Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [92]
Neither Theophilus nor Essie missed Johnnie Thomas's gold tooth, with a star sapphire in it, sitting on the left side of her mouth. Theophilus looked over at Eddie and thought, "Man, you are pure dog tonight. Pure sniffing, barking dog."
Eddie felt kind of bad about forgetting Johnnie's name. He liked her and he didn't want to keep disturbing the easy flow that was building up between them by being trifling about her name. He gave her that big old, bad-boy Eddie Tate grin and said, "People, this here is Johnnie.
"Johnnie, this is Thayline's little brother and my good buddy, Theophilus Simmons. And this little lady . . ." Eddie stopped talking, grabbed both of Essie's hands and pulled her away from Theophilus, saying, "Hey, hey, baby girl. You looking good tonight. Your hair—baby! And that dress! The dress is talking to me—talk-ing to me. Lawd, ha mercy!"
Johnnie stopped smiling and ran her tongue over her gold tooth a couple of times. Picking up on her mood—and realizing that he had made a second mistake—Eddie said, "Aww, Johnnie, don't look so sore. This is my buddy's wife. It's just that this dress is so fine, I couldn't help myself."
He let go of Essie's hands and went over and planted a kiss on Johnnie's cheek. "Believe me, Johnnie, as fine as Essie is, she is like my sister. Plus, you see that big Negro standing next to her? Well, he is her husband. And believe me, he'd kick my behind if I thought of her in any other way."
"That's right," Theophilus said. "This Negro is my best friend, but I would definitely put a hurtin' on him if he looked at my baby wrong."
Theophilus now grabbed a kitchen chair, sat down, and pulled Essie on his lap. She adjusted her dress around her knees and straightened the scarf of her dress, which kept slipping off her neck. Theophilus watched Essie fiddle with that bothersome scarf, and then picked up the edge of it and pulled it slowly off her shoulders. He rubbed it across his nostrils, inhaling her perfume, and draped it around his neck, while staring deeply into her eyes. There was no mistaking his desire.
Johnnie picked up on what had just transpired between them and recognized that this woman wasn't the least bit interested in competing with her for Eddie's attention. What woman would be, with her man looking at her like that? Feeling more friendly toward Essie, she said, "Girl, you should take off those pretty shoes and rest your tiny feets. I'll get you and your husband something cold to drink out of the icebox."
"Just get one Pepsi and two glasses, Johnnie," Theophilus said.
Johnnie went to the icebox and got a bottle of Pepsi. She got two glasses off the sink, placed the soda on the table in front of Essie and Theophilus, and poured some for each of them.
Theophilus heard the doorbell ring, along with the voices of his parents, the Thomases, and Essie's folks. Then Uncle Booker appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Why y'all back in the kitchen when the party up front? Theophilus, you and Eddie know doggone well you need to be enjoying yourselves. Tomorrow morning you gone have to go right back to being preachers. Ain't many chances for you to hang loose and not offend or mislead anybody."
They all followed Booker back to the living room, where Thayline was standing by the hi-fi. She put two fingers in her mouth and gave a loud whistle to get everybody's attention.
"Willis and I am so glad you good folk made it to this party we're throwing for our baby brother and his wife. Now, some of you know that my brother is a pastor out in Memphis. And before your tongues get to wagging, just let me say this. My brother is a good pastor. But sometimes he needs some space just to be. And since I'm his big sister, I'm giving him this space to just be himself without any pressure to act like you all might think a preacher is supposed to act."
She looked at Theophilus and said, "Where, baby doll?"
"Here I am, Thay."
"What song do you two want to hear?"
"Put on 'Green Onions' by Booker T. and the MG's, Thayline,"