“Nah, Zephyra, I’ll leave that to you and Della.”
Zephyra wrinkled her nose at him. “I wonder what Mandy would think to hear you say that.”
“Don’t you even start, you little meddler.” He turned his attention back to me. “So, you wanna hear about the many accomplishments of your favorite cousin now?”
“Hey!” Zephyra blurted before I could respond. “Who saysyou’rehis favorite cousin?”
Donnie rolled his eyes, exaggeratedly. “Fine, fine, your favoritemalecousin.”
Zephyra nodded curtly. “Better!”
I grinned at him. “Actually, I think I want to hear about this Mandy person. How were we able to get through spending the day together and you not mentioning this girl?”
He grinned back and kept going as if he hadn’t heard me. “So, after I got over the two-year depression of being abandoned by my favorite cousin and managed to get out of bed and bathe again, I went to Yale to major in biochemistry with a minor in cancer research. However,once I was there, I fell back into my depression because my favorite cousin still had never called. I ended up dropping out of college after a month, moving back home, started using drugs, and never found the cure for cancer.”
“Oh, Donnie, you stop!” Sue frowned at him. “You are such a snot. You’re going to hurt his feelings.”
“Fine, fine.” He raised his hands in the air. “If you want to be bored, fine. Here’s what really happened. After Della and I graduated, I started working odd jobs around town over breaks from college, as I am sure you remember. Then you left after you graduated, and I still continued to work odd jobs around town. Now, all these years later, I have a booming career of working odd jobs around town. And there you have it, my dear man. As you can see, you’ve missed a lot since you’ve been gone. Don’t ya wish you would have stuck around?”
Della sighed in exasperation. “Donnie, you are such a pain!” She looked at me and rolled her eyes identically to Donnie. “He would rather be amusingly self-deprecating than ever take any credit for himself. His ‘booming career’ really is quite a full-time business. He’s become the most trusted handyman in town. You know Donnie. Always ridiculously honest and thorough to a fault. Everyone knows he does the best work at the lowest price. He is the main reason Maudra’s house is still standing, as old as that thing is. He also is the youth pastor at the church. Pro bono, of course. He’s been doing that for about a year. When he started, there were about thirty or so kids attending the youth service on Wednesdays. Now there are nearly a hundred.”
Donnie interrupted, “I have a great group of kids. They are the ones who have kept inviting all their friends. I’ve had very little to do with it.”
Della gave another eye roll. “As I said, it would kill him to take any credit.”
I looked back over at Donnie. “That’s too funny. That’s what I got my bachelor’s in. Youth ministry. I was planning on becoming a youth pastor. Of course, I decided I couldn’t pretend anymore to be something I wasn’t, so that took care of that.”
“Really? That is funny.” His smile deepened as he looked at me. “Perfect, actually. Pastor Bron and I have been talking about bringing someone else onto the staff who could oversee the youth group. A paid position, someone with credentials. There are too many kids for me to keep up with by myself. This seems more than coincidental. I should talk to him about you, if you’d be interested. I know you’re gonna be busy with your mom and all, but it might be just what you need.”
I just looked at him, shocked. I hadn’t thought about getting into ministry again in years. “I… doubt that would be such a good idea, Donnie.”
“Oh, why not? You’d be great with the kids. You always were. You were one of the leaders when we were in youth group. You’d be perfect.”
Sue laid her hand on Donnie’s arm. “Careful, dear.”
Donnie glanced at her and back to me, his eyes widening. “Oh, come on! Are you two serious? The gay thing, really? Like God cares about that. There are a couple boys in the youth group I am sure are gay. It would be really good for them to have Brooke be there.”
Sue touched his arm again. “Sweetie, you can’t know that for sureabout them.”
The stubborn look I used to know so well came over his face. “Well, I knew about Brooke when we were kids. I am pretty sure I can tell, Mom.”
“Donnie,” I interjected, “it is a really appealing thought, but I promised myself that I would never hide who I am again, and I’m not going to start now.”
“Well, who said you’d have to hide who you are? How would that help the kids? I would want you to be real. I’m gonna talk to Pastor Bron. He’ll be fine with it.”
Nolan broke quietly into the conversation. “Maybe, but what about Pastor Thomas?”
Donnie thought for a moment. “You’re right; he’s a different story. He’s not going to be in charge much longer, anyway. The transition period is supposed to only be six months. Pastor Bron takes over at the first of the year. That’s only a couple more months longer.”
“But”—Della’s voice was tentative, as if trying to speak carefully so as not to get Donnie defensive—“it’s not like he’s going anywhere after he steps down and Pastor Bron takes over. He’s just retiring.”
Pastor Thomas had been the pastor of the Holy Church since before I was born. He was a good man, but he was firm in the foundations the church was built upon. No jewelry, women have long hair, men short hair, no alcohol, no tattoos, no dancing, no movie theaters. By the time I was in high school, most of the parishioners had started to wear rings, and the younger women cut their hair in the current styles. While he had been resistant at first, he had gradually quit preaching against many of the “smaller sins.” However, sexual immorality, like sex outside of marriage and homosexuality, had often been a topic of his sermons.
“Let’s think about it, Donnie.” I was sweating at the thought of it.
“But, Brooke, you’d be so great for the kids. There’s no reason to—”
I broke in, “I just don’t think it’s a good idea, not something we should rush into. There’s lots of factors that could blow up in our faces. Plus, I have my hands full with Mom and trying to get used to the idea of being back here. Why add to it by taking on a job that might upset the church?”
