Free The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real by Neta Jackson

boys?” I shivered. “He was a monster.”
    â€œYeah, well, who are we to take someone’s life?” Josh’s voice raised a notch. “That’s playing God, don’t you think? It’s pure and simple revenge—an eye for an eye. I agree with Dad. Life without parole is sufficient to protect society from people like Gacy.”
    â€œI don’t disagree, Josh—”
    â€œAnyway. The debate club at school is looking for new members to debate current events. I signed up to support doing away with the death penalty, period.” He gathered up his dishes. “Can I be excused?”
    I stared at my son’s back as he took his dishes to the kitchen and then disappeared in the direction of his bedroom.When did Josh Baxter suddenly get political?
    Denny corralled Amanda to help load the dish-washer, so I commandeered the computer to check e-mail while I had a chance. I scrolled through the list— aack! I hated all that spam!—till I came to one addressed to “Yada Yada” from “BlessedRU.” Ha! That was Nony.
    To: Yada Yada
From: [email protected]
Re: YY at my house?
    Dear Sisters,
    THANK YOU to everyone who has called or e-mailed a “welcome home” since we’ve been back. Sorry I haven’t been very good about contacting you all individually. There’s SO much to do after being gone for two months!
    But how about having our first Yada Yada meeting of the New Year at my house this Sunday? I brought gifts for everyone—smile.
    Love, Nony
    Gifts? Yum. Anything Nony picked out would be fabulous. As for Yada Yada meeting at her house . . . I racked my brain. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember if someone else had volunteered. Better check with Avis; otherwise, why not?
    I skimmed through the rest of the Inbox till I found one addressed to Baxter Bears—Denny’s too-cute “addy” when “Da Bears” were actually playing good football—but who was [email protected]? That wasn’t Hoshi—oh, wait. Mark Smith! I clicked it open.
    To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Re: Nony’s birthday
    Dear Jodi,
Thought Yada Yada might like to know that Nony’s birthday is coming up January 20, two weeks from today. She’ll be 37. (I’m in trouble now!) I know she wants the prayer group to meet at our house this coming Sunday—that’s a week early, but thought you’d want to know.
    Mark Smith
    I grinned. That was cute—Mark letting us know about Nony’s birthday. It fell between two Yada Yada meetings, but why not celebrate at the first one? Kind of a “welcome home” and “happy birthday” rolled into one!
    I forwarded Mark’s e-mail to everybody else on the Yada Yada list, adding, “Why don’t we surprise Nony with a card shower? Anyone want to volunteer to make a birthday/welcome home cake? She won’t be expecting anything since we’re meeting at her house.” I hit Send.
    â€œMom? You done yet? I want to research some stuff about the death penalty.” Josh loomed over my shoulder.
    â€œGive me five more minutes, okay? Sheesh.”
    The Hulk disappeared, muttering under his breath. I sent the spam e-mail to oblivion, called up the Internet, and clicked on Favorites. There it was . . . my “Meanings of Names” Web site. A brief search found nothing even close to “Nonyameko.” Figured. Maybe I could Google it—why not? I called up the search engine and typed “South African names female.” Sure enough, there it was. Within a few seconds, I was looking at the meaning of Nonyameko Sisulu-Smith’s name:
    â€œTruth and Justice.”
    Ohmigosh. Could anything fit Nony better than that?
    â€œMom!”
    â€œOkay, okay.” I shut down the window and turned the computer over to Josh, an idea for Nony’s birthday already percolating in my brain.
    BY MIDWEEK, CHICAGO’S TEMPERATURES