Specks and Planks

Characters:

Lady Charmaine Knots:

Status: Single

Church Position: Bishop’s Secretary

Lady Lissa George:

Status: Single

Church Position: Leader of the Intercession Ministry

Lady Elizabeth Parker-Hill :

Status: Married

Church Position: Children’s Ministry Director

Lady Cynthia Johnson:

Status: Single

Church Position: Choir Director



Lady Charmaine Knots, Lady Lissa George, Lady Elizabeth Parker-Hill, and Lady Cynthia Johnson are members of the Saint’s Tabernacle of Praise in southern Mississippi under the leadership of Bishop Tommy Wright. These four women zealously serve the Lord and have been attending this church since its inception 15 years ago. They think, live, and breathe the church and have taken it upon themselves to spend time in prayer every week for the advancement and protection of this ministry. Lady Lissa is the leader of this small prayer group and they meet every Monday afternoon for prayer. The meeting place alternates between the homes of the group members, and this week it is at the house Lissa and Charmaine share.

Curtain:

Charmaine is in the kitchen taking out her spicy pumpkin pie from the oven.

Cynthia and Elizabeth are sitting in the living room for the meeting to start.

Lissa walks into the kitchen, where she finds Charmaine reaching for a stack of plates in the cupboard.

Lissa:

Charmaine, come on! Its four o’clock, let’s get this meeting started. You know we have a lot to pray about tonight.

Charmaine:

Okay, okay! Let me get out these plates for my spicy pumpkin pot pie. Is everyone here?

Lissa:

Yup. Cynthia and Elizabeth are waiting for us in the living room.

Charmaine: (scowling)

Arrgg! Cynthia is here? That fat heifer is gonna eat up all this pie with just one scoop of her pudgy ol ‘ fingers. She is so fat that the picture I took of her last Christmas is still printing!

Lissa: (chuckling)

Girl, you know you wrong.

Charmaine:

I’m just tellin the truth and you know it.

Lissa:

Truth in love Charmaine. Remember, speak the truth in love.

Charmaine:

Oh hush now, and help me carry this pitcher.

(Charmaine and Lissa enter the living room, carrying a pitcher of ice tea and pumpkin pot pie)

Charmaine: (smiling brightly)

Ooohhh! Favored women of Lawd, it so good to have you here on tonight!

Cynthia: (Sniffs the air)

Charmaine, now is that what I think it is? You know I love me some of yo spicy pumpkin pot pie!

Charmaine: (nodding)

Uhuh! I know it girl!

(Puts the platter down on the table and turns to speak to the other three women)

Now, ladies unfortunately, we are going to have to cut prayer a bit short tonight. My shift at the soup kitchen starts at six, and it is imperative that I be there on time—we are the hands and feet of Jesus ya know.

Elizabeth:

Amen! That’s from the Book!

Cynthia:

Oh Charmaine, you are such a good example of a godly woman!

Charmaine: (ducks her head and raises her hand)

Praise the Lawd, praise the Lawd!

Lissa:

Speakin of the good book ladies, didn’t Bishop out do himself again on yesterday morning?

Elizabeth: (sitting back and clapping her hands)

Oh yes, he did! I even broke my heels doin the river dance in the aisle. I could hardly contain myself!

Cynthia:

Sho’ nough! That message done fed my soul and made me want to eat some home fried chicken!

Charmaine: (gives a tight smile)

Hmm, I am sure it did, Cynthia.

(Turning to the rest of the group)

When Bishop was talkin bout specks and planks in people’s eyes, I just thanked the Lawd that He done gave me clear eyes to see the evil around me. He has anointed me to see the specks and planks that plague other people’s eyes!

Lissa:

Amen, sista!

Elizabeth:

Yes, thank the Lawd! Oh, how I just wished my bitter, back-biting, stingy ol battleaxe mother-in-law was there to hear that message! She always all up on me, criticizing my homemaking! Oooooh! I can’t stand that woman!

Lissa:

Calm down, Elizabeth. Patience—you must do as I have done, and cultivate patience in thine heart. The good Lawd promised to heap hot coals on the heads of our enemies. In fact, let us start our praying. Anybody hear any good prayer requests?

Charmaine: (solemnly)

Yes—we must pray for poor Lady Judith.

Lissa:

Judith?! What happened?

Charmaine:

Well…..ya know as the church’s secretary I hear all the prayer requests that are sent to the bishop. Well, apparently Judith caught her husband sleeping with-- (voice tappers off)

Elizabeth: (leaning in)

Sleeping with who?

Charmaine: (whispers)

Judith’s sister.

Cynthia:

No!

Charmaine: (nodding and raising her hand)

Child, I lie not. She came to the bishop sobbing and making all kinds of ruckus.

Elizabeth: (shaking her head)

I don’t know what is wrong with that woman. You think with all them degrees behind her name, she’d at least know how to keep her man. If that were me and I had me such a fine, chiseled, strong man like Tyrone, he would never be running to some other woman’s bed.

Cynthia:

Uhuh! My food would be enough to keep him!

Lissa:

Now ladies, we mustn’t covet another woman’s husband! Jesus, the maker, he is our husband. (turning to Charmaine) Good one Charmaine. Any others?

Cynthia:

All I know is that we have got to pray about the whores who think they can up in the holy house of the Lawd and worship. The tabernacle is a pure and holy place, their kind don’t belong. Didn’t you see that one prostitute who be workin the corner of Griffiths St and Sterns Ave cryin there at the altar on yesterday mornin? Next thing you know, they’ll be stealin all the married men, and causing our potential husbands to fall into lust and fornicate. We may end up with a church full of Judiths!

Elizabeth: (nodding)

I agree! Church is not a place for those sluts. Did you see the way she was dressed? Showin all her legs and even arm cleavage!

Lissa: (nodding)

Yes, yes, amen! Any other requests?

Elizabeth:

I have one. Did you all hear about Brother Larry?

Lissa: (clenching her teeth)

Larry Dupont? That no good excuse for a man that lied and cheated on me? I gave him the best two years my life. We were supposed to get married, have two children, and go to Mexico to be missionaries! Girl, you better have a good reason for bring him up.

Elizabeth: (looks sideways at Charmaine and Cynthia with raised eyebrows)

Yeah, well, a friend at the clinic told me that he tested positive for HIV last week.

Lissa: (eyes going wide, squeals with delight and claps her hands)

Oooh! Thank the Lawd! He sho does answers prayers. That is exactly what Larry deserves.

Charmaine:

Aaww! He is too fine to die with AIDS. Can you imagine that fine body covered with lesions?

Lissa:

Hey! Whose side are you on? I said he deserves it!

Charmaine:

Okay, okay! Did you hear about Deacon Fortunato?

Cynthia:

You mean the man that is always tryin to get people to give their hard earned money to the stinkin homeless? Don’t he know that those homeless people will just take the cash and buy drugs and alcohol? Some people just have no discernment!

Charmaine:

You got that right. Well anyway, he came to the bishop’s office with his thirteen year old daughter—who is now three months pregnant!

Cynthia:

Three months?! Not so fortunate now is he? (laughs out loud) Fortunato, fortunate, haha, get it?

Elizabeth: (rolling her eyes)

Oh stop it Cynthia. Now, you know that’s just a shame. A man of God is supposed to have control over his own household before he holds a position in the church.

Lissa: (shaking her head)

Tsk, tsk. I just don’t know what the church is coming to these days.

Charmaine:

All those sinners and whoremongers just comin in on Sundays and sittin in the pews—I am surprised God hasn’t struck the whole church down with lighting.

Cynthia: (nodding in agreement)

The good book says the way to heaven is narrow, only a few will get in.

Lissa:

Amen! Thank the Lawd our hearts are pure and we are the few elect that will enter his pearly gates.

Charmaine: (tapping her watch)

Ladies, it is nearing six o’clock. You know these hands and feet have got to get going.

Elizabeth: (clearing her throat)

Before we end, I just want to say I love you sisters. These times of prayer are always edifying to me and keep me alert to the traps of the enemy.

Cynthia:

Ain’t that the truth! (turns to Charmaine) Charmaine, can I have the leftover of your spicy pumpkin pot pie?

Charmaine:

Uhh, sure…. (then turns away and mutters under her breath) I just hope you don’t eat my pan.

Lissa: (Lissa glances warningly at Charmaine, then to the rest of the group)

Let us end this time of prayer. Please bow your heads ladies. (all bow their heads) Lawd, thank you for saving us. Amen.

All:

Amen!



*************************************************************

Matthew 7: 3-4


“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look a plank is in your own eye.”

A Second Chance

“A fool. I am such a fool,” Eve said to herself, shaking her head vigorously as she stared down at J.C.’s immobile body on the hospital bed. An array of tubes protruded from every crevice of his body. The only sign of life was in the movement of his chest made possible by the ventilator pumping air through his throat. Today marked the third week since the he had entered the coma—the third week since the incident.

Eve made her way across the room to the chair planted next to the bed. Darkness enveloped the hospital room, interrupted only by the flickering blue-white light of the television and the green and red illuminated digits on the machines connected to his ailing body. The silence would have been deafening save for the perpetual beeping of the machines that remind her that J.C. was still alive. How she wished she could go back in time and erase all her mistakes! J.C. was lying here courting death because of her foolishness, her ingratitude, her unfaithfulness. She didn’t deserve a miracle. She didn’t deserve him, but she prayed desperately for both anyways.

“I’m so sorry J.C.,” she whispered to his inert body as tears clogged her throat. “Please wake up. I won’t survive it if you die.”

As she gazed at him, she remembered the first time she saw him three years ago. She had been impressed with his stature, his chiseled physique and his vibrancy. He wasn’t her type, too clean cut and too proper for her tastes, yet he emanated an alluring aura that caused people, her included to gravitate towards him. He stood out in the dilapidated neighborhood with its run down convenience stores, trashy sidewalks and the homeless digging through garbage cans. His kind, with their black sleek BMWs and their expensive brand name clothing did not belong on this side of Tucker City. As she waited for her ride across the street from the Tucker City Youth Center, she watched as he walked around passing out sandwiches among the homeless, smiling that enigmatic smile. His eyes looked at her as he caught her staring at him. She quickly averted her gaze, but he was already making his way across the street.

“Hey!” he said with a grin once he reached her.

“Hi.” She politely responded, craning her neck hoping her ride would immediately make its appearance.

“My name is J.C.”

“Okay.” She said.

“What’s yours?” he prodded.

“Eve.”

“Okay…Eve, like in the Bible. That’s a pretty name.”

“Sure. Okay.” She said rolling her eyes.

“It's almost as pretty as you.”

“I’m not available.”

“Who asked if you were?”

“My boyfriend won’t be happy to see you talking to me.”

“Really?” J.C. said with a mixture of incredulity and curiosity. “Is he so easily threatened? We’re just having a conversation.”

“Yeah, right.” she said sarcastically. Then putting her hands on hips she questioned, “Why are you talking to me? What do you want?”

“Okay. I’m going to be honest with you,” he replied. “ I’ve seen you with Louis and I don’t understand why you’re with him.”

“Uhhh maybe because we love each other!” She said, her voice rising in indignation.

“Yeah, well he obviously loves you---and the other four women he has leaving his apartment every morning. He gives you gifts too, doesn’t he? Like that black bruise on your arm?” He reached out and touched her shoulder. “You deserve better, Eve.”

“Mind your own business,” She said through clenched teeth as blood pounded through her head.

Suddenly her boyfriend’s fist appeared out of nowhere, contacting with J.C.’s jaw, sending him sprawling on the concrete.

“Stay away from her, rich boy!” he growled. “She’s mine.” He then turned to her, and jerked his head toward his 1984 rusty brown Cadillac. “Get in,” he said. They sped away in his car, headed towards the hypest party of the week, as J.C. struggled to get up through the cloud of exhaust fume.

“I hate that punk, ya hear? If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from him.” Louis said menacingly, blowing his cigarette smoke in her face.

Eve loved to party. She loved the ambience—the loud, core-gripping music, the masses of bodies melded together, each moving with their own cadence creating a symphony of dance. She even loved the intermingling smell of cheap perfume, cigarettes, sweat and beer that permeated the air at party scenes. But what she loved most of all about parties was Louis.

At these parties, Louis would inhale his favorite narcotic which would turn him into the most debonair individual who created blissful, passionate unforgettable experiences. What she loved about Louis was his need for action, and the adrenaline rush that she got when she was in his presence. He and his gang of friends were always on the go, constantly trying to commit their next greatest feat that would expand their often illegitimately gained wealth.

Tonight was no different. Tonight the plan involved J.C. and his BMW. They wanted to teach him a lesson.

“Just run your hands over it. Yeah, that’s right. Isn’t she a beaut?” Louis murmured in her ear as they walked around the stationed vehicle, an avaricious gleam in his eye.

“More beautiful than me?” She whispered back with a smirk, flirtatiously.

His dark eyes flickered as they roamed down her tank-topped, miniskirt clad body.

“Yes.” He said, and turned away.

She blinked her eyes in shock. Surely he didn’t mean that. Although lately, his speech had been laced with similar barbs aimed at her. Trembling, she went back to the party on a quest to get high, high enough that no words that Louis uttered would hurt her.

Little did she know that the barbs were just one step in his betrayal, and that she as well was the recipient of a lesson.

Louis and his gang stole the car that night—and drove it straight into a tree. They got out before the cops arrived at the scene of the accident, each of them conveniently having worn gloves. The only prints the officers found on the abandoned stolen vehicle were J.C.’s ---and hers. The cops already had her fingerprints from a drug bust six months ago, and the next morning they arrested her for the theft of the black BMW. Though she protested in innocence, she had no alibi to support her claim. At the compound, Eve made her one permitted phone call to Louis and got his answering machine. Crestfallen, she walked back to her jail cell.

To her surprised, she was released later that afternoon.

As the pudgy, balding officer handed her back her things, he said, “The owner dropped all charges. I guess you got lucky this time.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” she quietly replied as she exited the police compound.

The wind rustled through her hair as she walked down the cracked sidewalk to her wretched apartment building.

“Hey!” a voice behind her said, as a finger tapped her shoulder.

She turned around to see J.C.’s smiling radiantly as he stood there in his designer jeans and shirt and Jordans adorning his feet.

She narrowed her eyes as she gazed at him. “You covered for me,” she accused. “After the way I talked to you, you should have let me rot in jail.”

J.C. shrugged his shoulders, and responded ruefully, “If I let you rot in jail, then I wouldn’t have been able to ask you to go to dinner with me Saturday night.”

She looked at him sharply as his warm brown eyes watched her, pleading.

“Okay,” she responded with a hint of a smile on her face.

This started their whirl-wind romance. For two years, she had a relationship with a type of man she never knew existed. A man who helped her heal from past pains. A man who loved her sacrificially and yearned to make her happy. A man who was tendered hearted, compassionate, and unfettered by the need to dominate and control her. She was free to be herself, which freed her to love him back whole heartedly. He made her a better person, pushing them to honor each other and God in their relationship. He bought her a glistening 8-karat diamond ring to place on her finger as a sign to the world of their promise to one another.

One day, he came to her with the devastating announcement that God was sending him on a mission trip to the villages in Asia.

“For how long?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” He responded.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Wait. Promise me you’ll wait,” he replied.

The first three months, they talked every day. The next four months they talked every week.” The next five months they talked once month.

After that first year, she despaired of ever seeing him again. And like a dog returns to his vomit, so she returned to her familiar hangouts pre-J.C. in an effort to assuage her loneliness. She loved parties, and the one thing she loved about parties was Louis---Louis, who could create blissful, passionate, unforgettable experiences.

Only this time, Louis was more vicious and violent than he was before. He gave her gifts this time too-- Gifts around her neck, her eyes, and legs that were bluer and blacker than in the past.

One night, he stormed into her apartment brandishing a gun in his hands.

“I thought I told you not to talk to other men!” he yelled wildly.

“What other men?” She screamed back as he started kicking over chairs and throwing glass against the wall.

“Stopped it!” She shrieked terrified, as he approached her with a wicked, murderous glitter in his eyes.

A tall, towering shadow suddenly appeared in the door way, capturing Louis’ attention.

“Get out of here Louis.” the shadow said.

A shot fired from Louis' gunand the shadow immediately crumpled to the ground. Louis then made his escape and frantically sprinted out the door.

“Help!” Eve screamed as she stumbled towards the crumpled figure. She staggered back, sickened by the gory sight before her. Crimson blood oozed from a gaping hole in the middle of his chest. She looked to her savior’s face---the face of J.C.,

“Nooooo! Please, no!” she wailed, tears pouring down her face.

*****

Tears streamed down her face as she sat her vigil in the hospital over J.C. comatose body.

“Just one more chance, God. Please! I won’t mess up this second chance with him. Please,” she prayed her voice going hoarse from the incessant prayers said for the past three weeks. Her body ached from having sat in the same position for the entire night. She stood up and looked through window where the sun had already begun to rise, shining brilliantly on the grassy field of flowers below it.

“Eve…..,” she heard a voice rasp behind her. With a gasp, she whirled around to find a pair of warm, loving, brown eyes staring up at her.

Romance

He pursues me,
He wants me,
He knows me by name,
One touch from him—I’ll never be the same.

When I am in his arms,
My worries cease to exist,
His presence is my assurance
That there is nothing he cannot fix.

No matter what I’ve said,
No matter what I’ve done,
He is ready to forgive,
Then forget and move on.

His voice is so gentle,
It sends fire up my bones,
So many love him,
They flock to him in throngs.

Yet despite the multitude and masses,
I still catch his eye,
To go my and depart from him,
Is something I refuse to try.

Addictions

You probably haven’t heard much about it,
You probably have no clue
Of how a war in the heart of Africa
Could be related to you.

We live in the golden age of technology,
We all have our technological addictions—
The need to imbibe information
And keep up with everyone’s actions.

We snort information through our computers,
We take injections from our phones,
We shoot up all forms of entertainment
Attempting to swallow all being shown.

The thing about our shiny gizmos and our gadgets
Is that they require a special component,
Found in the soils and mines of Congo,
Coltan—a metal that renders electronics more potent.

The mining for coltan helped kill six million in one decade,
And manufactured thousands of broken bodies—mountains of carnage.
Tens of hundreds have financed our habit with their blood—
For technology of which they will never take advantage.

Technology—an elixir,
A sedative in tough times,
We must awaken from our stupor
And stop these heinous crimes.

Our gain is Congo’s pain,
It’s another life ripped in two.
Take action. Stand for justice
For someone’s life depends on you.

To Do:

My brain hurts.
My hair is falling out.
Coherent thoughts come only in spurts,
No wonder I’m so burnt out.

I hate this time of year,
The mad rush to get it all completed,
It still remains unclear
Whether this mountain can be defeated.

If only I were a princess,
With a dozen servants at my beck and call,
I’d relinquish my stress,
And let the help handle it all.

To one I’d say, “Do my homework,”
To the other, “Go take my test,”
To the third, “Entertain me with the jerk,”
To the fourth, “Make sure my path is cleared of all pests.”

The fifth must do my laundry,
The sixth will clean my room,
“Hey! Don’t stare at me blankly!
And remember to vacuum.”

To the seventh, “Go do the dishes,”
To the eight, “Go mow my yard,
And go hand-wash my blouses—
Be delicate; don’t scrub too hard.”

To the ninth, “My car needs a new wax,”
The tenth will give me a massage,
“By the way, these documents need to be faxed,
Number eleven, go clean the garage.”

“Number twelve, did you get my game ticket?
I’ll have my breakfast in bed.
Give me crêpes—no wait, I’m on a diet,
So just bring me fruit instead.”

What?! It’s already dawn!
I meant to spend just ten minutes dreaming,
Where has the time gone?
I’ve got to get moving.

I take in the mountain,
A ridiculous amount of things to do

Down the list I go,
Check, check, check.
Thank goodness those are done.
Hopefully sometime this century,
I’ll be able to go out for some fun.