The PRL Event: Darker Resurrection 6
The pews of Third Baptist are hard and Alia fidgets over the course of the long sermon. She had been greeted kindly enough by the church members when she entered with Vita and Gertrude, and though they sat in the very back, they were called upon to introduce themselves to the congregation when the pastor acknowledged new members. They all stood and Vita introduced the three of them because she knows people in attendance, and everyone smiled at them and seemed happy to have them join on this Sunday forenoon. But they have been here for an hour and half already and even though the preacher has been speaking for quite some time, it seems that he can go on for just as long. Alia isn’t ignorant to the message he delivers, it is a very earnest call for respect in all its form; respect for elders, respect for laws both legal and existential, respect for tradition. Alia can understand the need for the sermon in the modern world in which she lives that is so vastly different than the lives of people twenty or fifty years ago, which means that humanity has new ways to interact with one another and new ways to disrespect privacy among other things. But Alia could feel the undertones of homophobia, the invocation of traditions imposed on marriage, the shaming of single mothers struggling to raise families in the absence of children’s fathers. Any point the man made is drowned out by his willingness to condemn, but Alia has to admit that the call for respect is a good one for any audience. It would be nice to call for respect for mothers working hard despite their adversities, to respect love between consenting adults in all of its forms; that would be a sincere message.
Gertrude seems to listen very intently to the pastor and claps along when spatterings of applause and amens go up during the sermon, but like Alia, Vita is noticeably uncomfortable with the message. Alia knows that Vita had a rough time the night before with Ivan and Clay, and she had only joined her this morning because they were headed to visit Clay’s relatives. There had been a fight, and Vita has bruises, but she is ok and Ivan and Clay are handling the repercussions.
Alia can really care less about the sermon, though, she just has to sit through it before she can approach the woman named Laura, who had shot her roommate Clay and left him for dead. She wears a big hat with a wide brim with flowers on it and she sits right in the front pew, maybe the most engaged and vocal in the church. Alia hopes to speak with her, maybe befriend her so that she can give information to Clay about the double life she leads in public. In private, Laura is the second in command to her drug dealing baby daddy, and they both wanted Clay dead for his interference in their neighborhood. Alia has never encountered them, she is a new face, and she is happy to do what she can to help Clay who had opened his home to her.
“God respects his creation!” the preacher says enthusiastically. “Respected us enough to give us eyes to see, to give us a brain to think, legs to walk. Do we respect his creation? Do we respect ourselves enough to honor the gifts he has given us?”
Alia rolls her eyes, You have no respect for my butt and the hurt this pew is putting on it, she thinks.
“God does not ask of us. God gives to us and he observes, he is always watching and the only answer to the question, Do you respect the gifts given to you from God, is action. Action that demonstrates respect. Do not speak your answer to God. Do act, and God will know, he will see.”
The pastor steps back from the pulpit behind which he stands and many of the people in the congregation rise to their feet, clapping and exalting. Alia happily stands, welcoming the change of position. Vita does not, but Gertrude does out of respect for what seems like the end of the sermon.
The pastor says his goodbyes and then the choir sings and the keyboard player provides musical accompaniment to his exit to the back of the church and through the double doors.
After he is gone, the music eventually dies away as members of the church converse and mingle. Alia hears the double doors open and looks to see Yuri, who was supposed to meet her at the start of the service.
“Are you the pastor?” Alia says playfully. “I never seen the two of you in the same place at the same time.”
“Funny,” Yuri says waving at an aggressive Vita who eyes him with malice, and a disinterested Gertrude. “But I bet your ass is sore right now from sitting on that pew,” he says as a whisper into her ear.
Alia feigns scandal, clutching her chest. “Why, sir, this is the Lord’s house. Do watch your language.”
Alia feels Vita tap her arm. “She’s coming over here.”
Vita points at Laura as she makes her way toward them with an entourage of her own that includes an older, greying woman, a middle aged woman, and a woman who was maybe in her twenties. They stop in the aisle, unfazed by anyone trying to leave the church.
“So this is the reason you are here with us today, Yuri?” Laura smiles as the head of the group and then looks around to them all with a grin. “This boy been living with me for weeks now and he never come out when I ask him.” She turns her attentions to Alia. “But boys will always jump for a pretty young thing. I don’t believe we had the pleasure to meet before, but I think we are neighbors aren’t we?”
Alia looks confused, as does Yuri who has no idea where Alia lives and she does indeed live just across the street from Laura’s house where Yuri has been living.
“You live with that nice young man who is taking care of his father’s house,” Laura continues. She sounds very sweet and gracious, but something about it, maybe the sneer in her eyes, rings very disingenuous. “He is such a nice young man. I assumed the two of you were an item. What is your name ma’am?”
Alia introduces herself, and then her friends. Operation: Clandestinely gaining information on Laura is a failure before it starts, Alia thinks to herself. She only hopes that nothing dangerous will transpire between them.
“I never heard a name like that before,” Laura says. “You from here?”
“Close enough,” Alia says. “I’m from North Carolina.”
Laura smiles big and nods. “Well, I hope you and your friends will join us for a bite to eat in the church kitchen. We can all get to know one another better.”
Alia agrees for everyone, even Vita who expresses her apprehensions as they go out of the front door of the church and walk over with those making their way to the church kitchen. Inside, there are four long rows of tables that cover the floor space and Alia notices a kitchen through the window of a bar in the back. The tables have food in a line down each row and people file in to take their seats. Alia notices people coming in through another side door and they are not dressed in traditional church attire. Many of them seem to be homeless or just poor. Alia and her friends file in next to Laura and hers so that Alia and Laura sit next to each other with Yuri between them, and their friends occupy the seats to their right and left respectively. The room is full of conversation, but it creates a low rumble in the long room that gives Alia a good feeling inside.
She leans over Yuri and says to Laura, “This is not what I expected. Do you all do this every Sunday?”
“We like to try,” Laura says, leaning in with her disingenuous smile. “I’m so grateful that my Jamar is able to give so generously to this church to provide for this type of thing. We feed the community, anybody who wants to come, and some people depend on us to stay alive. We take care of our community.”
Alia assumes that their friends can hardly hear anything of their conversation, but Laura’s friends all nod and amen in agreeance.
“Is Jamar your husband?” Alia asks.
Laura glares at her with only her eyes; they sharpen slightly at the corners, but the rest of her face is stuck in the fake smile.
“We are not married, no,” Laura says, her mouth almost a slit, resentful of Alia’s reminder of her sin of fornication. “Our relationship didn’t work out, but we are still a family and this church is very important to us. It’s our home. Are you looking for a home, Alia?” It’s as though she senses Alia’s past without a family, an orphan alone in the world, and she is trying to agitate her.
Alia puzzles at the question, and when she doesn’t respond, Laura says, “A church home. We’d be happy to welcome you here.”
“Oh,” Alia says, “I appreciate the welcome. This is all so very nice.”
Yuri is background, a set piece between them. He doesn’t really like this, his recent upgrades have made him unlike anyone else, and he is a powerful player in the drug trade, he is not used to being window dressing any more.
“So how did you two meet each other,” Laura asks both Yuri and Alia and he looks to her with a smirk.
“Fate brought us together,” he says with a smile, but Alia is not amused. She doesn’t even acknowledge him.
“We live in the same neighborhood,” Alia says, “we were all bound to run into each other. So what do you and your Jamar do for work?”
“Jamar is a business owner…” Laura starts, but she doesn’t finish.
The lights in the long dining room begin to flicker and then there is panic. Then the lights go out completely.
Everyone inside the dining room files out and they’re instantly arrested by the incredible sight of what appears to be a person with huge wings. The person wears what appears to be a leotard, though it is possible that they wear no clothes at all and their body has no contours or signs of gender. The person opens what appears to be a mouth and a voice booms out.
“An error must be corrected or the beings of this world will pay!”
Alia stares at Laura, past Yuri who is upset that he isn’t her partner for the dramatic reaction.
But he can assert himself, and Yuri imagines wings harnessed to his body that allows him to flap up and meet the person in mid air. Alia yells after him, upset that he is so hasty.
When he is face to face with the winged person in the sky, Yuri calls out, “Just leave these people alone.”
The person looks at Yuri. There is no hair on the head or face. The skin, if it is skin, is pale blue.
And then suddenly Yuri tumbles to the ground unconscious, his wings vanish. Alia meets him on the ground and then looks up at the person with the wings.
“Standby for transmission,” the person says and then the mouth hangs open.
Vita and Gertrude join Alia and they wait for her instruction.
“It’s your call Alia,” Vita says to Alia. She and Gertrude would follow Alia into fire and they are ready.
But Alia has no idea what’s going on and she can’t let any of her friends get hurt.
PRL Serials 