Stormz on the Horizon

Code Switch pt. 2

Diamond

I sat through the entire service of course. Tapping my feet through any selections or discreetly playing subway surfer. I feel really guilty in saying that through Pastor Brooks sermon....I was becoming bored. I mean I'm not a church person, we know this. There wasn't one sermon or youth pastor that could lock me into what they were preaching about. I want to believe that will change with age, but not much progress has been made. It's not something I can force on myself, so I won't. Just gotta deal with it I guess.

Granny would be watching me like a hawk from the choir stand, I was clear in her vision sitting high up here. Because I wouldn't want her to snap at me for having my head down, I did what I could to make myself look like I was listening.

I was observing and analyzing random stuff. There was condensation from the ornate glass of water on pastor's side table dripping into the velvet carpet. It annoyed me to death. I watched the same four antsy kids in the pews that a mother had a difficult time controlling. I even studied this one couple sitting more towards the stained glass windows. The man was a big man..always keeping his arm around the woman, who was very beautiful. Their interactions were minimal, but tense. I felt like I was sitting next to them in a way. It looked uncomfortable as hell, but who am I to make assumptions? I hoped the service would be ending quickly so I can bring these little scenarios to a stop.

When we got up to do tithes and offering, I went down quick, fast, and in a hurry. I went so fast I forgot to catch a glimpse at who was playing drums. I often found myself thinking about his name, Scrub, while I sat. Could I see from the balcony? No..unfortunately, this one part of the drum set covered his face from my angle up there. I'd just have to wait.

Service ended, finally. Turns out I can't trust a single word pastor says. "I won't keep y'all long" means I'm about to be up here sweating and hollering for the next three hours. It really felt longer than that.

My phone buzzed.

Hey wya

Leaving the balcony

Meet me at the fellowship hall

Mkay

Once again, it was another crowd I'd have to fight to get through. Not literally, of course, but I wasn't interested in maneuvering around all these people. Right when I got to the top of the stairs, Jabari, who was waiting, turned his head up at me and waved me down. I skipped down to him, we stood outside the see through walls of the large dining room.

"Hey buddy," he cheesed. "First of all, why were y'all late?" I hugged him.

"Mama was last minute fine tuning the cake for First Lady's birthday."

"Ohhhhh okay. I'm sure you know about the surprise."

"Yup. But it can't be that big of a surprise with all these doggone folks in here being loud." He had a point. The hundreds or so voices echoed real bad down here, basically in the basement of the church.

"Chile I almost went to sleep in service," I admitted.

"Bruh me too, but I got popped back to life by you know who."

"Why are you always getting popped by your mama?" I chuckled.

"Ion know, Ion even be doing nothing like.....she be tweaking."

I raised my eyebrow high, "Yeah right."

"I'm serious! But anyway.....Guess what."

"What?"

"I got like twenty new counts," he said.

"I—twenty? You giving all of those to us?"