David called his mother before leaving to go to the car wash. He also needed to go to the dry cleaners to pick up and drop off his shirts and finally go to the supermarket. That was one chore he dreaded. Thinking about it made him a little sad. He had often imagined he and Rose going together to the supermarket. Now, well he didn’t know what would happen. He needed to pick up a few things for his mother. Actually it was one big thing. She had placed a meat order at the butcher’s and she was happy that he would carry it to the deep freezer for her. He grabbed his shirts and stuffed them into a pillow case before heading out the door. It only took a couple of minutes to drop them at the dry cleaners. And of course, they always had his shirts ready for him when he got there. That was one of the things he enjoyed about this small city.
His mom’s meat order was much smaller than he anticipated. Of course, there were only two of them. With the residue of the morning prayer still fresh in his mind, he brushed off the ever-present reminder of his parent’s separation. He would wait to wash his car after dropping off her meat. He didn’t want to take a chance in having it spoil, by forgetting to get it out of his trunk. When he pulled in the driveway, he popped the trunk from inside. He was barely out of the car when someone blew their car horn and drove by. He noticed it was his father’s car and he waved. His dad’s apartment was only a few blocks away. Yet something disturbed David so much that he could barely carry the package. It looked like a woman was on the passenger side of the car. He braced himself. He was just not ready to confront this. He had too many issues of his own. Hopefully, his mother wasn’t watching.
Suddenly the side door opened and his mother walked out. “Hi Honey, why did you blow?” she asked.
“It wasn’t me,” he answered. “Dad was driving by.”
“Oh,” she said. “Thanks for picking up the meat. Want to come over for dinner tomorrow?”
“That sounds like a good idea,” he said following her into the house. “I could use a good Sunday dinner. What are we having?”
“Roast beef of course,” she answered. “Would it be Sunday without my roast beef?” she teased him.
“While I’m here,” David said, changing the subject, “how’s Steph doing?”
His mother seemed to ignore the question as she opened up the waxed paper to inspect the meat. David repeated his question and was taken aback by her response.
“I heard you the first time,” she said. “I think Steph is doing the best she can. I, I really don’t want to talk about it right now, baby.”
“It’s alright mom,” he said. “I know things are rather tough and you have a lot to deal with.”
“Yes, I do,” she said in a surprisingly loud tone, as she turned around to face him. “And it’s just not fair. It’s not fair,” she said, with large tears flowing. David quickly went over and hugged his mom. He would have cried with her, but he was relying on the strength he received from that early morning prayer.
“Things will get better,” he said. “They have to,” he declared by faith.
“Do they?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said firmly, looking directly into her puffy face. He could feel anger swelling on the inside of him again. But he was only angry at one person. That person was the devil.
“Don’t let me keep you from doing those things you need to do,” his mother said. “I know you mentioned the car wash. Go and take care of your business. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said wiping her face on her apron.
David played the radio a little louder than normal going home. Washing his car helped him blow off a bit of steam, but he was still angry. He checked his machine for messages upon entering the house. His buddy, Stephen had invited him to a pickup game of basketball at the gym. He hadn’t seen Stephen since last month, although they used to talk all the time. At least all the time, by guys standards, which is once or twice a week. Now their jobs kept them too busy to shoot the breeze. Just last year in May, he had been the best man in Stephen’s wedding to Myra.
He returned the call and agreed to meet him for a pick-up game that evening.
The autumn sky seemed unusually red with streaks of bluish purple which made it appear surreal. There weren’t many cars on the parking lot of the gym. But sometimes when the weather is fair, it’s difficult to get the young guys to play inside. It didn’t matter to David because he was more interested in seeing his friend. Inside, he could hear the bouncing of a ball and the noise of tennis shoes pounding the gym floor. He ran into the game and tried to take the ball from a rather short guy who was dribbling. Stephen quickly took his eyes off the ball and recognized that David was the one joining the game uninvited. He laughed and grabbed his friend for a hug. They left three young guys to finish the game as they trotted off the court.
“You’ve lost weight since last month,” David said.
“Well, maybe a little,” Stephen agreed, as they both sat down in the locker room. It was deserted, so they selected that site to get reacquainted.
“So what’s going on with you?” Stephen asked.
“Man you wouldn’t believe the things going on in my life. I’ve postponed my wedding to Rose,” he said in a rather melancholy way, while watching Stephen’s eyes grow large with surprise. “And right now I’m just seeking God for clear directions. I’ve never been in a situation like I’m in now. Yet I feel closer to God than I’ve ever felt. I’m sure later I’ll be able to share some things with you.”
“Wow!” Stephen remarked. “Oh well, he said matter-of-factly, I guess there’s just something in the air.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked David.
“Myra and I are having problems,” Stephen answered.
“Problems?” David asked.
“I need to be totally honest with you; we’re considering a separation,” he said, lowering his voice.
David dropped his head as he felt his heart sinking. Here sitting before him, was one of the few friends he admired for having a great marriage. His friends were college sweethearts; career oriented and both steadfast Christians. At least he believed they were. David didn’t quite know what to say. He wanted to cry. He loved Myra like a sister. He didn’t know if he should probe into their affairs or wait to see if Stephen would voluntarily tell him the situation. This wasn’t an office client. This was his dear friend.
“Do you want to talk about it? Because it’s ok if you don’t.”
“I don’t mind,” Stephen said, “because God is my witness, I don‘t really know what happened.”
“What does Myra say?” asked David.
“She claims that about four months ago, I purposely embarrassed her at a dinner party that we had with some of our friends. I still don’t know what I said, because she won’t tell me. I apologized, but she says I’m insensitive. Well you know how I like to tease and kid around, I wouldn’t do anything to deliberately hurt her, but if you can remember, she never could take a joke,” Stephen said.
“Yes, I do remember,” said David. “I think it had something to do with the verbal abuse she suffered as a child, from her stepfather.”
“What verbal abuse?” Stephen said. “I know her stepfather, he’s kind of like me. He likes to tease.”
“Didn’t she ever tell you that she hates it when he teases her?” David asked. “See, she sort of confided in me one day when we shared a psychology class in college. She said she never felt she could tell him how she hated his teasing her without embarrassing her mother. So she would sort of grin and bear it,” David explained.
“Well, we’ve discussed her family many times, but,” he paused as if remembering.
“What is it?” David asked.
“Now that I think about it, every time I mention her stepfather, she either changes the subject or gets an attitude. Whatever the case, I’m at my wits end. I’ve apologized until I was blue in the face. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I didn’t marry her to be miserable and I’m not sleeping in the guest room for the rest of my life. It’s gotten ridiculous. I’ve been there a month. How long can a woman hold a grudge?” he asked throwing his hands up in the air. “I work around a lot of beautiful women and I’m not perfect, so I think she’d better come around to her senses or-”
“Stephen!” David yelled out in the guest locker room. “She’s not just holding a grudge. Can’t you see her problem is deeper than that?” he said, as he felt the anger swelling up on the inside.
“Well, I’m not a trained psychologist,” Stephen said curtly.
“This has nothing to do with being a psychologist. Can’t you see you’re under attack?” David asked.
“What do you mean by attack?” Stephen asked dumbfoundedly.
“Let me ask you this,” David answered. “When was the last time you and Myra prayed together? Not in church but in your home?”
Stephen looked puzzled and was quiet. He stared at the tiled ceiling then looked at the freshly mopped floor. He shook his head in shame when he declared “I don’t know that we’ve ever really prayed together,” he said with shamefacedness.
“Would you do me a favor?” David asked. “Don’t make any sudden decisions about separating, even if she insists. I’m going to seek the Lord for a remedy to help. You have got to start praying too!”
A tear rolled out of the corner of Stephen’s right eye as he grabbed his friend and hugged him. He then quickly left the locker room.