Forsaking All Others

Forsaking All Others

  By

  Darrel Bird

  Copyright 2010 by Darrel Bird

  Forsaking All Others

  Part 1

  Gene Hayden twisted the car keys savagely in the lock as he opened the car door to head out to the Comedy Club. He was a comedian, for goodness sake. How was he supposed to do a comedy act with this going on? His wife Marla had quit talking to him. She was spending all her time at that freak church, and he couldn't even get a square meal anymore. His knew his routine was suffering, and he tried to calm down as he turned into the Comedy Club parking lot.

  He was bitter that his wife had quit talking to him, and instead spent the day talking to her friends, gossiping. He would walk into the room to say something to her, and there she would be, on the phone. He would just turn and walk away. He felt left out, cold and alone. What had changed? They had a good marriage. Not a perfect marriage, but they got along.

  Then, the previous evening, Debbie Sorenson, the assistant manager at the club, had asked him for a ride home. He had agreed, and she then asked him in for a few drinks. Why not? he thought, Marla will just be on the phone with her freaks! And the unthinkable had happened! How could this be? How had he come to this? Thoughts whirled through his head.

  Gene stopped the car next to the back entrance to the club. He slammed the car door hard and walked through the door. He passed Debbie’s office, and she motioned him in.

  “Hi, what’s up?”

  “I just wanted to see you,” she said.

  “Ok, but my act starts in ten minutes.”

  “Did you enjoy that last night?” She was giving him an open invitation, and he knew it.

  “Look, Debbie, I don’t have time for this.”

  She glared at him now. “Well, your act is on the skids, Gene, and you’ve got to perform better tonight!”

  He knew she had the power to get him fired. All she had to do was say the word and he was a goner, and then where would he get another gig? He was backed up against the bricks, and it just put more pressure on him.

  “Look, could we talk about this later? I have to perform now, and I don’t see why you are giving me a hard time just before I have to go on. You know better than that!” He turned and walked out of the office, and headed for the stage entrance.

  He made it through his act, but he knew it wasn’t any good. He cast about in his memory for old jokes and hoped the audience didn’t remember them, but he knew they would probably recognize at least half of them. Still, the audience was polite tonight, because he had always been one of the club’s most popular performers.

  He loved being a comedian. He had been the class clown in high school, and he thrived on making people laugh. He learned to read his audience quickly, and in the past his comedy had always been ground-breaking. But he knew if he didn’t get his home life straightened out, and soon, he was done.

  After the show, Gene immediately left by fire door on the side of the building to avoid Debbie.

  Part 2

  Marla Hayden was excited about her newfound friend, Kala Boyd, and had agreed to go to a prophecy seminar when Kala invited her. As the two-week seminar ended, she accepted the invitation to be baptized into Kala’s church, and it had changed her life.

  Kala introduced her to a close-knit group of her friends, and they had accepted Marla into the fold. They all had kids, and lots to talk about, and she felt accepted. That acceptance filled a void in her life caused by the amount of time she spent alone, working at home. Marla worked for a medical insurance company, and she was able to do all her work on her home computer. With two kids in school and a third one on the way, it was a great fit.

  Kala explained to Marla about the Saturday Sabbath, and how they did not eat meat or wear make-up or jewelry. She also told her about preparation for the end times. Marla was a little frightened by the thought of being forced to worship on a certain day and all the talk of being prepared for survival. But she did stop using make-up and going to the beauty salon, and instead just tied back her long black hair. She was struck by how much easier it was.

  She stopped buying meat at the grocery store, and when Gene would say something, she would just explain that it was wrong and unhealthy to eat meat. She did her best to have the house clean and the food cooked by sundown on Friday night, since her friends had explained that Friday was “preparation day.”

  Marla quit going to Calvary Chapel, the church she had been attending on Sundays, and started attending the large Seventh-day church full time. She grew closer to Kala, Janice, and Rebecca, and the four of them spent their days talking on the phone about this and that: about kids, pregnancies, and husbands. She felt sharp pangs of guilt whenever they complained about their husbands, but she soon grew used to it and found herself doing it more and more.

 

  Now she and Gene were growing more distant, and fights began to occur regularly. She told her friends all about it, even though she didn’t feel quite right about doing so. Her friends made an appointment for her to speak with the pastor, and the pastor gave her a list of ten demands that she was to give to her husband. She didn’t give them to him until one night when he exploded at her over another meatless dinner and the church she went to.

  “You think more of that damned church than you do me!” Gene slammed his fist down hard on the table, and the kids started crying.

  “That’s it! Here is a list of things I demand of you!”

  He looked at the list incredulously and threw it in her face. “I’ll be damned if I do any of your demands, Marla!” He got up and walked out, got in his car, and spun out of the driveway.

  She felt panic rise up inside her, so she called Kala, who suggested they call the pastor.

  Kala made the call, and soon the pastor called her. “You are to order him to move out right now, and if he doesn’t go, call the cops,” the pastor told her. Marla phoned Kala, who urged her to do as the pastor said.

  Marla was confused, but she was also still angry with Gene for blowing up at her, so she agreed to do it. But as soon as she got off the phone with Kala, she felt the panic begin to rise again. Deep inside she felt that niggling at her heart strings, something deep and wanting, demanding to be heard. This was all wrong, all wrong.

  Marla Hayden sprawled across the bed and wept until there were no more tears. She was lying there when she heard Gene come through the door. Her heart leapt in her chest when she heard the familiar sound, and she knew she wasn’t going to call the cops. She ran into the bathroom, splashed water on her face, dried it quickly, and walked into the living room. Gene stood in the middle of the floor, and he turned toward her when she entered.

  “I’m going to divorce you,” he said simply, and turned around and walked out on her.

  She stood in shock as she heard his car crank up in the driveway and drive slowly away. Her eyes opened wide in disbelief as she heard the sound of the car fading in the distance. “What did I just hear?” her heart cried out. “What have I done? Oh God, what have I done?” The silence of the room mocked her. “Oh God, what have I done?”

  Part 3

  Dianne Oglesby’s church, Calvary Chapel, met once a month on Sunday night to pray. A few months ago, the pastor had asked who would be willing to participate in a prayer meeting on Sunday night, and nearly everyone’s hand went up.

  “It is settled then. Once a month we will break up the order of Sunday night services to pray for the needs of the local church body, the community around us, and any other needs that you feel led of the Holy Spirit to pray for.”

  Dianne and her husband Jack had been faithful to go every Sunday evening, especially on the once-a-month prayer night. She enjoyed it and looked forward to it. She hurriedly
put the finishing touches on her make-up, and applied a light lipstick. She had enjoyed wearing make-up since she was a kid. She didn’t use much, but she could tell Jack liked it.

  As she blotted her lips with a tissue, the Holy Spirit spoke to her heart, “Pray for Marla Hayden and her husband.” She looked at her startled reflection in the mirror. She had forgotten about Marla; she had only gone to the Oglesby’s church a short time. Dianne hurried out the door where Jack and the kids were waiting in the car.

  “Late as usual,” Jack teased, as he reached over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Looking good as usual, too,” he said as he turned the ignition.

  “Old Wolfman Jack,” she teased back. When they were well on their way she said, “Jack, do you remember Marla Hayden?”

  “Well…sorta. I never did really know her. I remember the two of you were fairly close for a while, though,” he said, as he turned onto the street the church was on. “Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, nothing, I just wondered if you remembered her.” She wanted to keep it to herself. She had found out through trial and error that the Holy Spirit sometimes meant for her to pray about something by herself, and if she did, the Lord blessed her.

  At the church that evening Dianne prayed down through her prayer list, and at the end of her list she came to Marla Hayden’s name. She suddenly felt a great burden roll onto her heart, and she began crying and weeping before the Lord for Marla and Gene Hayden. She wasn’t sure how long she prayed that way, but as suddenly as it had come, the burden lifted. Jack looked at her tear-streaked and swollen eyes, but said nothing as they headed for the door. Everyone else was gone and they were alone, so Jack locked the church up as they left.

  As they drove home Dianne said, “I love you, Jack.”

  “I love you too, honey,” and he reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Jack loved and respected his wife enough to know she would tell him what her fervent prayer was about, if it was something he needed to know.

  Part 4

  As Gene slowly drove away from what had been their home for ten years, he was devastated. He didn’t know what to make of the change in his wife. He didn’t mind her going to church as long as she didn’t try to force him to go, and she had seemed happy when she had started going to Calvary Chapel. He had even considered going with her some Sunday.

  The trouble was, he tended bar at the Comedy Club on Saturday nights, and Saturday was always the club’s busiest night. He really needed the extra money to survive, and it fit perfectly, as the owner was willing to work around his act. Gene went on stage first, and then he tended bar until one in the morning.

  He worked on his act constantly, hoping he would eventually get good enough that it would take them out of San Antonio, to Vegas maybe, or Los Angeles. He had heard that the top comedy acts made excellent money out there. He had performed in Vegas once, and had taken in two thousand dollars in one night, but he knew he needed to get better to get steady work. He was just beginning to be in demand in Dallas when Marla decided to start going to this other church.

  That was when she started changing, little by little. At first she pulled the kids out of public school and began to home-school them. Then, slowly, she made other changes. She didn’t buy meat at the grocery anymore, and she quit wearing make up. She had worn it when he first met her, and she was a knockout. Instead of getting her hair done, she now wore it tied back. She ran around in old jogging pants. Instead of spending evenings with Gene and the kids, she was always either going to her friends’ houses or talking to them on the phone. When he came home she just gave him a little wave and went on talking, as if it were only the cat that had walked in. Sometimes he didn’t even get the wave.

  She had started buying these strange religious books – expensive books, and if she wasn’t gone or talking on the phone, she was reading them. He had picked one up and scanned through it, and he saw right away that the content was strange and depressing. Working as a comedian, he knew depressing when he saw it. He saw the name Ellen White several times in a number of the books, and Marla was always saying that “Sister White” said that we shouldn’t do this or we shouldn’t do that.

  Gene had read the story of the Jim Jones massacre, where over 900 people had committed suicide. He also remembered well the Waco ordeal, and he was afraid of this church. He knew they had played a part in his wife handing him that list of demands. It wasn’t so much the demands themselves that had upset him. It was the ganging up on him by outsiders that he knew he would never, could never, tolerate. Marriage was hard enough without him having to contend with interlopers who had no right or authority under any calling.

  In the car, his cell phone startled him out of his reverie.

  “Hello, Gene,” he heard Debbie say. “Could you come by the office, please, please? I need a ride home.”

  “Where is your car?”

  “Oh, it’s in the shop.”

  Debbie had a brand new car, and Gene knew she was lying. He knew what would happen, but at the time he felt powerless to prevent it.

  “Ok, Deb, I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

  Part 5

  Marla jumped when the phone rang; she pulled herself together and walked over to pick up. A voice on the other end said, “Is Gene there?”

  “Who is this?”

  “This is Debbie, the assistant manager at the club.”

  “No, he’s not here.”

  “Ok, maybe I can catch him on his cell. I need a ride home.”

  “You might be able to.” And she hung up.

  “Yeah, I’ll just bet you do, little missy. I’ll just bet you do,” Marla said aloud. The alarm drove through her heart like a locomotive, and her women’s intuition kicked in full force. Fear rose in her throat like bile.

  She had to get the medical insurance billing done, but it was almost impossible to keep her mind on her work. “Maybe he’ll come home tomorrow. Oh God, please let him come home tomorrow!” She stared at the monitor, but all she saw was how she had neglected and mistreated her husband. She had sat with those women and entered into their conversations when they criticized their husbands, and she had talked down about Gene.

  She had even tried to tell him what to eat and what not to eat. She had thrown away his beer, when she knew full well it had sat in the refrigerator for three months. He would only have a beer when a friend came over, and even then he would only have one. She had said he couldn’t have it in the house, nor could he drink it around her or the kids.

  She knew now that the persistent niggling inside had come home to roost, and to accuse her, and she knew she was guilty. She was more frightened than she had ever been in her life, but what if the church was right? What if the pastor was right? But she knew deep down that there was much wrong.

  Part 6

  Gene woke up, and for a moment didn’t know where he was. The bed felt wrong, and then he saw Debbie’s blonde hair sticking out from the covers, and he remembered. Debbie had told him last night she loved him and would do anything for him. How had he gotten into such a mess?

  He felt guilty, even though he had confronted Marla with his intentions. He had stopped by the evening before to talk to her and to see the kids, but the kids weren’t there.

  What is a living without my family to share it with? he thought as he lay there. He lit another cigarette off the one he had in his hand. I need to quit, he thought, and then laughed at himself. Debbie stirred and said, “Whaa?”

  “Nothing; go back to sleep. I have to go open the bar,” and he reached for his pants and shoes. He showered, but decided he would use the shaving gear at the bar, and slipped out the door.

  He entered the bar at nine and began to wash the glasses, set the chairs on the floor, and do general cleanup. He was in the habit of having the club bar spic and span by the time ten o’clock rolled around. He cleaned both bathrooms until they shined. The owner liked him because he was dependable, and he didn’t drink up the profits. He had offered him hal
f ownership if Gene would oversee the place, but Gene really wanted to make it in comedy. That was what he was good at, and it was his dream to make it big.

  As he scrubbed the place, he thought about how Marla had wanted him to go to the first church; Calvary Chapel, was it? He thought now that he should have gone. He seemed to feel pulled to go at the time. If he just hadn’t been so tired on Sunday mornings he might have. Or was he just fooling himself? No, he knew he should have gone with her. Was that when it started going down hill? Had he not done what he should have?

  Gene Hayden had come from a long line of proud men who stood up to their responsibility, no matter how hard it was. Had he stood up to his own responsibility? No, he decided, I haven’t done all that well. I let my dreams of Vegas shows get in the way of my family, and I let the need for sleep get in the way of my responsibility. Would Marla have taken up with that crazy church if I had gone with her in the first place? He thought probably not.

  Now here I am with my marriage on the rocks, and I can’t go back to the way things are. There are just things I cannot do.

  A bar regular walked in.

  “Hi Gene.”

  “Hi yourself. How you doing, Fred? The usual?”