"Through powerful and insightful stories, Home Again reminds us all
through the power of God,
the importance of family and forgiveness."
Elissa Gabrielle, Award-winning Author and Publisher
This anthology from Micah 6:8 Books features short stories about the restoration of relationships. Wanda' Campbell's "friends" include Dr. Linda F. Beed, Pastor Bernard Boulton, Tavares Carney, Shenette Jones, Tyora Moody, Dijorn Moss, Trinea Moss and myself. You can learn more at www.micah68books.com. Home Again will be released on November 1, 2010.
My contribution to this anthology is entitled Family Matters. Erik Dawson and his mother Charlotte "CC" Dawson are barely on speaking terms after an argument, but when tragedy strikes, both of them must do some soul-searching to get to the root of their estrangement.
Excerpt from Family Matters
“Code blue! We’re losing him!”
The EMTs hustled the gurney containing Erik Dawson’s broken body into the operating room, where the surgical team waited. The nursing staff literally ripped his clothes off as they worked to stabilize him.
“What do we have here?” the lead surgeon asked.
His assistant didn’t bother to look up as she answered. “Auto accident-an eighteen wheeler smashed his car into a guardrail.”
The lead surgeon whistled through his teeth. “It’s a miracle he’s still breathing. Let’s keep him that way.”
As the surgical team moved into action with skill born of practice, Erik drifted on the fringes of consciousness.
What, Erik thought. Where?
"A nurse approached CC with a bag in her hand.
“Here are Erik’s personal effects. Best keep them safe-he’ll need them when he recovers.”
CC slumped into a chair, grateful for something to do to break the monotony of waiting. She smiled as she catalogued the contents of the small bag: wallet, car and house keys, broken cell phone, breath mints, receipt from a flower shop- and teared up just as quickly at the realization that he was clearly heading out on a Valentine’s Day date and that she had no idea who he was on his way to see when the crash happened.
Thurman was there with a tissue before the first tear could slide all the way off her face.
“What kind of mother am I?” Her voice was a ragged shadow, devoid of its usual sass and fire. “I can run Lydia Enterprises without a hitch, but I’ve barely spoken to my own son in over a year, and over a stupid argument! I had no idea Erik was seeing Talia until she came through the door. I didn’t even know he was dating anyone!”
She held up Erik’s wallet, which was covered in crushed rose petals. The image stunned both of them to momentary silence.
About This Book “An electrical surge into the elicit minds of some of the most powerful male voices in literature... The SOUL OF A MAN from Elissa Gabrielle's Triumph of My Soul Series lures readers into the eye of HIS storm with THOUGHT PROVOKING and COMPELLING RAW ENERGY that embodies the essence of today's black man, his INNER CONVICTIONS, SELF-IMAGE & MORALITY! A MUST READ on its way to NUMBER ONE!”
What lies in the souls of men? Elissa Gabrielle posed the question and these powerful men stepped up to the plate to reveal their hearts, souls and minds. Bold, inspiring and fiery stories by some of the most prolific, strong and sensational male voices today!
In continuation of the Triumph series, the second book, The Soul of a Man: A Triumph of My Soul Anthology, features these brilliant men:
Joe Thomas, Jihad, William Fredrick Cooper, Alvin C. Romer, Marc Lacy, Maurice M. Gray, Jr., Brian Ganges, Jarold Imes, K.L. Belvin, Joey Pinkney, Thomas Ashburn, Jr., Baba Simba Mollock, Tyrell Floyd and Eddrick Dejaun.
~Heather Covington
CEO/ Founder of DisilgoldSOUL Literary Review Magazine and President of YGA AWARDS
Coming June 21 2009 from Peace In The Storm Publishing. Order your copy today!
Go to www.peaceinthestormpublishing.com for further information.
My contribution: Long Term (short story)
Long Term
I get to work fifteen minutes early to lock myself in my office and pray. I thank God for all the things that didn't happen while I was ravaging the female population of
Anyway, after I thank Him for all the bullets I dodged, I pray for the women from my past. I've encountered two since I got saved last year, and both were pleasantly surprised when I apologized. I know God has forgiven me, but I need to deal with the damage I did. They were all willing participants, but that doesn't excuse me using them.
The sound of high heels causes me to end my prayer and prepare to work. I'm Transitional Employee Coordinator for Statebank's credit card operation. I oversee all of the temporary employees in Customer Service (Correspondence and Phones) and Credit Analysis. My assistant Susan Lassiter is in my office every day promptly at nine A.M. to review the day's work. I tell her all the time how much I appreciate her. She made my transition from temp to HNIC easy, despite the fact that she was also in line for this position. It would be easy for her to sabotage me so she could get my position, but she's not like that.
““Nate, this is Medina Holloway.
I'm used to Susan introducing me to temps on their first day, but this is a huge surprise.
“He's the guy who approves your hours, so be nice to him.”
We laugh, but two of us have to force it.
Most men in my position would try to holler at Susan. Besides being such a great person, she is FINE. She's five seven (which puts her about at my chest), and her figure is provocative. But, I decided that dating coworkers isn't a good idea when you're the boss. I can tell
Help me, Jesus.
I shake her hand while I fight to free my tongue from its temporary paralysis.
“Welcome back to Statebank,
Susan raises an eyebrow. “I didn't know you'd worked here before.”
I ignore the frosty attitude in her voice and the anger in my gut. The five minutes it took to get through my standard new temp spiel seemed like five hours, but Susan finally takes the heifer out of my office. When the door closed behind them, I prayed again.
“God, I asked to find women I slept with, and You sent me the one that did me wrong! What am I supposed to do with her?”
I remember something Pastor Nathan said in his sermon yesterday. “Prayer isn't just us telling God what to do and asking for stuff; prayer also involves listening.
“Okay God, I'm gonna keep listening, but I better get to work before I get fired. I hope I hear the answer when You give it.”
FEMALE PROBLEMS
Coming in 2010 from Write The Vision, Inc.
Chapter 1
“Get out my way!”
Erik didn’t have time to react before someone shoved him knees-first into the nearest table. As a laser blast of agony seared through his already traumatized left leg, he gritted his teeth and suppressed a scream.
The offender’s friends tried unsuccessfully to get him to leave, if not apologize. Erik steadied himself, braced on his good leg and glared up at a man a foot taller than his own five foot four.
“What, you short, crippled and deaf? I said get out my way!”
Erik’s response was to remove his collapsible cane from his pocket and click it out to its useful size. He planted it on the floor for balance, stared the man down and held his ground.
“Oh, you must notta had your butt kicked lately. Otherwise, you’d get it out my way!”
You might’ve re-injured my leg just to show off for your friends, Erik thought. I don’t care how big you are- I ain’t taking this.
Sam Sanders was halfway to the door when a crowd across the room drew his attention.
What’s going on over there? Oh man, not a fight.
Sam strained to see over the crowd, and saw a six-foot brother cursing out a five-footer.
The little dude is Erik from church. He’s the guy who survived that car crash last year. Everybody talks about how well he handled his rehab and what a nice guy he is. I better help him out before Pastor has to say how nice he was in the eulogy.
A ray of common sense peeked through the curtain of Erik’s anger and revealed just how much trouble his temper had landed him in.
This is for real. Maybe I can convince him that it wouldn’t do much for his rep if he kicked my butt in front of all these people.
Erik stepped aside to let the drunk and his entourage pass.
“Look bruh, let it go. We all had a good time tonight- no need for all this.”
“Forget that! I seen you looking at my girl earlier, shorty. It’s on now!”
I had to run across a drama king. I can see the headlines now. Erik Dawson, age thirty, killed in comedy club for allegedly looking at a woman’s butt. Like you could miss it in that outfit.
Erik shook off his musings and stared at the big drunk, wondering how he’d get out of this one.
God, now would be a good time for an Old Testament miracle. Can a brother get a sling and five smooth stones right quick?
“Aw man, not again!”
Garvey Flowers emerged from backstage after a successful routine and saw the same thing he’d seen at the
Fool can’t get up in the morning without picking a fight.
A thought occurred to Garvey, and he headed towards the disturbance.
Maybe if I help bounce his big behind, they’ll give me a permanent gig.
Garvey sighed and made his way through the crowd, questioning why he chose this profession in the first place.
With no hope of a diplomatic solution, Erik brought his cane up and held it like a Star Wars character’s light saber. The drunk snickered.
“Oh, you went and got your own switch? Give it here then, and take your whipping like a man.”
Erik surprised even himself by flashing an obscene gesture with his free left hand. In his mind, Big Dante exploded forward like a panther. In reality, he moved like a turtle on Prozac. Erik had time to sidestep, make a sandwich, pivot on his injured leg, eat the sandwich and use the cane to trip Big Dante headfirst into a table.
Bystanders laughed as Big Dante stood up, apple martinis and beer dripping off his head. Erik tensed for a second attack.
I’m only gonna get one shot at him- it’ll have to count.
“Boy, I’m’a bust your - - -.”
“What’s your problem?”
A voice sounded behind Erik just as he prepared to hit Big Dante below the belt. Sam pushed his way through the crowd of onlookers, grabbed Dante and spun him around. Erik blinked in surprise at the sight of an unexpected benefactor, but stayed focused on Big Dante, determined to use the cane on him again if he so much as flinched in Erik’s direction.
“Is it a problem over here?”
The voice from behind Dante startled all of them. As Dante turned, Garvey steeled himself against the man's toxic breath and got right in his face.
“You ain’t gonna come in here every weekend causing trouble. Take your bad-breath-having-rode-the-short-bus-to-school behind on somewhere before I put my foot in it.”
Big Dante blinked in surprise. “Oh, you want some too? We can go!”
Sam stepped closer. “Since you’re not into fair fights, how about all three of us?”
Big Dante looked uneasy. Sam was his height, and Garvey was about five inches shorter, but stocky enough to give him pause. And Erik was short, but armed.
Erik wanted to break into a holy dance, but maintained his cool.
“Like I said bruh, let it go. It ain’t worth all the drama.”
Big Dante allowed his humiliated girlfriend and the couple with them to lead him away. Erik kept his cane ready and watched Dante and his entourage until they cleared the door.
Garvey put a hand of Erik’s shoulder. “You a’ight, man?”
“Yeah.” Erik smiled and relaxed. “Whew, that was close. I almost had to jack him up!”
Garvey and Sam looked at Erik, looked at each other and then exploded with laughter. Erik tried to maintain his poker face, but lost the battle and laughed until his back hurt. He sat down, still laughing.
Sam regained his breath first. “Man, you should be the one onstage!”
Garvey gasped for air. “You ain’t kidding- that was funnier then anything I said all month!”
Erik caught his breath. “Seriously though, thanks, both of you. It was about to get ugly.”
“Man, that was a hour past ugly!” Garvey laughed. “He was gonna knock you into next week and beat you again when you got there!”
The three men introduced themselves and exchanged brother-hugs and hand pounds all around. The crowd around them dispersed and spread the story about the almost-fight to those who were too far back to see what really happened.
“Listen fellas, thanks for having my back. I was about to go get something to eat. Come with me and I’ll hook you up- it’s the least I can do.”
Garvey's eyes lit up. “I don’t turn down free food. Lead on!”
The three men ended up at the Golden Dove on
Sam picked up his menu. “Erik, what were you gonna do if we hadn’t stepped in?”
“Appraise his family jewels with my cane.”
Sam and Garvey cracked up.
“And if that didn’t stop him, I was gonna lie there and try to control the bleeding until the ambulance came.”
“Good plan. Ever consider running?”
Erik frowned. “I don’t run well these days, Garvey. Besides, he took me there. It didn’t make one bit of sense for me to stare him down like that, but when he pushed me, I lost it. And by the time common sense kicked in, it was too late to back down.”
Sam drank from his water glass. “Did I see you give him the finger right before he came at you?”
Erik blushed. “Yeah. Not the smartest thing to do under the circumstances.”
“Man, that dude was from Beat Down,
They all laughed, but Erik stopped suddenly.
He’s right. That moose would’ve worn me out. I almost threw away eight months of physical therapy for some idiot.
“You okay, bruh?”
Erik forced the self-recriminations down. “Yeah, I’m cool. It was stupid for me to challenge him. I mean, I ain’t been out the hospital that long and he would’ve put me right back in. Glad you two were there. It looked like everybody else there wanted to watch him feed me my cane!”
“I gotta admit, I helped you for selfish reasons.” Garvey chuckled. “I been performing there the past three weekends, and darn if Big Dante hasn’t acted a straight fool every time I’m there. I figured if I helped throw him out, the owner might offer me a contract.”
“Whatever works. I’m just glad you did it. How about you, Sam? Why’d you jump in it?”
“Guess I’ve got a Batman complex or something. I couldn’t just let that big joker push you around and not do anything about it. Besides, if Pastor Nathan found out I saw you in trouble and didn’t help, he might have put me out of
Garvey blinked. “Oh, you do go to
“Yeah, the Men’s Choir. I’m about the tallest guy there- you can’t miss me!”
They laughed and talked for another hour, barely pausing long enough to eat. Erik paid the check and they stepped out into the cool night air. Both Sam and Garvey noticed that Erik winced within a few steps outside and had to pull out his cane again.
Sam reached out a hand to steady Erik if necessary. “You okay?”
Erik waved him off. “Yeah, I’m good. I just overdid it tonight. I’m supposed to walk as much as I can without using the cane so my leg will get stronger, but fighting a homicidal drunk is definitely pushing it too far.”
Garvey thought for a moment. “Erik, if it’s none of my business, just tell me. However, I’m real nosy and I want to know what happened. Your accident I mean.”
The three of them had reached their cars. Erik sat on the hood of his father’s Buick LeSabre, and the others followed suit.
“Since you had my back tonight, the least I can do is tell you. I gotta warn you though, this ain’t a short story. We could be here a minute.”
