Good to Me

by LaTonya Mason

  She sat up in bed. “I-hiiiii,” she sipped. “No, baby, this is it. Thank you.”

  “I’m getting ready to run some errands. Do you need anything while I’m out?”

  “Where are you going?”

  A scowl came across his face. “Momma, do you need anything?”

  “I ain’t trying to be in your business. I was just asking where you were going so I wouldn’t have you going out of your way.”

  He gave her the same look he gave Dr. Metcalf, letting her know he was not convinced. “I’m taking Shawanda to Wal-Mart and then we’re taking Destiny to that McDonald’s with the indoor playground.”

  “Umph. I don’t know what you see in that little bald-headed girl, and her little ugly baby—”

  “Ma, do you want something from Wal-Mart or McDonald’s?”

  “Boy, get your draws out of your butt. You weren’t that protective over your own wife, and you gone disrespect me for a floozie.”

  “I’m sorry, Ma—”

  “Now, I appreciate you taking care of me but you are not going to treat me any kind of way in my own house. If you gone disrespect me, don’t even call me Momma, just call me Elaine.” She put her hand over her chest.

  “Momma, are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” He saw a tear slide down her cheek. ”I just hate being a burden to you. You don’t deserve a sickly mother. I just wish I would go on to glory so you wouldn’t have to take care of me. I know you would move out on your own if I weren’t so sick, wouldn’t you?”

  He didn’t know how to respond and thought carefully before he spoke. “Momma, don’t talk like that. You’re not a burden to me. I’m your oldest son and all you have, why wouldn’t I take care of you?” He wiped her tear and brought the bottle of medication she asked for. He watched her chase down the anti-anxiety pills with Pepsi. He stayed with her until he felt comfortable leaving. And that was not until an hour and a half later, when she’d fallen asleep.

  He left the house angry, feeling the same way he had when he and Charity were together. He had chosen his mother over his relationship again. Shawanda was going to be pissed at him for not answering his cell phone, or returning her messages over the past two hours. He psyched himself up to face her. She would just have to understand that his mother is sick and needs him. If she can’t understand that, then she can do just what Charity did, leave me alone. Don’t make me no never mind.

  Charity thought about her session with Mr. Wright and laughed. He completed the homework assignment she’d given him. The three black women he could positively relate to were Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox, and Queen Latifah. He said that he had always been impressed by their roles in the movie Set It Off. If she didn’t know any better she would swear that he’d stopped taking his medications. He seemed to be tired today. He didn’t have too much to say and he wasn’t as grandiose as he had been on Monday. “That man is crazy,” she mused. As well educated as he seemed, Charity thought that he would have identified at least one historical black female. Charity flipped to the front of his chart to see where he worked. He was the owner of Wright Away Auto Detailing. She pretended to shiver. I wouldn’t let that man touch my car with a ten-foot pole.

  Chapter 16

  THE MAILROOM EMPLOYEE was looking strangely at Joseph. He waved at her. He knew that she’d seen more of him in the past week than she had in the two years he’d been there.

  “It’s Friday, Nelson. I know you’re expecting something from the courts,” a petite black woman with fat goddess braids said from behind the counter.

  “Oh yes,” he quipped. “All the time. I’m expecting my immediate release any day now.”

  “I knew it had to be something because you’ve been here every day this week. You usually only come once or twice.”

  He considered her comment and made a mental note to change his routine. He hated to be predictable. When he got to his mailbox, he retrieved a small pile. He shuffled past a musical instruments catalog, a brochure from the correspondence Bible college he was enrolled in, and a few letters. When he read the return address on an ivory linen envelope, he thrust his right arm out and pulled it back in, “Yes!”

  The mailroom clerk ran around to where he was. “You got it? You got your papers?”

  He chuckled. Even though he mostly spoke by faith, he was amazed that people trusted what he said. “No, ma’am.” He held up the envelope. “This isn’t from the courts, but it’s just as good.”

  “You’re a good man, Nelson. I ain’t never seen you down. Even when you didn’t get what you were expecting, you’re satisfied with what you got.”

  “That’s because I serve a mighty God.”

  Joseph was so into reading Minister Phillips’s letter that he stood in the same spot until he was done. He waved good-bye to the mailroom clerk as he raced to the weight room to meet his friends.

  “Allen! Hankins! I told you!” he yelled across the room. He was frantically waving the letter in the air. “She wrote back.”

  Allen dismounted the stationary bike and wiped his brow with the white washcloth he took from the waist of his gray sweatpants. Hankins finished his last set of sit-ups before he got off the mat. Joseph’s grin was so wide that his friends grinned with him. “I told you man,” he declared. “God is awesome. It ain’t nothing He won’t do for those who seek Him.”

  Allen took the letter from him.

  “Read it out loud,” Hankins demanded.

  Allen cleared his throat. “Dear Minister Nelson. I wanted to promptly acknowledge your letter and thank you for your kind words about ‘I Have No Man.’ It was definitely the Spirit of God who encouraged and blessed you through the article. Thank you so much for encouraging me. Keep reading Today’s Gospel, perhaps we will meet again in its pages. Stay blessed as I will keep you in my prayers. Minister Charity Phillips.”

  Joseph folded his arms in suspense as he waited for his friends’ response. Allen looked as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just read.

  “Man, I’m in awe,” Allen said, shaking his head. “This has kicked my faith up another notch.”

  Hankins reached for the letter. “Forgive my doubt and unbelief. I gotta read this for myself.”

  Joseph stood there basking like he’d just performed in a major production. “I told y’all. Just because we’re in here doesn’t mean that God has forgotten about us. He cares about us and even our smallest desires. While this letter ain’t but five sentences, she wrote back.”

  Allen was still shaking his head when he took Joseph’s hand and laid it on his head. “Man, lay hands on me so that anointing can rub off on me.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  Chapter 17

  “HEY, MR. WRIGHT,” Iesha called as he was coming into the suite. “You’re right on time. Charity’s still in session.”

  He looked at the office clock. “How much time do I have?”

  “About an hour. We’re just going down to the courtyard for lunch.”

  “All right. I need to go ahead and get started.” He handed her a duplicate form. “Fill this top part out for me. This is the invoice.”

  Iesha looked at the form. “This is for Charity. Should I put her address on it or mine?”

  “Put hers on there. I use the addresses to send my customers coupons and other special promotions.”

  Iesha considered writing a fake address but she could not think of one, and he needed to leave before Charity uncovered their secret. “Here you go. How much do I owe you?”

  “Since it’s a surprise and it’s for my therapist, I’ll do the car for forty dollars.”

  “You know she drives an Explorer?”

  “It’s still forty dollars. You got the keys?”

  She had to lie to Charity to get her keys. Iesha told her she thought that she lost her earring in the Explorer on Monday when Charity drove her to the school. She reached under the desk to get her purse. Mr. Wright gave her the top yellow copy of the form and he took t
he pink copy. She gave him Charity’s keys, paid him the money, and shooed him off. She heard Charity coming down the hall, talking to her client.

  Iesha threw her purse under the desk and pretended she was looking for something on the floor.

  “Iesha?” Charity called.

  She rolled her chair back and sat up. “I’m right here. I dropped my pen.” She lifted her pen for Charity and her client to see.

  “Will you check Ms. Rutledge out and book her again in two weeks?”

  “I got it.”

  “Ms. Rutledge, you take care. I’ll see you in two weeks.”

  Charity walked back to her office.

  “Don’t take too long back there,” Iesha called after her. “I’m hungry.”

  They ordered from Schlotsky’s and sat down to eat. Charity blessed the food.

  “Charity, have I told you lately that I like working for you?”

  Charity smiled. “No, but I’m glad you do. Have I told you lately that I like having you work with me?”

  “No, but I’m glad you do.”

  They both giggled, ate, and talked about everything that came to mind. Charity remembered to tell Iesha to watch for Emmitt’s package, which should arrive on Monday, and talked about going to the banquet with Minister Adams that night. Iesha talked about being nervous about her date with Wallace. Somehow the subject turned to Harmony.

  “I see you and Harmony are getting along better.”

  Iesha raised her eyebrows and nodded her head. “Yeah, pretty much. She turned out to be cool.”

  “See. You have to get to know people. You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

  “Oh, I still think the sister is a little out there, but at least she knows when to come back to earth. Literally.”

  Charity laughed. “You’re silly. I like Harmony. Once you get past her earthiness, you’ll find that she’s really a wise woman.”

  “How in the world did y’all two hook up?”

  “I met her at a counselors’ conference about two years ago. We were in a session where we had to split up in groups, and she and I were assigned to the same group. I learned so much about myself in that one group we were in. During one of our assignments I shared my goal about opening a private practice and she encouraged me to do it. So I told her if I ever did I would look her up. Voila!”

  “Girl, I done told you about that West-side French you speak.” Iesha finished the first half of her club sandwich. “Y’all’s meeting sound like a divine intervention.”

  “I’d say so.”

  “Do you think she’s really saved, though?”

  “Yes or she wouldn’t be at Horizons. I don’t care how good of a counselor I thought she was, if she was not saved she wouldn’t be here. I will not be unequally yoked with anybody. That’s why Emmitt and I are not together.”

  “I was just asking because Terrence said that reading horoscopes is wrong and she was reading them on Tuesday.”

  Charity could feel the wrinkles in her forehead. “Oh yeah, we don’t play that. That’s witchcraft.” Charity thought back to Tuesday to see if she could remember anything significant. Then she remembered the staff meeting, her prayer, and Harmony’s coughing. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself and deal with Harmony in her own way.

  Charity motioned for Iesha to turn around to see who was standing behind her.

  “Wallace!” she gasped. “I was just telling my sister about our date tonight.”

  He held out his hand for Charity to shake. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

  “Hi, I’m Charity,” she greeted. She continued eating in attempts to ignore the two of them acting like kids with high school crushes on each other. When Wallace left, Charity encouraged her sister. “He seems nice and he’s nice looking. Does he work in Present Day?”

  “Yes, his office is upstairs. He’s a financial analyst.”

  “Now I know where to find you when you ain’t around.” She looked at her watch. “Are you about ready?”

  Iesha looked at her watch. “Oh no. We have a few more minutes. I have a surprise being done for you. It should be ready by the time we get back.”

  “Uhhh. What is it?”

  “A surprise.”

  “Give me a clue.”

  “Okay, just one. You were complaining about how dirty it was the other day.”

  Charity looked confused. “Let’s see. What do I have that’s dirty? Momma’s mouth?”

  “You better not let your momma hear you say that. But that’s not it.”

  “My house?”

  “Nope.”

  “Dirty? I can’t think of anything.”

  “That’s ’cause you a neat freak.”

  “I give up.”

  “Okay.”

  “Huh!” Charity inhaled with her mouth wide open. “I know what it is. My nasty car!?!”

  “You got it.”

  Charity looked even more confused. “What’s being done to it?”

  “I have one of those traveling auto detailers cleaning it in the parking lot.”

  “That’s expensive. This man was going to charge me a hundred and fifty dollars. Did you get a good deal?”

  “Get all outta my business.”

  “Thank you, thank you,” she said as dramatically as a contestant being crowned Miss America.

  “What company is doing it?”

  “You’re not going to believe it.” Iesha leaned in closer. “I hired Wright Away Auto Detailing.”

  The name sounded familiar to Charity. She thought for a moment. “Oh my God. Iesha please tell me that’s not Jeffrey Wright’s company.”

  “What?”

  Charity threw the used napkins and straw wrapper onto her tray and stood to take it to the trash can. “Oh my God. Girl, let’s get out of here. Just tell me he doesn’t have my keys.”

  Iesha’s mind was racing so fast, she couldn’t answer or speak. She just followed behind Charity who was visibly upset.

  “I’m sorry, Cherry. I was just—”

  “Is there any chance you gave him my address?”

  The tears Iesha shed were all the answer Charity needed. She left Iesha standing there sobbing, and like a mother looking for her lost child she ran back to Horizons. Harmony was at the front desk when Charity entered. Harmony had a confused look on her face. Seconds later, Iesha came through the door.

  “Charity, your patient Jeffrey Wright came by, but he was looking for Iesha.” Harmony opened Iesha’s top drawer on her desk and fetched Charity’s keys. “Iesha, he told me to give you these keys and let you know that he’s all done with your car. I know you didn’t hire him to work on your car.”

  “I didn’t know…”

  Charity took the keys from Harmony before she turned to go to her office. She heard Harmony tell Iesha, “Honey, you never hire a client. I don’t care what profession you’re in. And you never give a serviceman your whole set of keys. Didn’t you hear about that woman who went to have her car repaired and gave them her whole set of keys? They made a copy of her house key and broke into her house and raped and killed her.”

  Charity stormed off to her office. Since no crime had been committed she couldn’t call the police, but she could, however, call a locksmith.

  Minister Adams would arrive in thirty minutes to pick up Charity, but she still wasn’t ready. She’d left work to wait at home for a locksmith who’d told her that he’d be there at 3:00. That was an hour and a half ago. The first two locksmiths she called were booked through Monday. She wished she had called Minister Adams earlier and canceled, but she didn’t want to disappoint Angel and Guy, the directors of the Grace House. She justified that going to the banquet would probably do her some good and take her mind off things.

  “Lord, Psalm 127 says that unless You build the house, the laborers work in vain and unless You keep the city the watchmen stay awake in vain. God, I have no choice but to trust You. Keep my boundaries intact, Father, as You have promised. I bind up the works of the enemy and re
buke fear in the name of Jesus. I call my house, my son, and myself safe. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.” In attempts to keep a positive attitude she kidded herself, “At least I don’t have to drive tonight.” She’d felt violated earlier driving home from work in her sports utility vehicle.

  The doorbell interrupted her race against time to get dressed. She was grateful that Minister Adams was twenty minutes late. She limped to the door with one shoe on and the other in her hand. “Hello,” she greeted. She stepped to the side and ushered him in with the shoe in her outstretched hand. “Come on in. Let me get my jacket and purse.”

  She turned to walk away. He gently grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into him for an apologetic one-armed hug. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I was held up at the shop.”

  She pushed herself away. “That’s okay. I needed the extra time.” She hoped she didn’t offend him, but she really wasn’t in the mood to be around anyone.

  He pulled a corsage of white roses from behind his back. “I was held up at the florist shop buying this for you.”

  Her lips spread into a sincere smile. She sighed. “Ohhh. You’re so sweet. Thank you. I needed this; today’s been one of those days.”

  “You’re welcome.” He followed her instructions to sit while she went to another room to gather her belongings.

  “Are you ready?” Charity returned to find him with his arms sprawled across the back of her sofa and his feet on her coffee table. He was acting like he lived there. His making direct eye contact with her as he stood caused Charity to drop her gaze.

  “I was born ready for this moment.” He held out his arm for her to take and they walked to his car arm in arm.

  The ride began uncomfortably silent. “You look very nice,” she said in an attempt to make conversation.

  He sighed. “I’m sorry.” He looked over at her and then back to the road. “In my thoughts I have told you over and over how beautiful you are, and how lovely you look tonight, but I failed to say it out loud. You look extraordinary.”

  “Thank you, Minister—”

  “It’s okay for you to call me Michael.”