Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [35]
Lee Allie and Rose Neese looked at each other slyly, trying not to laugh. "Essie Lee, where he taking you for a bite to eat?" Lee Allie asked.
"Some place called Mabel's Kitchen."
"Mabel's Kitchen, Essie?" Coral said. "Baby, I know all about Mabel's Kitchen and I can tell you, it's the nicest Negro restaurant in the city—expensive, too." She got quiet for a few seconds, let that bit of information sink in, and then said, "And, I believe, Miss Lady, it is definitely the kind of place a man takes a woman to when he takes her on a date."
This time Lee Allie and Rose started laughing out loud. Rose said, "Well, Coral, I'm with you. I think the good Reverend is taking our baby on a date. What about you, Lee Allie?"
"I'm with y'all. Mabel's Kitchen don't sound like any place I'd go just to get a bite to eat."
Essie looked at the three of them and determined that they were not going to get to her with their laughing and sly winks about Theophilus. She sounded a bit more defensive than she wanted to, though, when she said, "Well, Mabel's Kitchen may be fancy and all that, but it certainly didn't sound that way when Theophilus told me about it. Now, can I do something to help clean up, Mrs. Thomas?"
"No, chile, we're almost done. Why don't you go on and get yourself ready, since you got a date to go on after church?"
Tired of their teasing, Essie was glad to leave.
As soon as she was gone, Coral said, "Lord, I hope I didn't hurt her feelings. But don't y'all know, that little gal is just love-struck over that big chocolate preacher of hers. Trying to act like that man don't mean nothing to her—I don't know who she think she trying to fool."
"Herself, Coral," Lee Allie said, shaking her head. "That girl ain't trying to fool nobody but herself."
Chapter Six
THEY DIDN'T LEAVE FOR CHURCH UNTIL CLOSE TO 3:00 because they were waiting on Uncle Booker to finish dressing. But when he finally walked into the living room, Rose thought he looked so handsome in his navy blue pin-striped suit, starched white shirt, and burgundy silk tie, it was worth the wait. She smiled at him, and Lee Allie had had to say, "Booker! Don't you look good? I'm surprised, seeing as you were never a churchgoing man."
Booker just grumbled a bit and herded everybody out of the house, fussing about being on time after making them wait on him.
When they arrived at the church, he dropped them off while he parked, so they could head to the rest room and get a jump on the pre-service rush. Just before the service, it would take forever to find a stall or even a sliver of mirror space, with all of those women powdering and touching up; blotting makeup; combing and patting their hair; adjusting pastel and brightly colored hats of all kinds of materials, shapes, and sizes; spraying purse-sized vials of perfume on their necks, cleavages, wrists, legs, thighs, and ankles; and tugging at tight girdles, straightening out twisted garter belts, and trying to relieve the pinch of those confining longline bras.
Essie came out of a stall, washed her hands, and went into the lounge area where there was a long, wide mirror attached to the wall. She touched up her lipstick, blotted her lips with a tissue, and wiped the shine off her face with a red powder sponge. She had made a special dress for the service—a sunset pink, shantung silk shirtwaist, with a wide shawl collar and a low waistline, resting just above the hips, with a full skirt that was accentuated with a soft tulle petticoat. There were pearl buttons down the front of the dress and on the cuffed, elbow-length sleeves. She wore pearl earrings and a dainty pearl bracelet, along with a wide, pleated headband that she had made out of a scrap of material from the dress. In this outfit, Essie was a vision of church fashion perfection—from her thick pageboy hairstyle to the envelope purse tucked neatly under her arm to the matching pearlescent beige, patent leather pumps with tiny bows