening to kill all of them if they didn’t cooperate. They say Melvin’s mother grabbed him and started running. She was shot in the back at the top of the stairs. She dropped Melvin, he was propelled and tumbled. She rolled down just as fast and hard, landing on him. They say that’s really what ended up saving that little boy’s life; he was protected under his mother’s body.”

  “Wow,” Brianna said. “But I still don’t understand how Mack got involved in all of this.”

  “Mack had met Jonathan a few years earlier when King d.Avid was trying to get Jonathan to come work for him. King d.Avid was really taking off, and like I said, he wanted to bless those who had been there for him early on. Mack and Jon hit it off.”

  “Okay,” Brianna said. “Mack meets King d.Avid’s friend, Jonathan. The two of them click. I’m sorry, I still don’t get what would make my brother go this far.” “Melvin had no one left who would take him in. There was an aunt, Jonathan’s half sister Michaela, born to a woman Jonathan’s father had an affair with. Ironically, Michaela and King d.Avid married when he was nineteen, she seventeen. Of course, Jonathan’s father still despised him, so he had her annul the marriage. Michaela’s father claimed he had someone else he wanted her to marry. When all was said and done, she didn’t end up with anybody. After the shooting incident, the word was that she didn’t want to be burdened with taking care of her half brother’s son for the rest of his life. So being his mother’s child, a few years ago, Mack stepped in. It’s been a hard fight, but he was officially awarded guardianship this year. Now Melvin lives in Mack’s home.”

  “What about Jonathan’s family? His parents? Surely, there has to be someone.”

  “As I said: there really is no one. Jonathan’s parents both died from various illnesses within three months of each other right after the shooting incident happened. And none of the extended family members wanted to be ‘saddled with a cripple’—their words, not mine. Especially learning there wasn’t any real money to speak of in it for them. A woman who used to babysit Melvin took custody of him as a foster parent after everything happened and no one else would step up. But she was old, too old for what was needed. Mack helped. I believe she took sick and died a few years after getting him.”

  “Why didn’t King d.Avid step in to help out?”

  “I guess he didn’t know. You see, this happened around the same time as when those other jokers came in trying to take over King d.Avid’s operation. I’d been pretty effectively cut out of the loop by then. It had gotten to where I couldn’t even see him or get a call through or a call back. When we did finally talk, I told him it was either them or me and that he knew who had his best interests at heart. It was on that day that we both learned he hadn’t gotten any of my messages regarding Jonathan’s death or his funeral.”

  “And still, it looks like he chose them instead of you.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. After a few weeks of nothing being resolved, I made it easy.”

  “You stepped aside. But he didn’t try to talk you out of leaving,” Brianna said.

  “From all of his success now, it looks like he made the right call.” Pearson stood up. “I don’t begrudge him at all. I always wanted the best for him. I’m so proud of him, and I keep him covered in prayer daily. It’s hard out there; you don’t know who to trust. We who love the Lord, and know that our fellow yoke men are doing what they can for the Kingdom of God, must lay aside egos and do whatever we can for one another.

  “King d.Avid is getting the Word of God out in a big way. Lots of folks won’t step foot in a church building, don’t care to read a Bible or a Christian book, can’t sit too long with their eyes open for a sermon, but they’ll sit up, even get up, when music starts. And King d.Avid’s work has crossed over. They’re playing his songs on R&B stations all across this country. King d.Avid is spreading the Gospel of Jesus, reaching a lot of souls. A lot! I can’t be mad at him for that. God is sovereign; God knows what He’s doing.”

  “Well, I definitely love King d.Avid’s music. He has truly blessed my life. I just wish things had turned out differently between you two. If it hadn’t been for you—”

  “Then God would have used someone else. God is not limited to getting what He wants done, how He wants it done, when He wants it done. He’s not.” Pearson beckoned for Brianna to stand up. He hugged her, rocking her as he spoke. “So don’t you worry your pretty little head about any of this. I’m good, King d.Avid’s good, and it looks like your husband is moving on up now in King d.Avid’s concert troop, and that’s good.”

  Brianna pulled back from her grandfather’s embrace. “Hey! Did you happen to have something to do with Unzell getting this job with King d.Avid’s outfit?”

  “Who, me?” Pearson shook his head. “Nah. When I tell you I’m on the outside still, believe me, I’m on the outside. I couldn’t even manage to give you that little special surprise for your sixteenth birthday. You remember how much you wanted to meet King d.Avid? Well, I tried to get you a backstage pass. I couldn’t even get through to him to get that. Now, I’d love to talk with King d.Avid someday, you’d better believe that. If nothing else than to just let him know how proud I am of him. But the people standing between him and the rest of the world don’t intend on letting anyone, especially anyone who truly cares about him, to ever get that close to him. Not if they can possibly help it.”

  “Well, Granddad . . . you never know. We know that God can do the impossible. He can make the crooked places straight. He can do what He wants, when He wants.”

  “Listen to you; standing here preaching the words back to the one who usually preaches these same words to you.” Pearson beamed as he lovingly shook his head at her.

  Brianna also beamed. “You know . . . I love you, Granddad.” She squeezed him.

  He returned the hug with a manly grunt. “Love you, too, baby. I love you, too.”

  Chapter 5

  And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba

  said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of

  Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.

  —2 Samuel 9:4

  King d.Avid read the piece in the December edition of the magazine. He cou
ldn’t believe how much this seven-hundred-word article was affecting him. It was talking about promises and those who’ve truly touched our lives, whether large or small. King d.Avid instantly thought about Jonathan Samuelson.

  He and Jonathan had started out as friends, then formed a singing group. There had been three of them in the group, but it was Jonathan who had encouraged him the most and told him he was definitely going to be big someday, sooner than most folks knew. Sadly, Jonathan didn’t live long enough to see just how great he’d become.

  Jonathan was the one who had insisted on stepping back and allowing him to be the lead singer, even though it was Jonathan’s father who put his time and money into supporting their little group. Jonathan was the one who always had his back, even when it eventually came down to him having to go against his own father. King d.Avid couldn’t help but think about how Jonathan should be here, right now, enjoying some of the fruits that God had blessed him with.

  But Jonathan wasn’t.

  Instead, he’d been killed in a senseless robbery. King d.Avid hadn’t even been told about the death until weeks after the funeral. He’d been furious with those around him for not informing him. Their defense was that they didn’t know it had been important for him to know. King d.Avid felt partly responsible for that; he’d allowed the ones who knew him best to be pushed from his life without a real fight from him. Like his advisor and manager, Pearson Wright, who had given him that ultimatum: “It’s either them or me.”

  King d.Avid had never considered he couldn’t have both: those who believed he could go much farther in his career if he had new blood with new (sometimes polar opposite) ideas, and those who were grounded and seasoned and had been with him practically from the start, and who actually knew him and his calling best.

  But Pearson had decided to make it easy on him and just quit. King d.Avid had considered going after him to convince him to stay. But Vincent Powers, the man who would become his top manager, argued against the weakness he’d be demonstrating in allowing anyone to have that kind of power over him to the point where someone could control him in that way. Still, when King d.Avid allowed Pearson to leave, it seemed everyone he had trusted, and in his inner circle (which was less than a handful of folks), went as well.