The Atonement by Lawrence Cherry

Author:Lawrence Cherry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christian, christian fiction, atonement, commencement, africanamerican fiction, lawrence cherry, black christian fiction, africanamerican christian ficiton, reilgious fiction, school of hard knocks

Twenty-Seven

Tim was still going back and forth with himself as he approached the Bynum home for the third time this week. Though he had resolved to keep his distance from Tamiko, he had to admit that he was more than happy when he got a text from her asking for help with something she was working on at school. It was a little odd because the message was so short and brief, which was very unlike Tamiko, who wouldn’t even use internet shorthand in her texts. At first thought, he was leaning towards making an excuse for why he couldn’t help, but he really couldn’t find one and it caused him to feel guilty. He did not want his personal feelings to keep him from being a friend and he knew the task wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours. ‘What could happen?’ he said to reassure himself.

He gave the doorbell two short rings and waited for Mother Rose’s caustic greeting, but was pleasantly surprised when the door suddenly opened.

“Hey,” said Riley looking like a military service woman standing sentry by a checkpoint, her expression stoic. She always wore army pants and combat boots. She had to have them in every color under the sun. Today they were lavender, pink, and purple camouflage and matched her lavender t-shirt and violet button down. She had the front of her hair braided into an intricately ornate pattern of cornrows with her afro forming a crown behind them.

“Hi, Riley,” said Tim “Is Miko around? She asked me to help her with something for work”

“She’s somewhere in here,” she said stepping aside so he could come in.

Tim came in but was a little unsettled by the way Riley seemed to be looking him over. The last time she did that she publicly humiliated him. He was wary about saying much of anything because he was afraid of how she’d respond and he could tell that she wasn’t very fond of him, and he attributed this to what he observed was her over protectiveness toward Tamiko. He was hoping Tamiko wouldn’t be long. For a few minutes they stood facing each other awkwardly.

“You can sit down for a spell if you want, while I go get her,” she said before going upstairs.

“Thanks,” said Tim as he took off his jacket and placed it on the arm of the chair before sitting down and taking his laptop out of his bag. He was just glad to be left alone. Then he turned it on, so that it would boot up while he was waiting. Then he took out his ac adapter and was plugging it into an outlet when he sensed someone was standing over him.

“Todd?!” said Mother Rose, her call sounding almost like a reprimand. Tim dropped his cord at her feet.

“It’s Tim, ma’am” he said quietly rising to greet her. “Nice to see you again Mother Rose” Tim held out his hand for a shake, but Mother Bynum stood with her arms folded in front of her.

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