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Tonya
Tonya sat alone in the backyard, trying to enjoy the late summer sunlight.
Her phone rang again. She looked at her screen. This time the caller was in her phone book. It was Missy, Elder Frazier’s wife. “Hello?” she said with an excitement that embarrassed her a little. She did have a few friends!
“Hi, Tonya. I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you this, but we really need you to remove your belongings from the parsonage.”
It was a blow to the stomach, and Tonya doubled over. No “Are you okay” or “I’m so sorry about what you’re going through” or “Is there anything we can do?” Only: “Get out of our way.”
“Are you there?” Missy asked.
“Yes,” Tonya managed.
“I hate to rush you, but we’ve got an interim pastor coming in with an entire family.”
Tonya had no words for how much she didn’t care about the interim pastor.
“So can you do it?”
Tonya couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know what to say, and even if she could find the words, she wasn’t sure her lungs could find the air. She dropped the phone into the grass. This felt good. If she’d hung up on Missy, Missy could have said she’d been acting like a brat, but leaving the phone line open and staying silent? That was more obnoxious, and therefore, more satisfying. She got up and went inside.
Emma had just come into the kitchen with an armload of books. After one look at her mother, her face went pale. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Tonya shook her head and forced herself to inhale. It hurt her lungs. “Nothing happened. But the church just called, and we need to get our stuff out of the parsonage.”
“You’re kidding.” Fiona stepped into the room.
“I am not.”
“When?” Emma asked.
“She didn’t say. I think that means right now.”
“Right now?” Emma cried. “They only fired Dad like two days ago! What if they change their minds?”
Tonya studied her daughter. Was Emma harboring that hope? “Honey, I don’t think they’re going to change their minds.”
“Why not? They’ve done it once already!”
Tonya’s mouth was bone-dry. “I know, but it’s a lot easier to fire someone than to unfire them. I’m sorry, honey. That was a final decision.”
“Don’t be sorry to me! I don’t care if he’s a pastor or not. I don’t think he deserves to be a pastor! I just think they’re a bunch of wusses, and I don’t like them pushing you around!” She turned and stomped out of the small kitchen.
Should she scold her for disrespecting her elders? Maybe. But she didn’t have the energy. She looked at Fiona. “Do you mind if I put some stuff in your garage?”
“Of course not. But I don’t think all your possessions are going to fit in the garage.”
That brought tears. But they weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of frustration and self-pity. What was she supposed to do? How could anyone do a good job in this situation? “I wonder how much it costs to rent a dumpster.”
“A lot, I would imagine. But it doesn’t cost anything to drop stuff off at Goodwill.”
Tonya nodded. She’d never been much of a Goodwill patron. She never had much stuff to give away. “I can do that. But what am I supposed to do with the furniture? I can’t move all that by myself.”
Emma came back into the room. “I’ll help. We’ll get as much as we can as fast as we can, and if there’s stuff we can’t lift, we can call Mary Sue’s dad.”
“I’m not going to call ...” She stopped herself. She shouldn’t rule anything out. She needed to swallow her pride and get this done. How could anyone be successful given her circumstances? This was how. She needed to call the Puddys. “Hang on. I’ll call.” She went back outside, fished her phone out of the grass, and then went back inside and looked at her daughter. “Our phones will probably get shut off any second. They’re on your father’s account.”
Emma shrugged. “My only friend doesn’t have a cell phone.”
At first Tonya didn’t know who she meant, but then she realized she meant Mary Sue.
“Hey, Tonya!” Lauren sounded too chipper.
“Hey, remember how you said you were willing to help?”
“Of course.”
“Well, boy do I need your help.”
