My Father's Gift (12 page)

“As long as I won’t be late.  I don’t want to keep this person waiting.”

“We’ll get you there on time.  I promise,” she said a little too sweetly.

Cal sat dejectedly for a moment thinking he should call D’Cerner and reschedule just in case their meeting didn’t conclude on time, but then thought better of it.  He was going to meet with her and nothing was going to stop him.

*****

Pastor Thomas went to the church and called all of the ministers to remind them of a meeting she had “forgotten” to announce.  She told everyone to be at the church at one o’clock sharp.  She almost felt guilty about what she was doing, but then decided she was doing what was best for Cal.  After making her phone calls, she retrieved her messages.  Listening to Pastor Gibson and sensing the urgency in the tone of his voice, she couldn’t help but smile.  They were both on the same wavelength.  She also knew she had effectively blocked Cal and D’Cerner once more.

*****

D’Cerner had spent the next twenty-four hours waiting, none too patiently, excited about their lunch date.  She had spent hours trying to decide what to wear and finally decided on a white wool pantsuit with an emerald green blouse.  Since there was snow on the ground, deciding which shoes to wear was easy.  Boots. 

The following day, the roads were covered with a fresh layer of snow, so she decided to leave a little early since she had to drive about ten miles to get to the restaurant.  The Fishhook was out in a suburban area, about midway between where they both lived.  She really didn’t mind the drive, but she hated being out on slushy streets with careless drivers. January in Michigan was always a cause for one to be wary of driving conditions and other drivers.  Cautiously and slowly, she maneuvered the winter-coated roads.  She arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early and decided to wait in the car.  

While she waited, she listened to a gospel CD and then switched on the radio to a jazz station.  Relaxed, she leaned back and laid her head on the headrest.   At one fifteen, she was still waiting in the parking lot for Cal.  Finally she got out and went in to see if he had actually arrived before her and she just hadn’t seen his car.  She described Cal to the restaurant host and asked if he had already arrived.  The host checked inside the restaurant and then came back and told her that no one matching her description was inside.  She then asked if anyone had called and left a message for her, after explaining who she was.  Again, she was told no.  Now, she was beginning to get concerned.  She immediately thought that perhaps the roads were in even worse shape on his side of town.  So, she decided to wait a little longer.  She asked to be seated and ordered a cup of coffee, explaining she was waiting for another party.  After her second cup of coffee and tiring of watching the clock on the wall, which now appeared to be mocking her with its display of two o’clock, she paid the check and left.  Not sure whether she should be concerned or angry, she decided to keep her feelings in check until she discovered what had happened.

*****

Cal was sitting in Pastor Thomas’s office fuming, barely able to remain civil.  He was pacing back and forth for an hour before the other ministers arrived and when they did, they didn’t apologize for being late or anything.  Before he had a chance to make a remark about the time, Pastor Thomas had launched into her meeting by starting to pray.  Not once during the next hour, did he have an opportunity to say anything that would have not been considered offensive and rude.  He kept silent, planning to leave as soon as the meeting was over. 

Noting that it was after two o’clock, he immediately excused himself and tried to reach D’Cerner on his cell phone.  There was no answer at her house, so he tried her cell phone.

When D’Cerner got the call, she was walking in her front door.  Not recognizing the phone number, she took her time returning the call since she often got wrong numbers and she was in no mood to deal with strangers.  When the call came through a second time, she answered.

“This is D’Cerner Everett.”

“Sister Everett, Cal Recinoire.  I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you sooner, but I was stuck in a meeting with my pastor.  I realize it’s late, but would you still meet me at the restaurant?” he asked, praying that she was going to say yes.

“Cal, I’m sorry, too.  I realize you think very highly of your pastor, but I’m a person who requires just as much courtesy as your pastor.  Couldn’t you have told her that you had a prior engagement?” she asked, barely able to contain her anger.

“I did tell her.  The meeting was supposed to start at twelve o’clock, but everyone else got there at one o’clock.  I don’t know why there was this mix up about the time.  She had promised me she would keep it brief so that I could keep my appointment.  I started to call you and reschedule, but I had hoped that this meeting would have ended on time.  I had no idea that it wouldn’t start on time,” he was talking much too fast, hopefully trying to buy him some time to justify his behavior.

“So, she knew you had another engagement.  Did she know it was with me?” she asked coldly.

“I didn’t tell her who it was,” he responded, his heart now sinking.

“Maybe she just guessed and decided her meeting was more important.  At any rate, I’m not going back out today.  I’ve already spent more time in that restaurant that I care to remember, alone.”

“I know and I’m really sorry.  Please, let me make this up to you.  I really need to talk to you,” he said, pleading.

“I believed you when you said that the other night, but in the clear light of day, I guess it makes sense that you would not follow through, yet again.”

“D’Cerner, it’s not like that.  I know I’ve let you down a few times, but not this time.  I’m in the car and not that far away, please meet me.”

“Cal, turn around.  Go home or wherever you want to go.  Go back to the church.  I’m not going back to the restaurant and that’s final.  Whatever you had to say to me apparently wasn’t important enough for you to excuse yourself from your pastor’s meeting.  It wasn’t like you couldn’t have been filled in later.”

“Okay.  You’re right, but she insisted she needed me there.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.  She needed you.  Never mind what you needed to do.  Look, I’m extremely tired and I’m going to lie down for a while.  Not that it will probably matter one way or the other, but I don’t think you ever intended to honor your word with me.  All of this has just been a game to you.  Well, I only play games when I know the rules and apparently, I don’t know the rules for this one.  Have a great life Cal.”

“D’Cerner, I know you’re angry, but I wasn’t playing games.”

“I believed you once, when I was half asleep, not again.  I’m not angry.  I’m just tired of dealing with people who have no integrity.”

“I have integrity,” he responded, offended.  “This was not my doing.”

“We are all responsible for the things that we either do or don’t do.  Now, since you’re on a cellular and I don’t want to be responsible for you having an outrageous bill, I’m hanging up.  Be Blessed!” She tried to keep the tears from falling, but there they were, rolling down her face, while she held onto the phone before replacing it on its cradle.

“D’Cerner…” Cal started, but the only response he got was a dial tone.

He pulled off the road and sat there staring dejectedly out of the window, wishing he could start the day over.  He began to reflect on the beginning of the day when he was excited, looking forward to having lunch with D’Cerner, hoping to make some inroads in reconciling their relationship.  He had smiled the entire time he was getting dressed, thinking about a future with her. 

Arriving at the church, he thought it was strange that there were no other cars in the parking lot at the church, but he assumed that people were going to be late.  He had no idea how late, until they arrived.

He sighed to himself.

D’Cerner was right.  He should have excused himself from the meeting before two o’clock.  There was nothing said that was so earth shattering that it could not have waited.  Maybe D’Cerner was right about his pastor, too.  As soon as the thought appeared in his mind, he dismissed the idea.  He thought too much of his pastor to believe she would deliberately mislead him.  Resigned to his fate, he turned the car around and headed home.

His countenance remained solemn for almost three miles, when suddenly; he sat up straight, fiercely determined, gripping the steering wheel as though he could physically squeeze all of his problems out of it.  When he arrived at his house, he got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.  By the time he walked into the house, Kathy and Don were both in their rooms, having heard the car door slam and knowing that it could not mean anything good.  Cal dropped his keys on the coffee table in the living room and paced the floor pensively.  After about fifteen minutes of pacing, he began praying out loud, so loud that anyone outside the house could hear him.  He continued to pray for an hour.  After he finished praying, he fell on his knees in front of the sofa and stayed in that position for half an hour.  He got up slowly, looked around the room, shook his head, and then went into the bathroom to wash his face.  Upon completing this task, he called his children out of their rooms.

They didn’t know what to expect so their cautious approach indicated their feelings of trepidation.

“Have a seat,” he said calmly.  “I want to talk to the two of you.”  He waited until they were seated on the couch.  “I know that I’ve been a bear lately and I want to apologize.  Things have not been going the way I wanted them to and that is especially true around here.  I’m willing to make some changes, but I’m going to need you two to cooperate and to be willing to do what I ask.  Kathy, your deliberate disobedience will not be tolerated.  I make the rules to protect you and believe it or not, I know what’s best for you, for now.  Now, if you’re willing to bring your friend here to meet me and allow me to get to know him, there’s a possibility that I’ll reconsider my position about your dating him.  If you continue to sneak around behind my back, you may not be dating with permission until you leave home for good.  Don, you’re old enough to understand why I want to protect your sister and I expect your support, not rebellion in aiding and abetting her disobedience.  Are we in complete agreement in this matter?” he asked looking sternly at them.

“Yes,” they responded in unison.

“Okay, then give me a hug and go do your homework or something.”

They got up and took turns hugging their father and then hugged each other.  As they walked away, Cal groaned inwardly, thinking to himself he had much to do to make up for his poor treatment of his children.  He went into his bedroom, turned down the covers and got into bed.  As he lay there waiting for sleep to overtake him, he thought once more about D’Cerner and began to pray.  “Father, I surrender all to you.  I do not know what to do and therefore I will do nothing until I hear from you.”  With that said, he turned over and went to sleep.

*****

D’Cerner lay in her bed wondering what had happened.  She had turned over the events of the day in her mind so often she thought she could recite each second of the day.  She felt strongly that Pastor Thomas had something to do with Cal’s missing their lunch, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that Cal had to accept responsibility for his part in allowing it to happen.  “He could have excused himself to call me instead of having me wait there for an hour.  He could have called yesterday and rescheduled.  He could have asked to be excused and just not have gone at all.  He could have, he could have…” she sighed.  “What’s the use?  Nothing is going to change by torturing myself about what could have happened.  He obviously wanted to be where he was and that’s that.  We’ve wasted a lot of time going around in circles and I think it’s time we stopped.  Okay, Daddy.  That’s it for me.  The ball is in his court.  I’m not doing another thing.”  And in that frame of mind, she turned over and went to sleep.

Chapter Seventeen

After their disastrous missed meeting, life became a circus with D’Cerner trying to fill alternate roles as a juggler and a high wire balancing act.  At least that’s the way she felt.  She was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of events that seemed to be snowballing out of control she thought if she dropped a ball, there would be serious consequences. But if she missed her footing, the consequences could be tragic. When D’Cerner wasn’t spending her time ministering at local churches, she was either writing, preparing for the Leadership Cruise or teaching bible study while visiting inmates as part of her prison ministry, her latest endeavor.

After a year of knowing she was called to enter the prisons for ministry, D’Cerner finally took the necessary steps to do it.  She was reluctant at first because of her own claustrophobia and then she really didn’t relish the idea of being locked in with prisoners.  It took one visit into the prison to change her mind and her attitude about prisons and the prisoners.  Undaunted and unmoved by the conditions of the prisons, she diligently sought to find innovative ways to teach the inmates.

She approached everything with such zeal that many marveled at her energy.  Even though those who were close to her and knew her best could tell she was not totally happy, no one made any comments to her.  Most concluded that as long as she was able to exert the type of energy they saw to make a difference in lives, the better off she was.  It was certainly a noble attempt to hide her true feelings.

Pastor Gibson noticed the change and decided that the best way to help her was to keep her busier.  That in itself was not difficult to do. The church had many local projects to divert her attention as well as those projects she was asked to undertake from other ministries.  She planned the Vacation Bible School activities that were taking place the second week in June.  Planning included recruiting volunteers to teach the various age groups, help for registrations and arts and crafts, transportation and catering for the lunches being served. There were also the subsequent Award trips for outstanding participants that had to be planned.