Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [0]
Church Folk
Michele Andrea Bowen
West Bloomfield, Michigan
WARNER BOOKS
A Time Warner Company
Copyright © 2001 by Michele Andrea Bowen
All rights reserved.
Warner Books, Inc., Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
For information on Time Warner Trade Publishing's online program, visit
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
First eBook Edition: June 2001
The “Warner Books” name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-7595-2464-4
This book is dedicated to my mother, Minnie Bowen and in memory of my father, Wadell Bowen. My parents didn't have a lot of money but they were rich in spirit, love, and wisdom, just like the folks in Church Folk.
Contents
Part 1
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Part 2
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Part 3
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Acknowledgments
WHEW! THIS HAS BEEN A LONG JOURNEY—A blessed one but a long journey nonetheless. This novel started out as a dream six years ago, with me sharing my hopes and scribbles with my friends and family, heart wide open, faith activated, and prayers going up to have the courage to write it, to be blessed with the story, to find an agent and get Church Folk to this point.
So many people have contributed to my being able to write this book through their prayers, words and notes of encouragement, and patience when I started talking about Essie and Theophilus 'nem like they were real folks sitting right in the kitchen with us. I know I will not be able to include everybody who blessed me with their love and support for this book but I will try to name a few. So here is my thank you note.
I want to start out by thanking a man named Mr. G. C.
"Pete" Hendricks, who wrote a book called The Second War and taught a writing workshop in 1995 for the North Carolina Writers' Network for beginning novelists. Church Folk was in its very early stages and Mr. Hendricks pulled me aside and told me that this project was a real novel and that I should pursue it to the end. And then there is Marita Golden, who took me on as a student and told me that I was definitely writing a novel, nurturing me at a time when I really benefitted from encouragement from a seasoned and well-respected author. Thank you, Marita.
Professor Daryl Dance for including a very early excerpt of Church Folk in your highly respected anthology, Honey Hush! You have been such a wonderful supporter. David Bradley, author of The Chaneysville Incident—my workshop teacher for the Hurston/Wright Foundation's Summer Writers' Workshop in July 1996. Ron James and his wife, Claudette. Ron, you were so kind and read every last page of Church Folk, discussing the characters with me, cheering me on when I felt discouraged, reading excerpts to Claudette, who laughed at us and said, "You all talk about them like they real people." My loving friends in Richmond, Virginia, and Durham, North Carolina. My girls, who call themselves club members on my behalf—yawl know who yawl are.
To the First Ladies and Ministers who have graced my path and taught me what it was like to be the First Lady, the Pastor, a Minister, and the Minister's wife. A special thank-you to my aunt, First Lady Bessie Nelson, and my uncle, Bishop James D. Nelson, Sr., at Greater Bethlehem Temple Apostolic Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
To my family and St. Louis folks. Thank you for believing in me. And thanks to my family and friends who laughed when they heard I was writing a book and said, "Well, she always made us read her stories when we were little." To my home church, Washington Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in St. Louis,