Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [77]
Essie threw his robe over to him, shaking her head at him for sitting there acting like a spoiled brat. She thought to herself, "Now, this is the same man who just told me that he was ready to take over the pastorship of the church in St. Louis, if Bishop Jennings sends him there by the end of this conference. And here he is sitting on the bed with his lips poked out like he's thirteen years old."
Theophilus saw the look on Essie's face and got up and put on his robe. He decided acting funky wasn't such a good idea after all. He wanted to stay on her good side so that he could get a full serving of good loving later.
Essie handed Thayline the last skillet to be washed and then went and pulled the dirty linens off the table. She dropped the napkins on a chair and shook out the tablecloth, dumping crumbs on the blue and yellow linoleum floor.
Thay looked over her shoulder and said, "Baby doll, just put those old things over there in that corner. I'll throw them in the washing machine a little later."
Essie looked around. "Where's your broom?"
"It's over there in the broom closet."
Essie opened the yellow closet door and pulled out a yellow broom with a black rubber handle on it.
"Baby doll, you think you gonna like St. Louis?"
Essie stopped sweeping. There had been a lot of talk lately among Theophilus, Bishop Jennings, and Rev. James about St. Louis, but she didn't know if they were going or not. So much of the decision to send Theophilus to St. Louis depended on whether or not Rev. James was elected bishop at this conference. How would Thay know they were going?
"You sound awfully sure about all of this, Thay," she said. "Know something I don't know?"
"No, just a feeling I got—can't shake it, either. You know how I get those sensations running up and down my spine when something's up."
Thay was famous for those feelings. The last time she had one, Theophilus had proposed to her at that wild anniversary dinner his church held at Mabel's Kitchen. But Essie didn't want Thayline's premonition to be right this time. Garrison Temple in St. Louis had so much infighting going on inside its four sacred walls that the current pastor was asking to be moved to another church, any church, anywhere. This was not the kind of church, despite its size and level of prestige, one begged to be appointed to.
"You don't want to go, do you, baby doll?"
Essie didn't say anything, just moved the broom around a little pile of trash.
"You know, baby doll, I thought you'd be relieved to leave Greater Hope. I never thought you'd want to stay at a church where one of the members wouldn't let a soul forget she slept with your husband. What woman would? That Glodean Benson is nothing but a crazy tramp—"
Essie was so quiet that Thayline looked over to check on her. There were heavy tears rolling down Essie's cheeks.
"Me and my big mouth. Baby doll, I didn't mean for that to come out like it did. You know I wouldn't want to say something to hurt you like that."
Essie put the broom against the wall and sat down. "It's not you, Thay. But I wonder what's going on with Theophilus lately. He has been nicer to Glodean, and once or twice I've even heard him talking to her on the telephone, asking her if she was all right. And right before we left for Richmond, I found these in the glove compartment of my new car."
Essie dug down in the pocket of her robe and pulled out a glamorous-looking pair of pink sunglasses with rhinestones sprinkled around the rim. She handed the glasses to Thayline, who also had to acknowledge who they belonged to. No one would wear sunglasses like those except Glodean.
"What else do you know about this, baby doll?" Thayline asked.
"Only," Essie said, blowing her nose, "only that he called me from the church one evening and said not to wait up for him. Had something pressing to take care of—and the next morning, I found these. Thayline, why would my husband let that woman ride in my car? How—"
"You know for sure she was in the car,