Marcus woke up Wednesday morning, excited and hyped.

“Today is the day” he said to himself.  He knew it would still be a couple of hours before Tonya read her email, but Marcus’ confidence had grown over night.  Marcus sung through his shower, hummed through breakfast, and practically skipped out the door on his way to the church.  He checked his cell phone to make sure it was on.  Tonya, he thought, would surely call him once she read his truthful and sincere email. All he had to do was wait.  This, indeed, was the day.

Tonya didn’t have words to describe her mood when she got to work.  The mixture of hurt, betrayal, and anger she felt had begun to sour.  She felt dread as if a dark cloud hung over her.  She thought to herself that today was not going to be a good day.  Something bad was waiting for her she thought.  She sat at her desk immobile for minutes, hoping the cloud would pass.  It didn’t. She decided she should wait until later to read her email.  Something bad was waiting for her and she didn’t want it to find her from her email.  As Tonya began to busy herself with her work, she said to herself “I’ll be glad when today is over.”

In his study, Marcus drifted between intensely focused work and distant daydreams.  He dreamed about Tonya.  He could see her smile and hear her laugh.  Marcus thought of funny things they had shared and laughed out loud.  Marcus found that he was unusually at peace with himself.  He wasn’t anxious and he wasn’t eager.  He got up from his desk and casually strolled through the church.  He went into the sanctuary and said in one of the front pews.  There he closed his eyes and began to meditate. He thought about his life and how blessed he was.  He thought about what he did for a living and how he was privileged in touching people’s lives.  He opened his eyes and stared into the choir stand.  He could almost see the small faces of the children’s choir.  Marcus smiled.  He was blessed; truly blessed.

Marcus got up and walked the front door of the church. He peered out at the surrounding neighborhood.  It was a beautiful day.  The grass seemed a perfect green and the sky was a perfect blue.  In fact, everything seemed perfect to Marcus.  He turned and headed back to his study.  When he was almost there he heard his cell phone ringing on his desk. He got to it a moment too late. When he picked it up he saw that he had missed two calls.  Marcus didn’t fret.  Today was a good day.  He would simply return the call.

Tonya fumbled through the morning.  Several people asked her what was wrong and she unconvincingly responded that nothing was wrong.  The morning was practically gone and she still had not read her email.  She knew she would have to soon because the director believed in emails, not phone calls.  Tonya was sure there was an email urgently requesting some information waiting for her.  She opened her email and quickly sorted it by sender.  She saw the suspected email from Marcus.  She avoided opening it and read today’s email from her director. Her phone rang.

Marcus dialed the number of the missed call.  A female voice answered.

“Hi, mom.  You called?”

“Hi, son. Are you busy?”

“No, ma’am.  What do you need?”

“I need you to come by sometime today. I’ve asked your father to put up some new curtain rods for me, but he claims he can’t do it alone. And I ain’t helping him.  So, can you come by so he can stop using that as an excuse?”

“Sure.  I can come by in about an hour. Will that be okay?”

“Yes, son, thanks.  I’ll have a sandwich waiting for you. Okay?”

“Okay, thanks mom.”  Marcus hung up.

Tonya answered her phone.

“This is Tonya Fulmont. How can I help you?”

“Tonya, this is Beverly. I sent you a spreadsheet this morning that I need you to add last months figures to. Have you looked at it yet?”

“I am just getting to my email now.”

“Okay. Can you take a look at that please?  I need it for a report by this afternoon. Thank you.”

“I’ll have it to you.”  Tonya hung up. “What a day?” she said to herself.

Marcus came into the backdoor of his parents’ house. His mother was making a sandwich and his father was washing one down with cherry Kool-Aid.

“Hi mom. Dad what’s going on?”

“Nothing much, Son. What are you doing here?”

“I told mom I would come by and help her put up some curtain rods.”

“Now I told you mother I would take care of that. She is so impatient.  You know how she is when she gets an idea in her head. Come on.”

“Mom, how are you doing?”

“Doing good, son.  It’s a nice day.”

“Mom, it surely is”

It didn’t take Marcus and his father long to put up the new curtain rods.  Of course, his mother made periodic stops in the living room to supervise and critique their work.  Afterwards, Marcus said at the kitchen counter and ate his sandwich.  He talked with his mother and when he wasn’t talking he hummed.

“What are you so chipper about?” his mother asked.

“Nothing.  It’s a nice day.  I feel happy and at peace. That’s all”

His mother changed the subject and they talked about church matters for about fifteen minutes.  Marcus said he had work back at the church and kissed his mother good-bye. He yelled “Good-bye, pop” to his father and his father yelled back “good-bye” from somewhere in the house.

Marcus was about four blocks from the church when he stopped at an intersection and saw Jason, Tony, and the kid he didn’t know standing on the curb of the adjacent street.  Jason seemed upset and Marcus decided to circle the block.  If they were still there, he would stop and see what was going on.  Before he could get completely back to the intersection he could see that they were still their and that something was definitely going on.  Marcus went through the intersection and parked.  He began walking back down the street towards the boys and he thought he saw the boy he didn’t know push Tony.  Jason now stood between the unknown kid and his brother. Jason saw Marcus first and turned as though he was going to walk away, but the unknown kid caught his arm. Jason pulled away.  When he was about 20 feet from the boys, Marcus asked

“What’s going on?”

Tonya had gone out for lunch, thinking fresh air would do her good. However, as she reentered the building in which she worked, she felt sick to the stomach.  She was sure it wasn’t something she ate.  It was the sickness you get when you know you’re in really severe trouble or you’re about to hear really bad news.  As she rode the elevator to her floor, Tonya convinced herself that there was no reason to continue avoiding Marcus’ email. In fact, she told herself, reading the email was the only way to overcome her sickness. When she got to her office, she opened the email.  She began reading and tears began to flow.  Before she could even finish reading, Tonya was dialing Marcus’ number.  When he didn’t answer, she cried even more.  Tonya got up and closed the door to her office. Today, she thought, was not a good day.

“Nothing is going on, Pastor” Jason responded.

“Yeah, Mr. Pastor. Ain’t nothing on. Shouldn’t you be somewhere baptizing somebody” asked the unknown kid.

“Not right now. What are you boys up to? Jason, are you and Tony all right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine.”

“What about me, Mr. Preacherman? Aren’t you concerned about me, too, Pastor?”

“Yes, I am. Why don’t you tell me what is going on?”

“Nah, Mr. Pastor. I think you need to move on and let me handle my business.”

“And just what is your business?”

“Pastor, please leave. Tony and I, we’re all right. I’ll talk to you later. I promise.”

“What’s going on, Tony?  If there is a problem, I can help.”

“I don’t think so, Mr. Preacherman.  See we have what you might call an iron-clad agreement that your boys want to break.  And we just can’t let that happen.”

“Jason. Tony. What is he talking about?”

“Pastor Austin, somehow he talked Tony into joining his gang.  Tony got into it at school with a member of another gang and he told Tony he could help him if he joined their gang.  When Tony found out what he had to do to be initiated, he changed his mind but he wouldn’t let Tony out.  He said there was only one way out of their gang – in a body bag. Tony came and told me and I made a deal with him. Let Tony out and I’ll join in his place.  Now he’s saying we’re both end and can’t get out. And if we don’t go through with the initiation, we’re both dead.”

Marcus couldn’t tell if Jason was reaching in his pocket or in his pants, but he knew Jason was reaching for something.

Tonya finished reading the email.  She accepted Marcus’ apology and she was so very sorry for the part she played. She desperately wanted to tell him that. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to hear him say everything was okay.  She couldn’t stop crying.  She dialed his number again and again there was no answer.  The cloud over Tonya was getting darker.

Before Marcus could say anything, Jason had pulled a gun and was pointing it at the unknown kid.

“Jason, this is not the way to resolve anything.”

“Pastor, I told you some things can’t be undone.  I can’t let anything happen to my brother.  If death is the way out, then somebody will die, but it won’t be us.”

“That’s right. Pull the trigger and your initiation will be complete. You see, Mr. Preacherman, there is no way out. Do it, Jason.”

Marcus began slowly walking towards Jason. He was trying to get between Jason and the unknown kid.

“Jason, trust me, this is not the way. Nobody can make you do anything you don’t want to do.  Put the gun done. Why don’t you give it to me?”

“No. I’m sorry, Pastor, but he said he would kill Tony. I can’t let him kill my brother.”

“Tony is going to be all right. You’re going to be all right. But you have to put down the gun.”

Marcus was almost between Jason and the unknown kid.  He felt his pocket for his cell phone. He had left it in the care.

Tonya tried Marcus’ phone again.  She let it ring until his voicemail came on.

“Marcus, you call me. You call me right now. I need you to call me.” Tonya hung up and cried.

Marcus was now near the unknown kid. Just a few more steps and he would be in front of him. Marcus was sure Jason wouldn’t shoot him.  A few more steps and this would be over.

“Jason, you don’t want to do this. If you did, you would have done it already.”

“That’s right, punk.  Listen to Mr. Preacherman.  Put the gun down and I might not hurt you or your brother. No wonder he needed my protection. His brother is as big a punk as he is.”

Jason cocked the gun.

“This punk is going to blow your head off.  You should have just left us alone.”

“Calm down, Jason. It’s going to be all right.  Listen, Kid, I’m sure this is not the life you dreamed of. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Oh, preacher, please. Don’t try to tell me about a God I can’t see. What has he done for me, huh?”

“Well, today, He’s going to save your life.”

“I don’t need him to save my life. I’m ready to die. Pull the trigger, punk. Pull the trigger.”

“We’re going to get out of this and nobody is going to die. You know why?  You know why, Jason? Because I got faith and if I have faith, that means it’s real. It exists.  My faith is the proof.”

“Ah, Jason, pull the trigger so I don’t have to hear anymore of this crap from preacherman.”

Marcus was not directly in front of Jason, whose eyes were welling up.

“Jason, where is your faith? It may seem impossible to undo what has been done, but with God all things are possible. Do you believe that?”

“Yes”, Jason cried.  “I believe.”

“Then give me the gun, son. Let’s go home.”

“I can’t. I can’t let anything happen to Tony.”

“I believe Tony is going to be fine. Don’t you believe that?”

“I don’t know, Pastor. I don’t know.”

“Jason, do you think it was just luck that I passed by? No, God sent me by to make sure you got through this all right.  He knows what you’re going through and he’s going to take care of you and Tony. Give me the gun.”

Jason began to give the gun to Marcus. Marcus hand touched the gun and he didn’t know if he pulled the gun or not, but Jason’s finger pulled the trigger.

Tonya had turned away from her desk. She was wiping away tears when her phone rang.  She turned in her chair to answer it and accidentally knock a glass off her desk onto the floor.  The glass sounded like a gunshot as it exploded.

It took Marcus a nervous moment to realize that the gun didn’t fire. Jason burst into tears and Marcus put his arms around him.  He assured Jason that things were going to be alright. As he held Jason he could see Tony standing with shock on his face.

“Don’t worry Tony. It wasn’t loaded” Marcus said before he noticed that Tony wasn’t looking at him in shock. He was looking at the unknown kid.

“This one is” the unknown kid said.

Marcus heard a pop and turned to face the unknown kid.  As he did, he noticed blood on Jason’s shoulder.  Marcus heard himself say “I think that’s my blood” before things went dark.