Glendale Racquet Club, Thursday, January 19, 2012
“What
a great match!” Davie smacked Jazzie’s right hand up high for their High 5,
then down for a Low 5 into a grasp to shake hands, keeping the shake slightly
longer than a usual hand shake. It was
their typical ritual of triumph. Except
this time, their hands lingered especially long.
Jasmine
can’t help it. Mindy's text that Justin would "Love 30" flashes her memory straight back to that turning point evening.
She wondered that night if any of the other players had caught their
especially long handshake. Already, she
was continuing to worry their envelop was getting pushed dangerously far. Little did she know what the rest of the
evening would bring.
Their
opponents, BD and Gabbie, who barely lost to them in a three set match that
went 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 came to the net to shake hands. Grasping Davie’s hand with a strong shake, BD
said, “You know, we let you win, ‘cause it is your birthday.”
“Tomorrow,”
Davie corrected. “How did you know?”
“Yeah,
tomorrow, Friday,” BD replied, “But today,
we get to celebrate. And since we’re
celebrating with you on a Thursday and your birthday is on a Friday, we’re not
going to The Alley tonight. We’re going
to TGI Fridays, where we’ve reserved the party room. It should be all set up.”
“Really?”
Davie scanned his eyes to everyone at
Mixed Doubles Night. Finally, he made it
around the circle of friends to the one standing next to him, Jasmine. He held on his eyes on her. “How did you know?”
Jasmine
smiled. “The church bulletin really
shouldn’t announce the birthdays of its staff.”
“No,
it shouldn’t,” Davie sighed. “I mentioned
that when I first arrived. ‘Do we really want to announce these?’ The secretary said, ‘Why not? You all don’t get enough appreciation. This
is a way our congregants can send you love.
They don’t feel comfortable doing random acts of kindness,’ she said,
‘but they’ll do something special for your birthday. Some send cards,’ she said, ‘Some Bible study
groups pool their money for gifts. Some donate
to a church project in your name.’ She
never said, ‘Your Mixed Doubles group will throw you party’!”
“You’re
welcome,” Jasmine smiled.
“They
didn’t announce which birthday it is, did they?”
“No. They don’t put the year, only the day. I mentioned to BD that your birthday was
coming up, and he said, ‘He’s 29. This
one must be 30!’ He was right, right?”
Davie
gave BD his teasing glare, nodded, and groaned, “Yeah, he was right.”
As a
party organizer, Jasmine was one of the first to make it out to the parking
lot. She started her car and found and it
dangerously low on gas. So wrapped up in
the party planning, she hadn’t remembered to fill her tank. If only TGIFs was not in the opposite
direction to her home, she’d be able to make it fine. Should she get gas on the way and miss seeing
Davie’s reaction to the decorations she had prepared, or should she risk it and
wait to get gas on the way home?
Jasmine’s
face must have betrayed her quandary because Davie stopped by her window on the
way to his car. “Everything OK?”
“Yeah,
I’m just low on gas. I should get some
on the way, but I don’t want to be late.”
“No
need to be. Just ride with me!”
“You’d
have to bring me back here before you head home – from your own party.”
“It’s
on my way home anyway. And what better
way to add to my birthday celebration than to have your company there and
back?”
Feeling
a glow within herself, Jasmine hopped into his car.
Parking
was tight in the shopping center where TGIFs was located. Davie drove through the lot closest to TGIFs,
but found nothing. On the other side of
the road, in the next lot over, Davie found an almost open parking spot between
two SUVs, both a little too close for comfort, and the one to the right
possibly illegal. “Good thing I’ve got a
Toyota Corolla,” he said while gently squeezing his car into the spot. Since the especially close car was next to
the passenger, Davie checked on Jasmine.
“Did I give you enough space to get out?”
“Yep.”
Jasmine felt victorious, as she made her belly as tight as she could. “I’m free!”
“Hopefully
we can get you back in too,” Davie said, chuckling.
“Maybe
that car will be gone by then?”
Chuckling,
Davie replied, “Yeah, just imagine it’ll be some hefty guy who will have to
squeeze his way into that driver’s seat.”
“Serves
him right!” they exclaimed in unison.
Curious,
the two checked the tires against the parking lines. The front tire was fully in the spot with a
couple of inches to spare. The back tire
was on the line.
As a
true tennis player, Davie called it “on the outside of the line. He’s ‘in,’ but barely.”
Jasmine
smiled. “If that guy’s ‘in’ for tennis, he’s
probably good for the parking attendant too.”
Davie
nodded, rolling his eyes. Then he caught something else: the car’s bumper
sticker.
“Warning:
In case of Rapture,
In case of Rapture,
This vehicle will be de-manned”
“Makes
you want to put a new sticker on top of it, huh? Like one that says, ‘Left
Behind!’”
“Or a
new one next to it,” Jasmine suggested.
“I know just the one: ‘Who would Jesus bomb?”
The
two doubled up into laughter, knowing that whoever puts up a “de-manned”
sticker never asks a question like that.
“I’m
not one to believe in a ‘Rapture,’” Davie said, “But even if I did, I sure wouldn’t
celebrate it like that guy.”
Jasmine
nodded, remembering fifth grade Sunday School.
Should she take the chance to ask her
still unanswered 11 year old question?
Walking
across the road of the parking lot to TGIFs, Jasmine decided to test the waters. “Kind of makes me think of Noah. He didn’t fight the Flood.”
Davie
stopped in his tracks, halfway in the middle of the road. He looked straight into her eyes and rested
his two hands on the sides of her shoulders.
“You’re the only Christian I’ve ever known to say you have a problem
with Noah.”
Uh
oh. Was she wrong to have taken the
risk? Davie’s eyes showed he was
serious, possibly astonished, even pleased. His eyes straight into hers sent a bolt of electricity up her spine.
This is your chance.
Take it.
“Yes,”
she replied quietly, apologetically. “I
do.”
Davie
continued to look deep into her eyes.
Jasmine wanted nothing more than to gaze into his eyes all night
long. But they were standing in the
middle of a road. She heard a car,
looked past Davie, and cried, “Car!”
Davie
then took her hand into his and they ran to the sidewalk. Davie caught Jasmine’s eyes again, released
her hand, and said, “Go on.”
“In
fifth grade,” Jasmine began, “I got in trouble in Sunday School for asking why Noah let God drown the world.”
She
smiled. It’s out. No matter how he would respond, she said
it. And it felt good. How about that? Ever since she was accused for being ‘Just
like Eve’ for her question about Noah, she had felt ashamed of her question. Now, in this moment, she realized with pride that
she had been a pretty precocious kid.
Why had she been ashamed? Why had she kept it a secret?
Davie
beamed, “Did you really phrase it like that?
Why did Noah let God drown the world?”
“Yes,
I sure did. That’s one of the reasons my teacher was so mad. Red in the face, Mad.”
Davie
laughed. “I love it. I’ve wondered about Noah for years. Why did he obey God? And why didn’t he complain?”
“Right?”
“But,”
Davie smiled, sending his gaze back into her eyes, “I never phrased it the way
you did. ‘Why did Noah let God?’ That’s brilliant.”
Jasmine
felt her heart racing within her. She
had just discovered that what had originally shamed her now charmed this
athletic youth pastor gazing into her eyes.
She felt her heart flutter in a way she had not felt in a long time.
“Do you still think the way you did in fifth
grade?”
“I
do,” Jasmine chuckled. “I’ve just
learned how to keep my mouth shut!”
“No
need to keep your mouth shut around me.”
Could he see her blushing? She’d better say something quick.
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