by Nikki Turner
* * *
It had been one of the most peaceful nights Chase Dugan had spent since the crucial spike in crime had started a few months ago. With what seemed like everyone and their mother on his back, he was happy to just get some much-needed rest and relaxation. He’d turned his cell on silent and plugged it up on the far side of the room the moment he arrived home. Chase didn’t care how many times he saw the bright light blink in the darkness. The exhausted officer refused to get out of his bed. He just turned over and pulled the blanket up over his head.
Feeling refreshed, he wanted to call Simone and invite her to breakfast but decided to just drive over to her house to surprise her. After getting dressed, he stopped by the local Walmart and grabbed a small bouquet of flowers. With the flowers resting on the passenger seat, he then swung by a coffee shop and picked her up a large cup of gourmet brew, hoping she liked his choice. Excited to see Simone, he turned down her street hoping he was doing the right thing by just dropping by unannounced. Parking in front of her house, he noticed Simone’s car was parked in the driveway. Smiling, he got out of the car and headed up the walkway. As he stood knocking on the door, a longtime neighbor peeked out from behind her living room curtain. Giving the older woman a smile and nod, she soon opened her front door asking who he was looking for. “Yes, hello, miss. Good morning. I’m here for Simone Banks.”
“Oh, Simone, okay then.” She seemed relieved and finally returned his greeting and smile. “I thought you might’ve been lurking around here for Ginger. You know, one of them.”
Detective Dugan didn’t know exactly what the older woman meant, but assumed whatever it was, it was no near next to being nice. “Yes, I brought her some flowers and coffee.”
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you, but they went to church not too long ago. I would’ve went to, but my leg been bothering me.” The neighbor was getting more personal than he wanted to be.
Cutting the obviously lonely woman’s impromptu pity-party conversation short, the detective asked her the name of the church Simone attended just to make sure. He kinda remembered Walter, the wicked brother-in-law, throwing the name up when he and Simone were arguing. However, keeping the two estranged family members from actually coming to blows was more important at that time than focusing on the name of the church. After verifying the name and location, Chase was on his way with flowers and a now ice-cold coffee in tow. It will be just wonderful to see her beautiful face before heading in to work. Hope she likes ice coffee.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Gazing out into the many faces of his congregation, Pastor Street greeted them once again as he’d done at the entrance. “Good morning, everyone. Praises be to all and welcome to the sacred house of the Lord. It’s good to be here, alive and living life the way God intended for us to be.” Terrified with each passing word, Pastor Street could not help from allowing his eyes to zoom in on Ginger. Trying his best to submerge his thoughts into the order of service, he kept seeing Ginger nod seemingly in agreement with every statement he was making.
As time ticked on, another song was sung by the choir, a special collection for the senior citizens was taken, and then Sister Katrina took center stage to give the revenue report, as well as the church announcements. In a tight-fitting and scantily clad attire, as always, she made sure to wink at Pastor Street, who was strangely sweating bullets in the cool, air-conditioned sanctuary. One by one, she read off items listed in the programs that were truly of no great importance to most of the bored parishioners. Just before she was about to yield the podium to the pastor to open the doors of the church for any new prospective members, Ginger stood from his seat. Standing in the front row, he smoothly turned to the rest of the congregation. With a taste for pure, uncut ignorance, he stated he had an announcement of praise and a testimony that he was burning to share. Pastor Street jumped to his feet in protest, telling Ginger that what he wanted to do was not listed in the program and highly irregular to do in the middle of the service.
“I’m sorry, Pastor Street, but if I don’t say what I want to say, I might just burst. I mean, I’m so thankful for everything that you’ve done for me over the past few days.” Ginger was acting all female as he placed his hand over the center of his chest, blushing. “I’ve never been so touched by a man at no time. I mean, you really have showed me that there are still good people left in this cruel world we live in.”
Shaking in his shoes, Pastor Street wanted to run over and put a gag in Ginger’s mouth to stop his chatter. “Please, Mr. Banks,” he begged with his eyes locking with Ginger’s. “Maybe we can speak about this at a much later date.”
“No, Pastor. I would be less than a good Christian if I didn’t share my good news with everyone here!”
Katrina, like everyone else, was anxious to know exactly what Pastor Street had done to change Ginger’s life so drastically. Maybe one of his condemning-of-homosexual-behavior sermons was the reason longtime member Mildred Banks’s cross-dressing grandson was now decked out in men’s clothing. And if that was indeed the case, the majority of the parishioners were now wide awake, perched on the edge of the wooden mahogany-stained pews awaiting confirmation of that miracle.
“Let him speak,” was one outcry from the crowd, followed by another.
“Yes, testify, Brother; speak your truth!”
Not to be outdone or not seen, Katrina finally spoke out, also asking for Ginger, who, even dressed as a woman, outshined her, to say whatever it was he had to say. “Please tell us what Pastor Street did to change your life for the good. We’re all dying to know, Ginger. I’m sorry. I mean Gene,” she sarcastically remarked while rolling her eyes to the top of her head.
“Okay, everyone. Well, you all know my grandmother, Mildred Banks. She was here serving the Lord in this very building before Pastor Jasper went on to glory and Pastor Street took over. She was a fixture in this church until God chose fit to call her home, right up there in the very spot our beloved pastor is standing in,” Ginger pointed up toward the elevated stage.
“Please don’t. Not now,” he pleaded with Ginger, once more not knowing what Ginger was going to do or say next. The beads of sweat turned into a shower that couldn’t stop dripping off his head. He was in utter desperation for someone to stop this madness. As wrong as it was, he was contemplating faking a heart attack to put a halt to Ginger’s declaration.
Ginger grinned, taking great satisfaction in watching the otherwise smart-mouthed preacher squirm. Matter of fact, it was almost the same way he squirmed when Ginger had his tongue buried knee-deep into his Bible-toting ass. “No, no, Pastor Street. Everyone needs to know just how generous and fair-minded you can be. I mean, you blessed me and my sisters, and for that, we will be forever grateful. These fine people should know what you did and follow in your footsteps, to always conduct themselves in a godly manner as a good Christian should do.”
Pastor Street’s eyebrows rose. He was scared to ask what Ginger was talking about, so he motioned for some of the men from the deacon’s board to calmly try to escort Ginger out the side door or into his office so that they could speak in private. “We will speak later, Mr. Banks. You have my word.” Hoping the deacon board members could strong-arm him out without another word slipping from his evil mouth was a far cry from a miracle taking place.
“No no no. I need to get this out,” Ginger protested. He pulled back from one of the deacon’s loose grip. “My grandmother was confused in her last days. She was sick and didn’t even know it. Well, during her brief but deadly illness, she signed over our family home to the Faith and Hope Ministry and Pastor Cassius Street. But last night, thank God, the good pastor graciously blessed the Banks family by agreeing to sign that property back to us free and clear. He’s truly a vessel for the Lord, isn’t he?”
Letting his greed take over his common sense, Pastor Street protested Ginger’s claim, praying at the same time that his dirty little secret would not be exposed. “Well . . . That’s not exactly true. I did offer
to sell them back the property, but we haven’t come to terms as of yet. Like I said before, Mr. Banks, we can discuss this later. All this gratitude is truly unnecessary.”
Like watching a soap-opera plot slowly unfold, the attentive congregation needed popcorn along with a full glass of communion wine for what was going to come next out of Ginger’s mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry, Pastor. I thought when I spent the night with you, the terms were discussed.”
“Spent the night? What?” Katrina leaped to her feet, followed by several other women he’d slept with.
Simone hadn’t muttered a single solitary word during the whole service. After texting Bunny back that Ginger was about to go ham, she kept her head down focused on her cell. Even when Ginger and Pastor Street started to go back and forth, she stayed with her fingers tapping away on the screen of the phone.
Ginger sucked his teeth and rolled his neck in flaming true diva style. Snapping his fingers, he went on to give his tainted testimony. “Yes, child. Me and him spent the night in his office doing the do.” He laughed at Katrina and all the other women seemingly outraged about the announcement. “And y’all already know and can tell from the way he prances around this stage, this brother can put on one hellava show when he wants to. The sex was definitely all of that! Believe me!”
“Cassius! Say it’s not true! Say something!” Katrina shouted, wanting to know if what this cross-dressing freak was saying was indeed true or not.
As the rest of the people shook their heads in stunned disbelief and were totally speechless, some of the preacher’s loyal followers tried to put a muzzle on the accusations Ginger was making. Physically having to be restrained from the small but fiery protective group of prayer warriors, Ginger stood by his statements spewing even more words of his brutal truth. “I’m sorry if you all think this dude is anything more than a sheisty con man running game on all you silly-ass women. He’s been playing all of you for fools. And all you men who think your wives are safe and he’s just giving them a little bit of one-on-one Bible Study sessions when you’re at work slaving away to make ends meet—think again. You dummies out punching the clock, and he punching your wives’ cat with his manhood.”
Pastor Street’s pride was damaged, but he still managed to try to stand tall and deny Ginger’s awful claims of his vile sins and him breaking every one of the Ten Commandments. “You are nothing more than an abomination against mankind and Almighty God. You think you can come into this sacred sanctuary and defile my name? You are nothing more than a liar and a bearer of false witness. You already have signed a pact with the underworld and sold yourself to the devil! You are nothing more than a freak of nature; an extremely confused, worthless human being. Walking around town, and worse than that, coming through the doors of this church violating his Holy Word!” Pastor Street was sweating up a storm. Putting on a performance of a lifetime, he condemned Ginger, Simone, Bunny, Tallhya, and even the church’s beloved lifetime supporter, deceased Mother Mildred Banks, for condoning Ginger/Gene’s wicked ways and disgusting lifestyle. “People like you should be thrown in an open dirt pit and burned alive! Amen! Get this abomination out of our church!”
Ginger’s skin was extra thick. He’d learned a long time ago to let other people’s opinions of him and his lifestyle choice roll off his back. Labeled “different” since birth, Ginger had been picked on as a small child growing up on the block. And maliciously ridiculed by his own mother for behaving too girlie. Called a sissy in grammar school and a fag in junior high, by the time the bullied youth reached puberty and had become a teenager, wearing lip gloss and his sisters’ panties were second nature to him. Going against the grain, Gene officially became Ginger at his senior prom when he showed up proudly decked out in an above-the-knee powder-blue lace-and-satin skintight dress with a long chiffon train. Arm in arm with his date, Charles, he had no shame then or now. He felt whoever had a problem with him just had a problem. He wasn’t going to change who he was for anyone . . . even for the sake of God.
“Look, Cassius,” Ginger said his name like he meant it, “like I told you the other morning when we woke up, don’t let this butter-smooth skin and pretty face fool you. I will wear your self-hating ass out! I told you about coming for me.”
Pastor Street was not giving up without a fight. He’d built too much of a money-getting venture up to just walk away with his tail tucked between his legs. “Okay, Ginger or Gene or whatever you want to call yourself. You need to stop all these false, slanderous things you’re saying before I decide to lose my religion and press charges. You are nothing but the devil right out in the open!”
Ginger had just about enough of being accused of being a liar and the devil, being a fag and an abomination from a first-class hypocrite. It was time for this so-called man of God that specialized in bringing judgment against others to be judged. “Nigga that hides behind the damn Bible and God’s so-called Word, you up there talking that yang yang shit about me—like you better than me!” Ginger’s voice got louder as all the congregation looked on in shock at what was taking place at their normally uneventful Sunday service. “Well, guess what, you fraudulent asshole? You ain’t better than me! The truth of the matter is, you is me! So hello, my devil brother!”
Ginger had gotten his way and for once he was the hero of the Banks and not just the family freak.
With that being said, complete and total pandemonium ensued throughout the church dwelling. Simone had started sending group text messages to each and every person’s phone number listed in the church directory. Thanks to Me-Ma also having the numbers of all the highly revered prayer warriors as well, the entire church was on their feet. Young and old, they couldn’t believe what they were watching. It was like some sort of bad dream. Pushing play repeatedly, the women of the church Pastor Street had sexed held their cell phones, worried what disease this biblical monster could’ve subjected them to, while the men were ready to throw the twisted-thought preacher out on his head. There was nothing the preacher could say or do.
The pornographic smut had been sent to the good pastor’s cell as well. Not only were there clips of him and Ginger partaking in oral sex in Me-Ma’s living room, but selfies of them hugged up in the church office while he was asleep and audio of his voice saying basically that he takes advantage of women’s kindness when need be. The loyal members of the Faith and Hope Ministry were enraged. This was the type of scandal that could bring the church down to its very foundation and have its doors chained, locked, and bolted for good.
Pastor Street didn’t know what to say. Here he was standing in front of everyone with all his dirty laundry aired out for all to see. He’d been exposed for the greedy predatory creep he was. Destined to be shunned, he lowered his head, disappearing into his private office before he was literally killed. Shame and embarrassment held him locked in his office until the board of trustees came banging on the door. He paced the floor, trying to come up with a plan to turn everything around. Everything was photoshopped . . . That wasn’t me. I can deny the women of the church I slept with. They wouldn’t want their husbands to think they’ve done wrong.
“Pastor Street, you must open this door immediately. There are matters we must discuss at once.”
With his hands shaking, the pastor unlocked the door. Before he could spin his lies, he was halted by one of the board members.
“Pastor Street, this is outrageous! I thought you were a man of God! That video has been seen by the entire congregation. What do you think our church affiliates will think?”
“That video was the true devil in disguise. That is not me! The devil must’ve pasted my face to make it look like me. You can’t believe that abomination is showing you the real truth.” He hoped for a listening ear that could help his fight.
“I can’t believe this!” another board member shouted.
“Brothers, you can’t truly think I would be shaming the house of God and disrespecting the Word of God in this most outrageous way. Brothers, Sisters, you can�
��t believe this. I’m not that person in those pictures or that video.”
“I’m sorry, Pastor, but this kind of scandal can close the church’s doors. We must do what’s necessary. Please clear your office of your personal items and vacate the premises immediately.”
“But . . . But you’re not even giving me a chance to speak my truth. I am a man of God and will never bow down to this type of malicious accusations without the right to disclose my truth. This is shameful. What you all are doing to me is unlawful against the church! I can’t—and won’t—stand for this!”
“Okay, then, let’s take a proper vote.” The head board member looked around and proceeded. “All those in favor of Pastor Cassius Street to be formally stripped of his robes and connection to Faith and Hope Ministry permanently, please raise your hands.”
Former Pastor Cassius Street looked around the room seeing a unanimous vote for his immediate removal, then bowed his head in shame. Forced by the board of trustees and the prayer warriors to immediately sign over the deed to the late Mildred Banks’s home and all other dealings attached to her estate, Cassius Street was ultimately disgraced and immediately discredited by the church and all their affiliates from surrounding churches in the area.
“Brothers and Sisters, I believe we have a lot of work ahead of us, and in light of today’s events, I think it’s best we go home, collect our thoughts, and pray on our impending dilemma. We should meet back here at seven tonight to discuss the future of our beloved church.”
All heads nodded yes and quickly dispersed to calm themselves after the storm swooped in earlier, leaving the entire congregation in an uproar. When the board members left the church, they were bombarded with questions by the awaiting members of the church.