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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781490711973 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Trafford Publishing |
| Publication date: | 12/31/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 52 |
| File size: | 124 KB |
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THE PULPIT
By HUMPHREY L. MOORE
Trafford Publishing
Copyright © 2014 Humphrey L. MooreAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4907-1196-6
CHAPTER 1
Bryan Powers, a.k.a. BB, is lying in bed next to his girlfriend Yvonne; his face is twitching because of the dream he is having. In his dream, he is ten years old; he and his mother Patricia are in church, and Deacon Thaddeus Tidwell is standing in front of the pulpit about to pray. He utters the words; all heads are bowed. Bryan then sees himself, standing beside his mother in the hallway as she is talking to Deacon Tidwell inviting him to dinner. His mother, Patricia, is a very attractive single mom; Deacon Tidwell is a member of the Memphis City Council, being groomed for mayor. His father is Bishop Jacob Tidwell, one of the most powerful and influential men in the state of Tennessee. A relationship ensues between Deacon Tidwell and Bryan's mother. Bryan then sees his mother and Deacon Tidwell cuddled, sitting on the couch watching TV. The phone rings; it's a coworker asking his mom to fill in for her at the nursing home where they work. It would be the third shift. She desperately needs the money, but there would be a problem getting a babysitter. Even though it's Saturday night and he has to be in church early, Deacon Tidwell offers to stay with Bryan. Bryan then sees his mother coming home from work; she opens the door and calls for Deacon Tidwell, but there's no answer; she goes to her bedroom. Deacon Tidwell is not there. She then goes to Bryan's bedroom. She sees Bryan lying in bed on his Superman sheet, his Superman pajamas pulled down hanging off one leg, his whole body trembling. He's in the fetal position with a pool of dried blood behind him. His mother screams, "Oh my god, oh my god, who did this?" He can barely speak as he moans out the words, Deacon Tidwell. His mother takes him to the bathroom. His face twitches even more as he remembers the cold towel and the pain as she lightly presses down to wipe the blood away, saying, "It's okay, baby, it's okay. Tears rolling down her face, she places him in the backseat of the car; she then goes back in the house to her bedroom and reaches in the drawer of her nightstand and gets out a .38 revolver. She drives to her sister Velma's house. Before she can knock on the door, Velma peeks out of the dirty curtain at the top of the door. Velma slowly opens the door; her hair is in disarray. Her eyes are bucked wide open; a steady stream of smoke is flowing from her nostrils. She's so frail you can see the bones in her face. She looks like an anorexic scarecrow.
The house is roach infested. Cardboard is where a windowpane should be. The room reeks of stale beer, wet carpet, and spoiled food. The garbage in the kitchen is running over with maggots wiggling on top. A crack pipe is on the table with smoke coming out the top. His mother ignores all this as she lays him on the couch and says to her sister, "Take care of my baby." His aunt Velma stands in a stupor unable to speak as his mother goes out the door.
Bryan's face is sweating as he sinks deeper into the dream. Bryan now sees his mother sitting in her car in the parking lot of the church. She sits praying, her head swaying from side to side as the members go inside. She enters the front door. Her pocketbook hangs over her shoulder as she walks down a side aisle. Deacon Tidwell is sitting on the stage engulfed in conversation with his father Bishop Tidwell. People are moving around and being seated. He doesn't see Patricia as he gets up from his chair and walks up to the pulpit and begins to pray. With a commanding, unremorseful, prideful voice, he boldly states the words; all heads are bowed. He lowers his head and begins to pray. "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come." Patricia turns the corner and walks up the steps in front of the pulpit. Deacon Tidwell's head is bowed; he still doesn't notice her. Just as he is saying, "Thy will be done," she reaches into her pocketbook, pulls out the .38 revolver, and fires point-blank.
Bryan then sees his mother standing in the courtroom beside her court-appointed lawyer. The judge, a personal friend of Bishop Tidwell, is saying fifteen to life. The judge makes eye contact with Bishop Tidwell, who is sitting on the front row. Bishop Tidwell nods his head in approval.
Bryan's cell phone rings with a bluegrass music ringtone. His girlfriend gives him an elbow nudge. "Baby, wake up and change that damn ringtone." Bryan, barely awake, answers the phone, "Who this?" On the other end is his childhood friend Keith Pierce, a.k.a. Kebo, shouting, "Man, wake yo ass up, it's one o'clock, I told you I needed you and Kappie here at two, these folks ain't gonna wait round on y'all. I've been working on this for three months." Bryan yawning and rubbing his eyes mumbles, "Okay, okay am on my way."
As BB (who is now twenty-nine years old) is driving to Kebo's place, he starts thinking about his mother. Two days ago she was turned down for parole, even though she's been a model prisoner, working with the chaplain. His mother started several women groups that have continued on the outside by women that have served their time. The women in her ministry have a 90 percent success rate of not returning to prison. He couldn't understand why they turned her down. Kebo, BB, and Kappie have been friends since elementary school. They grew up in church but have taken to the streets. Matthew Kaplan a.k.a. Kappie is tall and lanky and stands at six feet five, has dirty blond hair that hangs just below his shoulders and blue eyes. His face is unshaven, leaving him with a short, scruffy beard. His fingernails are unusually long and dirty.
His blue eyes are bloodshot from staying up three and four days at a time popping pills, and selling cocaine and meth. But he's smoking more than he's selling. Growing up with two African Americans, Kebo and BB, Kappie has acquired a taste for soul food. He has just finished his first meal in three days as he's leaving his favorite soul food restaurant on the outskirts of a community called Orange Mound. He gets a call from Kebo about their two o'clock meeting. He tells Kebo he's on his way as he walks outside. He doesn't notice the huge muscle-bound black man walking toward his car. As Kappie hits the remote of his 1999 BMW, he forgets the remote, like mostly everything else in his beat-up BMW, doesn't work. The car is always unlocked. Kappie gets into the car. Just as he starts the car and puts it in drive, the passenger door suddenly opens; the man lunges in, reaching for Kappie. Kappie quickly presses the accelerator to the floor. The man loses his balance but manages to grab the side of the passenger seat near Kappie. The man's upper body is barely in the car; his legs are hanging in the street. Kappie speeds through a red light. In front of him is a large industrial complex with long roads and winding curves. Kappie goes around a curve at forty-five miles per hour. The man's legs are dangling like the legs of a rag doll. One of his sneakers flies off as his legs hit the curve. He's screaming for Kappie to stop. Kappie hits his brakes. The man attempts to get up, but Kappie thinks the man is coming at him, so he takes off again and almost loses control of the car as he rounds another curve. The man is shouting and pleading for Kappie to stop. Kappie hits his brakes again. This time the man pushes himself out of the car. He stands up. He's wearing tan-colored shorts. There's a big wet spot in front of his pants. Urine is running down his legs. He's standing on the sidewalk, quivering and shaking so badly his teeth are chattering. Kappie reaches under his seat and pulls out a .50 caliber Desert Eagle handgun. He points the gun at the man and yells, "Close my damn door!" The man meekly reaches out to close the door, but his arm is shaking so badly it appears he doesn't have control of it. Just a few minutes ago this big tough muscular guy was about to carjack Kappie now he's standing on the sidewalk shriveling like a frighten child. Looking down the barrel of what seems like a tunnel and thinking about the light that's about to come from the end of that tunnel the man collapses on the sidewalk. Kappie glances down at the man chuckles for a second, reaches over closes the door and drives away. As kappie rounds the next curve he looks back at the man still lying on the curb and thinks to himself, "freaking idiot".
As Kappie is pulling up to Kebo's house, he sees BB getting out of his car. BB, in spite of the adversity he's grown up with (his mother in prison, being raised by a crackhead aunt, and no father) had somehow managed to remain clean-cut and well-mannered. He has a calm spirit that wasn't conducive to the street life. Bryan, being an avid reader, has read the Bible from start to finish over a hundred times. He could easily recite each book of the Bible in order from Genesis to Revelation and from Matthew to Malachi with history being his favorite subject especially African American and European. He sometimes bored his girlfriend, talking about the history of Memphis.
Kebo and Kappie loved the thug life and were totally consumed by it. Because of the letters that BB's mother had written him from prison, which were filled with wisdom and warnings, being a thug and a drug dealer never sits well with him. Kebo always told him he had a conscience, and there was no room for a conscience in the streets. Kappie and BB clasp hands and give each other a hug. BB steps back, looks at Kappie. He wants to comment on how bad he looks, but instead, he says, "What this meeting crap Kebo's talking about. First he wants me to come over, now it's a meeting." Kappie replies, "I don't know, but it better be good 'cause am missing money." As they walk up the steps to Kebo's house, Kebo opens the door. He's six feet two, 185 pounds, and loves to wear tight T-shirts that show his six pack. BB squints with a frown as he notices something different about Kebo. He has a slight smile and a weird look on his face. His long dreadlocks that are normally fizzy and uncombed are well-groomed. BB notices that he's not wearing his four gold chains and the eight cheap rings on his fingers. BB also notices Kebo is no longer dressing as what is commonly known as a DPD (Droopy Pants Degenerate). He thinks about the time Kebo came to church sporting the DPD style, when one of the elders asked him to pull his pants up. Kebo took offense to this and replied he felt disrespected. One of the older deaconess who had been listening pointed at Kebo and said, young man how you gonna get respect when you haven't pulled your pants up yet. Kebo left the church that day and never came back. Kappie and BB soon followed. This was the first time BB had ever seen Kebo wearing dress shoes instead of sneakers, and the shoes were actually shining. As BB and Kappie walk in, Kebo is looking up and down the street as if looking for someone. "Come on in, we have a lot to talk about before my guests arrive." BB, wondering what's going on, asked, "What guests?" Kebo ignores the question and stands in the middle of the living room floor, pulls out his cell phone, and looks nervously at the time. "Look, I've been working on this for three months—" Before he can finish, Kappie interrupts, "Working on what? Let me put it this way. I'm tired of going in and out of jail, dodging the DEA, and these other fools trying to rob me every time I turn around. Money from my pimping has slowed up and—" Before he can say anything else, BB lets out a loud laugh. "You call that pimping? You got three he-hoes strolling (referring to the male prostitutes that Kebo has out on the streets). Man, the key to pimping is to have real women," he repeats himself, "real freaking women," as he and Kappie slap hands and continue laughing so hard they're rolling out of the chairs they're sitting in. Kebo, getting a little upset, looks at the both of them; now his smile is gone, he has a real serious look on his face and blurted out, "If the two of you would put more cocaine than baking soda, talcum powder, dish detergent, and what the hell else you put in that junk you're selling, you might have some real money in your pockets. By the way, speaking of real money, that's why I called this meeting." Suddenly there's three loud knocks on the door, Kebo peeps out of the window curtain and smiles at whom he sees outside. He opens the door; before Kebo can say "Come in," a very large Latino man steps inside. The man stands at least six feet ten and looks to weigh at least four hundred pounds. The size of the man seems to shrink the room. It's impossible to see around him. Kappie and BB quickly sit up from their slumbered position and fix their eyes on the man whose face looks like it would break into a million pieces if he tried to smile. Kappie looks the man up and down and lets out a loud "Damn!"
The man steps aside; another Latino man comes in. He's about Kebos's height, and he has a nice, slender physique. His coal-black hair is shining and slicked back. His eyes are dark, cold, and piercing; he has a smug, arrogant but confident look about him. His cologne quickly engulfs the room. BB, who spends most of his money on clothes, checks out the tailor-made suit and Italian shoes the second man is wearing. BB's eyes become fixed on the huge diamond on the man's pinkie finger. Following him is a short, stocky, balding white guy, wearing a wrinkled three-piece suit. His stomach is so big the buttons on the vest look like they're about to pop loose. He has strange beaded eyes, and he's clutching a laptop bag. Kebo closes the door and points toward the couch. "Please have a seat." The well-dressed man and the guy wearing the cheap suit sit, but the big man stands at the end of the couch near the other Latino gentleman. The big man's eyes are fixed on Kappie, making Kappie feel a bit uneasy. Kebo looks at BB and Kappie and says, "Fellas, this is Caesar Vega." Kappie's tight bloodshot eyes suddenly become wide open.
He knows Caesar Vega is in the upper echelon of the Mexican drug cartel. Kappie jumps up with a big, wide grin on his face, extends his hand, just as he's saying, "Mr. Vega, it's nice to meet you,—" The big bodyguard steps in between him and Caesar. Caesar tells his bodyguard in Spanish it's okay and to move aside. Caesar shakes hands with Kappie, as Kappie introduces himself. Caesar looks at BB; BB gets up, introduces himself, and shakes Caesar's hand. BB also extends his hands to the stocky white man sitting next to Caesar. The man looks a little startled as he shakes BB's hand. BB feels like he's holding a dead fish because the man's handshake is weak and wimpy. He looks at the bodyguard but doesn't go near him. Kebo informs Caesar that he has not had a chance to fill BB and Kappie in on their plans. Caesar doesn't say anything; he just stares at Kebo as if to say, "What are you waiting on?" Kebo gets the message and turns to BB and Kappie and says, "Mr. Vega and I have come up with a plan to open three churches—," but before he could continue Kappie whose smile has turned upside down sits up in his chair and looks at Kebo as if he's crazy because he was expecting a big drug deal, loudly blurts out, "What? Three churches! Man, you open up a damn can of beans, not a church." Kebo looks at Kappie with a disdainful frown and tells him, "Just sit and listen." We've been working on this for three months now, so here's our plan. Mr. Vega's organization has a lot of money that they would like to donate to the churches we are starting. What he really meant was that the cartel would be using the three churches to launder money through the churches. This is"—pointing to the stocky white guy—"Paul Crotty, Mr. Vega's accountant. He will be handling the money and the day-to-day operations of the churches. All we have to do is show up on Sunday, preach a sermon, and get paid for our services by Mr. Vega's organization. Mr. Vega has assured me that we will be generously rewarded for our services. Any money we get from those who come to worship with us is all ours." (He's saying this sarcastically with his head up in the air and a big grin on his face.) BB looks at Kebo, shaking his head, saying, "Kebo, you talking about us preaching in church in front of people? What the hell we know 'bout preaching." Kebo goes over and puts his hand on BB's shoulder and, with a confident smile, tells BB, "I got that covered. All we have to do is steal, I mean, record the sermons from the preachers we see on TV. We'll record the sermons change a few words here and there. I promise you nobody will notice. Hell, that's what most of these preachers do anyway. In a few weeks, we'll have preaching down to a science. We grew up in the church, so it's not like we're stepping into the unknown. We'll buy our credentials off the Internet. From now on, we'll be known as Dr. Keith Pierce, Dr. Bryan Powers, and Dr. Matthew Kaplan." Caesar puts his hand up for Kebo to stop talking (he's been observing BB and Kappie). "I want you to clean yourselves up." His eyes are mainly on Kappie. "I want you to dress, talk, and behave like preachers. My organization is investing a lot of money in this project. We will not hesitate to correct any problems that occur. They—all three—understood what he meant by correcting. All your petty hustling must stop as of now. I want you to stay low-key. Do not attract attention to yourselves. I want you to give a new meaning to the word inconspicuous. Remember Caesar gives and Caesar takes away. We have purchased three churches. You will be assigned to the area we believe will best fit your personality."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE PULPIT by HUMPHREY L. MOORE. Copyright © 2014 Humphrey L. Moore. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing.
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