Read Mama B: A Time to Speak for Free Online

cheese?”
    “Ain’t no substitute for cheese. But if you get the right brand, you can get the two-percent kind. It melts just as good.”
    She smacked her lips. “My husband is not going to eat low-fat cheese.”
    I wagged my pointer finger back and forth twice. “Honey, you don’t tell him it’s low-fat. You just cook it and he’ll eat it. I switched my family from ground beef to ground turkey real gradual-like. They didn’t even know what hit ‘em.”
          Now they all had their eyes on me, but I didn’t want to steal the show and make ‘em feel bad about eating all this enchilada stuff. I sure wasn’t gone feel bad when I fixed my plate. No harm in eating wild every once in a while. Just can’t make it a lifestyle.
    “Let’s go ahead and finish with the meal, and I’ll give y’all some more ideas later.”
    “Yes ma’am.”
    Inside my heart, I felt real good, too, ‘cause I like helping peoples, and I like to see the young women take care of their families. God fixed it to where can’t nobody else on earth completely satisfy a man like his wife.
    His ways so smart.

 
     
    Chapter 9
     
    Reverend Martin called an emergency meeting for church leaders Saturday, but I couldn’t make it on account of I spent most of the day in Dallas shopping with Nikki and Cameron for church clothes.
    They could have came on to church in what they had packed. Church ain’t about the clothes you wear. But my great grandson ain’t had no kind of dress shoes, no belt, nothing to wear in case of a funeral or to give a speech at the schoolhouse. And I don’t know what kind of job Nikki think she gon’ get with all those tights and oversized shirts she had done hung up in the closet.
    I believe every male ought to have one good black suit with a tie, and every female ought to have one black dress she can wear year-round. Period. Can’t tell you how many times I done bought a suit or a dress for somebody so they could pay last respects looking respectable.
    Anyhow, the three of us squeezed into my little MINI Cooper and rode over to the closest mall.
    I got Reverend Martin’s text message while we was out shopping. Had to call Henrietta (she don’t do no texts) and ask her to sit in the meeting at the coffee shop on behalf of the Mother’s Board. About two hours later, after I got all the stuff for Nikki and Cameron, I was in the dressing room of Chico’s trying on a few things for myself when Henrietta called me back just a-cryin’ and a-sniffin’.
    “B, Pastor Phillips done took a leave of absent.”
    My chest started thumping real hard. “What happened?”
    “Well, he said the cancer hospital in Oklahoma gon’ release Geneva. Said there’s nothing else they can do for her. Sending her back to Texas. She ‘bout to go any minute now. Got more tubes coming out of her than anybody ever seen. Pastor want to be by her side every minute she got left.”
    “Oh no,” slid out of me.
    “Yes. This is awful, just awful,” she sobbed.
    I was close to crying myself until the Holy Spirit told me to stop and consider the messenger. Henrietta hadn’t bit more seen Geneva lately than me. How would she know Geneva got a bunch of tubes comin’ outta her? And why would they send Geneva on a long trip back to Texas if she was in that critical of condition?
    What Henrietta said wasn’t addin’ up. Not tryin’ to talk bad about my church member, but she did have a habit of overexaggeratin’. I’d have to wait until I saw Reverend Martin at church to get the complete record of what was actually said.
    “Well, let’s pray for Geneva and Pastor right now,” I prompted. Then we both went before the throne and thanked God for His peace, His healing, and everything Jesus already did for us on the cross. We prayed for Pastor’s well-being and for Geneva’s health. “Amen.”
    Henrietta said, “Amen,” and kept right on going. “That ain’t all, B.”
    Now why she couldn’t tell me everything before we prayed?