Free Saved Folk in the House by Sonnie Beverly

was respected in the church, but that didn’t stop the rumors. It was said that he and his wife were getting a divorce because Zakia had joined a cult. The women were lining up for when that rumor was confirmed.
    “Good morning, Jay,” one of the women sang in a sweet voice to match her big, bright smile as she approached him one day.
    “Good morning,” Jay said, returning her smile, not sure of her name.
    “Is your wife doing okay? I haven’t seen her in a while, and I didn’t see her name on the sick and shut-in list?”
    “She’s fine. Thank you for asking. Excuse me,” Jay said, walking away to avoid any other inquiries about Zakia.
    “Looking mighty sharp, Jay,” said another woman as she moved in a little too close for Jay’s comfort. She began to straighten his tie, causing him to take a step back.
    “Thank you,” he said, straightening the tie himself as he stepped around her and kept walking to the finance room.
    Jay served on the finance committee of Fig Tree Baptist because of his business savvy.
    One evening Jay attended a meeting held at the home of the finance secretary. After the meeting was adjourned, she asked Jay if he could stay a while longer to give her some personal investment advice. Jay couldn’t resist the stock game and obliged. She gave him the prospectus of a company in which she was considering investing.
    “No, no, no. This company will fold before the year is out,” Jay said.
    “Oh my. I would have lost everything.”
    “Call me before you do anything in the future.”
    “You bet I will.”
    And she did. Jessica called him often, at work initially, since it was supposedly about business. Then she started calling at home. Zakia didn’t notice. She was deep into her Bible classes, ministry meetings, and choir rehearsals. She was always at the church, which gave Jay more time to provide investment advice to Jessica.
    When Jay got home after work, he would invariably smell nothing cooking. Nobody was ever home. One evening he called Alexis.
    “Mamalexis, do you know where my family is?”
    “They’re not here. Did you call the church?”
    “You know, this is getting old. I thought Zakia would have snapped out of it by now.”
    “Maybe it’s the real thing. I mean, I went over there to check it out. If my child had been lured into some cult, I would have promptly blown the whole building up, then turned myself in,” Alexis said.
    “So what did you think?” Jay asked.
    “Well, what was being preached was the truth, and one thing about my child, she was always in search of the truth. The real deal. She always had that need to know.”
    “Yeah, well, she doesn’t act like she needs to know how
I
feel.”
    “She’ll come around. I talked to one of the counselors, who told me that new born-again baby Christians are so excited about the newfound things of God that they sometimes throw caution to the wind, believing God has their back, and go out to single-handedly save the world. It made sense and described Zakia perfectly. I decided not to blow the building up,” Alexis explained.
    “If you say so. Thanks, Mamalexis.”
    “Sure, baby. Hang in there.”
    “I’m trying.”
    Jay continued to give after-hours financial advice to Jessica, who followed through on one of Jay’s tips and received a windfall that was beyond her imagination. She insisted that Jay come to her house to help her celebrate.
    “Thank you so much!” she said, hugging and squeezing him with excitement when he arrived at her apartment.
    “You’re quite welcome,” he said as he received her gratitude.
    The hug lasted a little longer than their usual Christian embraces. Jessica finally pulled away, appearing shy, causing Jay to feel like he had made her uncomfortable.
    “So did you take your own investment advice?” she asked as she led him to the sofa.
    “What kind of investor do you think I am? Of course I did.”
    “How’d you do?”
    “I doubled what you did.”
    “Oh, Jay!” she