Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [84]
Theophilus gently pulled Essie along with him, saying, "Let it go, baby."
The huge banquet hall was designed for a big crowd, but to Essie's surprise, there were only little more than a hundred people present. All of the men scattered among the tables were wearing tuxedos, and virtually all the women wore white—white chiffon, white brocade, white satin, white lace, white silk. The women like herself, the ones wearing something other than plain white, were in the extreme minority.
Some of those white gowns were pretty—pretty enough to break the monotony of the sea of white and capture the eye. But most of them lacked color—not color like red, orange, peach, but some character, some sparkle, something that made the woman wearing the dress look good, exciting, and colorful herself. It was no wonder the man in the lobby zeroed in on her. Her dress had such a distinctive quality about it, it was impossible not to notice her.
When Theophilus had told Essie that the invitation requested that all the women wear white, she scoffed and said, "I'm wearing whatever I think looks good on me." When he questioned her stubbornness, she asked him if he thought Susie James would walk in the banquet dressed like everybody else. He then raised his hands in surrender.
Tonight, even some of the men had violated the dress code by wearing white, light blue, navy, beige, and even red dinner jackets instead of black tuxedos. And of course, a few of the bishops could not resist wearing their purple clerical shirts with the tuxedos, just to emphasize their elevation above all the other preachers in the hall.
Finally, Rev. James saw Theophilus and Essie and guided Susie over to where they were standing. "Boy, what y'all been doin' out in the lobby all this time? Susie here saw Essie peeking in the door at least twenty minutes ago."
"Essie had a run-in with one of Bishop Caruthers's flunkies while I was in the men's room."
"Rev. James, that nasty man had the nerve to imply that I was one of those temple women," Essie explained.
Rev. James looked confused. "Temple women, Essie?"
"You know, one of those women who are always trying to go with a preacher."
"She means a temple prostitute," Theophilus said, getting angry all over again because he knew Essie was right.
"Well," Susie said in her husky voice. "Ain't no need for us to spend time getting upset over that trashy fool, now is there? We all looking good and might as well try and enjoy this old dry-as-toast banquet as best we can."
Essie had been right about Susie's outfit, which was not white but an exquisite beige and powder puff pink silk brocade evening gown. The tailored coat was beige with pink lapels, pink flaps on the pockets, and pink pearl buttons on the sleeves and down the front of the jacket. Underneath was a sleeveless beige top that rested on the hip of the matching long skirt with a slit up the back. She wore pearlescent pink pumps and a string of pale pink pearls with matching earrings that made her pretty brown skin shimmer, and her wavy brown hair was pulled up into a smooth French roll held together with pale pink, jeweled hairpins that glittered when she moved her head.
"Rev. James, that gown Mrs. James is wearing isn't short-changing anybody tonight," Theophilus said.
"Sho' ain't. But it should look good, as much as she paid for it."
"Well, it looks like it was worth every penny Mrs. James spent on it," Essie said as she reexamined the gown.
"It certainly is worth every penny I spent on it and this man knows it," said Susie James. "He wanna fuss about my clothes, but don't you know, he want me lookin' good when he take me out of Charleston."
"We need to go sit down. Bishop Jennings is over there waiting for us," Rev. James said, with some impatience in his voice. He and Susie always fussed about her expensive clothes.
But as they were walking to their seats, Essie took a good look at Rev. James. For all his fussing about fancy-pants expensive