Winter Season

God told me so

Oscar’s weekends were like gold. He needed them in order to decompress and regroup for the week ahead. He had just gotten up on Saturday morning, Esther and he had plans. There came that all too familiar pounding at his door. There stood his mother and his brother. “What do I owe this pleasure?” He said sarcastically as he let them in.  

“Can’t a mother check on her son?” Pam sat in one chair and Otis plopped in the other.

“Did I not ask you that if you sat in one of my chairs, act like you have some manners?” He scolded his brother.

“Is she here?” Pam asked.

“As if it were any of your business;” Oscar growled. “But she is at home.” He pointed out the door toward her house.

“Well, I see that Brother Evan’s talk with you did no good. Satan really has a hold on you.”

Oscar sat on the couch, “all that man succeeded in doing was cause me to question my choice of churches.”

“Dancin’ is a sin.” Pam scolded.

“No it isn’t. There are a multitude of examples of dancing in the Bible; both pro and con. It is how you do the dancin’ that matters.”

“I think this woman is pulling you away from your true callin’.”

“Let me make this crystal clear. I am not marrying Doris. I am not having children. God has never placed it on my heart to have children. I DON’T WANT THEM.” He emphasized without shouting.

His mother’s face turned fifty shades of red. She was livid. “How can you say that? Babies are God’s precious gifts to us.”

“And you might be right. But if I don’t want to receive God’s special gift for me and end up screwing up another human life; what have I done to glorify God?”

“Your dad wouldn’t approve.”

“Don’t bring dad into this.”

“We had the two of you.”

Otis grinned from ear to ear.

“And I’m glad you did mom. For the most part, I like my life. But I’m not going to bring another human being into this world to screw up their life.” His stomach seized. He wouldn’t show the pain he felt on his face. The last thing he wanted them to know was that their plan to break him was working.

“You would make a great dad.”

“Yeah boy.” He scoffed.

“This tinnitus is God’s punishment.” She proudly puffed up at her comment.

Oscar felt like she hit him in the chest with a baseball bat. What kind of messed up b.s. was this? The door bell rang, he opened the door to Chaz. What the ..? This was a different kind of shock. Chaz’s cruiser was parked in Esther’s drive. “I’m sorry to bother you. This is kinda embarrassin’. Could I use your bathroom? I knocked at Esther’s but she didn’t answer.”

The cop that wanted to whoop him was now wanting to use his bathroom?

Oscar remembered his manners, “sure.” He walked Chaz out of sight to show him the door. When he stepped back into the living room his mother started, “have you had sex with her?”

“That is none of your business?”

“Everyone in town is talkin’ about what a whore she is. That’s why she had to move from the big city. She’s a filthy whore.”

Oscar was getting more and more upset.

“Oscar, thanks man.” Chaz walked back into the living room. “I drank one too many cups of coffee this morning.”

“You’re welcome.”

Chaz locked eyes with Oscar for a brief moment. “How’s our girl?” He plopped his hand on Oscar’s shoulder. The sound of someone thumping a watermelon vibrated through his ears. Chaz gave his shoulder a slight squeeze.

Now here is a man that could break bones. Oscar thought. What was Chaz up too? He finally answered, “she’s good.”

Pam scoffed.

Oat grabbed his crotch, snorting.

Oscar opened the door for Chaz. Once Chaz was clear the door, Oscar looked at his family, “get out.”

His mother didn’t move, “God told me you are to marry Doris!” She screamed. “You are to help her get her children back! You are to get her a job at that school you work at!”

“So none of this is about me and Esther? It’s about you. You provin’ to Doris that you can bend the world to your will. Be Lady Bountiful.”

“GOD TOLD ME SO!” She screamed.

“Did God also tell you that a convicted felon can’t work at a public school?”

“Lies all lies! Doris was set up by the dirty cops in this town.” She gestured at the door. Supposedly at Chaz.

Oscar was still holding the door open, “get out.”

Winter Season