James had fallen asleep halfway through Directing for Dummies, so the six am freight caught him off guard again. He didn't jump to attention, but could not go back to sleep. So, he got up dressed, gathered his book and the keys Susan had left with him the night before, and headed out to the driveway.
Pastor Jacobs' “loaner” car turned out to be a 1991 red Geo Prizm that seemed to have once been the scene of a dash fire. There was no radio and the gear shift was a little charred, but the key turned over and the motor purred to life, so James figured it was better than nothing.
He pulled out onto the street in search of donuts and coffee, finding out along the way that the heater worked but the defrost was AWOL. He folded the sleeve of a flannel shirt Glenn had brought him, down over his fingers and did his best to remove the frost from the inside of the windshield.
Daylight Donuts supplied the coffee he so desperately needed, and after a couple of glazed, and an apple fritter, James felt ready to tackle his day. The book was beginning to make sense, the auditions were behind him, and he had enough money to get a pay as you go phone to call his son from, afraid that using the land line at the parsonage was a bad idea.
He stopped at Family Dollar and picked up a Go Phone and a $10 minutes card, then headed back to River Oaks to get to work.
When he staggered into the office with a cup of coffee and Directing for Dummies open in front of his, still blurry eyes, Susan immediately diagnosed a case of being woken too early, “Guess I don't have to ask how you're doing.” She said.
James smiled tiredly, “I'll be fine, if I can sleep past six! How do you locals deal with that train?”
“I can't speak for everybody, but I use earplugs and a sleep mask, myself. You have some people waiting to see you.” Susan pointed in the direction of his office.
James swallowed, should he run now, or go quietly into custody? It must be the police, how had they found him already? Maybe the records officer had ratted him out? “People?”
“Church business, by the way, how did the auditions turn out?” Susan asked.
James took a deep breath and waited to make sure his heart was still beating before replying, “Great! If I can find everyone except Mary in the next three days, I think we'll be alright!”
I have been to a few impromptu business meetings with my dad, regarding church business, and let me tell you, walking into the room is never fun. If James had thought his experience of the night before was tough, the gauntlet he was about to run was going to make it look like a Sunday School picnic. Parents nearly filled his office wall to wall, and they all started talking at once, as soon as he turned the knob to enter the door, and none of them looked happy!
James wiggled through the crowd to the desk and held his hand up, which seemed to quiet them, “Okay, I can see you all have some pressing questions, let's try one at a time.”
A very angry, thin, brown haired woman leaned in across the desk, “Why isn't my daughter playing Mary? Tell me that, because she has been understudying that part for three years...” at that, the room disintegrated into short bursts of intelligible soundbites, engulfed in a wall of noise.
From further back in the room, a father made himself heard, “Yeah, and my son came home talking about how the Flannigan brothers are going to be Wise men? Can that be true? I know you're new, so let me explain something, church is no place for a bunch of thugs like the Flannigans!”
At that moment, the door opened and a noise like a boat horn rocked the tiny room.
Everyone turned to see Susan, an air horn in her hand, “All right! All right! Okay! Now, listen! We ALL voted unanimously to bring Pastor Todd in to help us out of a tight spot! So far, he has done better than any of you could under the circumstances. So, unless any of you have any questions or concerns....” several hands shot up, “about anything OTHER than the musical auditions,” and as quickly went down, “I suggest you move on out of here and give him a chance to prove that he knows what he's doing!”
People began to get still and James let out a huge sigh of relief, “Thanks, Susan.”
Susan turned on him with a fierce look in her eye, “If it doesn't work out, we can vote on his severance package at the next quarterly meeting, okay?”
I can imagine the look of terror on James' face when she said this, followed by the realization that this wasn't really his job, which brought momentary relief, until he remembered he could really screw things up for the real Todd, when and if he ever recovered.
Susan continued, “Now, if you'll excuse him, he only has a few short hours until his first rehearsal.”
A quiet, dark skinned woman over by the door stepped up, “Pastor Todd?” Susan moved to block her, but James reached out a hand, she seemed harmless.
“Yes?”
“I am sorry for the way this is all happening here, but I just came to say thank you for the way you treated my daughter last night. She came home happy for the first time in, I don't know how long. You treated her just like everybody else. Made her feel a part. Thank you.” The woman smiled nervously.
James took her hand, “Nice to know I did something right. You are welcome. Which one is your daughter?
“Latisha, the one who has to wear that awful headgear after five pm.” the woman took her hand back gently.
James smiled, “Yeah, Lexie introduced us, but I don't think she even sang for me, now that I think about it.”
Smiling gently the woman stood a little taller and looked him in the eye, “You offered, and that is more than people do for her. You keep up the good work, Pastor Todd.”
Susan stood in the door until the last parent had left, “Don't forget, rehearsal at six thirty. Oh, and Pastor Roland will be here tonight, so he asked me to make sure you're here at nine sharp tomorrow.”
It had been such a long time since anyone had given James a genuine complement that he barely knew Susan was there, “How do you like that, a real thank you...”
She walked up and rapped on the desk to get his attention, “Nine A-m.”
He looked up and smiled, “Nine, no problem.
I've been getting up pretty early anyway.”
So, my part of the story was about to catch up with all of the goings on at River Oaks Community church. Meanwhile across town at the flower shop, another part of our story was coming into focus.
“So, let me get this straight. This preacher didn't like your mother's choreography that she slaved over to teach you boys?”
“No, sir. In fact, he suggested it wasn't appropriate for church.” Mikey reported.
Mickey Flannigan's big fist came crashing down on the counter, “Nobody messes with my kids, got that Shawn, nobody.”
“What do you want to do about it, Pop? We have some collections today, but we could swing by, give him a talking to...” Shawn had his feet on the register again, picking his nails with a knife.
“Anybody ever tell you, you look a stereotype that got rejected?”
Mickey shoved the boy's feet off the counter, “No, for right now, we just assume he's doing his job, doesn't know who's in charge around here, okay?” Shawn nodded, “And you boys keep me informed. I want to know if this preacher has anything else to say about your family, you got me? Now get to school, and don't forget to bring back some lunch money for your college fund!”
Mickey pointed a thumb at a large pickle jar which had long been emptied of the salty treat, and was now more than a third filled with change and small bills.
Mikey and Jimmy hopped on their bicycles and rode off into traffic, flipping the bird to a driver who honked at their careless entry into traffic.
“Look at those boys. So much smarter than you two at their age. Your mother, God rest her soul, was never much for brains, but what a body!” Mickey Flannigan said.
James had almost filled his notebook with scribbled reminders from the directing books. One page held a diagram of a stage, marked with stage left, stage right, up stage and down stage. Right now he was drilling himself on vocabulary. He needed to know blocking from dialog and props from scenery if he was going to pull this off.
At noon he took a break and drove to a local hamburger joint and ordered a cheeseburger and fries. He pulled the Go Phone out of his pocket and set it on the table, staring at it nervously. It was time to make the call, but he wasn't sure what response he would get. He finished his burger and checked the time. It was now, or never. James dialed the number, it rang twice and a woman's voice answered. “Hello?”
Tina had been his high school sweet heart. They had gotten engaged two years after graduation. James was planning to join the Army, finish his training, and then they would get married, but all of that changed when they found out about his son.
“Tina? It's James.” He said.
“Is it Wednesday, already? I don't recognize this number, where are you calling from?” Tina asked. James had been calling her every Wednesday at this time. During his entire stay in prison, he had only missed twice, due to disciplinary issues that had prevented phone calls.
“Okay, promise not to freak out?” James said, a lump growing in his chest.
“Why, what did you do? Are you in trouble?” Tina asked.
James thought it best to come clean, so he started from the beginning. He told her about his parole hearing, about the chaplain, about his escape, and about the auditions he had held the night before. Tina, to her credit said nothing throughout the entire story.
“Is this April Fool's day, or am I being punked?” Tina laughed. He had to admit, the whole story was a bit farfetched, even he wasn't sure he believed all of it.
“Nope. It's true. Every word.” James said.
There was silence from the other end. “Tina?”
“Oh, my God, James, what...how...why did you think you should call me? You can't come here. You know my probation is only good so long as I stay away from you! Oh, baby, this is a mess! Can you get back in, without them knowing I mean?”
“I don't see how.” James replied, the lump moving from his chest to his throat, making it hard to talk. “Can I talk to Danny?”
“No.” Tina was crying now, “What would you say to him?”
“That I'm coming to see you. I'd be careful.” James said, he was holding it together, no matter what, he told himself, he would not cry.
James once told me that the loneliest sound in the world was the click of a phone hanging up on the other end of the line, and I think he was remembering this moment when he said it. Tina had hung up. He dialed the number again, but couldn't bring himself to push the send button. He froze.
The only reason he had broken out in the first place had just evaporated. He had risked everything, including possibly his life, to get out and see them, and it wasn't even going to happen. What now? He might as well turn himself in. His phone rang, who could it be?
“Hello?” James answered.
“Todd? This is Susan....at the church...”
“Oh, um, yeah, what's up?” James replied, trying to keep himself from sounding choked up.
“You asked me to get you some volunteers. They're here.” Susan said. He could hear several voices talking quietly in the background.
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