Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [91]
"Yeah, Baybro," Willis said, walking up behind Thayline. "He's back in the kitchen with one of Thay's co-workers who has a booty that is wearing the daylights out of a tight yellow dress."
Thayline rolled her eyes at Willis, who laughed and said, "Honey, don't act like that. You know that girl got a big booty and she wearing that dress right. Now, truth is truth. I can't help that."
Thay knew Willis was right, but she still didn't have to like hearing it.
Willis smiled at Thayline. It made him feel good to know his honey was jealous over him. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her back to him, as Thayline, embarrassed, tried to tug away. But he held on and planted a loud, fat kiss on her cheek. Thayline swatted at the hand he had let slip down on her hip and said, "Boy, you know you need to quit."
Theophilus tried not to smile. It was so rare to see his big sister out of sorts with herself, and his brother-in-law was the only one who had ever been able to derail her. Thayline might boss everybody else around, but that big bad bossiness stopped right at the steel-tipped toe of Willis Bradford's shoe. He took Essie's hand and led her on back to the kitchen where, sure enough, Eddie was deep in conversation with a red-bone woman in a yellow dress.
Eddie turned, grinning at Theophilus and Essie. "Theo, man, I've been waiting on your butt to get here so you could tell me what happened at the banquet."
"Eddie, man, you don't want to know what happened. The election of bishops? Man, it's some bogus mess. The thing is so fixed, we already know who's getting elected on Friday."
"You jiving me. Right, man?"
"No. I know who the four new bishops are—Willie Williams, Jimmy Thekston, Ernest Brown, and Rev. James."
"Rev. James?" Eddie asked with a surprised look on his face. Based on the first three names, he figured that a man of Rev. James's caliber wouldn't play enough dirty politics to compete with that group.
"Yeah, man, Rev. James. Bishop Jennings worked some kind of miracle, and Rev. James will be the first man to get elected bishop on Friday. And you should have seen the looks on the faces of the other preachers when they found out that he had all those votes. Man, if looks could kill, we would be going to his funeral next week instead of to his consecration into the episcopacy."
"But that's good news, right?"
"Yes and no. Just think about it—even though Rev. James is getting elected a bishop, he is doing so along with Ernest Brown, Willie Williams, and Jimmy Thekston. So I wonder how much he will be able to do as a new bishop, even with Bishop Jennings in his corner."
Eddie looked solemn. "I see what you mean. But how did they get so far with the votes?"
"The bishops have been politicking for months, even years, before this conference to get their boys into one of those four slots. It's almost unbelievable that Bishop Jennings was able to get Rev. James this far. The other preachers who would make good bishops were not there tonight. In fact, they never even had a chance."
"Maaan," Eddie said, shaking his head. "That's messed up."
"My thoughts precisely," Theophilus said bitterly. But then, remembering that Essie and the new woman were standing there, he said, "Eddie we're ignoring the ladies. Are you going to introduce your lovely friend here?"
Eddie had been so intent on getting the scoop on the banquet, he had almost forgotten about his companion. She was standing over near the icebox, looking at him like she was wondering when he was going to remember that she was still in the kitchen.
"Ahh, yeah, uhhh, this is . . ." Eddie walked over and said, "Ahh, sweetness, what did you tell me your name was?"
Essie rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh. It was obvious that Eddie was so busy looking at that yellow dress, he had had the nerve to forget the poor woman's name. He was something else.
The woman said, "Sugar, I done