Mnimi

5 - Church & The Coffee Belt

Give me hope in who I am,

Make true in how I stand,

Let me shine for all to see

All your glorious jubilee!"

The congregation explodes into laughter and applause, singing along with the minister, who is obviously very popular with this crowd. Amidst it all, I can't help but notice that right there, in the front row, is a very tall and very handsome young man, clapping along but with much less vigor and poise than his fellow believers. It's you, Timmy. Isn't it.

I watch Timmy throughout the rest of the service. He stands and sits and claps and moves, but there's a certain energy that's missing from him. I decide it won't hurt to try, so I reach out for his mind and sure enough, the boy is incredibly distracted, but not by Jesus songs. He's remembering his last conversation with Chesta. It happened a week ago. They were in her garden, walking through a rose bush labyrinth. Holy shit, she's rich. Anyway, it seems they were having a real heart-to-heart.

"I've known you for three years, Tim," she takes his hand and rests her head on his arm as they walk. Next to him, she's tiny. Her head doesn't even reach his shoulder.  "I can tell when you're keeping things from me."

"I'm not," he says, and his voice is deep like his father's. "I just feel a little sick today, that's all."

She let go of his arm and jumped in front of him, poking a finger at his chest.

"Don't lie to me, Timothy Jacobs. I'm smarter than you think."

"Look, Ches," he took her hands. "I don't feel great. That's all. It has nothing to do with you. Okay, maybe it has a little to do with you, but not in the way you think. I do love you and our plans are still the same. I'm just having an off day. Maybe it's all the stress. Not that it's bad stress, just a lot going on, you know. But I assure you, it's nothing to worry about."

She nodded, then smiled, but of course, she didn't believe him and he knew it. He just decided to ignore it and walk her back to the patio where the families were gathered. Both of their fathers were there, and both look extremely proud. And what's this? Another young man, watching them from a window on the second floor. Timmy looks up at him. The boy looks sad as he turns away from the window.

"Timothy," said the Minister. "Answer the Duke."

"I'm sorry," said Timmy. "I was distracted. Could you repeat the question?"

"Of course!" said the Duke. "Your father and I were having a little debate, so I was just asking if  you had decided after which one of us you would name your firstborn son?"

Timmy looked down at Chesta who was already looking up at him, looking as intrigued as everyone else by what he was going to say.

The memory fades and I'm left with a feeling of emptiness. You're not happy, Timmy. And if that's the case, making Chesta happy's going to be a whole lot trickier than I thought.

After the service, the minister greets everyone outside the church. Timmy stands next to him, mimicking his father. There's a woman next to him as well. She's stunning. I'm going to guess that's Mom. I can see what Chesta sees in Timmy. He's taller than his father and has his mother's looks. I walk up to them and feel around their minds. With so many people saying hello, they're sufficiently distracted for me to slip in and drop a tiny memory.

We met a week ago. All of us. I was at Chesta's house. I'm a friend of her family. We spoke and you were all impressed with my knowledge of... Shoot, what do I know... Cofee! You were impressed with my knowledge of coffee and invited me to breakfast after church.