Paulette
Harper is an award-winning and best-selling author. She is the owner of Write
Now Literary Virtual Book Tours and is passionate about helping authors succeed
in publishing and marketing their books. Paulette has been writing and
publishing books since 2008. Paulette is the author of That Was Then,
This is Now, Completely Whole and The Sanctuary. Her articles have appeared
on-line and in print.
TITLE: Living Separate Lives
NAME: Paulette Harper
PUBLISHER: Thy Word Publishing
DATE of PUBLICATION: Nov 5, 2013
Chapter 1
“Who cares anyway if I
die? I hate my life; I curse the day I was born,” said Candace as she rolled
out of her twin bed to face yet another day of sheer disappointments. Her feet
landed on the beige, shaggy, dirty carpet that had seen better days. As she sat on the edge of her bed, she looked
around the small apartment as though she was expecting to see something
different, but nothing had changed. “Lord, can I get
a break? Can something good happen in my life?” she cried as her head collapsed
in her hands. She knew within herself that today would be like all the
rest: gloomy, sad, and most of all, lonely. After all she had experienced in
life, how could she think today would be any different? Candace lived in a
small studio apartment off of School Street in the city of Pittsburg,
California, a city surrounded by the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. Her apartment had enough room for only one
dresser and a nightstand, which she got at the neighborhood Goodwill store. The
walls of her apartment were dirty from years of cigarette smoke that didn’t
escape out of the window. Her kitchen table was made of plywood, which she
covered with a red table cloth. The table was encompassed by two chairs, one
for her and the other one she had hoped would be occupied by someone who
genuinely wanted to be with her. The blue and cream décor in her kitchen came
from visiting the neighborhood garage sales.
Her neighbors knew her so well because of the frequent visits she made
to their sales. Although Candace always had a roof over her head, she did not
like the environment in which she lived. After looking intently at her dwelling
place, she lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her thoughts shifted
from her disappointing apartment to her anger about the issues she had to deal
with, problems that had been with her for years, issues with her family. Since
high school, life was hard for Candace. Almost every decision she made never
retuned a good dividend. The men in her life came and went, except for
Derrick. He stayed the longest, but his
bout with kidney failure ended whatever dreams she had of getting out of what
she called the “ghetto.” Derrick was her sure ticket to a better life, she
hoped. The only consolation to his memory was the pictures on the stained walls
and a locket she wore around her neck. Candace grew up with both parents and
two siblings. Her sister, Monique, was three years younger than her; her
brother, Zach, was two years younger. Candace always felt that she got the
worse end of the stick when it came to Monique. Monique was light-skinned with
long, black, wavy hair, which belonged to her, by the way. Candace’s skin tone was a few shades darker than Monique.
She was short in stature; five feet, three inches tall, to be exact. She wore
her hair down and straight, although it mostly contained black hair extensions,
which she bought from the neighborhood beauty supply store.
Monique was the image
of her mother minus a few inches of hair. She stood five feet, eleven inches
with a small frame; she could have been chosen as America’s Next Top Model. But
Monique decided to study law, passing the bar on her first attempt; she then
started her own practice and moved it to Los Angeles. Monique and her parents could not figure out
how Candace didn’t make more of herself. To them, Candace was merely existing
and taking up space. They wrote Candace
off years ago. Her parents would say they didn’t show favoritism to any of
their children, but let Candace tell the story; she would disagree. Candace
didn’t have a great relationship with her parents, nor did she have one with
her sister. She longed to connect with her mother, Vivian, even dreaming of
having meaningful conversations with her, but that never materialized. Vivian
grew up without love, so showing love was not something she did or knew how to
do. Nothing Candace did was ever good enough for her parents. She realized long
ago that they would never validate or accept her for who she was. And that
always bothered her. The only relative
that Candace found solace in was her baby brother. Zach was the comic relief in the family and
the only one who tried to keep Candace from running away from home when they
were teenagers. Despite what he saw from his family, he found laughter to be a
source of comfort. A joke at the right
time would always make Candace laugh instead of crying many days. Now that he was older, his life revolved
around school, his baby, and opening up his own barber shop. Zach had similar features like his dad. He
had a body like LL Cool J, muscular in built, which required him to spend more
time in the gym and less time getting into trouble. His skin tone was the same
as Candace’s, and his hair was black and curly, which he kept cut low. Their dad, Robert, didn’t care about too much
except a good home-cooked meal and the wrestling matches that he saw nightly.
He was content to spend his time sitting in his brown leather recliner with a
blanket next to the wooden table that had enough room to hold his can of soda,
the remote control, and the cordless phone. While
reminiscing about one’s family may bring happiness to others, memories of her
family only angered Candace even more. The longer she lay there, the angrier
she got. In order to avoid another day
filled with anger, she started thinking about how much her life would change
for the better if only she could win the lotto or meet a rich man. But that
wasn’t going to happen any time soon, especially if she continued to linger in
the bed all day like she had been doing for the last few days. Candace sighed
and finally decided to climb out of bed.
Maybe today would be her lucky day. Candace made her way to the small
kitchen and began fixing breakfast. Today’s meal consisted of a slice of toast
and coffee. Once she finished her
breakfast, she stepped into the shower and let the warm water sooth her. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a tee shirt,
and headed out the door. Outside her apartment she could hear the normal
chanting from the neighborhood kids. “There she goes,” the kids began to yell.
Candace was often referred to as “crazy Candi” because many times while walking
to the corner store to pick up her soda, cigarettes, and a lottery ticket, they
often observed her muttering to herself. Whenever they mocked her, she would turn
around and yell back at them. “I ain’t crazy,” she would yell. “I know y’all
think I am, but I’m not. I’m talking to God. That’s something y’all young
hoodlums should think about doing sometimes.”
While
walking along the street, Candace decided to do something differently. Instead
of passing by the church on the way to the store, she decided to go in and
pray. She made herself comfortable in
one of the pews. The soft music that played inside the church made her thoughts
wander to the first time she went to church. Candace
was introduced to Christ by one of her friends, Kaylan, To Candace, going to
church was the last thing on her mind or on her agenda. But she figured church
couldn’t be any worse than being home with people who didn’t give love or show
love. “I’ll give church a try,” she said to herself. “Maybe I could find some
answers to my probing questions as to why God didn’t give me a loving family
and why nothing good happened to me. Maybe the church folks would love me and
help me, but most importantly, pray for me,” she said to herself. She
remembered the first time she walked into New Life Christian Center on
Christmas day. All the people were raising their hands, which was so foreign to
her. It didn’t seem real. She was feeling something, but didn’t know exactly
what to call “it” or if “it” had a name.
This was one feeling she couldn’t identify. The church décor was beautifully decorated
with poinsettias placed around the stage area.
For the first time in Candace’s life, she thought that maybe this was
exactly the thing she needed. When she
and Kaylan entered the sanctuary, the usher wanted to sit them close to the
front of the church, but Candace would not have it. She leaned toward Kaylan
and said, “Oh no, can’t we sit near the back? I might need to go to the
restroom.” Kaylan agreed. Seating them in the front was not a good idea for
more reasons than one. And Kaylan didn’t
want Candace’s first visit to New Life to be her last. Kaylan motioned to the
usher, “We’d like to sit in the back, if that’s okay.” With reservations, the
usher directed them to the empty seats in the back of the church. During
service, the choir did not sing songs that Candace had ever heard. Luckily, the
words were plastered on the screen for people like her, the un-churched. Yet the sound that came from the choir calmed
her apprehension. The choir leader
invited everyone to stand and join along.
Kaylan turned to Candace, as she stood up to join in on the praise. “Come
on, Candace; it’s okay. Let go and let God.” Candace looked skeptical. “Let go
and let God,” Candace muttered. “What in the world does that mean?” Maybe Kaylan will educate her on the church
lingo later, she thought. Candace slowly stood on her feet and
joined Kaylan and all the church folks who didn’t have the same problem as her.
Not feeling as comfortable as Kaylan, Candace left her arms by her side. As the
music continued, people began clapping, shouting, and running around the
church. Candace’s brown eyes widened as big as saucers as she watched all this,
and her focus went from the choir to the little lady doing what appeared to be
some type of praise dance. All Candace
could do was laugh. A nudge from Kaylan on her arm got her attention back on
the choir. After thirty minutes into the singing, the Pastor emerged and took
the podium. “That’s Pastor Jonathon Williams,” Kaylan proudly announced to
Candace “That’s my Pastor,” she said
with excitement. “Good morning, saints. This is the day the Lord has made; let
us be glad and rejoice,” Pastor Williams said in a baritone voice. “Praise the
Lord,” echoed the congregation to the pastor; well, everyone except for
Candace. “First, the usher wanted to seat us in the front of the church. Then
they wanted us to stand. Now we get to yell back to the Pastor?” Candace
whispered right before Kaylan let out a loud “Glory to God.” More claps and
more shouting came, and the applauses became louder. The roar reminded Candace
of a sports game when the winning team finally scored. She remembered that, but had no idea “church”
was anything like that. “Today’s text comes from John 3:16. You may be seated,”
said Pastor Williams. Candace and Kaylan exchanged glances, and Candace’s voice
let out a soft “Praise the Lord.” They immediately started smiling and took
their seats. Candace’s five-inch, black stilettos were not the ideal pair of
shoes to wear to church. They were cute, but being cute was not good enough.
Candace didn’t realize that it took preparation to come to church, something
she’d have to really consider next time. Kaylan reached down into her purse
that was located on the floor and pulled out her notebook, a Bible, and a pen—
all of which Candace had none. “You taking notes?” Candace inquired. “You didn’t tell me to bring a notebook.” “Don’t
worry. Here you go.” Kaylan quietly tore out several pieces of paper from her
notebook and handed them to Candace along with a pen. “The words will be up on
the screen, or we can share my Bible,” Kaylan said as they moved closer
together on the seat. In his message, Pastor Williams talked about the reason
why Jesus came to the world and why people needed to be saved; in his message,
he explained the real meaning of love.
While Pastor was speaking, the ushers were walking around the sanctuary,
offering Kleenex to those who were apparently shedding tears. Candace declined
the offer. Instead, she wiped the tear from her face with the back of her hand
when the Pastor began to talk about love, something she yearned for from her
family and men. “God is love, and God showed His love by given the ultimate
sacrifice by sending His son, Jesus,” said the Pastor. At one point in his message, he stated, “We
try to find love in all the wrong places; the void in our lives can only be
filled by God’s love.” During his message, Candace’s mind traveled back to all
the times she wanted to be loved by her family, excluding Zach because he did
love her. Her mind wondered about the men who had been in and out of her
life. The Pastor was right; she had been
looking for love in all the wrong places.
Unable to stop the flow of tears, she realized the reasons why her life
was in such chaos. Loud shouts of “Amens” startled her, and brought her back
from her reverie. At the end of the
message, Pastor Williams gave what Kaylan called “an invitation to salvation.”
Before Kaylan could ask Candace if she wanted to accept Christ, Candace was
already making her way down to the altar. Yes, it
truly had been a while since Candace first felt that love and acceptance from
others. After the death of Derrick, it was hard for her to see that God really
loved her. But as she walked into the church this dreadful afternoon, she
decided that it was finally time to make a change.
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