“That’s why you’re avoiding it, because you know that you are hiding something and there is nothing else that you can do except try to wait here until it is time for you to leave for the summer. You know what? This is the same thing that you use to do when I questioned you about being married and having kids when we first got involved and this time I’m not playing the fool.” Now Lustray was standing up in front of Preston blocking his view of the television set waiting for him to respond with her hand on her hip.
Preston calmly closed his eyes with his hands between his crossed legs and kept his silence. He was so happy that he drank that glass of wine, because now at this point in time he wished that Scotty could “beam him up” and go somewhere else; and as his eyes were closed that is exactly what he did.
Lustray was fuming from her ears! She kept smacking Preston upside the head and all his body would allow him to do was roll with the blows like he was some sort of crash dummy. She finally figured that there was no use in trying to wake him, but she couldn’t help but admire how cute he looked when he slept and was so at peace. After all he was now in her house and he could have been anywhere else. Looking at Preston she couldn’t help but bend over and kiss him.
Her lips woke Preston up and as he engaged in response he gave himself a devilish grin and thought to himself, “As always Mr. Brown always gets what he wants! Anytime to win a losing argument is just to shut up and play dumb.” Preston struck again!
XII
Preston woke up the following morning and was thankful that there were only a couple of days left until he had to leave to Georgia for his ministerial internship. But, now he had to cook up a good lie to tell Lustray so that he could meet Delight for that counseling session that she kept mentioning to him all throughout the night with texts via his cell phone. It was a good thing that he kept his phone off that time around. Because when he turned it on there were fifteen messages from her.
“Aha! I know what I’ll do. I’ll pack a gym bag to make it seem like I’m going to the gym and all I need to do is tell her that I went to the gym whenever she asks me.” Preston rushed quickly like a CIA agent in the dawn of morning and scurried to find anything he could get his hands on that would make a good fit for the gym scheme to work. For some reason Preston always woke up early whenever he drank alcohol and Lustray always slept harder.
Finally, the bag was packed, the letter written on the table, and he had his keys, cell phone, wallet, and out the door before anyone woke up. He decided to go to Tim Thornton’s and get some breakfast and made sure that he got a receipt, because he knows that Lustray will question him about leaving and not eating her breakfast with luring thoughts of him going over to Delight’s to eat with the kids.
Preston breathed a sigh of relief to make it out of the house before anyone woke up. He grabbed himself a bite to eat and all he could feel was his phone constantly vibrating with text messages and phone calls from Delight. He was ready to get a “throw away” phone but at this point and time that would just cause more conflict and some more lies to have to memorize. Preston finally answered his phone, “Hello”.
“Oh now you want to answer the phone. I’m just staying on you to make sure you know to be at the counseling we have scheduled.”
“You mean the appointment you scheduled, because I already told you it’s just a waste of time. There’s nothing that is going to change my mind and I don’t know what you have to do to get it into your thick skull. We’re done!”
“No we’re not! This is our marriage Preston! OUR MARRIAGE!! You’re going to let knowing me since high school go down the tubes for just what’s between your legs?”
“Uh, what it look like to you,” Preston asked in curiosity of her response as he maneuvered through traffic on I-270 towards South Columbus.
“You know what I’ll just pray for you and this is why you need to go and see a Christian counselor Prez.”
Preston hated when she tried to tell him what he needed to do. “Girl now you done did it, all I hear is blah, blah, blah, bye,” without even a thought Preston hit the termination button on his phone.
The ride to the counselor was a lot quicker than he expected. Why did he have to be here so early? Don’t preachers make their own schedules? What exactly in the world was this preacher going to tell Preston that he already didn’t know? After all, he’s been trained in all types of counseling and has certificates from the most prestigious associations that his country had to offer. As he raised his head in frustration from the steering wheel all he could do was think of how he was going to walk out of the pastor’s office once he started to point his finger at him.
Delight finally pulled up to the church soon after Preston arrived and oh, was she looking good! “Damn, if only her brains and mouth matched her beauty she would be alright,” Preston quenched to himself.
Preston got out of the car and looked at Delight with a tense look and reaped, “Let’s get this thing over with.”
“Well, the pastor said that all we need to do is go upstairs and his secretary will direct us. So just be respectful and quite acting ignorant and listen.”
“You see, there you go already trying to direct and talk down on me so you know what? That’s why your behind is in the situation that you are in now. One day your next husband will learn.” She could tell by looking at Preston that he meant it to and there was no more said after that.
Mr. Brown made sure that he didn’t walk next to her, hold hands, or show any type affection whatsoever; just in case she would somehow try to tell Lustray. The church was an old brick building on the Southside of town. It reminded Preston of his father’s old barbershop that was built in the 1950’s. The steps were creaky and the walkways were narrow. “How did she find this place,” Preston mumbled to himself following Delight towards the secretary’s office.
The secretary was fair-skinned with a voluptuous build and spoke with such grace and professionalism as her eyeglasses hung on the tip of her nose. Her attitude really didn’t match the outside of the church, in fact it was quite the opposite. She directed them towards the office where they would sit and wait for the pastor in his office.
As they waited Preston made sure he didn’t look in Delight’s direction and he was even more infuriated that he actually agreed to sit in on such a setup. Delight’s lips were tense and her eyes seemed hopeless to Preston. What was she really looking to get out of this? What was the point of coming here just to get embarrassed?
Before Preston could settle into his daydream phase real well, a tall, licorice complexion, black man entered the room. He walked with a little gimp and his head was bald. He looked just like the community he represented outside his church door except he wore a suit and tie instead of old clothes, baggy jeans, or a mouth with a stench of alcohol lingering on it.
The Pastor Palmer came in and shook Delight’s hand as if he already knew her and Preston shook his hand with a cold, stern look like he was ready for anything the “the Reverend” would throw at him. The pastor instructed them to have a seat and had a word of prayer before they got started. At the conclusion of the prayer, the pastor directed his attention towards Preston. The pastor sat behind his desk and politely initiated dialogue with Preston. “Mr. Brown, your wife tells me that you two are married and that you two have children. Is that true?” Preston nodded. “She also shared with me that you had an affair and that there is also a child involved. Is that true as well?” Preston nodded in agreement. From the way this was going, it just sounds like Delight had already put him on to her side of the story and nothing else.
“Mr. Brown is there anything that you would like to say,” Pastor Palmer asked.
“Well number one, there is no point in me being here, because I didn’t schedule it and that this thing is just going to be a waste of time. It’s no secret and I already told her a million times that I don’t want to be with her anymore so I don’t know why she keeps on stressing this whole thing and dragging you into it.”
/> The pastor folded his hands and sat back in his chair then uttered, “Brother, I don’t think you realize what you are doing. It’s not everyday that you can have an affair and a child and your wife still wants you back. So what got you two at the altar anyway?”
Preston couldn’t wait to share his side with him. “Well…..I found out that I had a five month old son and so I thought I was doing the right thing by marrying the mother of my child. In other words I got married with strings attached, if I had it my way I would have married some smart girl in college instead of knocking some girl up from my hometown that already had a kid. In short, kids brought me to the altar.”
“Preston marrying her was the right thing and you seem like a good guy. So what grounds do you really have for a divorce? What about your children at home? Why did you have another child?”
“I thought that I would at least have my marriage make some type of sense by actually telling someone what my child’s birth was like. It gets old making up stories for everyone that I run into and asks what it was like for the first few months of raising him. The truth was no, my girlfriend didn’t know who the dad was and I didn’t find out until I got home for summer break. My kids at home are okay, they know who I am.”
Delight sat back and listened to the dialogue as she stared at her hands fiddling down in her lap. But she couldn’t keep her mouth closed any longer, “No what he doesn’t realize is that I have to explain to them everyday why their dad is not home. I have kids crying and laying down on the floor wondering where they’re dad is at night time when it is time for them to go to bed. Now I have to scramble around and look for a baby sitter while I go to class at night while he goes and plays games around somewhere else.”
Preston huffed, “Now you see that right there is exactly what I am talking about! She jumps into stuff, never keeps her mouth shut, and she’s a control freak, she talks too much, and never knows her place. With the other girl I don’t get that problem at all. I ask and it happens. She just has more common sense when it comes down to it. Dekight tries to force all of these things like trying to block me coming out of the house when I want to leave even when I TOLD HER THAT I DON’T WANT TO BE THERE WITH HER. The only reason I went to the movies was to go with the kids and she tries to hold hands with me, like I actually have to in public. She’s nuts. Now if she keeps on it’s just going to turn into domestic violence.” By the time Preston got done he was out of breath and was on a roll.
The pastor couldn’t help but chuckle at Preston’s command of the English language and the way he used it with cleverness. “Mr. Brown, aren’t you a Biblical scholar,” pastor questioned. Preston knew that was coming and nodded in agreement. “Well then son, you are going to have to love her like Christ loved the church! You have to give her agape love! You have to forget about this other girl, sorry. And as far as the child all you can do is do nothing, but hope for the child. Do you plan on being there for the birth of the child?”
Preston paused for a minute, because he knew that he was two words from smacking the pastor crazy and stupid. He took a deep breath and released, “One thing that you will learn about me is that I am not in the business of denying my children and two, I do plan on being with her for the very reasons that I have laid out before. Would it have been more Christian to have an abortion or not to be father to my own seed?,” Preston couldn’t tell until he was done speaking that his hands were clenched so hard that he almost cut through his own hands with his finger nails.
“Brother Preston I don’t think you realize what you are doing and I’d highly suggest you pray. I’ve been able to save tons of marriages and they are right here in this church. What you’re doing is choking off our youth all over the world. I’m sick of seeing it and it seems like you just have a cavalier attitude about it.”
“As a matter of fact I am cavalier kind of guy and if you look outside you could see that I do drive a Chevy Cavalier,” Preston remarked with a smirk.
“Brother, you could be a deacon, a world –renowned scholar, and maybe even one day have your own church. Wouldn’t you like to have that someday? Isn’t that what you’re going to school for?”
“Yeah, but that will change once I graduate. I’ll just be doing my own type of ministry and do some free-lance writing. I got someone who is going to help me out in a real big way, but in the meantime I’m not going back home and I’m getting ready to do my internship this summer. My unborn child is my blood and I will be present when it’s born and go on to do better things than be with this control freak.” At this point Preston was ready for the conversation to be terminated and the pastor could sense it through his eyes.
“Well, before we conclude is there anything here that can be saved?”
“I already told you I didn’t plan on being here in the first place. So this meeting might as well be adjourned.” Preston rose up and walked towards the exit.
Before Preston could reach the door the Pastor Palmer told Preston, “There is only one way and here’s my cell phone number if you need a place to stay and want to work it out with your wife.” He looked towards Delight and uttered, “You can’t make him love you, and you can’t make him do what he doesn’t want to do.”
Preston was relieved that he at least told her that and made his way towards his car. He sure was glad that he didn’t have to worry about Delight. His bags were already packed and ready to head to Georgia in the early morning.
Delight stormed out of the door and walked towards Preston. But, before Preston could leave he saw the pastor walking up to him and Delight made her way towards them. She immediately realized that it was a “man” conversation so she made her way towards her car and drove off.
“I just wanted to make one last attempt to reach you, before you knew what you were getting into,” the pastor assumed.
“I’m good, I know tons of people that have had successful second marriages and some of them include pastors, and I’m tired of keeping a fake smile on my face. Thanks for everything, but I’m just not into dying young from all the stress she brings me. She‘s one of the reasons I don’t do anything public with her, she just keeps talking and doesn’t realize when she gets on people’s nerves, because she is so nave. If I knew that it took this to get her to shut up a little bit, I would have had some extra kids a long time ago.”
After hearing such an ungodly statement all the pastor could do was look down, shake his head, place his hand on Preston’s shoulder and pray for him.
XIII
Preston was so relieved that the nightmare was over and that maybe Delight would get the point that he was really done with her. Now he could focus on Lustray and get done what they needed to get done in the immediate future. And he was glad that it only took an hour. But now he had to make it look as if he really worked out for an hour’s time. The weather was warm enough so he went to the gym across town where he had a membership and sat in the sauna for a few minutes just to get some sweat on his clothes just in case Lustray needed to check his bag while he wasn’t watching. “Man, these ladies are stressful when you try to keep them under wraps,” Preston mumbled to himself as he drove.
After sitting in the sauna for fifteen minutes and did a few hundred pushups to show some toning evidence; he took a shower and made his way back to Lustray’s to relax and tidy up the rest of his packing.
Preston walked through the door and saw Lustray sitting down doing some of her homework. Preston tried to not show any incriminating action or show any signs of guilt so he just went into the kitchen himself and started to cook himself some eggs and cheese. That way he could avoid any conversation by keeping himself busy until she had to go to class. Then it happened……..
Lustray walked into the kitchen just staring at him with her arms folded. Preston didn’t want to look up so he acted like he didn’t see her. “So Mr. Brown, you went to the gym right? So why is it that you could not answer any of my calls for over an hour and a half?”
“Lustray, listen to yours
elf. How could I answer the phone if I’m at the gym and all I was doing was coming straight back here.”
“Well here we go again with your tricks, huh. You know that I know when you’re lying right? A woman can always tell after she’s been around her man for awhile. I mean you come in here, don’t say hi, no kiss, and you go straight into the kitchen when you know that I am the one that does the cooking in here. Number two, what you’re making doesn’t even get you full! What, are you on some type of suburban white girl diet all of a sudden?”
Preston knew he had to keep his cool and wiggle himself out of tension once again. He made sure that he didn’t stutter or stammer over his words so he spoke softly and clearly. “I’m going to say this one time and one time only. You know what I’m going through with my kids, divorce, and baby on the way. So why do you want to make up stuff like you want to magically make things worse? As a matter of fact here,” Preston went in his bag and threw his sweaty gym shorts and top at her face.
Lustray gave a smirk indicating that she would let it go, but showed no signs of believing a word he said. She politely grabbed the clothes up off of the floor and made her way towards the hamper.
Preston knew he won the battle, but the war was far from over. Not until he made a clean slate to make his way out of town and finally make some real money other than just work-study jobs all of the time and stipends here and there. While out of town he knew that he could help clear Lustray’s conscience and that everything would go over well. Preston couldn’t wait until early tomorrow morning so that he could be away from the both of them and the only thing that he would be missing is his kids.
XIV
THREE WEEKS LATER
Preston could not believe that it has already been three weeks since he’s been in Georgia. He couldn’t stand the summertime humidity, but he did love the Southern style of cooking and Sweet Tea! Now he could see why all of his relatives from the South had diabetes and high blood pressure so frequently. Already Lustray rented a car and came to visit him and he was able to communicate with her daily via the web cam with the free internet connection that the parsonage gave him. He had an awesome supervising pastor that let him basically work his own hours as long as what needed to be done was done.
How Do I Get Out of Here Page 6