| 11/13/2007 |
| Day Thirteen |
Mikala went up to the front counter. As soon as Mrs. Udetta saw the teenage girl, she motioned for her to come over to her. Mikala obliged the older woman. When Mikala reached Mrs. Udetta, they embraced each other.
"How is my baby girl doing today?" Mrs. Udetta beamed.
Mikala smiled big. She loved it when Mrs. Udetta called her baby girl, "I am fine. How are you, other than busy?"
Mrs. Udetta squeezed Mikala tighter, "I am busy, but I am blessed, truly blessed baby girl. Is your mother dragging you through t his mall looking for a dress?"
"Yes mame. I hate going shopping for dresses," Mikala lamented.
Mrs. Udetta realized Mikala from the warm spot in her arms, "I know. I may be able to find you something in the store that will make your mother happy and will not make you scream."
Mikala tried to nuzzle herself back into the spot that Mrs. Udetta had just released her from, "Are you serious?
"Yes, child. You no good and fair well you cannot be laying upon me right now baby girl. I gots customers in here. Tell Marbella to go in the back and get that box with your name on it," Mrs. Udetta pushed Mikala playfully.
Mikala smiled, "Ok. I guess I cannot wait until later to finish my hug." Mikala walked off to find Marbella.
Mrs. Udetta laughed and then turned her attention to the customer she had standing at the counter, "Sorry about that Sis. Terraholt. I had to talk to my baby."
Sis. Marshay Terraholt made a face, "If you say so. I need you to hurry and ring this up. There are too many people in here. This is madness."
"It's Easter weekend. Everyone is trying to find something to wear. It's not that bad," Mrs. Udetta declared.
"Well, you know I do not like shopping with this many people around. Folks are too nosey, trying to see what you are wearing. I cannot believe you let all these people in here with me. You should have had them wait," Sis. Terraholt protested.
Mrs. Udetta smiled at the pompous sounding woman as she thought, "You are the idiot that came in here today. Not too smart Miss Lady." As quickly as she had thought it, Mrs. Udetta repented, "Lord, forgive me. I should not talk about YOUR child like that. Keep my thoughts pure Lord, lest I think something that causes me to sin."
Mrs. Udetta finished ringing up Sis. Terraholt and handed her the bags of clothes. Sis. Terraholt walked out of the store with her nose in the air. She almost fell trying to avoid one of the other customers in the store. Mrs. Udetta tried not to laugh at the scene she had just witnessed. She thought to herself, "Lord, I will be glad when Sunday is here and gone. I love You and I thank You for dying on the cross for me, but folks sure can act a fool."
Precious and Alexia had finally made it to the 2nd floor of the Orchard Park Mall. Alexia made it a point to spend too much time looking in the furniture store. She kept looking at a sofa. She knew she had no intentions of buying the sofa, but she had the sales clerk show her the whole set of furniture, twice. Precious just sat on one of the sofa's in a living room display and watched some soap opera that was showing on the flat screen TV. It was a good thing that Precious had seen the TV and liked it. the sales clerk's time would have been wasted if Precious had not decided to buy two of the flat screen TVs. She did not own a flat screen. She preferred a traditional TV. She was scared that something would happen and a flat screen would get broken. After the sales person told her all about the TVs, she decided to go ahead and get a couple of them. The sales clerk seemed happy with the sale and did not complain about Alexia wasting his time. They left the furniture store after Precious arranged for the store to deliver her TVs on the Monday following the weekend.
Precious made a face, "Why are you clowning today?"
"What in the world are you talking about?" Alexia knew full well what Precious was talking about.
Precious rolled her eyes at her aunt, "You are clearly tripping. Why did you mess with that sales clerk like that? You knew you were not going to buy that furniture. You need Jesus!"
Alexia laughed loudly, "You ain't even one to talk. At least I got Jesus in my life. You ain't even looked for Jesus since half past forever."
An elderly woman almost bumped into Precious. Precious smiled at the lady, "Excuse me, mame." The elderly woman smiled back, "Baby, know that was my fault. These old hips do not wiggle like they used to. I used to walk just like you, hips switching left and right. Uhh, huh. Baby, do not get old." The woman disappeared before Precious could respond.
Precious chuckled, "Old girl was serious. Can you imagine her when she was our age?" Precious walked with her hips swaying widely and sexily.
Alexia laughed, "You crazy. She looked like she had more class than that. She one of them old school ladies that dressed up to go everywhere. Those chicks could walk without even looking like they were walking." Alexia did a smooth model walk.
A man walked by, "You better walk girl. Fierce, Miss Thang!" He snapped his finger effeminately and kept on walking.
Both of the girls bumped into each other as they laughed wildly.
Precious imitated the man walking by, "Fierce, Miss Thang!"
Alexia roared, "Alright, you are gonna hurt yourself. You silly."
Precious laughed, "Do you know how to attract a normal man?"
"Why you gotta go there?" Alexia rolled her eyes.
They walked slowly, enjoying each others company. As they walked by giggling, people stared at them. Precious made a face at a woman who was staring at them. The lady rolled her eyes at Precious after she gave the silly acting woman a stern look. Alexia grabbed Precious and pulled away from the woman's direction before Precious could act a fool with the woman.
Precious grabbed Alexia by the arm, "So, what's up with you and your crazy men?"
"Must you act a fool with me today," Alexia said in an irritated tone.
"I am just messing with you. Do not get all upset with me. Good grief. I am just trying to get you a man," Precious wheedled.
Alexia rolled her neck, "For your information, I got a man."
Precious stopped walking, jerking Alexia, who she still had by the arm, "What man? I ain't seen him."
"That's cause he got a job and be working all the time," Alexia lied.
"You are such a liar!" Precious exclaimed.
Alexia giggled silently, "I am not. I saw him today before I came to pick you up."
Precious started to walk again, yanking Alexia forward.
"If you do not quit yanking on me," Alexia started.
Precious ignored her aunt, "You ain't gonna do nothing. What man do you have?"
Before Alexia could answer, they had reached their destination, Mrs. Udetta's.
Alexia smiled, "You will have to wait. I gotta go find me an outfit, so I can look good for my man." She pulled her arm from in Precious' arm and walked into the store. alexia chuckled. She knew she had Precious reeling, trying to figure out who her man was. alexia was not technically lying; she kind of had a man, Ronnie from the gas station. He had been the only man to pay her any attention in a long while. By Precious' definition of having a man, all he needed to do was pay you some attention, so Alexia had a man, because Ronnie paid her a lot of attention when she came to the gas station.
Precious stood at the entrance of Mrs. Udetta's. she could not believe that Alexia had a man. There was no way in the world Alexia had a man. She would have been beaming and telling everyone she had a man, as much ridicule as she received for not having a man. Precious convinced herself that Alexia had been fooling her. Precious walked into the store before she her mind persuaded her otherwise about Alexia's man.
Brock and Boyd walked out of Mr. Ray's after looking around for the longest time. Brock wanted to hurt Boyd. The prissy man must have looked at every suit in the store. the sales associate even got frustrated with Boyd. Brock had to walk off several times because he wanted to hit Boyd. Boyd got upset and told Brock to leave, but Brock wouldn't because he knew that he would never get Boyd out of the store.
Boyd ended up buying a brown suit, number 38 in his collection of brown suits, and a gray suit, neither of which he planned on wearing on Sunday. He also bought the accessories to match both outfits, shirts, shoes, ties, cuff links, and tie clips. That boy was too pretty.
Boyd had two big bags. He wanted to take them to the car, "Yo, man. Let's take this stuff to the car."
Brock looked at his one bag, "I do not feel like walking all the way out to the car. Why did not you leave the bags with Mr. Ray until we got ready to leave?"
"Can you just go to the car with me?" Boyd huffed.
"Naw, why I gotta go with you?" Brock sulked.
Boyd poked his lip out and began to brood, "I always do what you wanna do. You cannot do one thing for me. you shady man." He walked off in a huff.
Brock laughed. Boyd could act a fool when he wanted to. Brock pretending to ignore his brooding friend and walked into a store.
Boyd followed Brock into the store, "Man, quit tripping. Fool, gimme the keys. You shady, dawg. Shady." Brock reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys. Boyd grabbed them before Brock could extend the keys to him. Boyd walked out of the store. Brock rolled his eyes and walked around the toy store. He did not even have a child to buy a toy for.
Boyd made the long trek to the car. He was furious. Brock always had to get his way. Boyd wondered why he was friends with the selfish nut.
Brock looked around the toy store. for a brief moment, the longing to have a child filled his heart. He felt as if he would be a great father. He became sad as he thought, "Dawg, you gotta have a wife to have a kid." Brock felt unbelievably lonely at that moment. He felt like an idiot for being sad. He was a man. He was not supposed to feel like he was feeling. The biological clock was a phenomenon that affected women. Why was he feeling these feelings?
Brock walked swiftly to the front of the store so that he could exit the store. he wanted the feeling he was experiencing to leave. He hoped that leaving the store would accomplish that. It really did not. he began reprimanding himself for not being married. He replayed the speech his mother had given him when he turned 25.
"Baby, you need a wife. You cannot be running around trying to be Mr. Big Time Preacher and you ain't got nobody to take care of you. That road gets lonely. An empty bed ain't gonna comfort you in the middle of the night when you are feeling dejected and lost. I may be old, but I know how it can be when you are by yourself and you start wanting to be with somebody. That ain't a good feeling for me with my old self, so I know it cannot be good for you. You need to find you a woman."
Brock tried to tell his mother that he was okay. He response was always, "Mama, I'm a million dollar man and I need a million dollar woman." To which his mother would respond, "Boy, you better find a 250 thousand dollar woman and work to increase her interest." Hearing his mother's voice in his head made him laugh. He felt a little better, but he was still single.
Lela walked out of her favorite department store, Bergstein. She went in the store to look for some sheets for her bed. She was tired of the sheets she had at home. She clutched the bag of sheets for dear life as if it were a bag of gold and walked around the mall, feeling good, at least for being able to find one thing that she had wanted to find on this trip to the mall. She was going to go find a toy store to buy a present for her niece. She had being promising the little girl a gift for the longest time. She was tired of the child worrying her.
Brock was walking down the mall walkway when he looked up and saw Sis. Rhineholt again. He blinked twice. He chuckled to himself as he thought, "Is this a sign?" he told himself, "You need to quit. Leave that woman alone."
Lela looked up and saw Pastor Van Duren. A broad smile graced her face. This had to be a sign. It was nearly impossible to see someone you know in the mall one time. Seeing someone you knew twice was a scientific marvel. Lela thought this was her chance. She looked around for Pastor Van Duren's constant bodyguard. He was no where to be seen. Lela was not going to miss this opportunity. She hoped that her breath was smelly.
She walked up to Pastor Van Duren, "Pastor, are you following me?"
Brock looked mystified, "No, Sis. Rhineholt, I am not."
Lela walked close to the young pastor, "You can call me Lela. We are not at church."
The woman was standing too close to Brock for his taste. He backed up half a step, "I feel more comfortable calling you Sis. Rhineholt."
"If you say so, Pastor Van Duren," Lela said with a snip of dejection in her voice. This was going to be harder than she expected. She tried to peak his interest again, "Where are you headed?"
Pastor Van Duren was not sure what to do, "No where in particular. I am waiting on Bro. Allen to come back."
Lela made a face and thought, "I know this fool ain't gay. Him and that Boyd boy hang around too much." She looked at Pastor Van Duren, "If you say so," she looked at his bag and continued on, "What did you buy?"
Pastor Van Duren looked at the bag, "Some shoes." He looked down at his feet.
Lela looked down at his feet. He had on different shoes than he had on before. They went with the outfit better than the loafers. She looked back at the quiet pastor, "I like those better than the other ones you had on. Good choice."
Pastor Van Duren smiled with accomplishment, "Thanks, Sis. Rhineholt."
Lela blew an exasperated breath, "I sure wish you would call me Lela."
Pastor Van Duren twisted his lips, "I will try. I better get out of here."
Lela did not want to leave the handsome man's presence, "Do not you want to know what I bought?"
Pastor Van Duren looked at the bag in the woman's hand. It wouldn't hurt to ask they question. As he was about to ask, a voice said, "Don's ask." Pastor Van Duren paused, "No, I do not need to know. It's none of my business. Are you going to come to the play on tomorrow night?"
Lela got mad. How dare he not even show any interest in him? She rolled her neck, "NO, I ain't coming to it! I got other plans."
Pastor Van Duren looked startled, "No, problem. Hopefully you will come to the picnic on Saturday."
Lela could feel her ears getting hot. She wanted to scream, "Fool, cannot you see that I am flirting with you? Are you really that dense?" Lela took several long deep breaths to calm down. she could not act a fool in this mall with this ignant behind preacher. He was a sucker if he did not see what a catch she was. she laughed at herself for using the word "sucker." Her father called everyone a sucker. Thinking about her father had calmed her down. she smiled sweetly at the young unlearned preacher, "I will not be coming to that. I am even thinking about going to church with my parents on Sunday."
Pastor Van Duren smiled slyly, "You are going to miss my first holiday sermon."
Lela wanted to laugh out loud and scream, "It ain't like you even care." She blew a breath, "I guess I will just miss it then." she knew she was lying. Her parents lived all the way in Maddocha Beach. She had no plans to go see them. She just wanted to see how Pastor Van Duren would react to her news.
Pastor Van Duren looked a bit dejected. He would miss Sis. Rhineholt telling him how good he preached. She always told him that after every sermon. She always seemed sincere as well. He paused for a moment and though to himself, "Maybe she was just flirting with me like Boyd said." Pastor Van Duren wanted to melt into the floor. Had Sis. Lela Rhineholt had been just saying the line to him just to flirt with him? He wanted to get out the presence of the woman who had become his tormentor. He said, "Sis. Rhineholt, I really have to go. If I do not see you on Sunday, have a blessed Resurrection Sunday." He tried to leave, but Lela grabbed his arm.
Lela felt like a total idiot. She had thrown herself at the man trying to leave her and he hadn't even blinked at her. she looked at her hand on his arm. She let his arm go, "Yea, ok. I guess finding your man is more important than me anyway."
Pastor Van Duren glared at the disrespectful woman, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Lela rolled her eyes, "You tell me, you have a beautiful woman standing in front of you and all you can think about is finding your male friend. It does kind of make a person think." She walked off with a sulk before Pastor Van Duren could respond to her insinuation.
Brock was furious. He wanted to go after Sis. Rhineholt and tell her off. The pastor in him said, "You know you cannot tell that woman off. She is just mad because you ignored her flirting with you. Man, let it go. You know the truth!" Brock started walking in the direction of the woman who had insulted him.
Before he made two steps, his cell phone rung. He picked it up, clicked the talk button, and said, "Hello."
Boyd's voice answered, "Where you at?"
Brock silently thanked the Lord that Boyd had called before he said, "On the first floor by the toy store."
Boyd laughed, "Nut; there are two toy stores on the first floor, which one?"
Brock laughed, too, "I am by K-B's®. You ain't gonna believe what happened to me." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
