Live and Learn by Niobia Bryant Read Free Book Online Page B

Brass adorns every possible accent piece.
    The grandest of it all was the pulpit. It took up the majority of the front of the church and had a feel that was more royal than religious.
    Every Sunday our charismatic leader, Reverend DeMark, held two services to accommodate his ever-growing congregation. Leave it up to my parents to attend both, as well as devotional services and Sunday school. Of course, that meant I was supposed to go to it all as well.
    On the inside, I smirked as he preached on being a good Christian soldier. Mind you, he’d already given me our special signal from the pulpit for me to meet him in his office between services.
    My mother was ushering today, and my father was on the front pew with the other deacons, so their hawklike eyes weren’t on me. I eased off the pew and slipped out of the back door five minutes before his first sermon began to wind to an end. The sound of the organist backing up his ever-increasing words followed me down into the basement level apartment that served as both his office space and parsonage.
    Using the spare key he gave me, I shivered in anticipation as I entered his domain. The door opened directly into the converted living room that served as an office for both him and the part-time secretary. A locked door—for which I had no key—led to the rooms farther into the apartment that were for his private use.
    I moved freely about the spacious and elaborately decorated room as the shouts, stomps, and organ music filtered down through the floor. Everything in his place spoke of wealth—a testament to the money he made from shitting innocent people.
    His wealth. His people. His flock.
    They paid for it all. The sprawling house in Maplewood. The Lexus. The tailored suits. The jewelry. The trips to the Caribbean. The cash he so generously gave me. All of it.
    Not that the Rev’s money was all that drew me. At first there was a lure associated with his position that I couldn’t resist. I enjoyed his heated hands and cold hard cash.
    I walked over to the mahogany Italian leather sectional in the corner. I remembered the day I lost my virginity and my faith on this couch.
    When Reverend DeMark mentioned to my parents that he wanted to hire some additional help to clean his offices, my parents readily volunteered my services; another testament to their devotion to God, their church, and their minister.
    They made the task seem like such an honor that I was actually nervous about doing it. I wanted his praise. I considered it the start of my paying tithes to my church. It wasn’t money, but it was my time, and at seventeen time was all I had to give.
    That first afternoon, I used the key my mother had proudly pressed into my palm and unlocked the heavy door leading into the office. I was shocked and surprised to find the Reverend sitting at his desk, his reading glasses in place on his long aquiline nose as he read from the leather-bound Bible open before him.
    “I’m sorry, Reverend DeMark. I didn’t know…I mean your car wasn’t out—” I stammered, edgy in his presence because I thought I made a mistake.
    “No, no, Latoya. Come in, come in,” he said, removing his glasses with a serene look on his face. “My car’s at the detail shop. It’ll be delivered when they’re done. I hope I didn’t scare you?”
    “I can come back another time—”
    “No, Latoya. You’re okay. Did you walk over from school?” he asked, leaning back in his chair slowly as he tented his fingers beneath his chin.
    “Yes, my daddy’s going to pick me up on his way home from work.”
    “Good, good,” he said, resting those deep eyes on me as I nervously stood there. “I was waiting on you.”
    “Yes, Reverend?” I asked, shy and nervous, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.
    He had a way of looking at me that made me feel that way…shy and nervous.
    “God is good, isn’t he, Latoya?”
    I nodded, still standing in the doorway with one hand holding the knob and the other