Pastor Greg laughed, then responded, “You do know that the income of an associate pastor is about the same as a burger flipper, right?!”
“Yeah, well… what you lose in funds tonight you’ll gain many times over in the enjoyment of watching me stuff myself to the point of total discomfort, followed by a chaser of stomach cramps. I think a good time will be had by all.”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
*****
Chapter 27
“Awsty, watching you eat was just as satisfying as you said it would be. Wow! You can consume, girl!”
She reached over the table and lightly swatted his arm.
“You can’t say that to one of your parishioners. Especially not a woman! You’re supposed to be nice to me, Pastor Greg.”
“I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget how one of the pillars of the church is supposed to act.”
Shifting gears, Pastor Greg looked her in the eyes and began.
“Awsty, can I ask you something?”
Immediately her stomach knotted up. A question like that could be followed by almost anything. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure she was ready for it.
“Ok…” she drew out.
“As we’ve been working on your resume, it says you graduated high school going on four years ago, but the only work it shows you’ve done is some babysitting while you were in high school, and one week as a clerical assistant for your senior English teacher the first week after graduation.”
“Oh, you’re wondering what I did for her? Well…”
“No,” he interrupted. “I was wondering what you’ve been doing these last four years.”
Awsty felt sick inside. The food she’d eaten was starting to roil in her stomach. She almost felt like she was going to be sick. Should she protect her privacy? It wasn’t really any of his business. Should she just go ahead and tell him everything? Maybe it would actually help if she talked to someone about it. As a minister, didn’t he have to keep silent about anything she shared with him?
After one very long, strained moment, Awsty Truesdale decided to share her life with someone outside of Grammy. She thought she trusted him. She felt quite sure it wouldn’t go any further.
“Pastor Greg, you may not like what you hear.”
“Awsty,” he said as he took one of her hands, “let’s pray about it first, then you can share whatever you want to share. ‘K?”
She nodded and bowed her head, following Pastor Greg’s lead, right there in public at the restaurant.
“Jesus,” Pastor Greg began, “you know all about Awsty and nothing makes you love her less. Your love is unconditional. Help me listen as a good friend should, making no judgments, since You don’t. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.” He squeezed her hand, then let go of it, folding his hands and placing them on the table before himself.
She took one panicked and quivery breath, looked him in the eye, then forced her gaze down as she began to tell him everything. Well, almost everything. The only thing she couldn’t bring herself to share was about her immoral intimacy choices. It was partly because she felt such shame, and partly because she was afraid he’d think less of her.
At several places in the story, he reached over and lightly squeezed her hand. His heart ached for this beautiful young woman. She didn’t deserve her life’s beginnings. And, her choices thus far in life seemed predictable, considering her mother’s choices. He knew instinctively that she had left out some pretty significant parts. He was quite sure she had plenty of worldly knowledge. But, as sad as it all made him, he, nonetheless, wanted to pull her into his arms and cradle her like an injured child, but knew that he couldn’t do that. First, they were in public, and second, it was far too intimate of a gesture for them. He was, after all, her pastor.
After Awsty completed spilling her story and a good number of subsequent tears, she asked him, “Pastor Greg, can God ever forgive me for all my bad choices?”
Not even a split second passed before he unequivocally said, “Yes, absolutely. See, Awsty, the thing is…”
“If you’re going to preach to me now, don’t. I’m grateful that you’ve listened, and I know I can trust you with this. But, I’m just not ready.”
“Ok. Let’s talk about finishing this resume up. I have a couple of ideas on how to perk it up.
“You need this for Thursday, right? Oh… I figured out how to do this. Since you’ve written it all down, why don’t you let me take it home with me. I’ll polish it up and have the church secretary type it up for you. I’ll have her stick about a dozen copies of it in a manila folder and save it for you at her desk. You can either pick it up tomorrow afternoon, or on your way to the interview Thursday morning.”
“You’d really do that for me?”
“Of course. I’m glad to help. It is help, right? I’m not taking over, am I?”
“No, you’re being my friend. Thank you.”
“Good. And, if I’m being your friend, then maybe you’d do me a favor and drop the Pastor title. My name is Greg. Just plain old Greg.”
“It’s a deal! Thank you, Just Plain Old Greg.” She grinned.
Wow, she was a cheeky little thing!
Since both of them were ice cream lovers and there was an ice cream stand on their way back, Greg treated them both to a cone. Awsty had gotten two different flavors than he had. She asked him if he’d like a bite of her watermelon ice cream. He said he’d never tasted that flavor before, and yes, he would like a bite.
He should have seen it coming, but he didn’t, so it was a total surprise when she brought her cone to his lips with a devilish look in her eyes, and jammed it into his mouth, ice cream covering not only his lips, but the entire area from the tip of his nose to the base of his chin.
As he stood there totally stunned, she began uproariously laughing.
At that moment, in the street was a car driven by Mason Errington, who saw them at the exact moment of Pastor Greg’s ice cream baptism and their subsequent laugh fest. He slowed his speed to a crawl, watching Greg chase Awsty all the way to his car, threatening all the while to do the same to her using his cone. When they reached the vehicle, Pastor Greg didn’t follow through on his threat. Instead, he opened the passenger door, Awsty got in, as did he, and they drove off.
What?! What is going on here? Now she’s with Pastor Greg? She even likes him better than me?! I can’t believe it! This can’t be happening! I don’t get it! This doesn’t make any sense!
It’s just not fair! It’s not reasonable and not fair!
It ruined his concentration. When he should have turned left at the corner, he was still in the right hand lane. He had to drive several blocks, turn around and come back. And, by the time he arrived at the designated turn intersection, he was too distressed to go to his original destination. Eating something no longer seemed important. He wasn’t hungry anymore. He just drove straight back in the direction he’d come from originally and headed right back home.
*****
“Thank you for all your resume help, dinner, the ride home, and… the ice cream. Especially the ice cream,” she said, grinning as she crawled out of his car in front of Grammy’s apartment building.
“You’re very welcome, Awsty Truesdale. Just Plain Old Greg was glad to help.”
They just looked at each other for a second.
“I’ll drop by the church and get the final copy of my resume from the secretary, but probably not until Thursday morning on my way to the interview,” Awsty finally said.
“Ok. G’night.”
“‘Night. Oh… Greg?”
“Yeah?”
“Pray for my interview Thursday morning, ‘k?”
“I would have, even without you asking,” he said, then he departed.
They smiled at each other as he drove off.
He thought, Rough life!… But she’s really beautiful. She’s got a great sense of humor. I like her!
She was thinking, Sheltered life!… But he’s really cute, especiall
y that dimple. He’s got a great sense of humor. I like him!
Chapter 28
Thursday morning at nine a.m., Awsty arrived at Open Door of Faith. Unfortunately, she had no clue what to do now. She’d only entered the church twice, and both times it was from the front doors. Where was Pasto… uh… Greg’s office?
After circling the worship center and finding no unlocked doors, she went back around to the front. She stood there for several minutes until she saw someone using the weed whacker on the shrubs at the side front of the property.
Walking up to the man, assuming he was the church groundskeeper, she asked him how she could find Pastor Greg’s office. He smiled the largest and most friendly smile Awsty had ever seen, then proceeded to talk to her in Spanish. She hadn’t expected that, so she just stood totally still watching him, allowing him to talk for a good minute solid, before she decided she had better put an end to it.
“No comprende… uh…Gracias, Senor,” she said smiling back at him, then turned and began walking elsewhere to seek help.
“You’re welcome,” he responded in English, no hint of any accent. She whipped back around to face him.
“Gotcha!” he said, grinning widely at her.
Awsty still seemed stunned, and wasn’t sure how to respond.
The man began laughing at her confused look.
“I’m sorry. Sometime I just can’t resist! My name is Carlos. I’m the pastor of the Spanish-speaking ministry here at Open Door.”
“Oh! Well… you’re right, you did get me! Good one!” She grinned. Pranking someone like that seemed like something she would do, if given the opportunity, and of course, if she knew Spanish.
Carlos laid the weed whacker on the lawn and walked several steps toward Awsty.
“If you go to the other side of the building, you’ll see a set of exterior stairs that go down to a basement door. Open that door, and once inside, walk up two flights, then go through the double doors on your right. Then, it’s your second door on the right. When you enter the office, the secretary will be there. You can talk with her about whatever you’ve come for. Her name is Doris. She’s very friendly, and she’ll speak to you in English,” he said with a smile, “and give you any help you need.”
“Gracias.”
As Awsty walked away in the direction Carlos had sent her off, she turned back to him while walking and said, “I only remember one phrase from two years of Spanish in high school. So… Estás loco en la cabeza , Carlos. Adios.”
When Carlos started laughing uproariously, she stopped only long enough to ask if she‘d said it wrong.
“No, it was absolutely perfect!”
“Good. ‘Bye, Carlos.”
As Awsty turned, waved back over her shoulder and continued walking, she could hear Carlos’ laughter until the basement entrance door closed her into the sanctuary building.
Awsty had no idea that she’d just told the pastor of the Spanish-speaking ministry that he was crazy in the head. She really didn’t know what the phrase meant, but always thought it must at least be something friendly, because the students in her high school had always been smiling when they said it to her.
*****
“Good morning. Can I help you with something?” Doris, an attractive young woman in her late twenties asked Awsty, as she entered the church office.
“Hi, my name is Awsty Truesdale. Pastor Greg was going to leave some papers for me this morning. He said he’d just leave them with you,” Awsty responded. She was quite sober-faced when asking, but couldn’t help herself from responding to Doris’ constant and heartfelt smile.
Her own smile was considerably more reserved when she remembered she was in a church and it wasn’t even Sunday… not for three more days. If anyone told her during the last few years that she would voluntarily go into any church on a Sunday, much less a weekday, she would have thought they’d lost their mind.
“Oh, yes, he did leave some papers for you. They’re right here,” Doris said, still smiling, as she pointed to the large manila envelope that was on the corner of her desk closest to where Awsty stood.
“Oh, thank you so much. And, will you tell Pastor Greg I appreciate his help on this,” Awsty replied, elevating the resumes in her hand.
“I sure will. When I was typing it up, I read through it very carefully and corrected a number of misspelled words. Greg has a way with words as you’ll see on his final draft, but his spelling stinks!”
Awsty looked horrified when Doris said something so negative about Greg.
Doris noticed her facial response, and quickly added, “Oh, he knows his spelling is lousy. It’s a big joke here. When everyone is in their office, if one of them is having trouble with a word, they’ll yell out, ‘Guys, how do you spell…, then say the word. But, real quick after asking, they’ll add, ‘Not you, Greg, you can go back to sleep!’ I don’t remember who the first one was to say it, but it caught on.” She laughed right away after telling this tale on Greg.
Awsty couldn’t help from laughing herself. These Christian church people can never be accused of not having a sense of humor!
Turning to go, Awsty thanked Doris one last time, but as she turned and started to leave the reception area, Doris called her back.
“Can I ask a personal question? Well actually, a couple of questions?” Why did words like that always feel scary to her?
First clamping down on her lips between her teeth, she then mumbled, “Uh huh.”
“You look so pretty and springy this morning. I just love your outfit. Where did you get it? I love the color of the top, the cut of those pants, and the scarf you’re wearing. You look so put together! Would you mind if I asked where you purchased this outfit?”
Awsty just glowed with the simple compliments and questions.
Looking down, she answered, “Oh, I figured I needed some spring-summer work clothes, especially with my interview this morning, so my Grammy… I mean my grandmother took me shopping yesterday. This didn’t come as a set. I picked out everything from three different stores. Honestly I don’t think I would have picked these things if I’d been shopping myself, but my grandmother gave me some ideas, and I filled in the blanks. Thank you for the compliment.”
“Well, you look so fresh and pretty. Oh, I love your haircut, too. You look totally ready for spring. That short bob seems to really be in this season. Where’d you get your hair done?”
Awsty was just blown away. She’d never received so much affirmation on her appearance in her whole life.
“I’m living with my grandmother right now and one of her neighbors is a hair dresser. She gave me a cut and color as a twenty-first birthday gift. I’m still trying to get used to it.”
“It’s just adorable. If I thought my hair would lay the same as yours, I think I’m ready to get a shorter cut,” Doris said.
“You’d look good in this kind of cut. And, it’s sure easy…” Stopping abruptly as she saw the wall clock reading nine-thirty-five.
“Oh, my interview! I’m gonna be late if I don’t leave right this minute!”
“Go then! You can’t be late! Not for an interview. I’ll pray for this next hour that it will go well, and that the Lord, if it’s His Will, will give this job to you.”
“Thanks, Doris!” Bolting out of the office, she hung her head back in the door. “Hey, if you’d like to go shopping together one day, I can. Well, until I start work.” Then, she bolted again out of the reception area, the building, and off the property, then briskly crossed the street directly into the entry of the professional building which held the dentist’s office.
As she raced to her destination, she mulled over how nice these church people were, and how into praying they were. Go figure!
*****
“Lord, Awsty will be going in for her second interview in just minutes,” Greg said, as he looked up from his church desk to the clock. “Please give her the words to make a good second impression. Let them see the potential she has. And, Jesus, if
it’s Your Will, please give her this job. And, bring her to Yourself. Thank You, Lord. Amen.”
*****
“Good morning, Awsty. Wow! You’re actually a little early,” said, Martha, Dr. Dennison’s dental hygienist. “That’ll give us a chance to quickly look over your resume before we three talk. You did remember your resume, right?”
“Yes, of course,” said Awsty, as she pulled one out of the manila envelope and handed it to Martha. She hadn’t even had time to look it over when she picked it up from the church. That made her just a bit uneasy.
Martha told her to have a seat and she and Dr. Dennison would be out in another ten or fifteen minutes. She apologized that after Awsty got there early, they would be the ones late for the appointment.
Seating herself on the very comfy-looking sofa, she decided she might as well kill time reading over her resume. So, hopeful that it looked professional enough, she began perusing one of the remaining copies.
Her mouth dropped open as she gazed at it. Not only did it look beautifully written, but Greg had added some features that she wouldn’t have thought about.
For example, he had written in the experience portion about her current visitation ministry. Visitation ministry?! What in the world was that?! As she continued reading it, Trenton-Taylor Assisted Living Home was listed. Was this referring to her visits with Stella and Robert? That’s the only thing she’d ever done there!
She had time to read her references. There were two. Stella Tabor and Greg Tabor. She smiled when she read their names. And, the resume went on to confirm that she would be glad to provide more references upon request. All she could think was, Wow!
While she sat there re-reading the exemplary resume, she mused over what she saw as an “overplay” of her qualifications. Greg had outdone himself! She was both grateful and scared to death that the oral portion of her interview wouldn’t meet the same standard of excellence that her written portion had.
God… I really need a job. Please make them hire me. Uh… thank you. Amen.
****
“Awsty, Martha and I both would like to hear more about this visitation ministry you have.”