They had been driving around the city for over an hour, getting lost at every turn. Finally, they made it back on the side of town where Full Gospel Church was. Don said, “Pull over.”
“Why, what’s up? You see something?” Al asked as he put on his signal to get over.
“Yeah, pull into that gas station.”
Al pulled into the station and then spoke with the attendant. The attendant pointed him in the direction of the gold and black Cadillac that had pulled up to the pump. Don put some money in the man’s hand and then walked over to the Cadillac. Right away he knew the man was a street hustler. It wasn’t because of the way he was dressed, or anything about his demeanor. But game recognize game. Don almost backed off, because he wondered if a street hustler would even know who Pastor Barnes was.
“You need something?” the hustler asked him.
Don needed a lead, so he decided to just go for it. “Yo my man, can I holler at you a second.”
The guy finished pumping his gas, then put the pump back in its spot as he glanced over at Don. “You new in town?”
“Just visiting. But dude over there,” Don pointed at the attendant, “told me you know everything that goes on around here.”
The man looked over his shoulder at the attendant, “He did? Well I just might have a talk with him about that.”
The attendant caught the look and scurried back inside the gas station, locking the door behind him.
“No worries, my man. I’m Josh Howard, out of Virginia.” Don extended his hand.
The man shook it as he said, “I’m Fleet Smith, been living here all my life.”
“Is that so? Then you might be just the person I’m looking for.” Don pointed towards the two cars that he and the others were in. “We’ve been driving around this city for over an hour trying to find a certain street, but we can’t seem to find it.”
“What street are you looking for?” Fleet asked.
Don told him, “I don’t actually know the name of the street. We’re looking for Pastor Marvin Barnes. I’m attending church tomorrow, but I wanted to say hello to the family today.”
Fleet responded, “I know where Pastor Barnes lives. It’s about twenty minutes from here.” Fleet then pointed towards his beeper. “I need to make a call real quick. But after that I can take you over there.”
“I’d be happy to pay for your gas... for the trouble and all,” Don told him, grinning as if the two were becoming best buds.
“I’m good. Just let me make my call and then y’all can follow me.” Fleet then went to the phone booth.
Don hopped back in the car with Al and said, “Dude knows where the Barnes’ live. He’s going to take us over there.”
“And you’re okay with that,” Al asked.
Don shook his head. “No, but we’ll be long gone before Fleet knows anything about what’s about to transpire. But if he runs his mouth, I’m sure this gas station attendant will know exactly where we can find him, if we need to shut him up.”
“Good thinking,” Al said as Fleet gave them the thumbs up before getting back in his car and pulling out of the gas station.
“We’re off.” Don got comfortable in his seat. “I wonder if my son has had the good sense to get out of dodge yet. I as much as warned him that I was on the way.”
“Demetrius might think that he got us off his trail by making that call from Concord,” Al told him.
“That little act of betrayal from my own child stings. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with that boy once I get my hands on him.”
Al had a few ideas, but he was keeping those to himself.
~~~~
“A penny for your thoughts,” Angel said as she sat down next to Demetrius on the back patio.
“Too much swirling around my mind right now, a penny just won’t do it.”
“Okay, well then just spill it. Why are you sitting out here all alone looking as if the world is about to come to an end?”
“For one,” Demetrius said, “It’s nice out here. Back home there’s snow on the ground and it’s normally too cold to hang out on a patio. But it feels so good out here, we might as well fire up the grill and put a couple of steaks on.”
“December is normally pretty mild in the day time, but it does get chilly at night. Now what’s number two?”
His brow furrowed. “Number two?”
“You said, ‘for one’, so there has to be a number two... something else on your mind. You’re not just sitting out here thinking about the weather.”
He wished that was all he had to think about. But no, Demetrius was actually wondering if he had finally gone too far with his father, and if Don Shepherd was going to do more than put his foot on his chest this time. “Just thinking about my dad. All my life my daddy has taught me that when someone gets wronged, then someone else has to pay. Well, I’m the one who wronged him this time, so just how do you think I’ll be forced to pay for it?”
They looked at each other, saying nothing, then Angel began shaking her head. “You don’t think that your own father would have you killed? I’m mean... I don’t even like my father, and don’t understand how in the world my mother could have taken him back and even re-married the joker, but I doubt he’d have me killed.”
“We come from two different worlds, Angel. Your father is a preacher and my father is a gangster.”
“Different worlds or not, your father is not going to kill you, Demetrius.”
“You might be right, but I’m thinking that I don’t want to keep sitting here, waiting on him to come find us. I think we should leave.”
“Why do we have to leave now? We’re out of here tomorrow evening anyway when we take the Johnson’s to Columbia. Let’s just enjoy the rest of the evening, then we can attend church with my family in the morning, and maybe do brunch before we get on the road.”
Demetrius shook his head. “You don’t want my father to come here and shoot up your parent’s home do you?”
Rolling her eyes, Angel said, “There is no way that your father would be stupid enough to stir up trouble in this quiet neighborhood. Don Shepherd don’t want no trouble with the Winston-Salem police department.”
“Go get your stuff, Angel. And tell the Johnson’s we are heading out. I don’t want to be here when my father and his crew show up.”
Angel stood up and stomped her foot. “Now you listen to me, Demetrius Shepherd. I’m not going to be running away from your daddy for the rest of my life. And you don’t even care about the fact that I haven’t seen my brother in three years.”
“I do care. I’m the one who brought you back home, remember?”
“But my brother isn’t here. Ronny is on a missions trip with the church and they won’t get back until tomorrow. I just can’t leave before I get a chance to see him. He starts college next year and then who knows when I’ll be able to see him again.”
He was shaking in his boots at the thought of facing off with his daddy, but Angel wasn’t afraid. This girl was tough as nails. He remembered how she spat in Frankie’s face even after the man had shoved and punched her in that alley. But if he and Mo hadn’t shown up, Frankie would have hurt her, and that’s the part that Angel didn’t seem to get.
Demetrius may have rescued her from Frankie, but he had never been able to rescue himself from Don Shepherd, and didn’t think he was suddenly going to be able to do it this weekend. Why hadn’t his father just left it alone? He told him that Coach didn’t want the money anymore.
“You know something, Demetrius? I listened to my parent’s prayers. And even though I haven’t been living right, I believe that God is bigger and badder than Don Shepherd. So, just chill because I’m not going anywhere.”
He didn’t even want to discuss those prayers. “So, I guess you want me to leave without you,” Demetrius said.
“If you plan to leave tonight, then yeah, I guess you have to leave without me.” With that, Angel walked back into the house and left Demetrius to his pity party. Her mother was in the kitchen fixing a snack when she walked back in.
Maxine asked Angel, “Everything okay?”
“He’s worried,” Angel admitted. “His father is not someone to play with, so I understand why he’s worried. But I’m not.”
Maxine smiled at her daughter. “You’ve always been fearless.”
Angel sat down at the kitchen table. “Oh believe me, I have been scared plenty since leaving home. But after you and dad prayed today, I don’t know, I guess some of that fearlessness is starting to come back. Because I don’t believe that God is going to allow Demetrius’ father to get near us.”
Maxine put her plate down on the table and then sat across from her daughter. “You want something to eat?”
She shook her head. “I’m still full from dinner.”
As Maxine dug into her second helping, she said, “It’s good to hear that you still have your trust in the Lord.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. I haven’t been to church since I left home; haven’t prayed or read my Bible. But I guess I can’t get away from all those lessons on faith that you taught us.”
“I think your father did more teaching than I did when you and Ronny were younger. As I recall, he even helped you teach those Sunday school classes you did in the back yard.” Maxine laughed as she thought of those sweet memories of yesterday.
But yesterday wasn’t so sweet for Angel. As far as she was concerned, the whole family had been bamboozled by Reverend Marvin R. Barnes. “How could you marry him again, Mama? Hasn’t he done enough damage to this family?”
Maxine looked at her daughter a moment. She then pushed her plate aside and wiped her hands. “I forgave him, Angel. After that, falling back in love with him was easy.”
“But how could you forgive him? He made a fool out of you. How many women had he slept with before you caught on? Wasn’t one of them a close friend of yours?”
There was compassion in Maxine’s voice as she said, “I pray that you never have to endure what I went through with your father. But it wasn’t the worst time in my life. You running away was the worst thing I ever endured. Your father was here for me during that time. We both repented to God for our actions. And I truly believe that your father is a changed man.”
“I am, Angel. I know I hurt this family terribly, but I promise you that I will never do anything like that again.” Her father was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the wall. “I never thought God would forgive me for the man I became, but He did. And I pray that one day you will too.”
She could tell that he wanted her forgiveness. But her father had broken a trust that Angel wasn’t sure could ever be repaired. She got up from the table as she told her mother, “I think I’m going to go lay down with DeMarcus. I’ll talk to you later.”