Up Pops the Devil

by Angela Benson

“Right. Like that makes a difference. I still say you’re better off staying with your sister.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Preacher said. “Besides, I don’t want to be away from my kids.” Even as he said the words, Preacher knew an equally compelling reason for not staying with his sister was that she still ran their narcotics distribution enterprise. Though they kept it quiet—he hadn’t even told Barnard—he and Loretta were partners. She was his right hand, his backup, and he was hers. Or had been. Now that he was an ex-con, there was no way he could live with her without causing the police to track her as much as they were going to track him. He wanted his sister out of the business, but he didn’t want her to end up in jail because of her association with him. No, he didn’t want her to hit rock bottom before she figured out the path she traveled was a dead-end one. He wanted better for her. He’d have to find a way to convince her to leave the life before she landed in prison like he had, or worse, ended up dead. “I’m fine,” Preacher said again, “and I’ll be fine living in the apartment above the garage.”

  Barnard sighed. “Okay, man,” he said. “You’ve got it all figured out. I’ll just wait with you until Tanya gets here.”

  Preacher shook his head at the skepticism he heard in his friend’s voice. “Have a little faith, man. You can head home. Tanya’s coming.”

  “Serena’s not expecting me until much later,” Barnard said. “She knows you’re getting out today.”

  Preacher tensed at the mention of Barnard’s wife. He had history with Serena, history he was sure Barnard didn’t know about. There were many times Preacher had wanted to tell his friend the full story, but he owed it to Serena to give her the chance to tell her husband first. He’d prayed that she would have by now, and had let her know his wishes in a letter sent to her through Loretta, but he knew she hadn’t and that saddened him. Barnard had been a good friend to him, more than a friend. They’d met through Barnard’s work with his church’s prison ministry. Barnard had handed him a lifeline when Preacher was at the end of his rope. He owed the brother for that and he didn’t like keeping secrets from him.

  “What you thinking about, man?” Barnard asked. “You looked like you were miles away.”

  “Just thinking about life outside these bars. I know I’ve only been in here two years but it feels longer.”

  Barnard merely nodded. One of the things that Preacher liked best about his friend was that he didn’t offer empty platitudes. Barnard had no experience with life on the inside and he didn’t try to pretend he did. What Barnard did have was a genuine compassion for men behind bars—the innocent and the guilty. That compassion was rooted in his heritage—his father had died in prison. So Barnard’s leadership of the prison ministry was truly a labor of love. Under his leadership, Faith Community Church shared the Gospel with inmates, through words and deeds. They held weekly Bible studies and worship services, and they provided reentry counseling and skill-development training to prepare prisoners for their return to life on the outside. It was to the ministry’s credit that partaking of the reentry services did not require participation in the religious services.

  “The only downside I see before me is the two years of probation I have left on my sentence,” Preacher said. “I wish that when I walked out of here I’d be free of the criminal justice system altogether. Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad to be getting out. I know I could have gotten a straight four-year prison sentence. It’s just that I don’t look forward to the Department of Probations looking over my shoulder for a full two years. I’ll make it through though. With God’s help.”

  “You’re right about that. You bet you will. I know we didn’t have Bible study today, but why don’t we take some time to pray while we wait for Tanya?”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Preacher said.

  The two big men dropped to their knees and bowed their heads in prayer. The library door opened a short while later as they were saying their amens.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” G-Money said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

  “No problem,” Preacher said to the young man he’d come to look on as a little brother. G-Money was a small time gangstawannabe doing his second prison stint. Preacher feared for his future, but the brother wasn’t yet ready for salvation.

  G-Money looked from Preacher to Barnard and back again. He moved closer to Preacher. “I wanna talk to you ’bout sum’thin’.” He cast another glance at Barnard and added, “Private like.”

  Preacher looked at Barnard and both men smiled. G-Money didn’t like Barnard. Preacher thought he might be afraid of the big man and what he represented. “Go on home, man,” Preacher said to Barnard. “G-Money’ll keep me company until Tanya gets here.”

  Barnard clapped Preacher on the back and then left him and G-Money alone. As soon as the door closed behind him, G-Money said, “You were set up, man, and I know who did it.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Unlike Loretta, Tanya knew there was a God and she sincerely believed he had a warped sense of humor. How else could she explain having to deal with her mother and Loretta on the same day? Heaven knew the only reason she was visiting her mother was Loretta’s command that she take the boys with her when she went to pick up Preacher at the prison.

  Getting out of the Acura in her mother’s driveway—she didn’t dare show up at the prison later in either the Porsche or the Benz and have Preacher throw a hissy fit—she pulled back her shoulders in preparation for dealing with Momma Maylene. As she walked up the concrete walkway from the drive, she couldn’t help but reflect on how far both she and her mother had come. From Perry “ain’t you never seen a ghetto” Homes in southwest Atlanta to Wyndham “mecca of middle-class working blacks” Park in southwest DeKalb County, Maylene and her daughter-with-an-attitude had made the leap that few of their ilk made. Tanya didn’t want to dwell on how long the trip had taken or the sacrifices it had required.

  She rang the bell—she’d long ago given back her key—and waited. Maylene’s laughter beat her to the door, but her smile faded when she saw Tanya. “What do you want?”

  Tanya frowned to mask the hurt. “Nice to see you, too, Momma,” she said, brushing past her mother and coming into the house.

  Maylene closed the door and followed her. “Don’t get smart with me, missy,” she told her daughter who had plopped down on the blue leather couch in the family room. “All I’m saying is I didn’t expect you.”

  Tanya cut a glance up at her momma. Looking at her hurt, because Tanya knew she was seeing herself in twenty years. Maylene was still a good-looking woman, no doubt, but she’d lost the battle to keep away those twenty extra pounds that seemed so determined to become a permanent resident on her body. The extra weight she saw on her mother didn’t cause Tanya the pain, however. No, the pain came from the hardness in her mother’s face, a hardness that came from living a hard life and being defeated by too many dreams gone wrong. Tanya didn’t want that for herself, but every time she looked at her mother, she knew she was looking at her destiny. “I’ve come to get the boys,” she said, deciding not to play games with her mother.

  “You just brought them here yesterday. I thought you were going to pick up Wilford.”

  Tanya smiled at her mother’s use of Preacher’s real name. “I know that, Momma, but I’ve changed my mind. Preacher’s going to throw a fit if they’re not with me and I’m not up for the fight.”

  Maylene bobbed her head from side to side. “I don’t believe you, Tanya. How can you take those boys around that criminal?”

  Here we go again. “He’s their father, Momma, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Maylene said with a huff. “You don’t forget when your daughter is fool enough to get pregnant by a drug dealer. How could you do it, Tanya?” She brushed her hand down her daughter’s long dark brown hair. “You could have had any man you wanted. Why him?”

  Tanya leaned slightly into her mother’s touch. It was so rare for Maylene t
o show affection. “It’s too late to look back now, Momma. What’s done is done. Don’t you love your grandkids?”

  Maylene dropped her hand. “Of course, I love those boys. More than anything in the world. That’s why I want more for them and you than a drug-dealing ex-convict. You’re a beautiful woman, Tanya. You can find another man, a better man than that drug dealer.”

  “Stop calling him a drug dealer,” Tanya said. “One day you’re going to say that in front of the wrong person.”

  “Please,” Maylene said. “Everybody knows now. There’s no use trying to keep it a secret. That prison record will brand him for the rest of his days. And you, too, if you stick with him. I don’t even want to think what that stigma is going to do to my grandbabies.”

  Feeling a headache coming on, Tanya rubbed her forehead. Between her mother and Loretta, she knew she was going to have a zinger of one pretty soon. “I don’t want to argue about this with you, Momma. I just want to pick up the boys.”

  “Aren’t you listening to me, Tanya? Sometimes I wonder if you aren’t a bit slow in the head. Didn’t you learn anything from the way things worked out between me and your daddy?”

  Tanya jumped up from the couch. She didn’t want this lecture again. “Where are the boys?”

  Maylene stood, too, and since they were the same height, the two women faced eye to eye. “You have to use them before they use you, Tanya. You’ve got a bad habit of hanging around too long. You did with that broken-down basketball player, T.J., and now you’re doing it with Wilford. You need to get out of this relationship now, while you’re still young and you’ve got your looks. There are other men out there who can give you the kind of life you deserve, a life with money and status. You’ve only had money with Wilford and that may be gone now. Get out before it’s too late.”

  Tanya wished she hadn’t come over here. While her mother’s tirade was nothing new, the words stuck with Tanya because there was always some truth to what she said. The biggest truth for Tanya was that Preacher wasn’t going to have anywhere near the kind of money going forward as he had in the past. Loretta was picking up the slack now, but Tanya didn’t expect that to continue forever. Momma Maylene didn’t have to worry about Tanya sticking with a man who couldn’t support her at the level to which she’d become accustomed. She’d come too far up to even think about going one step down. She looked at her watch. “I hear you, Momma. Now tell me where the boys are. We’re going to be late if I don’t get a move on.”

  Maylene sighed but she gave Tanya the information she wanted.

  “Amen,” Barnard whispered when he entered his home later that evening. He’d spent the two-hour drive from Jackson State Correctional Institute in Jackson, Georgia, praying for Preacher. The brother had a heart for God but he was ignorant to the challenges he was going to face as he began to live his new life around people who knew the old Preacher, especially his sister and his girlfriend, the people closest to him. Barnard had no idea what the women were going to do, but from what little Preacher had told him about them, Barnard didn’t think they were going to fall easily into Preacher’s plans for a godly marriage and family. He prayed the Lord would prepare Preacher’s heart for the worst even as he prayed for the best.

  “I’m home,” Barnard called as he followed his nose toward the smells of the kitchen.

  His wife’s “I’m in the kitchen” made Barnard smile. Try as she might, Serena was not a very good cook. He prayed for spaghetti because she did a pretty good job with that dish.

  “I smell you,” he called. Her answering laughter made his smile widen. “Hi, you,” he said when he entered the kitchen.

  She smiled back. She walked toward him and lifted her mouth for his kiss. “Hi, yourself.”

  He leaned down, way down—his wife was a petite five foot three—and kissed her. “Missed you,” he said when he lifted his head.

  She folded her arms around his waist and pressed another soft kiss against his lips. “Missed you, too.”

  Holding her in his arms, he said, “You make a man want to come home.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Barnard read the uncertainty in her eyes and her voice, and his heart ached. “I love you,” he said. “I’ll always love you.” That was true. Barnard had loved Serena since the day his sister had introduced him to her. A bit of a thing, especially when compared to his hulking body, Serena had fit him perfectly in all areas that mattered. Well, almost all. They’d both been raised in strong Christian families, he and Natalie with their mother and stepfather; Serena with her preacher father and housewife mother. Thus, they both shared the same basic Christian values. They both loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him and His people. Marriage had been a foregone conclusion long before he’d found the courage to propose. But their marriage had not been perfect.

  “I love you, too,” she said. “You know that, don’t you?”

  Sometimes I wonder. “I know,” he said, rubbing his hand across her back in a gesture of comfort. He knew she was apologizing for their latest argument and everything else that was wrong between them, but he didn’t want words now; he too wanted comfort. He pulled her close again and kissed her more deeply. After a refreshing drink from her mouth, he lifted his lips from hers and began to press soft kisses along her neck. Oh, how he desired this woman he loved! “Let’s go to bed,” he whispered between kisses. At his suggestion, he felt her stiffen in his arms, an act that almost brought him to tears.

  “What about dinner?” she asked, her voice a feeble plea to be left alone.

  He pushed back the disappointment he felt. “I’m only hungry for you,” he whispered. “It’s been so long, Serena, too long.” He pressed his lips against hers again trying hard to sustain his passion. When he felt his wife’s less than enthusiastic response, he lost the battle and his passion died as quickly as it had flared. He lifted his lips from hers and pressed her face into his chest. He couldn’t bear to look at the tears that he knew filled her eyes.

  “I love you,” she said again after a few moments.

  Barnard shut his eyes in pain. “I know,” he said.

  She leaned back and waited until his eyes were open. “Is love enough?” Her eyes pleaded with him to answer in the affirmative.

  “I love you, too,” he said, “so it has to be.”

  He knew he’d given the wrong answer when she stepped out of his embrace with a wobbly smile. “I guess,” she said, returning to the stove. “Did you eat anything?”

  So they weren’t going to talk about the elephant in the room. He guessed he could table it for now, since it would surely come up again and soon. “No, I didn’t eat. I stayed at the prison longer than I expected, since Tanya was late coming to get Preacher. So late that I thought she wasn’t coming. Preacher never gave up on her though. I have to give the brother credit for using his faith.”

  “You sound worried,” Serena said, as she mixed salad greens in a big wooden bowl. “Something wrong with Preacher?”

  “Not Preacher,” he said. “Tanya.”

  “Say no more,” Serena said. She placed a small salad bowl on the table before him and one at her place setting. “From what you’ve told me, I don’t think she’s going to be much support to Preacher in his walk with the Lord.”

  “No, I don’t think she will. I just don’t want her to be a hindrance. Preacher’s pinning a lot of his hopes on building a family with this woman. They have the kids already and he plans to make it legal in hopes that one day he’ll have the godly family he so desperately wants.”

  Serena didn’t say anything. The elephant had reared its head. “You like him a lot, don’t you?” she asked.

  Barnard nodded. “Yeah, I do. We’re alike in a lot of ways. A couple of different decisions in my life and I could be in prison. A couple of different decisions in his life and he could be the one directing the prison ministry.”

  “But for the grace of God…”

  “Yes,” he said, “but for the grace of God. Y
ou know, we haven’t talked a lot about this but I’d like for us to be as much support to Preacher as we can. Do you think you can reach out to Tanya?”

  Anything but that, Serena screamed inside. Just talking about Preacher was hard enough. “I don’t know, Barnard. Do you really think it’s a good idea for us to go crowding around them?”

  “I’m not talking about taking the whole church over there. Maybe we could start by inviting them to dinner. We’re two young couples. We’re bound to have some common interests. I’m going to ask Natalie to try and befriend his sister. They’re two young single women; they’re bound to have something in common.”

  Serena brought their plates of spaghetti to the table and took a seat next to her husband. “We’ll see,” she said. “But not this Sunday. I’ve invited Natalie and the new guy she’s seeing to dinner after church on Sunday. That is, if he comes with her to church.”

  “New guy? I didn’t know Natalie was seeing anybody.”

  “Exactly. That’s why I’m inviting them over. She’s being secretive about this guy and it makes me nervous. She did say, though, that she’d asked him about participating in the prison jobs program. He owns the dealership where Natalie bought her car.”

  “Good,” Barnard said, with an idle nod that told Serena he didn’t share her concern about Natalie’s new relationship. “I’ll make a point to follow up with her about the jobs program contact. If he joins, that’ll tell us a little about his character.”

  Serena nodded her agreement, deciding not to push the issue, and then Barnard blessed the food and they began to eat.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Barnard said a while later. When she looked up at him with a question in her gaze, he said, “Inviting Preacher and his girlfriend to dinner, I mean. It’s nonthreatening. We’d get a chance to know them as a couple.”

  Since Serena couldn’t think of a legitimate objection, she nodded her assent. They ate quietly for a few minutes before Barnard spoke again. “You know they have two boys—four and six, I think. We should probably include them in the invitation. I don’t think Preacher’s going to want to spend too much time away from his kids.”