Jucinda heard the meteorologist say that the forecast for
today’s weather was humid, hot and wet with Even though her roommate Charlesetta
(“Charli”) had lived in the big state of Texas since she was a Texas Southern
Freshmen for the past three years, heavy thunderstorms still put her on
edge. Jucinda, the caring and
considerate roommate that she is, offered to give Charli a ride to work if it
was raining after their last class and Charli gladly accepted. When class was over the girls ran to
Jucinda’s car which was about a half a block away but they were still
practically soaked. They had just enough
time to head back to their apartment so they could change into dry clothes
without making Charli late for work which they did and then they headed to
Charli’s job.
a high probability of thunder storms.
They were both straight A students who had a full
scholarship to Texas Southern, but Jucinda clearly had more perks than Charli. She always had money for the latest gadgets,
trendy clothes and she got that car at the end of her freshman year. Jucinda’s explanation about working a
part-time swing shift and receiving night differential pay made perfect
sense. They were responsible adults,
made the Dean’s list consistently even though they worked part-time and they
were focused but something didn’t feel right to Charli she just couldn’t put
her finger on it. She decided to dismiss
her overactive thoughts and focus on more important things like trying to
figure out how she was going to manage work, school and teach the teen class at
Blakewood Church over the next eight weeks.
She still couldn’t believe that she actually volunteered to teach but she
loved working with the youth and she knew the gentle nudging she had received
was the Lord. Her job at Blakewood as a
data entry specialist wasn’t as lucrative as Jucinda’s but it didn’t matter
because her scholarship took care of everything including meals and books. Charli’s job at Blakewood took care of the
little extras (e.g. entertainment, cell phone expense, etc.) and it was a blessing
especially now that she had the option of telecommuting four days per
week.
When Jucinda pulled into the employee parking lot she
decided to park so that she could run in and use the restroom. When they entered the building and approached
the reception area Charli wondered out loud why Bart was sitting at Toni’s
desk. Jucinda had no clue what she was
talking about because she was texting and walking but when she looked up to see
who Charli was referring to, the look of what appeared to be disgust on Jucinda’s
face was more than obvious, but Bart turned as white as a ghost and quickly
looked away. Charli asked why he was
sitting out front and he said that Toni had to leave early due to an emergency
and he was asked to cover her desk for the rest of the day. She then introduced Jucinda and Bart to each
other and told him Jucinda wouldn’t need a visitor’s badge because she was only
going to use the restroom. The tension
was so thick you could cut it with a knife but Charli had no idea why.
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Jucinda stared at Bart for so long that it even made Charli
uncomfortable. She broke the silence and
Bart
quickly spoke up and vehemently denied that they did but Jucinda never said a
word, she just continued to look at him as if she was looking straight into his
soul, it was really weird. After what
seemed like an eternity, Jucinda said her goodbyes and left the building. Charli looked at Bart and said: “that was
really weird, Jucinda never even went to the restroom. I thought she was gonna burn a hole into your
face the way she stared at you” and then she chuckled but Bart never said a
word. It was obvious that Jucinda and
Bart knew each other but they pretended they didn’t which was troubling to
Charli, however, this wasn’t the time to bring it up because she had to get to
work so she decided to head to her office without saying anything about that
weird encounter.
Bart was troubled for the rest of the afternoon. He couldn’t figure out how Juci had found out
where he worked. The “what-if” scenarios
he kept rewinding had given him a tension headache and the guilt, shame and
regret were almost unbearable. He should
have listened when he heard the Holy Spirit telling him not to return to the
strip club. He justified the first visit
because it was his cousin’s bachelor party and when he saw Juci dance that
night she was absolutely captivating.
Every move she made seemed to reel him in as if he was bait on the line
of a fishing pole and though he felt convicted every time he snuck away to see
her perform he felt powerless to the urges that surfaced when he thought of her
and he lost to the temptation more often than not. He was on pins and needles because he didn’t
know what, if anything, Juci shared with Charli. He thought of questioning Charli to see how
much she knew but if he did and she didn’t know anything that would make her
even more suspicious than she already was.
What if the members or staff at Blakewood found out, it could be the end
of his career as a minister and it would bring shame and disgrace on his
family, their church and as well as himself.
Now that he had opened the door of “what-ifs” the enemy began to accuse
him of being perverted, a nymphomaniac, hypocrite, fraud, etc. and that he
might as well give up and leave the church because God could never love an
undercover porn addict? Even though he
knew better and against his better judgment he opened the door for the
Committee, shudda, cudda and wudda and once they got started it was hard to
stop.
Ironically his longtime friend Ian called out of the blue and
told him that he had a troubling dream about Bart and he wanted to share it
with him. They couldn’t talk then
because Bart was at the front desk, so they agreed to meet later that day after
work.
I’m out of time, but we will pick it back up tomorrow.
In His Excellent Service
Tania not Tanya
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