Free Let the Church Say Amen by Reshonda Tate Billingsley Page A

You have to eat. Plus, you can catch up with your brother. Ain’t that right, Simon?” Loretta finally turned to her husband, pleading with him to give in.
    “That’s okay, Ma,” David interjected once Simon didn’t respond. “I have stuff to do anyway.” David found himself fighting back tears. What he wouldn’t give just to sit down and have dinner with his family.
    “Please, David.”
    “You heard the boy. He got stuff to do,” Simon sternly said.
    Loretta shook her head as the tears started falling. “Look at what you’re doing, Simon. He’s reaching out. He’s trying and you just keep shutting him out.”
    David reached up and squeezed his mother’s hands. “It’s okay, Mama, don’t cry. Daddy’s right. I need to get myself together before I come back into your life.” David was trying hard to ward off the tears. “I gotta go.” He kissed Loretta on the forehead, then turned to Jonathan. “I’ll see you around, okay?”
    Jonathan nodded, his eyes misting as well.
    David stared at Simon one last time. “Bye.”
    Simon didn’t respond and David turned to walk away. “David?” Simon called out just as he made it to the sidewalk. Simon uncrossed his arms and walked over to his son. His look had softened and was actually etched with concern. “I hope you understand … I just … I just want better for you, that’s all. It hurts your mother …” Simon lowered his head. “It hurts me, to see you like this.” Simon took a deep breath. “Whenever you want some help. Whenever you really want to let those drugs go, you call me, okay?”
    David felt the tears trickling down his cheek. He could not believe what he was hearing. He wished he could just let the drugs go, just like that. He thought about even saying he would just so his father could accept him again. But he had been down that road before and he knew if he wanted to make things right, really right, he would have to seriously make some changes.
    “Thank you, Dad,” David responded. “You don’t know how much that means.” David gently wiped his eyes, nodded at his family, then turned and walked away from the church, a huge smile plastered across his face. “Maybe I really can let this stuff go,” he mumbled to himself.
    David knew that wouldn’t be easy, but now, more than ever, he knew he wanted to at least try.

11
    R ACHEL IGNORED the homeless man begging her for spare change. This neighborhood was going to the dogs. She remembered when she was growing up, the Fondren area was a nice place to live. The football player Warren Moon and the gospel singer Yolanda Adams used to make their homes there. But the proliferation of apartment buildings over the years had completely brought the area down. The corner store she was at had burglar bars all over the windows and the owner, Rashid, wouldn’t even open the doors after ten. You had to buy whatever you wanted through a small drawer.
    Rachel pushed her quarters into the pay phone and punched in Bobby’s phone number. She was still fuming about having to use the corner pay phone in the first place. Apparently, Bobby had blocked both her and her parents’ numbers because every time she tried to call him from either place, she got a message saying “calls not accepted.” She also knew he had Caller ID on his phone, which was another reason he wasn’t answering.
    She tried paging him and putting in 9-1-1, but even that hadn’t worked. What if something happened to Jordan? How was she supposed to get in touch with him then? She figured the only way he would answer was if he didn’t recognize the number.
    Sure enough, he picked up.
    “Hello.”
    Rachel took a deep breath to calm down. “Hi.”
    Bobby paused. “Rachel, what do you want?”
    “Don’t get all nasty with me. I just called to see how you were doing. I heard about Eric.”
    Twyla had told Rachel about Bobby’s best friend, Eric, killing himself. She didn’t really think black men committed suicide, but Eric sure