Come Day in Night by Hal Evans

Author:Hal Evans [Hal Evans]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61254-619-3
Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE BUSES ROLLED INTO the high school parking lot a few minutes past noon on Sunday. The ride home felt shorter than the outbound journey. There had been no wait for the return ferry from Galveston to Port Bolivar. No gulls dive bombed anyone. Black dolphins frolicked in the bay alongside the boat, performing tricks freely in the wild that had been harnessed for entertainment at the theme park. Sam and Teary Lee held hands as they strolled the boat. They sat together on the bus without worrying who could see them. Chip and Darcy sat across from them; Catfish and Elizabeth sat in front of them. The two busybody older women had gone home with Carol Sweet on the van the day before. All felt right with the world, all except that Teary Lee could not find the birthday card Sam had given her. The sweet inscription remained in her heart and head still, but the card was nowhere to be found. She assumed the maids had tossed it when they cleaned the room.

Myra took Paola to church with her that morning. Reverend Causey had invited Myra to make the announcement on behalf of the upcoming special event in June, and she took Paola to the microphone at the lectern with her.

Reverend Causey prefaced Myra’s remarks with reminders of the great news from General Conference, in case anyone had been living under a rock and did not know about the coming formation of the United Methodist Church. Myra then shared the basic information about the June 16 celebration as though it were a natural next step in ecumenical fellowship.

“The youth group has asked our friend, Paola Melo, to share a bit of her perspective.”

“Bom dia! Good morning. I am feel happiness to speak weeth you theez morning.”

The congregation welcomed Paola with smiles and some chuckles. A couple of people responded, “Good morning!” And Dr. Flowers said, “Bom dia!”

“My friend, Myra, ask me to tell you what I tell her wheen I hear theez news. I am called the ‘Token Mocha’ at school here.”

The congregation laughed with Paola.

“An’ I feel the happiness wheen she tell me that my freends from theez two churches weel be together.

“In Brazil, we do not speak of skeen color. Eet eez not a thing we deescus. I have been to Portugal, to Espain, and to France. They do not speak of skeen color, either. Only een Texas do I hear people concern weeth color. Thees eez not a problem anywhere else I have travel. Eet eez great that you are making eet not a problem here too. I have wreeten to my parents to ask ‘May I stay eento June so I can be here for theez event?’ Thank you very much. Obrigado.”

Reverend Causey thanked the girls and invited them to take their seats again. As they walked the aisle to the back pew, Myra thought the congregation received the news of the Juneteenth youth-led celebration with the measure of excitement it deserved. She could not wait to inform the others.

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