“From Faythe to Ever-Increasing Faith” by Donna L. Patton

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An Excerpt

CHAPTER FIVE

I decide to give Stonewall a call to let him know that Charleta’s okay and with me until she decides to come home. He’ll be thrilled. I hate this.

“Hello?” the sleepy voice on the other end answers.

“Stonewall…it’s Faythe,” I say. “I’m just calling to let you know that your wife is here at home with me, and she’s pretty messed up. She’ll more than likely give you a call as soon as she gets up in the morning.”

“Probably, huh? Put my wife on this phone, Faye,” he says in a condescending tone.

“Your wife is…well she’s probably almost sound asleep already, just as I plan to be as soon as I hang up this phone on you,” I lie. I hate this.

“You just wake Charleta up and tell her that I’m on this phone, okay?” he demands. Before I can get my mouth open wide enough to go completely off on the brotha, Charleta stumbles into the kitchen and extends her hand for me to give her the phone.

“What do you want, Stonewall? Didn’t she just tell you that I was staying here tonight…and besides, didn’t you get my note?…I told you that I wasn’t coming home….Well that is just too bad now isn’t it?…No. There is nothing left to talk about…. You made it clear to me already just how you feel…What about the boys?…They have a father who is quite capable of taking care of them for a few days, don’t they?…If I can do it, then so can you, sweetheart….To hell with you, Stonewall, I’m not coming home tonight, and that’s final. I’ll call my boys in the morning. Good night, and do not call me here again.” She pushes the off button and slams my brand-new cordless down so hard that I am certain she has either broken it or she cracked her knuckles on that hard granite counter-top.

“Good night, Faye. I’ve got a headache. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

I bet you do, I think. “Okay,” I reply, watching Charleta storm out of the kitchen and back to the guest room. Man. This institution of marriage thing is powerful stuff. Charleta must have felt Stonewall on the phone, because I know good and well I was whispering. “Unreal,” I say to myself, and shake my head.

I’m too wired to sleep, so I take a nice warm shower hoping to give myself time to wind down and relax. Afterward I feel much better. It’s 12:36 a.m. when I climb into my big warm bed that’s been waiting for me. I must have gone right into a sound sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, because when I reach over to pick up the phone I look over at the clock and it’s 6:00 a.m. already. It feels like I’ve only been asleep for fifteen minutes or so.

“Hello,” I answer softly.

“Ms. Alexander?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“Hello, I’m calling from American Express about your bill. It’s overdue, ma’am, and, we’d like to know when you plan to send us the balance due on your account.”

“What? Not at six o’clock on Sunday morning, you don’t,” I say sharply. “Wait a minute, there is no balance on my AmEx account, and if there is, you’d call my employer about that…they handle the account. You know what? Put your manager on the phone.” I cannot believe this, I think, raising myself from under the blankets that are weighing me down. I need to sit up to go ballistic. Suddenly, I hear laughter on the other end of the phone.

“That’s my angel,” the man’s voice says. This cannot be…oh, my God, I think.

“Hello?” he says, still laughing.

“Who is this?” I respond. It sounds like David, but I can’t be sure.