Finally...A Story About Good Black Men

[Lynn Pinder]

The following is an excerpt from Acts, a short story included in Psalms of the Daughter, a collection of Christian-themed poems and short stories at (www.psalmsofthedaughter.com):


Pastor Parker had known who she was the minute he had entered the room. He had watched the news reports and read the countless news articles. He had even served as Jay's official family spokesperson demanding justice from the Tubman City Police Force who wanted to disregard the fact that two of their officers had gunned down an unarmed man - one that had no less just saved a delirious woman from jumping to her death off of a one-hundred and thirty-five foot bridge.

Pastor Parker knew that if Kayla had not witnessed the entire charade, the officers probably would have fabricated an incident to cover their blunder. He also knew that she was the reason this had all happened in the first place. He had known the first time he saw Kayla that she was a lost soul and had begun that first day talking to her about the love of Jesus Christ. They talked well into the night and when Mrs. Parker stopped in to see Jay it seemed she picked up right where the Pastor had left off.

All Kayla could do was cry. The tears just wouldn't stop. She cried for herself, but most of all she cried for the pain she had caused Jay. Just when it seemed that she had run out of tears, Mrs. Parker eased the little book in her hand and asked her to begin reading.

"The Book of Psalms?" asked Kayla.

"Yup, and you can begin at Psalm One," Mrs. Parker replied.

Kayla glanced down at the little book as she thumbed through the pages and looked back up at Mrs. Parker with her eyebrows raised. "But there are a hundred-and-fifty of them." Kayla said.

"And your point is what?" Mrs. Parker replied with a glint of a smile that faded when she turned back to look at Jay lying under the stark white sheets of the hospital bed. "Based on Dr. Hudson's report, it's no telling how long Jay will be in this coma. The Book of Psalms was his favorite book of the Bible. Start with this one right here," Mrs. Parker said as she reached over and opened the little book in Kayla's hand.

Pastor Parker stood up and put a firm hand on Kayla's shoulder.

"Read it aloud," he said just before leaving the room.

Mrs. Parker also encouraged Kayla to read aloud. She told her it would help to soothe her restlessness. So it was forty-two days ago that Kayla had begun reading aloud each Psalm one by one. When Kayla got to Psalm Six that first week something clicked inside of her.

"The Lord heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer."

Kayla recognized the agony in the writer's words and her heart softened just enough for the healing to begin. A few weeks later at Psalm Eighteen, Kayla made a declaration from her heart.

"I will love you, Lord. Oh, Lord, my strength. You are my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in you I will trust. You are my protection, the horn of my salvation, my righteousness."

When Kayla reached Psalm Twenty-three, the tears gushed like waves from her eyes as she recognized the scripture and grasped the true meaning of the words she had heard this stranger whisper in her ear that dreadful night.

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