The Preacher

Marvin Sanders was an upright citizen both in morals and character. He was a freelance preacher, offering his services to churches and private groups intent on hearing the word of God from a preacher on demand.

He was good at his job and earned a living through it, to take care of his family. While life seemed to be good, easy-going, and not complicated, he had, for months, kept himself worried about some outstanding mortgage back payments.

He feared losing his house and his family if he was served a foreclosure. He wanted to avoid that from happening but didn't know what to do. His fear of losing everything was enormous, and it still bothered him as he stood on the pulpit of the local church, preaching about injustice.

"Brothers and Sister in Christ, we have come to a point in the history of mankind, where injustice seems to be the new normal. Society is normalizing everything and has added injustice to the list. Think of it this way, a crime is committed. Now you all know that committing a crime in itself, is an act of injustice.

But guess what? Criminals, nowadays days, just after spending a few hours, or a couple of days locked up in a cell room, are sent home, to do what? You all know the answer to this one, don't you?"

Marvin looked around the congregation and saw heads nodding, hands clapping, and shouts of “Praise God,” filling the air. Then the door of the Church opened, and a man walked in, making Marvin look up.

The man was holding hands with his wife and their young child. His name was Micheal Drone, a man in his early fifties, with a rough face and sporting a light mustache. Marvin knew him quite well that he was a dealer in illegal substances, like marijuana and cocaine.

However, he was immensely surprised that Micheal was also a dedicated church attendee. This contrast between Micheal’s dark side, and his frequent church attendance, always baffled Marvin, who looked at him in admiration.

But as he looked at Micheal, he had to take a decision, and he was undecided on what to do. Micheal had committed a crime, an injustice, and Marvin had seen what had happened. Just two hours ago, he had left the house, for his preaching engagement.

He had prepared his notes and put them inside his shoulder bag, and hurriedly left the house because he wanted to get to church quickly, and go over the topic of his sermon.

Except, after driving a few blocks away from the house, he stopped the car abruptly. He had forgotten his Bible and had to go back and pick it up. He called his wife.

"Listen, Loretta, I left my Bible on top of the bed. I'm not far from the house so when I come, just open the bedroom window and throw it down, okay?”

Loretta Sanders, forty-two with a good memory over her head, never forgot anything. In her five years of marriage to Mavin, she had never known him to forget his Bible. In fact, he never did. It was the first thing he would put inside his bag, even before his notes.

She wondered what was wrong with him to forget his Bible. This wasn't the first time he had done that, and in fact, it was becoming quite frequent. As a coffee addict who could drink five cups a day, when she received Marvin's phone call, she gulped down her coffee and made her way to the bedroom.

The minute she opened the door, her eyes caught sight of the bible. Marvin had left it on top of the pillow on his side of the bed. She picked it up and was heading towards the bedroom window when a piece of paper fell out.

Looking down at the paper, the first words that caught her attention, boldly written in red were the words,

Eviction, Final Notice.

Loretta frowned upon reading those words and bent down to pick up the paper. But at that precise moment, the sound of a car blasting its horn distracted her. She knew Marvin had come back.

"Loretta, honey?" Loretta headed towards the window with the Bible, leaving the eviction notice on the floor. She opened the window and as Marvin stood below and raised his hands up to catch the Bible when she threw it down, she said,

"Oh Lord, have mercy on me for what I'm about to do now." Marvin's voice came loud and clear.

"Loretta, come on, I'm going to be late!" Loretta threw down the Bible but said,

"Honey, when you get to church, pray to the Good Lord to forgive you for throwing his words."

"Seriously?" Mavin felt shocked when she said that.

"Throwing the Word of God down like that? I'm sure that's a sin." She added. Marvin sighed, and with arms folded shook his head. He quickly jumped into his car and drove off. He wanted to really prepare himself to give a memorable sermon and so he drove with incredible speed.

But as he slowly approached an intersection some five hundred meters away, he lowered his speed. He could see the traffic light in the distance, turning from green to yellow. A white Toyota Camry overtook him and this caught his attention.

The driver probably late for some urgent appointment, was running at high speed. He wanted to cross the traffic light before it turned red. Marvin was sure that this was what the driver wanted to do. Just as he thought, seconds after the lights turned red, the car crossed without stopping.

Marvin quickly focused his attention on the plate number and tried to use his phone to quickly register the number. Suddenly he heard a crash-sounding noise, looked up, and saw that the white car had crashed into a red sedan, making the car swerve uncontrollably and hit an electricity pole on the opposite side of the intersection.

From the distance, Marvin could see the driver of the Toyota Camry and was sure he knew who it was. The car after the collision sped off immediately. Marvin was shocked but also drove off, without calling the police or ambulance, leaving four passengers trapped inside the red car.

As the church service finished and he was packing his Bible and notes into his bag, Micheal walked up to him and smiled.

“Brother Micheal, how are you, today?” Marvin let out a smile as he greeted Micheal.

”Pastor Marvin, I enjoyed your preaching today.” Marvin smiled his best smile just to mask his disappointment in Micheal. He had seen everything-the accident, and it happened right in front of him. But he was shocked to see Micheal drive off and was eager to know why.

“Thank you, Micheal. I see you’re with your family, today.”

”Yeah, we’re going on a picnic, but I told my wife I must attend today’s service.” Marvin had finished putting his Bible and notes inside his bag, ready to go home.

”You know what Micheal? I admire your dedication to church. I mean, I don’t know how you combine it with what you do.” Micheal laughed.

“Yeah, the illegal stuffs, right?”

”Na, I’m not judging you. I mean anyone would be baffled like I am.”

”Well, it’s all about acceptance, you know? I found that when people don’t accept you because of who they think you are, the Good Lord doesn’t care. He accepts everyone.” Marvin shook his head in disbelief and said,

“You know what, Micheal? If you continue talking like this, you’ll end becoming a preacher, yourself.” They both laughed over it, but almost suddenly, Micheal became serious.

”Pastor Marvin, I want to talk to you on a serious note.” Marvin quickly knew that Micheal wanted to talk about the accident.

“Well go on, I’m listening.” He told him. Micheal leaned forward a bit and whispered into Marvin’s ears.

“I know you saw what happened. I mean, the accident.” Marvin’s eyes widened, as he listened to Micheal. “It was in the news that the four passengers survived but sustained injuries. The family wants justice. They want anyone who knows anything to come out and say something. The reward? Ten thousand dollars.”

Marvin stared at Micheal in disbelief. But he also thought about the reward money. It was a lot of money which he knew, he could use to settle his mortgage back payments.

“Now 10k is quite a considerable sum to walk away with, just for giving out information. But I can double or triple it, say 20, 30k?” Marvin sighed and folded his arm as he pursed his lips. He saw the look of desperation in Micheal and wondered why he was so desperate.

“Are you in some kind of trouble, Micheal?”

“You see that young child and the mother? They’re my whole life, so help me. I can’t serve time.” In that moment, Marvin’s phone rang. He took it out of his bag and looked at the display. It was fifty-five year old, Arthur Simpleton calling.

Arthur ran a small transport business along with his wife, Sally. The four passengers were family members who were under their care. All four were in their twenties, and had all decided to go out and have fun. Now they were all lying in a hospital bed, in two separate rooms that were close to each other.

When Arthur and his wife heard the news about the incident, they were devastated. But Arthur wasn’t as touched by it as Sally was. Standing along the corridor of the hospital in the reception area, he kept pacing up and down thinking of what to do. He called Marvin in that moment. When Marvin answered the phone Arthur smiled.

“Hello, Pastor Marvin?”

“Mr. Simpleton how are you?” Marvin let out a smile.

“You may have heard about the incident that occured just a few hours ago, right?“ Arthur told him, Those four young kids, they were our darlings.”

“Yes, it was very untimely, Mr. Simpleton. I’m sorry to hear that they were family members. So how are you and Mrs. Simpleton doing?”

“Mmm, we could do with a little prayer, definitely.” Marvin sighed, but assured Arthur that he would come to the hospital and see them.

“I’ll be there in say, thirty minutes.” He ended the call and smiled at Micheal. “I’m going to the hospital, Micheal. The four passengers are the Simpletons family members.” Micheal nodded his head and smiled.

“just give my proposal a thought, and get back to me soon, Pastor Marvin.”

“ I will, Micheal.” Marvin, left the church and when he got into his car, he sat down and gave some though to Micheal’s words. The 10k reward was more promising. But what Micheal offered was more promising. He started the engine of the car and drove down to the hospital.

When he got there and saw Arthur, he walked rapidly up to him and when they greeted, Arthur quickly took hold of his right arm.

“Can I talk to you for a second, Marvin?”

“Sure, Arthur.” Arthur took him to a corner and with arms folded told him something that Marvin, found quite disturbing.

“Marvin, thanks for coming, I know I can trust you to do the right thing.” Marvin held his breath as those words reminded him of the conversation he had with Micheal. It made him have some idea of what Arthur had wanted to talk to him about.

“Four innocent lads under my care and no one saw what happened. Isn’t that crazy, Marvin?” He carefully observed Marvin’s body language and eye movement and repeated, “but I trust you’ll do the right thing, Marvin.”

“What are you talking about, Arthur?”

”Okay, Marvin, look I can tell…, I mean, my gut instinct tells me that you know way more than anyone else about the incident. Those four kids? Once they come out, I’m taking full responsibility for their recovery. Now that’s quite a lot to shoulder.”

“Arthur I know you will go through some hard times. But the good Lord will be there for you, and give you the strength to shoulder such a huge responsibilty.”

“He already has.” He said, giving off a broad smile of contentment. Marvin shook his head slowly, awestruck that Arthur was happy about something.

“Sorry, did you say He already has?” He asked. Arthur moved closer to him and just like Micheal, whispered into his ears.

“Marvin, you can help me, by coming forward and telling the truth. I mean you saw what happened, there. The settlement is going to be huge, you know?”

Marvin bent his head down in disbelief that Arthur’s only interest perhaps, was the settlement money that would eventually be paid out. He was sure this was why Arthur had asked him to come over and pray for him and his wife, Sally.

He pondered over the conflict of interest that was already brewing. On the one hand, there was Micheal, pleading for him not to come out and say anything. On the other hand, Arthur wanted him to come forward and speak, so he could eventually pocket the settlement money.

Marvin found himself stuck at having to decide between the two men, whom to support and who to go against. He couldn’t tell Arthur immediately that he agreed, even though Arthur was seriously hoping he would. But seeing Marvin’s prolonged silence, Arthur went on to tell him,

“Look there’s a ten thousand dollar reward, for anyone who has information on the incident. But, I can make it a hundred thousand dollars.” Arthur looked at Marvin certain that he had convinced him by increasing the reward.

But Marvin extended his right hand to shake Arthur. He had a hard decision to make which required some deep thinking.

“Don’t worry Arthur, you’ll pull through this. I know the Good Lord is with you.”

”Amen.”

“I’ll give some thought to what you said, and get back to you in a couple of days.” They shook hands as Marvin was about to leave.

“Fine, Marvin, I’m counting on you.” Marvin nodded, left the hopsital and went home. When he got home, he met his wife Loretta in the living room with a cup of coffee in her hand. She had just switched of the television and got up to give him a hug.

But the tremendous burden that both Michael and Arthur had placed on Marvin's shoulders had left him worn out and dejected. Choosing between who to support and who to oppose was a difficult choice to make.

He decided it was best to talk to his wife about the issue to get her opinion on the matter. She smiled at him and then gave him an embrace as he put his shoulder bag down.

"Is everything alright, Loretta?" He said, when they sat down. Loretta smiled and rested her head on his shoulders, closing her eyes.

"Who could have predicted that this day would come?" Marvin noticed her calm expression and wondered what was wrong with her.

"Loretta, what are you talking about?" Loretta shifted her head away from his shoulders and gazed into his eyes.

“The Good Lord is aware of his children's needs and obediently satisfies them. It seems as though our prayers have been answered, Marvin.”

“Loretta, would you mind telling me what is going on?”

"The accident was in the news. The footage was obtained by police and released to the media. I recognized your vehicle and knew you'd seen everything."

When his wife told him she had seen his car in the news, Marvin was taken aback. "We should go to the police station, Marvin, and claim our reward. Simply tell them what you saw."

Loretta got up all smiling confidently to go and serve herself another cup of coffee. She hummed her way into the kitchen and when she came back with the coffee, she also held in her hand the eviction notice.

“Oh and before you decide to say no, take a look at this for a start.” She handed him the eviction letter and went to sit down. “Oh and guess what? They’re now offering a hundred and fifty thousand, instead of the hundred thousand announced earlier by Arthur Simpleton. So what are you going to do, Marvin?”