Twist of Faith

by Kelly A. Purcell

  4

  Lil’Drummer boy

  “And, one, two, three four...”

  The drums brought them into the intro to Reuben’s new song that he was yet to complete. As he stepped up to the microphone, strumming his guitar as he did, Craig crashed his sticks against the cymbals in cancellation.

  Reuben turned to him in annoyance, “what now?”

  “Yuh mess up the timing when you came in,” Craig blurted.

  Reuben rolled his eyes, “I did not, you’re not even...” he started.

  “Good evening.”

  They all looked up to find a stranger standing at the door; he regarded them with dark eyes, a hint of amusement on his face.

  Reuben turned his guitar across his back and stepped up to him, extending his hand and smiling.

  “You came man, that’s great.”

  After they shook hands, Reuben turned to the four other band members, who were looking on sceptically.

  “Guys this is the man I was telling you about, this is James. James, this is the band; Craig our drummer, Leann; guitar, Dre is our keyboardist, a new addition, he turned and pointed to the two girls sitting at the corner of the room, “and those are Natalie and Desiree our vocals.”

  James nodded, “nice to meet you,” he said. His dark eyes seemed to sift through each of them as they were introduced, and now he regarded them with a secret knowing smile that unnerved them.

  “Which church do you go to?” asked Craig.

  James looked at him coolly, “none yet,” he replied.

  Craig tossed a look at Reuben, who shrugged, “he is a Christian right?” Craig asked, “cause if he isn t...”

  “Would you take my word for it?” asked James in that same levelled tone.

  “I can tell if you are,” said Craig, growing annoyed at this stranger’s audacity.

  James regarded him with a cocked head and a hint of a smile, “maybe you can.”

  Reuben shook his head and drew James aside, the others watched as the two men huddled in a corner whispering, well Reuben was whispering, James merely nodded.

  “I can trust you right? I keep feeling as though I should,” Reuben asked after he turned away from Craig.

  James nodded, “you should,” he said.

  Reuben looked at him with a thoughtful frown. He wasn’t lying when he said he had a feeling that he should trust him, he really was praying about this decision.

  “You can come to church with me on Sunday, see how you like it?

  James nodded, “okay.

  Reuben smiled, “great, now let’s see what you’ve got.”

  James walked over to the cased bass, removed it and strapped it on, adjusting it to his tall frame, and then he plugged it into the amplifier and tuned it by ear. All this he did while the others watched in silence. When he was satisfied, he ran nimble fingers along the fret, pumping out a simple blues riff, upgrading it with improvisations that reflected his ability with the instrument. Now he was looking at them with a look that said he was ready.

  The others only stared at him in awe; it didn’t take much to realize that he was probably the best bass player that had ever joined their group.

  “Wow, where’d you learn to play like that,” asked the second guitarist with wide eyes of admiration.

  James looked up at him with that preoccupied look in his eyes, “prison,” he replied coolly.

  The room went silent, everyone waited for him to laugh and retract, but he didn’t. Instead, he sat down and started to warm up his fingers as though, oblivious to the shock wave his words had made.

  Reuben was the first to recover, “Great, he said with a nervous chuckle, “let’s get this going,” and he swung his guitar around, throwing a nervous smile at his stewing friend at the drum set.

  “Alright, practice next Friday,” Reuben announced, as the rest of the band filed out of the room.

  He turned to James who had just finished securing the bass, “you’ve got some skills there bass man,” he said with a grin.

  James looked at him blankly, “does that mean am in?” he asked.

  Reuben nodded, “definitely.”

  Now he smiled, “great, thought that might not go down well with drummer boy.”

  “Nah it’s alright, Craig is just...”

  “Don’t worry about it, he’s just looking out for you,” James said with a wave of his hand.

  Reuben nodded, “uh yea… he’ll warm up eventually.”

  James regarded him with a thoughtful frown for a while, and Reuben shrunk under his pointed gaze.

  “You know what? I like you,” he said finally, “yeah, you’re one of those guys that see the good in everyone, you believe that everyone deserves a chance. You don’t place your faith in a place where it’s unreachable by those you don’t think is worthy of it.”

  Reuben frowned, “yeah well, that’s ‘cause it’s open to all of us, the bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but we’ve been justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

  James nodded, “couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s guys like you Reuben Clark who help out bastards like me,” he was looking at him directly now, he smiled and patted him on the arm.

  “You’re just the guy I was looking for then. I’ll see you next week.”

  Before he could leave though, Reuben stopped him.

  “You don’t have to go right away. My mom, she’d like to meet you, and feed you and pick your brain a little if it’s no trouble.”

  James looked thoughtful for a moment, “maybe some other time.”

  Reuben nodded, “sure, and another thing, try not to scare the others again with, you know... that prison joke you gave earlier,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

  James gave him a mischievous smirk, “that was no joke,” he said, “but you know that, don’t you?” and with that he left.

  Reuben stood staring at the door, his smile slowly fading from his face, “oh God,” he muttered, “I hope you’re right about this.”

  Reuben sat down on the couch next to his mother, who was knitting in front of the television. It was a quiet Saturday evening as most of their Saturday evenings were in this neighbourhood and Reuben was fidgety.

  “What is it Ruby?” His mother asked.

  He shook his head and picked up the remote, absently flipping through channels that he had no intention of watching.

  He sighed and put it aside, “I’m not getting anywhere with this... plan that I have. I’ve prayed and fasted about it as you said and she still isn’t returning my calls mom, what am I missing? I can’t possibly think of anything else to do to prove to her that am that serious about us.”

  Mrs. Clark looked down at him over her spectacles, “you’re right you can’t, with all the stuff you’ve got going on I can’t possibly think of anything more that won’t overwhelm you. Besides it isn’t your works that justifies you. Have you ever thought that you getting back together with her isn’t part of God’s plan?”

  Reuben glared at her, “are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  She gave him a sympathetic smile, “you are a grown man Ruby and you’re smart, I can’t figure this one out for you, you’ve got to find the answers yourself.”

  Just then Craig came out of the kitchen chewing, with a glass of orange juice in one hand and a cup cake in the other.

  “Find what answers?” he asked.

  She looked up at Craig, then at her son, “I’m sure he’ll tell you later,” she said as she reached up to brush her fingers through her son’s short curls.

  He got up and picked up his keys, “I’ve got to go, I promised Dad I’d come help him and Pastor Roberts fix the pipe at church,” he looked up at Craig, “you coming?”

  Craig scrunched up his nose in thought, “nah, I got something to do, I’ll catch ya later right?”

&
nbsp; Reuben nodded and headed out the door, “oh and ma...”

  Mrs. Clark waved a hand at him, “if she dares call here, I’ll tell her what she needs to hear.”

  Reuben rolled his eyes and left, pulling the door shut behind him with an easy click. Mrs. Clark looked up at Craig, “I hope you’re not putting any crazy ideas in his head.”

  Craig lifted both hands defensively, “never Sister Clark, I’m trying to get him to move on too.”

  Reuben sat in his car, and stared blankly at the steering wheel, why couldn’t anyone understand? Lisa had been his girlfriend for almost three years now, he knew everything about her and he was sure it was the same with her. Despite the fact that he is only eighteen, only a week before that heart wrenching phone call, he was staring at rings at a jewellery store. He couldn’t think of anyone he would rather give but her; a symbol of his lifelong commitment to love and cherish her despite everything else. But somehow, she didn’t share that sentiment and it was easy to shove him aside when she thought he didn’t meet that standard. How could everyone just expect him to forget her? How could they not understand the extent of his heart break?

  He sighed and started the car; on days like this all he could do was drive away, from all the alternate views, people with their ridiculous advice, it’s like no one believed Lisa was worth fighting for and it just made him so very...

  “Hey!”

  He jumped and turned eyes big with surprise, to the person knocking on his glass. It was James and he was grinning. This could possibly be, the first time he d ever seen that guy grin and even though he hadn’t known him long, the expression seemed utterly foreign on his face, because it was such a goofy one.

  He lowered the glass and looked up at him quizzically, “What are you doing here?”

  James shrugged, “I was coming to check you, thought I’d take you up on your offer from yesterday. Where you headed? Want company?”

  Reuben shrugged, “get in, you’ll get to meet our Pastor. I just hope you don’t mind doing some quality man’s work?”

  James chuckled, “I’m a man of the soil, the oil and I’m real good with pipes.”

  Reuben looked over at him with a frown and James winked.

  “You learn to do a lot of manual labour in…”

  “Prison, I know,” Reuben interjected.

  James chuckled, “I was going to say all boys skill schools, but there too.”