Good Buddy by Dori Ann Dupré

Author:Dori Ann Dupré
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-04-11T15:08:50+00:00

Han

Kenny sat in a large leather chair at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church across from the Reverend Phillip Jenkins, whose oblong bald head full of age spots, sour facial expression, and horn-rimmed glasses made him look like a bespectacled penis. At least, that was how he would later describe the man’s appearance to Retta.

The sun shone through the tinted window behind him, casting a shadow on his mahogany desk. For the past few weeks, Kenny met with the Reverend, who was recommended to him by his former boss, Hollis, at the warehouse.

One afternoon, Hollis called on Kenny – unannounced – out of concern for his wellbeing. He visited him while Retta was at work and Buddy was at school and told him that if he confessed his sins to the Reverend, the sins would remain in confidence. The Reverend would keep it private and guide him down a spiritual path and directly toward the open arms of God’s love. He would help Kenny heal from his war problems, and then he’d be able to stop his drinking, go back to work, regain his strength, and take care of his family again.

Because Kenny had been so touched by the fact that Hollis cared enough about him to come by and talk with him about his troubles, he reckoned he owed it to the man to go to this “Man of God” (who really did look like a penis with glasses) with his burdens. After all, they were overwhelming him at this point. The drinking sure hadn’t solved anything, and he knew he was going to lose Retta forever if he couldn’t get his act together. Not only that, but he loved her. He didn’t want to hit her anymore. He didn’t want to make her cry anymore.

Kenny tried to explain to the Reverend what had been going on with him and how he had been hurting his wife and family, even though he knew he didn’t want to.

“Are you afraid that you’ll hurt her worse than you have? Meaning, do you think you will hit her or choke her to the point where she’d need to be hospitalized?” Reverend Jenkins asked, as if he were talking about how to properly bread fried chicken.

“Yeah,” Kenny responded. “Sometimes, when I’m drunk, the dumbest things just set me off. And I get mad and can’t stop being mad until I break something or hurt something. It’s like the anger, and then what I do with it…just lets me release something ugly inside of me. Like a bunch of bad air is let out. Then after it’s all over, I feel better.”

He shuffled his feet, took a deep breath and continued. “Other times, I don’t even know I’m doing anything and can’t remember what I just did. I don’t remember a damn thing. Nothing! But Retta’ll be on the floor crying, hiding under something, and then I’ll see that I musta clocked her,” he explained and then stopped. His voice started to quiver. “I don’t mean to.

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