Josey scanned her appointment book again and silently cursed. Here it was 1:00 and Karen Foster was due in for a wash and a set at 1:30. Just what she needed she thought, as she stared at her watch. By her calculations, Tootsie should be bursting through the door any second. She had time for another quick smoke. The last thing she needed to hear was Karen harping on and on about second hand smoke. She’d love to blow smoke right up Karen’s snooty nose that was always stuck up in the air.
Tootsie burst through the door and plopped herself down. As she tried to catch her breath, she fanned herself with a sale paper from the Piggly Wiggly.
“You are gonna be the death of me Josey McFarland. Now I’m going to need to cool down before little Miss Foster gets here. I don’t want her seeing me all flustered and sweaty. That’s all the ammunition she would need.”
No sooner had Tootsie spoken the words than the door jerked open and Karen’s shrill voice permeated the air.
“Josey, you’ve still got your closed sign up. There’s no telling how much business you’ve run off. You know what the good Lord says, idle hands are the work of the devil,” she quoted, like a constipated parrot.
It bemused her to see Josey hastily turn the sputtering black and white television’s channel to the Christian network. She had to admit, being the pastor’s wife did have its perks, it brought feelings of power she found she liked.
Karen was the wife of Larry Foster, Carington Height’s pastor and she played the role well. After marrying Larry she had to make several adjustments to her lifestyle, and one was the requirement that she dress the part. Being raised the only daughter of a wealthy man, Karen had never known limitations on spending, and marrying a man of God had not curbed her enthusiasm for buying.
You had only to look into Karen’s closet to see her hidden vice. Shoes lined the walls and bags were scrunched into every corner. The whisper of plastic was heard as you brushed past the rows of dresses, which had never been worn.
She may be the pastor’s wife, required to look the dowdy part, but somewhere along the line she had met resistance in her heart. Just because her husband had heard the voice of God calling him into the ministry, did not mean the Lord had called her too. Like a defiant child, the more she was told, “you can’t wear that,” the more she bought. No, she may never be able to wear it, but by gosh she was going to own it.
She had kept the secret for many years from her husband until one day he decided to paint the house, including her closet. One good thing about Larry was, he wasn’t really interested in anyone but himself. He kept to his part of the house and she, to hers. After all, a man of God had to have a private place where he could hear the voice of God, or so he said. All Karen ever heard booming out of his den, were cheers from the crowds as his favorite football team scored another touchdown.
The day he had walked into her closet was the day he stepped out of her heart. She had to laugh about it though, the expression of pure astonishment on his face as he went through all she had amassed over the years. The only time she could remember him looking more surprised, was when he had prayed for a man’s back to be healed and the man jumped up, totally healed. It had shocked the heck out of Larry.
“Good morning ladies,” she said, nodding her stiff neck, and dusting an imaginary piece of lint off of her navy pinstriped pants. “Tootsie, what have you been up to? I haven’t seen you in church lately. You been feeling okay?”
Stay tuned for the next episode!
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