Untitled

Chapter Twenty Two

The telephone jolted Lisa from a sound sleep. Mama entered the bedroom to find her yawning and rubbing her eyes with the knuckles of two clenched fists. "Your sister's on the phone dear. She wants to talk to ya."
Glancing at the clock on the night stand beside her bed, Lisa complained. "It's only six o'clock in the morning, what's the matter with that girl?" She impatiently grabbed the phone from her mother.
"Sissy, I'm furious with you. Watta ya want with me this time in the morning?"
"I'm so sorry," was Sissy's facetious reply. "I just wanted to tell ya that after church today me and Jake is gonna have a barbecue at the house and wanted you and Mama to come. You are going to church ain't ya?"
After briefly hesitating Lisa recalled her experience on the road driving out to Dr. Summer's place the previous day.
"Of course we're going to church. You didn't have to call me up at six o'clock in the morning to ask me that."
"See ya in church then, big sister," Sissy said, chuckling. True to character, Sissy had again performed one of her mischievous little deeds, and she smiled approvingly to herself as she hung up the phone.

From two miles away, or farther if the wind was right, you could hear the church bell toll, calling to worship all those within its range.
The freshly painted white frame church was reminiscent of New England style architecture. It was bordered by giant oak trees except for the front entrance where a walkway led to wooden stairs and a porch that confronted two large oak doors. Metal railings had been installed to help the aged and handicapped make their way up. Adjacent to the church, but attached as a separate station, stood the bell tower and supporting structure. Inside, the bell-rope, which hung in the middle, was being pulled by the weight of an honored member of the youth group.
As Lisa stepped inside she recognized the rows of long stiff low back pews and beautiful stained glass windows. The church would accommodate up to a hundred parishioners. The minister was sitting behind an eloquently sculptured wood pulpit. The choir and organist were in their places to the left and right respectively.
Lisa gently tugged at her mother's hand, instinctively guiding her to the fourth pew next to the aisle where the family had always sat. Mama looked at her daughter with joyful eyes and despite the years gone by, Lisa felt quite peaceful and at home here. Pastor Beacon stood, took his place behind the pulpit and began his sermon.
"Peace on earth and good will towards men has always, and continues to be, the ultimate goal of mankind. Judging from this Nation's history, in fact, world history, I would say we are far from achieving this goal. Let us pray."

Lisa found herself drifting back to when she sat in this very spot with Mama, her Daddy, and sister Sissy. She was twelve years old then; an innocent young girl oblivious to the cruelties of the world. She traced back through memories in time and they were as vivid as though it were yesterday.
She recalled looking over the pew to glance at the boys in the rows behind. And not paying a bit of attention to the sermon, she would pass notes through Sissy to her girlfriend at the end of the pew. Then they would both look over their shoulders at the boys and then at each other, holding a hand over their snickering mouths. The boys would lightly punch each other in the arm and only smile at one another, for they were too bashful to acknowledge the girls. The Pastor really didn't care; he was just glad they were there. She remembered proudly parading outside, after church, in her Sunday best dress.
She continued to daydream in between hymns. 'If Daddy could have only lived, things would have been so different,' she repeated to herself again.

Lisa snapped back to attention upon hearing the Pastor quoting from scripture to close his sermon.
"People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.' And he took the children in his arms, put out his hands and blessed them."
In the following minutes during the closing prayer Lisa rededicated herself to the task of helping runaway girls get their lives together. And she again thanked God for her 'second chance' with Granny and Pop, Bernice, and the opportunity to come home again.
After church, people congregated in the social hall to sip coffee and munch on breakfast rolls provided by volunteer parishioners. Some people stayed most of the afternoon as this was considered the social gathering of the week.
Once a month they would have a potluck lunch. Lisa had fond remembrance of those days. After filling up with punch and rolls she and her friends would spend most of their time running through the trees playing hide and seek with the boys.
An introduction to the Pastor and some of Sissy's friends was followed by a reacquaintance with a couple of her old girlfriends. Sadly, she quickly found they had little in common.
She felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to see the smiling face of Doc Summers. "How are you this morning, Lisa?" he asked as he reached out and clasped his giant hand around her much smaller one.
They chatted awhile and upon parting Doc Summers asked, "Can I talk you into coming to the office tomorrow, I'll give you a free checkup?" he kiddingly quipped.
"I don't think so, Doctor. I want to spend more time with Mama." For some strange reason she suddenly felt pressured.
Doc Summers sensed it, smiled softly and said, "I understand. Come when you can."

To Lisa's surprise, Jake had mowed and watered the lawn the previous day and it looked much better than before. Sissy had made up the picnic table with a white and red checkerboard tablecloth and set out snacks and lemonade and Jake's barbecue was loaded with coals and ready to go.
Sissy ran up to Lisa and Mama as they exited the car. "Come on over here Les. I want you to meet Jake." Jake was a short stocky man and his most distinctive feature was a pot belly that hung over a western type belt buckle. He was dressed in blue jeans, a tee shirt, dirty cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. Sissy put her arm around his waist and he returned the favor.
"This is my sister I been telling ya about, honey. Jake just did the yard up Les, ain't it nice?" Jake beamed with pride. Lisa was unimpressed. However, she was slowly learning the pitfalls of drawing opinions from first impressions and scolded herself for passing judgment.
"Pleasing to meet ya Lisa," Jake said, cordially tipping his hat. "Hope ya like barbecue chicken. It's my own recipe."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Jake, and yes, I love barbecue chicken."
Little Lisa and Jake Jr. who had been visiting with Mama came running up and started tugging their aunt's hands. "Aunt Lisa can we go set in yer car wit da top pulled down. Grama said ya might."
"Oh she did, did she," said Lisa lightheartedly, stooping down to their eye level. "How about I do one better than that. How would you like to go for a ride with the top down?"
"Ohhh-yahoo," they squealed in unison. Not forgetting their manners they both looked up. "Can we, Mama?" begged Jake Jr.
"I guess so, but you do what your Aunt Les says." A quick OK, half expecting their mother to change her mind, and off they ran to the car.
"Alright you guys. Both of you in the back seat and let me buckle you up."
Looking in the rear view mirror, Lisa could see laughter and excitement painted on their faces and their little arms waving in the air. 'You would think they were riding on a carnival roller coaster by the way they're screaming. How delightful' she thought, accelerating her car down the dusty country road.
"You guys having fun?"
"Yeahhh...go faster Aunt Lisa," yelled Jake Jr.
"I better turn around and head back now, we've been gone for twenty minutes and your parents might get worried."
"Ahhhh..." they groaned. And their little smiles turned to little frowns.
"But we'll do it again another day." And their little frowns returned to little smiles as they settled back in their seats to enjoy the ride home. Jake's chicken was good and Lisa told him so. After eating, Mama and Lisa laid on a blanket in the grass to rest. "Mama, what do you think about Sissy and Jake's life out here and all that? I mean, did you ever think that Sissy deserved more?"
"Don't need no thinking about it honey, all ya gotta do is look. You can most always know how things are by looken without a lot of figuring. That goes for most all people and situations as far as I'm concerned. When I'm around folks, I can usually tell who's happy and who's not. And also them that's lying and them that's telling the truth and so on."
Mama followed her statement with a gravelly chuckle and then continued. "You can be sho that Sissy and Jake have a happy life and that's all that's important."
"I know Mama...I was only..."
"I understand honey," interrupted mama. "You're only concerned about her welfare.
"I'll tell ya a little secret to remember. The best way to tell in a family is to watch and listen to the children. Don't pay no mind to the grownups. If you watch the children long enough you will see the truth."
'I guess nothing can really substitute for a close, loving family relationship like this,' thought Lisa. 'Sissy and Jake hold strong family values based on a Christian life. And it's reflected in their children.'
"Les, come on over here and help me clean this stuff up."
"Looks like duty calls, Mama. Be back in a bit." Lisa slid her arm over her mother's as she stood up. They exchanged warm smiles.
"I thought I was a guest around here," laughed Lisa.
Sissy pointed at the picnic table with a commanding gesture. "You were, the first time! Now pick up that salad bowl and what else you can, and bring it in the kitchen." Lisa laughed again as she complied.
Still inquisitive, Lisa bluntly asked her sister. "What did you say that Jake did for a living?"
"I didn't," Sissy sharply replied. Lisa felt stupid, was embarrassed and it shone in her face.
Sissy instinctively cradled Lisa's face in her hands and the two lightly bumped foreheads, something they had done as kids when one hurt or caught the other off guard and was sorry for her actions. And that little ritual was sufficient, "I'm sorry" words did not have to be said.
"Jake's got the filling station at the end of town. He took it over after his daddy died."
Lisa's memory was jogged. "You mean Jake's that little blond kid who used to run around there all the time, always dirty from grease?"
"Yeah...that's him, and he still comes home full of grease," laughed Sissy. "People grow up you know. Well, in some ways they don't I guess." Hysterical laughter broke out, because they looked at each other realizing how little, they themselves, had really changed. 'How ironic,' Lisa mused to herself. 'The little daughter of the candy store owner marries the son of the filling station owner. Typical for a small town I guess.'
"Jake's a good mechanic, best in town," bragged Sissy.
"Financially, you must get by pretty good then?"
Sissy looked at her sister with a perplexed, crooked smile. Lisa could now see that there was an underlying reason for Sissy's reluctance to mention Jake's work and was sorry she brought it up.
"To be honest with ya Les, we would have more money cept for one thing. Jake only charges what he thinks people can afford and sometimes that's free! And he helps the colored people in the lowers out a lot by fixing their cars for next to nothing and teaching them how to do mechanic work.
"We go over there sometimes to see a couple families and sometimes they come and visit us. Some folks look down on us for that but I just tell em they don't have Christian thinking and to mind their own business. It just dumbfounds me Les! When's people gonna git those high fluting, better than thou ideas out of their heads about negroes. One man over there, Jimmy Hanes, is about to open up his own mechanic shop, thanks to Jake.
"I tell you Les, my Jake would give you the shirt off his back if you were to ask. But I don't complain none. He's doing the Lord's work in his way and we get along fine. You know what the Bible says, Les, 'He who has riches and gives nothing shall perish, but he who has little and gives all from the heart, shall receive his reward in heaven.'
"I got me a good man Les and I love him. And I'm proud of him too!!"
Lisa took a moment to swallow, in self disgust, over her first impression of Jake. "And I love you little sister, and I'm proud of you...more than you can know."
"Oh you shut up now," said Sissy trying to hold back her feelings of appreciation. "We better go see about Mama, probably about time you got her home."