Chapter 33

            “Face it,” Charles said, “you were a hireling when you worked for the church.”

             “Hey, wait a minute, I was a dedicated pastor” Aaron retorted.

             “Yes, with a nice salary and a hefty benefit package,” Charles went on, “still you were a hireling.  He would rather you be a true shepherd to his people.  In other words, a father like figure and not just a paid preacher.

             “Pass me the ball,” George yelled.  Aaron, who was holding the basketball under his arm, then took it and did a two hand chest pass to George.  George caught the ball, dribbled a couple of times, and did a jump shot.  “We can start a fellowship in my den,” he offered.

             The ball hit the backboard and rim but didn’t go through the net.

             “Hey muscles,” Shawanda called out as she came around the side of the house.  “I see you haven’t improved any yet.”

             Shawanda was Tabitha’s new friend.  Tabitha was a house guest of George and Juanita Meadows while she attended the American University.  Having met Tabitha during their missionary journey to Africa, they had acquiesced to an elderly pastor’s request that the young lady be given accommodations.

             “So introduce us to your new friend, George,” Charles suggested.

             “This is Shawanda Perkins, who is a good student at the University and a friend of Tabitha’s” George began.  “And Shawanda,” he said as he turned toward her, “meet Aaron Cooper and Charles Okinyi.”

             “Hey guys,” she responded.  “Hey muscles, what’s with you and these Africans,” she said as she winked at Charles Okinyi, indicating she was kidding.  “Are you trying to prove you’re a good white liberal or what?”

             “Not liberal enough to let you beat me playing basketball again,” George retorted. 

             “How you gonna stop me?” she asked as she grabbed the basketball and executed a perfect hook shot that swished through the net.

             “I’ve got my buddy Aaron,” George stated confidently, “the two of us will beat the two of you” he said as he pointed to Shawanda and Charles.

             “Oh, I get it, the blacks against the whites” Shawanda came back again.  “You sure it won’t start a race riot in this neighborhood?” Shawanda teased.

             There was something George was attracted to in Shawanda’s brazen forwardness and yet it made him laugh half the time.

             “You can mix it any way you like” Aaron offered.  “Charles and I can team up and you and George can play us if it is racial mixture that you want.”

             “Yeah, that sounds good,” Shawanda said after a moment’s thought.  “What do you think, Muscles . . . can you play with me or will your wife be jealous?”  Shawanda teased again as she was about to take a jump shot.

             “No, I won’t be jealous,” Juanita stated.  She had slipped out the back door unnoticed.

             Shawanda froze just as she was about to extend her legs for the jump shot.

             “Wh . . . uh, are you the Mrs.?” she asked.

             “Yes, I am,” Juanita answered.

             “Hey, I’m sorry, I was just teasing your husband, I didn’t mean any harm.”

             “That’s quite alright,” Juanita replied.  “You go on teasing him, he deserves it sometimes.”

             Juanita had felt a tinge of jealousy but she wasn’t about to admit it.  The camaraderie between her husband and this African American woman was something that she had once had with George.  And although they still loved each other deeply, there wasn’t the playfulness there once was.

             George and Juanita along with Aaron had studied polygamy before and during their trip to Africa.  They had seen it working since Charles had two wives there.  They had presented all their best arguments against it in the beginning but were proven wrong from a scriptural viewpoint.

             Juanita knew that George might actually consider such an arrangement someday, but until now, she had never thought that a black girl might be considered.