Riverstone - Chapter 14

            Man, you thought a tornado was loud and wild. You should have seen the storm that blew through town Thursday morning. By the time I woke up, talk was all over the fellowship hall at Riverstone. Jake thought it was funny. Ron was embarrassed but also thought it was amusing. I overheard Ron tell Jake that he thought Willard or ‘Old man Jackson’ or whoever did this had really gone over the deep end. 

          You must be wondering what I am talking about. Newspaper clippings. At least photo copies of newspaper stories. About twenty of them. There was one on the front door of both Riverstone Baptist and the Methodist Church, the high school, Dairy Queen, the lawyers office, the cotton gin, the farm co-op store, and even the office to the almost completely torn down Sunset Motel. 

          One of the headlines said, “Lincoln Man Arrested and Questioned in string of Armed Robberies in capital city” Another one said, “Grand Jury Indicts Johnson on Drug Charges”. Both of them mentioned Jake Johnson by name. I guess he used to live in Lincoln, Nebraska. The funny thing about all of them is that any dates are marked out with a black marker. Real smart, huh? Someone is trying to ‘railroad’ Jake, but they are trying to make us think this is current news. I have heard Jake’s stories. These are at least twenty years old, maybe twenty-five. 

          Ron wanted to go tear all of them down, but Jake wouldn’t let him. He said he didn’t have anything to hide and this might be the best way for the town to learn all about him and get everything out in the open. I suddenly realized that the gossip would be flying all over town and I was probably missing a whole lot. I went to mom and asked her if there was anything around the Sunset I could do to help and she said ‘no’. She said that she had sifted through most of our room and didn’t have the heart to pick through it anymore. Whatever was left would be bulldozed. She warned me to not even go back there to help any of the other people because it was much too dangerous for a twelve year old to mess around in the rubble. So I headed off to Goldstein’s.

          I walked in and was about to go to the fountain for a drink when I heard him, the man himself. I slid into the booth closest to me and hid the best way I could behind the book I brought. 

          “Now come on, Mr. James., your fingerprints are all over those posters. Are you going to deny you had anything to do with them?” I scooted up in my seat to look around the fake plant behind me to see who was talking. It was Chief Woodruff, head of our two man police force. 

          “I’m not saying a thing!” Willard blurted out. “Any one of a thousand people in this town could have put those around town, so get off my back.” 

          “Look Mr. James, I have already had four complaints from business owners who don’t want any part of your little quarrel over there at Riverstone. I think if you just came out and admitted it and apologized, most of them would just let it all blow over.”

          “Let them complain. They can’t prove a thing,” insisted Mr. James. “But for your information, yes I do have a problem with this ‘Johnson’ fella’, but it is not a Riverstone problem, it is a problem for our whole town. If he is going around town selling drugs to our school kids, that will be a big problem for you and your precious little police force. I don’t trust the man, nor that new pastor of ours.”

          “Give it a break, Mr. James. You know that man isn’t going around selling drugs. I’ve been out to that oil rig myself and seen Jake working. He’s a good, hard working welder who is an expert at what he does.”

          “Well, what about that sleaze woman he is living with?”

          “I don’t have a clue who you are talking about,” said Chief Woodruff. 

          “She and Mr. Johnson blew into town the same day two weeks ago. I’m pretty sure they are…”

          “Pretty sure, what? Mr. James.” asked the Chief. 

          Willard leaned over and whispered to him. I couldn’t hear him, but it didn’t take long to find out. 

          “Well, what is it Mr. James? Are they ‘living in sin’ or are they ‘pretty sure’ living in sin. Make up your mind, sir. I pretty much suspect you are behind posting these news articles around town, Mr. James, but the only one I am talking about it with is you. I’m not spreading it all over town until I do have more evidence, or a confession. I would suggest that if you have a problem with Mr. Johnson or his friend, you go to them.” Chief turned and walked off and left Willard standing there by himself.        

          I didn’t want to leave now or Willard might know I was there listening. The front door opened and in walked ‘Old man Jackson’. He never looked my way. 

          “Did you do it?” asked Willard. 

          “Yes, it will be out tomorrow. We won’t let any tornado mess us up this time.”

Riverstone - Chapter 13

          The next morning was wild and crazy as people came and went all morning bringing us things at the church and asking us what we needed. People also took us back and forth to the Sunset and helped us go through the rubble. Mom found a box that had three pictures of me as a baby that were not wet or torn up at all. Unbelievably, everything else in that drawer was sopping wet from the rains. Mom said it was a ‘miracle’. 
          At about noon, mom decided there was not anything else we could salvage and she told me to go sit in the lobby. As I stepped over a 2 x 12 beam that still lay in front of where our front door used to be, I looked up and saw Willard pull up in his fancy ‘Delta 88’. He got out and looked around, shaking his head. 
          “What a tragedy. What a shame. I’m glad no one was hurt,” Willard said to a crowd of about six people. I heard tires scrunch on the gravel of the parking lot and looked around. It was Ron and Harold. Both got out and greeted Willard with a handshake. Then Ron came over and hugged me tight without saying anything. Mom walked up and Ron turned to her. 
          “Mrs.Simpson,” Ron said. “If you will gather everyone who is here, I want to let them know that there is a feast big enough to choke a dozen horses over at Riverstone. Tonight, we will feed everyone over at the Methodist Church.”
          “Thank you, sir. That is very kind of you. I will let everyone know,” mom said as she walked off to the ruins. I looked over as Willard reached and grabbed Ron by the elbow and pulled him to the side and whispered to him. After a second, Ron stepped back with a surprised look on his face. 
          “No sir, Mr. James. The hospitality committee did not have a chance to call a meeting and vote on feeding these homeless people. As pastors and overseers, Harold and I decided to do what we thought had to be done in a time of tragedy.”
          “Tragedy? No one was killed or even hurt. A cheap old motel got blown over. That’s all.”
          “Mr. James. Twenty people were made homeless yesterday, and it’s the church’s responsibility to help out. Luckily, four of the twenty have called relatives in other counties and have plans to move in with them. The rest though, are in hard times. Christ didn’t call a committee vote to feed five thousand people, he just did it.”
          “Well…I guess one meal can’t hurt,” Willard said and then looked around. “It will take weeks for this place to be rebuilt. Where are they all going to stay until it is rebuilt?”
          “The owner had no insurance, Mr. James.,” added Harold. It won’t be rebuilt. 
          “For awhile, they will stay at Riverstone and Pastor Wiggins’s church, just as they did last night,” Ron said. Willard’s face turned a bright red in a matter of seconds. I thought he was going to explode. When he opened his mouth, it did. I won’t tell you the curse word he said next.
          “These…people stayed overnight in ‘My’ church? Who in God’s name let them do that?!”
          “I guess that would be me, Willard. And God. He commands us to help the hurting,” Ron said.
          “I will not have these ‘dope-smoking’ drunks messing up our fine facility and eating up our budget!” 
          Jake stepped forward and tried to lighten up the mood. “Mr. James, I have not smoked dope in over twenty years, but if the urge comes over me in the next few days, I promise I will go out back to smoke.” The whole crowd laughed hard and I thought Willard was going to hit Jake. He was so mad. Even Ron snickered at what Jake said. 
          “I will not put up with you, you heathen hypocrite. I demand you apologize for that disrespectful comment,” announced Willard.
          “I apologize, Mr. James. I promise I will not smoke dope at all while I live at ‘your’ church.” It was more than Willard could put up with. He stormed off and got in his car and sprayed the whole crowd with gravel. Nobody really cared. They were still laughing. 
Soon after, everyone headed over to Riverstone Baptist to eat lunch. It was a ‘horse choking feast’. The food was great and I think all of us Sunset people were very appreciative. Luckily, Willard James didn’t show up till after we were finished eating. Ron, however, wasn’t there when he and ‘Old Man Jackson’ came storming in. He had gotten a call from Mrs. Anderson and he left. 
Several people jumped when the two came storming into the fellowship hall. ‘Old Man Jackson’ must have come straight from the farm, because he smelled like a warm wet barnyard. It was pretty bad, and everybody seemed to notice. 
            “Where in tarnation is our soon to be ‘ex-pastor’?” demanded Willard.
            “He went home to join his wife, sir. I’m sure he’ll be back shortly,” mom informed him. 
            “Well, I hope you all know that you are participating in an unofficial and possibly illegal gathering. Separate committees and sometimes the church as a whole votes on everything that goes on in this building. Especially when it involves having to pay the custodian extra money to clean up a mess.”
            The lady who used to live in room #7 spoke up. She is always sort of a loudmouth. “Don’t worry about the mess and the smell, sir. When you and your friend leave, we don’t mind cleaning up the cow manure he is leaving behind. You won’t have to spend a dime on your janitor.” Nearly everyone laughed out loud. Once again, Willard turned red and looked like he was going to blow a gasket. 
            “You people do not belong here. This is ‘our’ church and we will not have a bunch of strangers coming in here and messing up things. And if you think this new pastor is in charge here, you are wrong. In about eight hours, he will be jobless and homeless himself. Get used to it, and start looking for another place to live.”
            Jake stood up. “Sir?”
            “Yes?” Willard answered.

            “I don’t think there is going to be a meeting tonight, considering the circumstances.”
            “The only circumstance you need to know about sir, is that a special called business meeting has been called tonight, and a tornado is not going to change that.”
            Jake continued. “I’m sorry no one informed you yet, sir, but early this morning about twenty of your loyal church members came by to serve us breakfast and to tell us how sorry they were about the storm and most of them agreed that tonight would not be the best time to meet. ‘Called meeting’ or not, Mr. James. I don’t think anybody else is going to show up tonight. And…” Jake paused, “…the man you are trying to run out of town had nothing to do with it. He even suggested that we…you, continue with your meeting. It was everyone else that insisted on not showing up.”
            Willard pointed his finger straight at Jake. “And I will run you out of this town right along with him. Do you understand?”
            “Uh…no sir. Not really. I don’t live here. I have a four or five week job out at the drilling rig and I can stay at any town around that I wish. This is closest to the rig, so that is why I am here. I do have the financial means to go at anytime, sir, but if you don’t mind, I will work with you and anyone from Riverstone to help with anyone who needs help rebuilding their lives.”
            “Well, I do mind, Mr…. Mr….whatever your name is.” The two men walked out together. After they were gone, almost everyone clapped. Jake didn’t, though. He dropped his head and was either crying or praying. 
            That afternoon, most of the Sunset people stayed around Riverstone and rested. They couldn’t get the back hoe here until tomorrow morning, and everyone was too tired to go back to try to sift through the wreckage again. A lady from the school came by and dropped off a few boxes of books for everyone to read, so most were content to stay put. 
            About 3:30, I got bored and mom said I could go out and wander around town. I headed to the school and nobody was playing on the playground so I went on over to the cotton gin. I got myself a peanut butter bar and sat down in the corner where the rack of shovels and hoes are for sale. I had stayed about half an hour and was about to leave when a group of about six or seven men came in. 
            “You mark my word, gentlemen,” said a big fat farmer how always wears overalls without a shirt. “Willard James was as mad as a hornet when I saw him. And he is determined to have that meeting tonight. He is not shy about telling the whole town that he wants to run that pastor and that ‘tattoo-ed’ welder out of town.”
              A very quiet man who always sits in the very back row at Riverstone raised his hand like he was getting permission from his schoolteacher to speak. “If you don’t mind my saying so, I think Willard is messing this time where he doesn’t need to mess. These people are in great need and someone needs to help them. Why not us?” 
          One man added, “I’ll bet that if this happened three weeks ago, before that new pastor and that welder came to town, Willard would be the first to step forward and offer help. He just hates that new pastor.”
          “Wrong. Willard hates everybody,” said the manager of the gin. 
          I looked at the rusting John Deere clock on the wall and realized it was 5:30 and supper would be along soon at the Methodist Church. I snuck out the back door by the water fountain and headed toward supper. There was chicken, roast, little baby sausages, even corn-dogs. Yellow jello, some pukey-looking green veggies, and corn-on-the-cob were there, including the most mouth-watering dinner rolls ever. 
          Luckily, Willard or ‘old man Jackson’ didn’t show up here, it wasn’t their territory. About twenty minutes after we started eating, Ron and his whole family and Jake came in. After supper, Pastor Wiggins stood up to make an announcement. 
          “I know some of you might not be used to attending church, and that’s fine, but I thought that under the circumstances, we would have a short, very light-hearted service just for you, ‘The Sunset gang”. No heavy ‘Hellfire and brimstone’ sermon, just a time of singing and a little praying that God would get us all through this time of trial. No one is obligated to stay. You may go back to where you will spend the night, either here or Riverstone.”
          The lady in # 7 spoke up, “…or we could go over to Riverstone and meet with the two old coots that are meeting there tonight. I assume they are the only ones showing up.” I looked over at Ron and he and the Mrs. were even laughing at that one. Surprisingly, everybody stayed for the service. It was very different. People started asking for prayer for ‘this and that’ and we would stop and pray for that one person, and then another would ask, and we would stop and pray for them. I had never been to a service like it before. Lots of people ended up crying. I think most was happy crying, though. 
          I looked at my watch and I couldn’t believe it. It was 9:30 and we were still singing and praying and the crazy thing about it was that most of these people never went to church and they all seemed to be having a great time. 
          We all jumped when the back doors came flying open and knocked against the wall with a bang. We all turned around and saw Willard and ‘Old man Jackson’ standing side by side. 
          “Well, pastor,” boomed Willard, “I guess you got your way. You can be pastor for one more week. Sunday Morning I will be calling for another special business meeting for one week from tonight. We will have a recall vote then.” The two turned and ran out. The room stayed quiet and still for a few seconds. Finally Pastor Wiggins stood up. 
          “Ron, I might be out of place, since I am not the pastor of these two men, but would you mind if we had a special time of prayer for them?” Ron nodded his head without speaking. Pastor Wiggins and Jake both took time to pray for them. After that, we slowly got up and some of us walked the short four blocks back to Riverstone. Mom and I lay down quickly in our side-by-side cots but an hour later I found myself just staring in space, not close to sleeping. Quietly I got up and walked into the sanctuary. It was sort of dark but I saw an outline of someone’s head sitting on the front row. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I sat down right where I was. The head turned around but I still couldn’t tell who it was. 
          “Come on up here with me,” I could tell it was Collette. After I moved and sat down beside her, I could tell she had been crying. We sat there for about five minutes in total quiet. Collette sat up straight and wiped her face dry. “Ya’ know, three weeks ago when I finally decided to leave the big city, I would never have believed a robbery and a tornado would have been a good thing.” I sat there still. 
          “I am finding out what true church people are like.” I couldn’t tell if she was being truthful or cynical. 
          “Are you talking about the two ‘grinches’ that are trying to run Ron and Mrs. Anderson out of town?”
          She turned quickly my way. “Oh no! I didn’t mean that in a negative way. I am talking about Ron and Alisa, Jake, Mrs. Scott, and a few of the others. I…I’m not a church ‘goer’ at all. I haven’t been once or twice in fifteen years, I guess. I definitely wouldn’t call myself a ‘Christian’ and probably won’t anytime soon. It’s just, well…nobody has loved me, really loved me since way before I ran away from my parent’s home years ago. I have what some would call a ‘checkered’ past.”
          “What does that mean?”
          “Many, many people would object horribly to the kind of dancing I did. I have been called every bad name in the world because of it. I made real good money doing it, but I seemed to spend every dime I earned. I have nothing to show for fifteen years of making men happy for a few minutes.”
          “For making what…?”
          “Never mind, Randy. Let me just say that dancing is on the low rung of the ladder for career choices. I have lived fifteen years of ‘hell’. And then I got robbed. And would you believe the first person to give me clothes was a preacher’s wife. That blew me away. She even gave me some cash. Oh, I shouldn’t be telling you that, but it is the truth. She and Ron have been wonderful to me. They don’t care about my dancing, or anything about my past. They care about me, Collette Madison, just for who I am. And what is crazy is all this idiot talk around town about Jake being a drug dealer. All because he has some twenty-five year old tattoos. He is one of the most gentlemanly, if that’s a word, kind of people I have ever met. And then yesterday, during the storm…”
          “Yeah,” I jumped in. “Tell me what happened to you while we were all freezing.”
          “Well, I guess while you were freezing your tail off, I was sucking on a hundred years of musty dust. I was out knocking on doors looking for a job and I was trying to make one more stop and I knew this storm was getting close and bad ya’ see…And all of a sudden I saw Mrs. Scott running around her yard and she waved for me to follow her. By then I knew it was a tornado and I had no other choice but to follow her. We sat in that musty, dusty hole in the ground for about twenty minutes until we knew the storm had passed and then all of a sudden it was several hours later and there we were having talked on her couch the whole time. She told me all kinds of things about Jesus and the Bible. Stuff I never knew. She really made me think. She didn’t ask me about my past, my dancing, my running away from home, none of that. She just seemed to know that I had a crappy kind of life and knew I needed some kind of change. I can’t begin to say I understand all she said, or agree with it, but she did make me think. Hey…you need to get back in there and get to sleep. If your mom wakes up and you’re not there, it might give her a scare.” 
          I didn’t say a thing. We both got up quietly and walked back through the maze of halls until we got to our temporary home. When we got inside, she reached out and messed up my hair with a friendly little scritch. “You’re Ok, Randy. You listen well. Thanks.”

Riverstone - Chapter 12

          When I got up Tuesday, I looked outside and found Jake was already gone. It made me sad that I couldn’t say goodbye to him. I went outside and noticed the sky was darker than yesterday evening, and everything sort of had an eerie feeling about it. I wanted to stay inside and read most of the day. At lunch, I ran to Dairy Queen and got two corn dogs for mom and I. I then went back to reading. 

          I had fallen asleep on the bed when mom came storming into the room. 

          “Quick, get up, son. Get your shoes on. Come with me.”

          “What’s up, mom?”

          “Tornado, son!! Get up. Start out at this end and knock on every door. I’ll start at the other end and meet you at the middle.”

          “But what do I do? What do I say?”

          “Tell…no, beg everyone to get up and run across the street to the meat packing plant. Mr. Roberts says we can stay in the vault. Tell everybody to bring a coat. It will be cold but the walls are three feet thick. It should hold up under three tornadoes. Hurry, son, hurry.”

          I grabbed my shoes and coat and quickly ran out. The sky to the northwest looked blacker than any I had ever seen. Then I saw it. It stretched all the way to heaven, it seemed. I guessed it was maybe a mile or mile-and-a-half away. I ran to #14 and knocked and knocked. Nobody came. 

          “Go son!” I heard mom yell. She was already at #4, coming my way. “Skip #13. I saw them leave earlier.” I went on till I met mom at # 9. We roused only about six of the twenty or so people who were staying there at the time. I was glad Jake was twenty miles from town, but I couldn’t find Collette. It worried me. 

          “Mom, I can’t find Collette,” I yelled. 

          “Go, son! Run to the packing plant. Quick. Everybody, Go!” 

          I waved my arms for people to follow me and started across the street. We got to the door and Mr. Roberts was just inside, ready to guide us through the maze of halls to the main cold vault. 

          “We don’t have to go in unless it is right on top of us. No use everyone freezing. I can see most everything through that window. If I give you a signal, everybody pile in. It should take just a second. There might be others coming from the office next door, but I’m not sure.”

          “Where’s my mom, Mr. Roberts?” I asked, pretty scared now. I looked up at his worried face. “I… I don’t know, son.”

          “Randy!” I knew it was mom. She ran up and gave me a huge hug. “You did a great job, son. Thanks.” I was so glad to see her.

          “Mom?” I spoke. “Mom, I haven’t seen Collette.” I had to yell this time because the sound from outside was getting louder and louder. 

          “I’m sure she is fine, son. I opened her apartment with my key and I know she is not still there.” That gave me a little bit of hope. “Maybe she is out looking for a job again. She’s probably safe inside someone’s big office or in someone’s storm shelter. She’ll be fine.” The wind got louder and Mr. Roberts went back to the front window to check on things. He came back in a panic.

          “Quick, every one in the vault. I think this is going to be the real thing,” he warned. Every one scrambled to get in. When we were finally in, Mr. Roberts latched the door shut. We all shivered in the cold. 

          “There it is,” someone shouted. “There’s the train sound.” We all stood frozen, I guess that’s a bad choice of words at the moment, but we all stood silent as we heard a roar that sounded like three train whistles roaring inside our small shelter. I had to cover my ears. Mom grabbed me tight until it hurt. She wouldn’t let me go. The sound continued to roar and the walls seemed to shake. I’m not sure if they really did or not, it’s just that the sound was so scary. The lady in #3 started screaming. It scared us all. She screamed and screamed and wouldn’t quit. 

          “We’re gonna’ die!” she yelled. “We’re all gonna’ die.”

          “Shut up,” yelled somebody, and as soon as they did, everything went pitch black. Several people started crying.

          “Hang on people,” encouraged Mr. Roberts. “This building is very solid. The electricity going out was to be expected.” Surprisingly, everyone got quiet for about a minute until we noticed that everything had gone still, even outside. “Let’s wait just one more minute, please. It might not be over. I know it’s cold…” He didn’t finish, but stood there a little longer. The door suddenly opened and startled a few people. 

          “Let me go outside and see what’s going on,” Mr. Roberts said.

          We all waited, shivering, getting more nervous as time went by. He finally returned, holding a lit flashlight. “Let’s come on out. I think it is all over. There is even some blue sky showing through. But,” he stopped, “I need to warn you. It’s not pretty out there. There has been quite a bit of damage. At least what I could see, that is.”

          I knew what he meant. What little he could see from his door was the Sunset. And that was home to everybody in the room, except Mr. Roberts. He grabbed my mom’s hand and led her out first. She got to the door and started crying. We all knew it was bad. We all made it outside, glad to be warm again. But that was little comfort. We all stood there, staring. The Sunset office, and #1 through #3 were still there. The rest was gone. Not really gone, but left there in a pile of mess. 

          We slowly made our way across the street and when we got to the parking lot, everyone stopped in unison and stared. Most were crying. “What are we going to do now, Mrs. Simpson?” someone asked.

          “I…I don’t know. I haven’t a clue. Whoa…come back here!” she yelled as she ran after the old man who lived in #7. “Stop. Everybody, stop.” She waved her hands like a football referee. “We can’t go in yet. We don’t know if the electricity is still hooked up or not. Some one could get killed. Let me go make a few calls first. 

          We tried to make ourselves comfortable. All the lawn chairs had been blown away. There was nothing to sit on. Most of the cars were damaged and a few had a large electric wire draped across them. About ten minutes later, a truck from the electricity company showed up. Five minutes after that, the man dressed in all yellow told us everything was turned off and safe. Mom walked out and they talked. 

          “I don’t know if this will make you upset, ma’am, or give you comfort, but it looks like your motel is the only thing to be damaged very much in the whole town. It came through that cotton field there of Mr. Smyth’s and hit here and apparently made a left turn and back out of town along where the railroad track used to be. I’m … I’m sorry folks. Ma’am, you call us immediately if you see any more problems. But everything is shut off. You should have no problems. I need to be going. We’ll have a crew out here soon to start cleaning up stuff. Poles and wires, I mean.”

          “Now what, Mrs. Simpson?” someone asked again. Mom started crying. 

          “I honestly don’t know,” mom whimpered.

          “Doesn’t the owner of this dump own another motel over in Billow Ridge? Can’t he put us up somewhere else? We can’t just sleep in our cars. Some of us don’t even have cars.”

          “The electricity is off, so if you want to scrounge through to find any valuables, go ahead. Just be careful. There will be sharp objects everywhere. I’m going to call Mr. Wilkinson and see what he says. Give me thirty minutes.” Mom slipped me two dollars and told me to go get some ice cream. I think she just wanted me out of the way. I think she was tired of crying and didn’t want me to be around if she started again.

          I timed thirty minutes just right, and as I walked back into the parking lot, the whole crowd was walking into the office. I followed. Mom had not cried anymore, but looked like she had probably put her fist through a wall. I could tell when she was mad, and now, she was mad. 

          “This will be short and sweet, everyone. That…that…” I know she wanted to say something worse until she saw me. “That wonderful landlord that we all have just informed me that he has not been able to pay the insurance for two months. He’s now got a mortgage of $200,000 to pay off, and you are all,… we are all on our own. At least ya’ll lost just your homes. I just lost my home and my job. Thank you very much, Mr. Wilkerson!” she said sarcastically. “I’m going to go get drunk.” 

          Everyone walked out muttering and cursing, but not knowing what to do. I watched as everybody wandered to where their homes used to be and pick and pull at a few loose boards. Most cried. I looked up as I heard a screech of tires and then rocks skidding in the parking lot behind me. Jake skidded to a stop and jumped out. 

          He ran up to me and hugged me. “Is anyone hurt?” I shook my head. He sighed in relief. “I am so glad. I heard about it on our company scanner and got here as soon as possible. How is your mom, and Collette?” I told him I hadn’t seen Collette, and then I told him about mom talking to Mr. Wilkinson. He looked sad. He had lost a lot also. 

          “Gotta go, kid. I’ll be back soon,” he said and left suddenly. 

          When he got back, Pastor Ron and Pastor Wiggins were both squeezed into the seat of his truck. They all got out and I ran over to Jake. Ron reached down and gave me a big hug and said he was very glad I was safe. I followed the three into the office, which was getting a little warm since the air conditioner was not working. They walked up to the counter where mom was drinking. She wasn’t drunk yet, and she made no attempt this time to hide her bottle. 

          “Mrs. Simpson,” Ron said. “Let me tell you that Pastor Wiggins and I want to let you know we are so, so very sorry about your loss. Of your home and your job.” Mom just stood there and nodded. She didn’t have much use for preachers. “In times of drastic need, ma’am, churches should be the first to step out and help. Jake said you have about twenty people living here, right?” She nodded. “That would be about ten people for each of our churches.” Mom stared at him with a puzzled look. “What I mean ma’am, is that the both of us want to open our church doors to let anyone at the Sunset to come to either of our churches and live for a few weeks. Sorry the Catholic church can’t help out just now, but as many of you know, they are in the middle of a big construction project and things just wouldn’t be safe at the moment. Charlie over at the farm co-op said they had enough fold-out cots for everyone to sleep on, no charge. We will worry about the rest of what everyone might need as time goes on. Please allow us to give you a home for awhile.”      

          Mom started to tear up again, but she was smiling this time. “I don’t know what to say, sir. I’ve never been through anything like this before. Thank you. What do we need to do?”

          “Just come. I know everybody has stuff to try to find in the rubble. We will try to get a backhoe or something over here tomorrow and try to get the big stuff out of the way. Hopefully most of you can salvage some valuables. Spread the word among your residents and see if you can split them up half and half between the Baptist and Methodist church. But Mrs. Simpson, since Randy meets with us, and since Jake and Collette have been visiting with us recently, we insist you stay with us at Riverstone. Is that Ok?” Mom nodded. 

          The pastors said goodbye and started to leave. As they got to the door of the lobby, mom yelled at them. “Jake, …sirs. We just today got back a full load of clean blankets and sheets and towels from our laundry service. Would God think it wrong if the Sunset ‘donated’ a few things?”

          “Ma’am, since your owner has washed his hands of you, I don’t see much problem. If he does happen to come back for them, we’ll deal with that then. Bring all the linens you can,” said Pastor Wiggins. 

          The pastors left and Jake went from person to person trying to help them salvage what they could. He said he didn’t lose much but a few clothes, so he spent the rest of the afternoon helping others. After long, people from all over town started showing up to help sift through the mess. At 6:00, I noticed that Collette had not showed up yet. I mentioned it to Jake, and he left immediately. He was worried too.

           By the time the sun set, there were about fifty people, along with the Sunset residents there to help. Several men showed up with big trucks and carried us and our few belongings to the two churches. At almost 10:00, Jake walked in with his arm around a crying Collette. He led her over to a cot, got her a set of blankets and sheets, and then showed her where the restrooms were. When she walked out, I went over to Jake.

          “Is she going to be Ok?” I asked.

          “She will be fine, I think. She was walking around town when the storm hit and just as she heard the loud roar, she looked up and saw Margie Scott running out the door of her house toward her storm shelter. Margie waved her arms for Collette to follow her and the two rode out the storm underground. After it was over, the two went back inside Margie’s and talked the rest of the time until recently. I found her just as she and Margie pulled up in the parking lot of the Sunset. She is pretty torn up about the storm damage. Twice in two weeks she is left with nothing but one change of clothes to wear. She has nothing at all. She needs some ‘TLC’.”

          “Huh?”

          “Tender Loving Care.” Jake explained. I just nodded. Everyone was pretty wiped out by 10:30 and quietly laid down on a cot and went to sleep.

Riverstone - Chapter 11

          I wandered all over town Monday and caught just a very little bit of gossip. People now were either ready to put Ron on a gillit…gee-at…oh that thing they used to use back in the old days in France, or they were ready to defend him to their last breath. One way or the other, most people were keeping to themselves today. I heard very little talk. I did notice quite a few people pointing my way and then they would stop talking or would whisper. Probably many people before last night didn’t realize I was one of those nasty ‘bus-kids’. But today, nobody was talking in front of me.
          I went to the cotton gin, Goldstein’s, and all three gas stations in town. Nothing. I was hoping I was wrong about people now knowing me and being quiet around me. I kind of like most people thinking I’m not there. I was walking down Thompson Street and turned the corner and almost ran into Collette. 
          “Hi, Randy,” she said, with sweat pouring down her face. “What are you up to?”
          “Oh, nothing. I’m just wandering around town. How ‘bout you?”
          “Still looking for a job,” she said, looking kind of defeated. She wiped her forehead. 
          “Not going too good, huh?”
          “Well, let me put it this way. A sweltering hot early August in the midwest is not the best time to be relocating, almost broke, and looking for a job. And above that, looking for a job in a town that thinks you are the most evil woman on earth. To answer your question. No, I’m not having a great day.” 
          Just then, Pastor Wiggins from the Methodist church walked around the corner. 
          “Hi, …um…” He was looking down at me. 
          “Randy. Randy Simpson. I live over at the Sunset. You’re the Methodist preacher, right?” He nodded with a big smile. 
          “Yes, I knew who you were. I couldn’t come up with a name, though. And who is your friend, Randy? I don’t think we have had the privilege.” I wanted to laugh remembering the day that Mr. Wiggins really embarrassed Mrs. Goldstein at the drug store. 
          “This is Collette. She is new in town, and lives over at the motel. She’s out looking for a job, but it ain’t going very good.” 
          “You’re the young lady who just moved here from New York, correct?”
          “Yes sir,” she answered softly. I think she was sort of ready for him to blast her like others had.
          “And the job hunting isn’t going well. I might be able to help.”
          I watched as Collette looked up at him. I think she was still leery of him.
          “Have you ever heard of Franklin and Farmer Law Firm?” he asked. 
          “No sir. I don’t think I have ever seen their sign.”
          I don’t think I had ever heard of them either, and I had lived here for years. I thought that was really strange.
          “You probably would never see them. They are down the hall behind the newspaper office. They are very well hidden. It is just a two man office with one lady who is sort of a secretary, sort of just office help. She is supposed to have a baby in about a week and Mr. Farmer said he was looking to find some replacement help for about ten weeks.”
          “But I don’t know how to type…type well, sir. I don’t know if I could be much help to them.”
          “Let me give them a call, and you wait a day or two and go visit them. We’ll see what happens. Hey, I’ve got to go. It was so nice meeting you, Miss …”
          “Madison, sir. Collette Madison. I really appreciate your help. Thank you.” I watched as he smiled and walked away. “There are a few good people in this town, aren’t there? But then again, maybe he doesn’t know much about me yet.”
          “He does, Collette. I know. He is really nice. He’s not a fake,” I said. She said goodbye and walked on, and I went back home. I went into the office and talked to mom for awhile and sat in the lobby and watched an episode of Gilligan’s Island. As soon as it was over, I heard a door slam outside and I went to the window. It was Jake. 
          “Mom, I’ll be right back. I’m going to say hi to Jake,” I said without waiting for her to answer. I ran out the dirty glass door and ran right up to my good friend. He gave me a smile, but I could kinda’ tell he was rushed. 
          “Hey squirt!” he yelled as he put out his hand. We shook hands, ‘grown-man style’ and he walked quickly to his door. I followed him. By the time I got to his door, he was kneeling on the floor, trying to get something from under his bed. It made me nervous for a second. I had seen people on drugs for much of my life and they always seemed in a hurry and irrational. What in the world would a guy hide under his bed who was staying in a motel for just a few weeks?
          I watched him as he stood up with a huge toolbox. He slammed it on his bed and opened it. He rummaged through it for a second and then finally held up a weird looking tool and a few welding rods. He looked back my way and smiled.
          “You want to have a Dr Pepper with me, Jake? There’s some in the lobby.”
          He came over and rubbed my hair, messing it up. “I’m sorry, Randy. I’m not finished for the day. I have to go back out to the rig. I might not get into till midnight. 
          “Is there a problem out there?” I asked.
          “No. No problem. It’s just that the weathermen are predicting heavy thunderstorms tomorrow and Wednesday. I have to get a certain part of this job finished before I get delayed by a nasty storm for a day or two. I had to come back for some tools I didn’t think I would need till tomorrow. I’m sorry, bud. I really have to get out there soon. I’ll see you tomorrow night, maybe. Wednesday night for sure. I’ll take you to Riverstone if you want.” I watched as he jumped back into his truck and raced off out of town. 
          I went back to the lobby and watched some more TV. When the ‘five-thirty’ news came on, they mentioned the storms that Jake had talked about. They seemed like they could be pretty bad. “Mom, it looks like we could have a bad storm here tomorrow or Wednesday.”
          “It sure looks like it. Earlier, they said that this same storm system has had two tornadoes. Minor ones though. I’ve lived around here for years and I’ve never seen one. Nothing to worry about.”
          Yeah, right! I thought to myself. Tell that to that ‘Dorothy’ girl up in Kansas.
          Just as the sports report came on, the phone rang. Mom answered it. 
          ‘Yes? No sir. No sir, I haven’t. Who the he…heck is this?” Mom cursed a lot when we were by ourselves in our own room. But she almost never did while working. 
          “You are NOT going to tell me how to run my motel. Do you…”
          She slammed the phone down and stood there for a minute before coming over to me. “I ought to tell you that you can never go back to that hateful, bigoted church, but I’m just hoping you can get some kind of good teaching from some of the few good people I know are there. You’re right, son,” she said. I hadn’t said a thing. “It was another threatening call. Asking, no, telling me to kick out Jake and Collette. I’ll die first. They even said God would curse this place if I didn’t do what was right.” 
          Mom sent me back to our apartment for the evening. I read until she closed the office at 11:00 and came home. When she opened the door, I noticed the wind had picked up and there was a little bit of rain coming down. I expected storms that night, but they never came. Just a little higher than normal winds and a slight drizzle.

Riverstone - Chapter 10

About twenty minutes till seven, I jumped in Jake’s truck and moved over next to him. 
          “You don’t have to sit so close. She’s not coming.” I was disappointed. I liked Collette, no matter what everyone said about her. She has been nothing but kind to me. 
          When we got to Riverstone, ‘Old man Jackson’ was standing at the very top step. I had never seen him there on Sunday night. He was one of those ‘Sunday morning onlies’. Then Willard walked out from the lobby and stood right next to Jackson. They both had their arms folded in that ‘what are you doing here attitude’. Jake put his hand out to both men to greet him and they both stood there like statues. 
          “Good evening, gentlemen. Good to see the both of you.” 
          “You’re ‘wife’ not come with you tonight?” asked Willard.
          “That would be next to impossible, sir,” Jake answered and we walked on. Ron met us as soon as we walked away, and they ‘bear-hugged’ again. I heard ‘old man Jackson’ say something about sissies hugging each other. 
          “Jake. Thank you so much for coming. A guy needs a friend right before he faces a firing squad.” 
          “That won’t happen till Wednesday, remember,” Jake said. I think he was joking. 
          “But things seemed to change after the threatening call Randy’s mom got. I won’t be preaching tonight, Jake.”
          “You’re not giving up that easy, are you?”
          “Oh no. I just thought we would have a time of prayer and praise. Maybe the Holy Spirit will ease things for awhile.”
          “That sounds great,” encouraged Jake. I wasn’t sure what Ron was talking about. I guess I would find out soon. 
          Ron pulled Jake away to his office and I went and took my normal seat. As soon as I did, I heard several comments. They were about me, so I wasn’t rude enough to turn around and see exactly who said what. 
          “I thought I heard this morning that Mr. Jackson had promised not to bring him again.”
          “He didn’t. It was that ‘tattoo guy’. I’m surprised he hasn’t moved on to another town.” 
          I then felt a tap on my shoulder and heard a grunt. I looked around and it was Jimmie Wascom. I turned all the way around and raised my hand. He ‘high-fived’ me and laughed loud as a small stream of drool came down his chin. He mumbled back at me, since he can’t really talk. He is really happy though. He smiles so big. Winnie was holding him and told me she was glad to see me. She then turned to Jimmie and told him to give something to me. He raised his right hand again and tried to give me another ‘high-five’, but my hand was in my lap. 
          “No, son. In your other hand. Give it to Randy.” He just smiled again. She then reached for his left hand and pulled something from it. She put her hand on my shoulder and wiggled her fingers. I reached up right when she moved her hand and I grabbed something sitting there. I pulled it to my lap and unfolded a five dollar bill. I turned around and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her. 
          “And to think he comes week after week. And his poor drunk mama never has darkened the door to this church,” I heard from across the aisle. Whoever it was was being real loud and not trying to be discreet.
          “So what are you saying?”
          “What do you mean, ‘what am I saying’?”
          “Are you saying he shouldn’t be coming here. Or are you saying his mama should and you are going to trot on over there and invite her?”
          “You wouldn’t catch me dead in a ‘flea-bag’ place like that.”
          All of a sudden, the whole room seemed to go quiet. I looked around and Jake and Ron were walking up the left-center aisle. Instead of sitting on the front row, Jake scooted over and sat by me. Ron went on up front and walked over to Emmy and leaned over for a few seconds talking to her. 
          “What’s he saying, Jake.”
          “I think he’s asking her to play certain songs. We’re going to have a different kind of service tonight.” 
Ron sat down and Emmy stood up and got some sheet music out of her bench. She then played three songs before anyone stood, talked, or did anything. It’s not really unusual for Emmy to play several songs before the service starts, but that is always before the preacher or anybody comes and sits down up front. It was kind of strange watching Ron just sit there. “Are we going to get started?” I whispered to Jake. 
          “We have. It’s called silent worship and prayer. Most people here, I don’t think are used to it.” I looked around and saw Winnie and Margie. They were both praying hard. Most people just sat there, staring up at Ron, waiting for him to do something.
          Ron stood up and walked to the podium. He wiped some tears away, but he was smiling. “God is so good, isn’t he? He is worthy of our praise and adoration. Let’s spend tonight in a time of thanksgiving, praise, and prayer.” He stopped talking and stood there for about thirty seconds. People started to fidget in their seats and get uncomfortable. 
          “Does anyone have something they are so full of thanks for that you have to tell everyone about?”
          Lori-ann was only seven years old, but she shot her hand up quickly. 
          “Yes ma’am, the pretty young lady over there on the left,” Ron said as he pointed her way.
          “Last Monday my ‘maw-maw’ had a bad wreck in California and she was un…uncon…she didn’t wake up for two days, but she is now walking and talking and should go home in another two days.” Jake clapped his hands for a second and Ron said, “Well, that is something to praise God for. Anybody else?"
          Margie then spoke, without raising her hand like Lori-ann did. “Pastor, I am so glad you and Alisa and the kids are here to shepherd us and teach us. You have shown nothing but love to everyone.” She sat down. 
          Inez finally spoke up. “Yeah. Dope-heads, trailer-trash, and…” A lady who I didn’t know was sitting behind her and tapped Inez on the shoulder and stopped her. I had never seen anyone brave enough to stand up to Inez like that. I’m kind of glad she did.
          “I got a new hamster this week,” said one boy behind me. A few people giggled and a few said, “that was sweet.”
          Chad stood up behind me and spoke, “We took Jimmie over to the university hospital this week and he has shown an improvement of ten-percent on his motor functions since a year ago.” Several people said, “Praise the Lord.”
          Ron turned to his left and said, “Mrs. Davidson, could you please play ‘It is well with my soul?” She scrambled to find the page number and I could tell she didn’t like doing that in the middle of the service. After the song was over, Ron walked down to our level and asked us to spend some time in prayer. He knelt on the front row right in front of Inez. After a minute, Jake and Margie and Chad joined him. The church was silent for about five minutes and then I could tell people were starting to get restless. 
          ‘Old Man Jackson’ then stood up and spoke with a booming voice. The four were still kneeling up front and many were praying where they sat. “Are you going to just lie there preacher, or are you going to stand up and preach like we pay you to do.” I think he shocked most people with his bold statement. Ron stood up and the others sat down on the front row. Ron looked a little upset, and he slowly walked back up to the podium. 
          “Mr… Mr. Jackson. I’m sorry if you, or others, might have a drastic difference of opinions with what I have of the duties of a pastor. I have heard many jokes through the years about a pastor being highly overpaid because we ‘work’ only three hours a week. Preaching is such a little portion of a pastor’s duties. I will not go into all of them, but during a worship service, I feel my main capacity is to lead, not just preach. A ‘worship service’ can be many things, preaching, Christmas and Easter Musicals, prayer in a time of disaster, and celebrating in worship during a time of victory. As for tonight, I thought we needed a time of praise and prayer.”
          Then Willard James stood up and walked forward. He walked all the way up to the podium and Ron stepped sideways to make room for him. “Well, Mr. Pastor, I guess Mr. Jackson is not the only one who has a difference of opinion about you being hired to preach, but that’s what I had in mind when I mistakenly voted for you coming here a few weeks ago. Now, are you going to preach?”
          Ron stood there for a long, long half a minute before he answered. “No. No sir. I’m not…. Yes sir, for the moment, you do pay my salary. But as a Christian and a pastor, I must follow God’s leading in how I lead a church and individual services. And I had a strong nudging from God tonight to have a different kind of service. I might not be your pastor for long, but as long as I am, I will lead services by God’s leading and not by committee.”
          “You’re darn right you might not be our pastor long. That will be decided this coming Wednesday night,” added Willard. 
          I heard some sniffling and saw Margie Scott crying. 
          Willard went and sat down in the extra seat next to the pastor’s, like he was in charge. I heard something to my left and saw Alisa Anderson stand up and walk out with both of her kids. I don’t blame her. It looked like things were going to get a little hotter, and she didn’t want her children to see it. Ron stood and spoke. 
          “Mr. James, Mr. Jackson. I am obviously aware of some discontent among some of our congregation, most of it I assume, directed toward myself. I do not want to at this time, nor will I allow a lengthy discussion or heated argument about the issues tonight. We will leave that for Wednesday night. But please indulge me. May you take two or three minutes to at least inform me what your main complaints are? I have just heard a few scattered pieces of gossip, and if I am going to be your pastor for less than two weeks, I would not like to be voted out based on gossip or hearsay. So indulge me. Please give me, in short, what your complaints are.”
          “I will gladly do that,” Willard said as he stood up and took over the podium again. “Well, Mr. Anderson. My and most everyone’s complaints stem from one major issue.” 
“Excuse me,” an old lady who usually sits on the back row said. “Speak for yourself, Willard James. But I don’t think MOST of us have any complaints. I for one think that Brother Ron and …”
            “Thank you Florence, but your vote will be taken Wednesday night,” said Willard. “Now where was I? We hired you to be ‘our’ pastor, not to a town full of deadbeats. Since you walked into our town, you have seemed to be more focused on being chummy with unwanted street people than with your own church members. You have been involved in all kinds of questionable friendships and activities.” He stopped and stood there. 
            Ron looked his way and spoke softly. “Sir, May I please ask you something? What do you mean by unwanted people? If you are talking about serial axe murderers who say they want to kill again, I could maybe accept that. But I really don’t think we have too many here in town, and I would really be surprised if we had any in this room right now.” The whole place laughed and it made Willard very upset. 
            “You know darn well what I am talking about.” He looked down and pointed right at Jake. “We object to a known biker-hippie, dope dealer and that hussy he is living with coming to our fine church. And we object to you being better friends with them than with some of us. And,…what about all the shenanigans going on down here at the front of the auditorium. People, including him,” he again pointed toward Jake, “laying all over the floor, bawling like babies and carrying on. And scaring poor old ladies. It’s just not right, Mr. Anderson. I won’t dignify the term ‘pastor’ with you any longer. You are Mr. Anderson to me. And…these ‘bus kids’ we have been picking up for years. It must cost a fortune every week to pick them up, and they don’t contribute to the church at all. How many of them are there, ten or twelve?” 
            Chad bolted straight up out of his seat. “Now you are out of order, Mr. Jackson. Or just plain ignorant of the facts. Ever since our van broke down years ago, we haven’t spent a dime on church budget to pick up Randy, here, and maybe one or two more. Mr. Jackson has been doing that at his own expense for awhile. For that, we are grateful.”
            “I resigned from that ministry this very morning,” yelled ‘Old Man Jackson’.
            “Then I take up the task as of next Sunday morning, sir,” Chad answered. 
            “Not unless we vote on it,” Jackson insisted.
            Chad was getting angry. “I can pick up whoever I wish. I don’t have to have a committee to tell me to do God’s work.” 
            “Now that we have that settled,” Willard continued, “Shall we continue? Broth….Mr. Anderson, I think that should give you a little to think about until Wednesday night. Should we add any more?”
            “No. …uh…I think that is probably enough for now, Mr. James. You have given me quite a bit to think about and pray about. Have ‘you’ prayed about this, Mr. James?”
            Willard was halfway down the two steps and turned around and shot Pastor Ron a nasty look. 
            “This service is adjourned,” announced Willard when he got about halfway down the aisle. He never slowed down. He went through the double swinging doors and right out to the concrete steps in front. I think he forgot his wife. Mrs. James had to stand up and gather her stuff and run after him. 
            Ron slowly stood and said, “Please. Please every one. God can not be pleased at all that has gone on tonight. I will leave this service open all night if there is anyone who wishes to stay and pray. Please, let’s honor God with our time.” He stood there for about two minutes and watched about thirty of about one hundred people get up and leave. When the thirty had walked out, Ron slowly looked around the auditorium and it seemed like a few people looked down as Ron looked their way, but nobody else moved. Ron then spoke.
            “Mrs. Davidson, could you please play…” Ron stopped as he looked over and noticed that Emmy wasn’t sitting there. “Did she leave too?” Several heads nodded. 
One of the Jr. High teachers stood up and said, “Pastor, I have a CD player and some praise and worship songs in my classroom.” In under a minute, she was back and shortly we were listening to some really cool music. Stuff we didn’t normally sing here.
            the next forty-five minutes, different people stood and asked for prayer. Others would pray for them and then we would sing another song. Most people just listened. I don’t think too many people knew any of the songs. By about eight-thirty, there were only about fifteen people left. Jake leaned over and said. “I need to get you home. I promised to take care of you tonight. That includes getting you home at a decent time.” We stood up quietly and left and got in his truck and got all the way to the Sunset before either of us said anything.
            “Jake, do you think that many people are upset at Ron to ask him to leave?”
            “I…I really don’t know little buddy. I hope not. This is such a tragedy. Ron and Alisa have shown this town nothing but pure Christian love. They reached out to me, Collette, you, and quite a few others that I don’t have the liberty to tell you about. Some people have a strange idea about what a church is supposed to do. They think they built it. They think they pay the bills. They think they own it.”
            “But don’t some of these men pay their money to run the church? I’m not defending them being mean and all that, but don’t they have some say in it.” 
            “Every one has an opinion and a vote, that is, if they belong to a church. I would not have the right to vote Wednesday night, because I’m not a member of this church. But no single person owns a church. It belongs to all. I am passing through, and though I feel God drew me here, I do not have a vote. An opinion, yes! And if allowed, I will state it loudly. Most of these people have no idea who I am and what I have done in life. I told you about my horrible drug life. Hopefully Wednesday, I will be able to share about the wonderful miracles God has done in my life. Hey, you need to get inside and spend time with your sweet mom.”
            “Do you think she is sweet? You know, she…”
            “Yes, she drinks. Too much. But she is your mom. Love her. See ya’ squirt.”
            I jumped out and went into our room. Mom was still dressed up real pretty and sitting up reading. I don’t see her reading much. It was kind of nice.” 
            I heard Jake’s truck start back up and I went to the window. He was going out of the parking lot headed back toward Riverstone. I found out the next day that he went back and about eight people stayed to pray until after midnight.  

Riverstone - Chapter 9

        When I got to the main play ground, there was a crowd of guys in the process of choosing up sides. Arnold sat over to the side, knowing that once again he would be picked last. Nobody ever wanted Arnold on his football team. Or any team. He was nice, but really horrible at any kind of sports. But he really wanted to be good. He was there every time a team was divided up.
         Then, something happened that hardly ever happened. Tony looked up and saw me and yelled, “Hey, guys. There he is.” The whole group ran over to me before I reached the football field. 
          “What in the world is going on?” I asked. 
          “Tell them Randy,” Tony said as he pointed in a circle, meaning the whole gang. “Tell them that the ‘tattoo guy’ and that ‘dancer lady’ aren’t living together. They’re all saying that they live together. Tell them the truth.” They gathered around me, making a circle. 
          “He’s right, guys. Jake and Collette just met last weekend and they do live in separate apartments.” 
          “They do not!” yelled one boy. ‘My dad says they are living in sin and that makes you a liar, Randy Simpson.” I didn’t know what to say. 
          “I just told you what I see.” 
          “Are you saying my dad’s a liar, then? HUH?”
          “No, I just answered Tony’s question.”
          The boy went over and picked up the only ball that was there and then started to walk off. “If he’s going to play,” he said, pointing at me, “then I’m not going to stay.” He ran off. 
          “Come on, that was the only football we have,” yelled one boy as he pulled off his baseball cap and threw it on the ground. The crowd slowly walked away. Tony walked over and patted me on the back. 
          “I’m sorry, Randy. I didn’t mean for that to happen. We were arguing about Jake before you got here, and I thought…well…I…”
          “Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’m just sorry nobody got to play.” Tony walked off and I slowly made my way back to the Sunset. Jake was sitting outside apartment number eight with a big fat man who must have just moved in. He was new. I ran up to him and he held out both hands in a fist.
          “Which one?” Jake asked. “Left or right? Guess which one and you will get a prize.”
          “What’s in it?” I asked, looking down at his rough hands. 
          “Just guess.”
          “Left,” I guessed. He opened his left hand and it was empty. I sighed like I had lost the million dollar lottery, even though I didn’t know what he had hidden. I reached for his right hand and he clinched his fist tighter. I struggled hard, but I knew he was much stronger than I was. He held up the index finger on his left hand and I took my hands off of his and stood there waiting. Jake then opened his right hand and there sat a round coin sort of thing. 
          “Here. It’s yours anyway. It’s good for a free Blizzard at Dairy Queen.”
          “Thanks, Jake.” I looked down and the fat man laughed and smiled. 
          “Are you sure you don’t want a beer, Jake. I’ll get you a cold one,” the fat man asked.
          Jake held up his hand and waved. “No thank you Bob, I haven’t had a drink in almost twenty years. I couldn’t handle it then. I might not now. I can’t risk it.”
          “Suit yourself,” he said as he walked off to his apartment.
          “I guess you see a lot of drinking, don’t you, Randy. I look around and see most people living here have a beer in their hands.” 
          “Yeah. Them, and well…my mom.,,” 
          “I forgot about your…”
          “Don’t worry about it, Jake. I don’t know her any other way. I wish she didn’t drink, but I can’t seem to convince her not to. She doesn’t get out anywhere else and drink. Just here at home.”
          “Can I give you some advice that my daddy gave me?”
          “Sure.”
          “Unfortunately, I didn’t listen. But this is the advice my daddy gave me. I heard him say it dozens of time. ‘The best way to stop a bad habit is to never start it.’”
          “Huh?” I asked.
          “Let me explain. So many habits that people have are so hard to break. Smoking, drinking, taking pills, gambling, all sorts of things. They take over and control us. We are slaves to what controls us. If you never, ever try that first drink or smoke or whatever, you will never be a slave to it. You control it, not the other way around. So, be careful around friends when they try to convince you to take something. They will say you’re a sissy if you don’t. Don’t believe it. It takes a real man to say no. I’ll be right back. Do you want a drink? Soft drink, that is.”
          “Sure.”
          “I’ll be back in a minute. You think about what I said. It might save your life someday.” Jake went on into his apartment and left me there for about five minutes. I think he did so I would have a few minutes to sit and think about what he told me. 
          He came back with my favorite, a Dr Pepper and we sat there in silence drinking our drinks. 
          “So, Jake.” I said.
          “Yeah?”
          “Were you real young when you started drinking?”
          “Randy, I was sort of like you. Except I grew up without my mother. She died when I was three. My dad never really got over losing her so he became what people call a ‘workaholic’.”
          “What does that mean?” I asked
          “It means they are addicted to working way too much. For some people, it is a great desire to get wealthy. For others, like my dad, it was a way to stay busy and not think about what they were hurting from. The more he worked, the more he could forget about my mom. From the time I was about fourteen, I was pretty much on my own. I got in with the wrong crowd and started drinking. Then it was marijuana. Then pills. And then cocaine.”
          “Cocaine!” I yelled. “You don’t…I mean…you don’t still…”
          “No Randy, no. That was a long time ago. I’m forty-five years old and I haven’t had a drink, a smoke, or anything since I was twenty-five. And no, I don’t and never have sold drugs to anybody. I have heard the talk around town. Some people think that because I look a little different and have all these tattoos, that I must be selling dope.”
          “How did you get off the stuff?” I asked.
          “It’s a sad, and wonderful story. For some of us, you have to hit rock bottom before you can look up. For eleven years of my life, I wanted to do little but get to that next high. I robbed, I stole, I lied, I did anything I could to get money for my drugs. I was arrested eighteen times. I got married to a ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ wife when I was only nineteen. She was eighteen. I got her hooked and she was more addicted to the stuff than I was. By the time she was twenty-three, she looked fifty years old. She died of an overdose on her twenty-fourth birthday.”
          Jake stopped for a moment and wiped a few tears. I didn’t say anything. He continued.
          “After that my addiction got so much worse. I wanted to drown out any memory of her. Then about six months later I got a bad batch of cocaine. It had other stuff in it and I overdosed real bad. I was in the hospital for two weeks. One of the nurses in the hospital was a wonderful Christian lady and she shared Jesus with me on a daily basis. Right there in my hospital room, I gave my life over to Jesus. He filled me so much with his love. I wish I could say life has been perfect since then, but I would be lying.”
          “What happened?”
          “Randy, the bible says that if we are true followers of Christ that we are new people. New creations. Some radical Christians want to teach you that once you become a believer, that we have none of the old temptations or problems. But that just isn’t true. Yes, God gives us new desires, and he gives us his spirit to help us overcome our temptations, but there is no secret formula. The Bible says that we still have to live in this sinful flesh and that fighting temptations is going to be a daily struggle. But with Jesus, it is easier. Without him, we have very little ability to fight the flesh. The Bible tells us we need to die to ourselves and our wants and our desires on a daily basis.”
          “So, you didn’t stop taking drugs?”
          “Not immediately. I went right back to it. The difference is I also started going to church and meeting with other believers and they started praying for me. They prayed for two things to happen in my life. One, that I would be overcome with such horrible guilt feelings every time I took something. Two, that every time I took something, I would get horribly sick and would just hate the stuff. And you know what, God answered both prayers. After about one year of getting so sick, the desires completely went away. I haven’t had a hit of anything or a drink in over nineteen years. If I hadn’t met Jesus and had his help, I’m sure I would be dead by now.”
          I sat there and stared at a man who could smile better than just about anyone I knew. He was different, different than most, I mean. I heard something to my right and looked that way. Mom was heading our way. She looked better and prettier than she has in a long time. She had new clothes and didn’t look like she had been drunk at all this weekend. 
          “Where’d you get the new ‘dud’s’, mom?”
          “Do you remember when that new preacher’s lady came over last week and gave Collette some new clothes?” I looked at Jake and we both nodded. “About three things did not fit her and she gave this to me. Looks nice, huh?” Mom smiled real big. 
          “Mrs. Simpson, you look very nice. Really nice.” My mom was not used to talk like that. Usually it was crude talk and jokes that she tried to ignore. 
          “Thank you, Jake. I appreciate…”
          “Mrs. Simpson!” we all heard yelled across the parking lot. It was Amanda, the weekend lady at the Sunset. She looked worried. “You need to take this call, ma’am. Since,…you know, I’m only part time.” Amanda handed mom the cordless phone from the office. 
          “Hello? I’m sorry, I can barely hear you. I’m on a cordless and I am a little too far away from the base. Can you wait a minute?” Mom walked away and went back inside the office. Amanda followed her. About two minutes later, mom came back and joined us. She did not look well at all. At least not like she did a few minutes ago. Her hair was mussed up. When she gets real nervous or mad, she has this bad habit of running her fingers through her hair, no matter how it looks later.
          “Mrs. Simpson? What in the world is wrong?” Jake asked.
          “Small minded little bigots, that’s what is wrong.”
          I looked at Jake and he gave her a puzzled look.
          “Some idiot, who didn’t even have the backbone to tell me who they were, demanded that I kick you and Collette out on the streets.” Mom’s face got so mad and she turned around and threw the phone down busting it in several pieces. As soon as she did, she started to cry. “I…I can’t believe I just did that. I am so angry…” I won’t tell you what kind of words she just used, but if I had said them in school, I would have gotten detention for a week. I went to pick up the broken pieces of the phone while Jake went closer to mom.
          “It’s Ok. It’s Ok. But please tell me. What exactly did they tell you? They said that this town and Riverstone Baptist didn’t need your kind around here. They mentioned both you and Collette. They said you were a ‘dope selling trouble maker’ and I can’t tell you what they said about Collette. At least not in front of my son.”
          “What are you going to do about it?” Jake asked kindly and quietly.
          Mom looked his way like she wanted to kill him for a second. “Nothing! Nothing at all. Those two-faced creeps think they can push me and my customers around, they got another thing coming.”
          Again, Jake talked in a very quiet voice. He was trying not to upset mom. “And you have no idea who made the call?” Mom shook her head. Jake then walked off to his room and left mom and I standing there alone. She stood there with her arms folded, with a face that looked like it could skin a wild hog alive. 
          A minute later, Jake came out and was talking on his cell phone. “…Yes, I know Ron, but I still feel like half of this is my fault. Maybe I should stay away for tonight.” There was a long pause. “I know…I know. Yes, you’re the boss. I’ll see you a little before seven.” He clicked off his phone and wandered around the parking lot for about a minute before he joined mom and I again. 
          “That was Ron Anderson. I felt like I needed to let him know what was going on. I tried to bow out for tonight and he said he wouldn’t allow it. He said that two weeks might be the shortest stint a pastor ever had, but he wasn’t going to go without a fight. He insisted that I go, and he even suggested I ask Collette if she would like to go back. I doubt it, but I’ll try. I barely have an hour left, so I better go find her. Mrs. Simpson, is it fine if ‘little squirt’ goes with me?” He looked down at me and smiled.
          “Fine with me. You keep him close, do you understand. I don’t want things to get out of hand over there. Randy,” she said looking over at me. “you go clean up a little and be ready for Jake when he is ready. Now go.” She slapped me on the bottom to get me going. I didn’t need any prompting. Whatever was going to happen at Riverstone either Wednesday or tonight, I didn’t want to miss it.