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Blake nodded in agreement. “She never said it was a party, but then again she never said it wasn’t. Shelley, will you get those camera pens out of the glovebox? We might as well start getting pictures now. They walked around the corner, each with a ballpoint pen equipped with a small camera tucked in a chest pocket. Two clicks and it was on; one click and it was a writing pen.
The three stood at the edge of the yard looking for their host when Betty broke out of a crowd of about ten people and moved rapidly toward them. “Welcome, welcome to my house!” She turned and waved her right arm across the scene. “This is my surprise for you. These are the old members of the church. Most are going to other churches now, but that’s your business – getting them back, that is. All I can do is offer them up.”
She put her arm inside Blake’s arm and led them to the group, which had grown quiet upon their arrival. Betty announced: “This handsome gentleman on my arm is Pastor Blake Henry.” She reached out and placed a hand on Bobby’s shoulder. “This is the new pastor I was telling you about, Pastor Lee, and his wife, Shelley.”
What followed was a lot of welcomes, good-luck’s, and happy-to-meet-you’s. Then everybody went back to partying. Blake was impressed: Betty threw one hell of a party. The BBQ and the bar were catered and it didn’t look cheap. Blake took the beer from Bobby and, with Betty still on his arm, walked to the bar. The bartender took the beer and placed it under the table. “Can I interest you in a drink, Mr. Henry?”
Blake thought for a moment. “What the hell! Give me a Jack Daniels, straight up.”
Betty laughed. Blake turned and was amazed at the beautiful sound of her laughter. “Mr. Henry, you’re a man after my own heart. Make that two, bartender.”
They moved among the crowd, Betty introducing people to Blake and Blake getting their pictures. He checked on the other two and they were doing likewise. They had caught a big break. While Willcocks was still number one on the list, Bobby’s point that it could be one of the church’s members was valid. After all, Willcocks was only at number one because of a photo, and now they were getting a lot more of them.
Betty interrupted his daydreaming. “Would you like another one? There’s something in the barn I want to show you.”
“As they say, you can’t fly on one wing.” With a fresh drink in his hand, Blake walked alongside Betty to the barn.
Blake had expected horses, cows, and maybe even goats, but there were no animals at all. In the middle of the barn was a large section of tree trunk standing on its edge and held in place by four bales of hay. It was about 4 feet in diameter and 2 feet thick, with a round target painted in the center. Twenty feet back from the tree trunk was a rack of axes, ranging from small, one-handed axes to heavy, two-handed axes. “Well,” Betty said, “what do you think?”
Blake was dumbfounded. He had never seen a setup like this before. “What do I think? I don’t know what to think.”
Betty walked over and removed a large ax. She raised it over her head until it hung down her back, then swung it over her head and let it fly. It hit dead center of the stump. “This is my exercise routine. I throw 20 axes a day.”
Blake downed his drink. Betty came over, took his hand, and held it against her stomach. “Hard as a rock, isn’t it?” She slid her other hand around his neck and pulled his lips to hers.
Blake brought his hands around to her back and slid them down to her beautifully round butt, which was also hard as a rock, but that wasn’t the only thing that was hard by then. She pulled him into a stall that had bails of hay stacked against the wall, and there they proceeded without delay to have sex, or, as Blake thought of it later, a battle. It was a very new experience for him to have sex with a woman who was stronger than himself. When the second go-around was over, he knew he was going to feel it for a few days.
Walking back to the party, Betty had a warm glow, but she looked thoughtful. “You don’t strike me as a preacher, Blake.”
He smiled at her. “I haven’t been one all my life. In fact, I got the calling late, but it saved my life and I’ve been doing the Lord’s work from that day to this.”
“What did you do before?”
“I was in the Army – did my 20 and got out. After my wife died, I needed something to fulfill my life. I met the founder of the New Life Church and here I am.”
“What did you do in the Army?”
“A lot of things, none of them good. I’d like to let my past life stay in the past if you don’t mind.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get nosy.” They turned the corner of the house.
“Don’t worry about it, we all have a past.”
Bobby came up to them. “Blake, we need to get back and get some rest. There’s a lot of work to do tomorrow. Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you for over an hour.”
“Get Shelley and I’ll meet you at the Jeep.”
“If you want to,” Betty said, “you can send the kids home and I’ll take you back in the morning.” She ran her hand down the back of Blake’s pants and cupped a cheek of his ass.
Blake pulled her hand away and kissed her lightly on the lips. “It’s too soon to have people talking behind our backs. Maybe another time.”
She smiled and backed away. “Anytime you’re in the neighborhood.”
Blake was still smiling as he got into the Jeep.
“Did you guys have fun?” Shelley pulled a piece of hay off his shirt. “It looks like one of us had more fun than the others.”
She was dangling the piece of hay between Bobby in the driver’s seat and Blake in the passenger’s seat. Blake grabbed it and threw it out the window. “I’m old, not dead.”
Bobby wasn’t laughing. “I’m not sure a preacher should be acting in that manner?”
“You’re right, Pastor Lee, a preacher shouldn’t be acting in that manner. However, I’m not a preacher, am I?”
“No sir, but if Shelley or I were to do something like that you’d bring hell itself down on us.”
“You’re right, but we’re playing different roles here. You’re the fresh young couple stepping out into the world to serve God for the first time. I’m the old, washed-up pastor that they won’t even let preach anymore. You worry about playing your part in this show.”
Shelley broke into the conversation before it became heated. “So, mi capitán, did you come away with anything other than free hay?”
“As a matter of fact, I did. We need to widen our field to include women. We’re in farming country, where most of these women grew up throwing bales of hay around. They’re a lot stronger than we see in the city. I’m sure some of them could drag a man out and tie him to a tree.”
Shelley burst out laughing. “Over a bottle of José Gold, you’re going to have to tell us how you came by that insight.”
Bobby parked beside the motorhome and they went inside.
“Shelley,” said Blake, “give me your pen.” He handed his and her pens to Bobby. “Upload the images to Peter so he’ll have them in the morning. Make sure you ask him to do a background check on the women also. I’m going to check our messages. Shelley, could you make us some coffee? We have to do some paperwork while the details are fresh in our minds. Then, in the morning, we’ll go over what we know so far.”
Blake went to his bedroom, in the back, and removed his burner phone. Rainbow had left a message: “I’ve made contact with Willcocks.”
| Copyright © 2019, 2020 by Ed Rogers |
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