Markus

Sadie folded her arms across her chest and tapped her toe, impatience registering on her face.

"Markus! You best light a fire, this ain't gonna go away just 'cause you dawdling."

She scowled as he shuffled into the kitchen with an untucked shirt, a necktie that looked like a four year old had tied it, and shoes in dire need of polishing.

"You look a wreck. What do you think Brother Gibbs is gonna think you showin' up lookin' like you just fell outta bed? Now get that shirt tucked in and then let's work on that tie."

"Aunt Sadie. Stop." He pushed her hands away as she fussed over him like a dog worrying over a bone. "Why are we doin' this? I mean, there's about half a million things I'd rather be doin' than spending time down at church. I like Brother Gibbs and all, but this is such a waste of time."

"Waste of time?" She planted her feet and stood with one hand on her hip and the other waggling a finger under his nose. "Let me tell you about a waste of time. I spent the last four months livin' a life of misery because of all the grief and heartache that happened. That's four months of my life I coulda been doin' something else productive."

Markus didn't like it and didn't agree, but Brother Gibbs asked for this meeting and he knew she was gonna make sure that he hopped to it.

"Fine," he conceded. "I'm goin'. But you ain't the only one who has been feeling down lately. I been through the wringer too, you know."

Sadie nodded. She cupped his handsome young face in her hands and looked up at him with tears threatening tp spill out at the corners of her eyes. "I know, I know. We all been through it and I thank the dear Lord every single day that I still got you with me after all that mess. I thank him that you come away from havin' a big old tree land on you with nothin' worse than a broken arm. I thank him every day it wasn't you we lost that night. I thank him for sparin' me of that pain."

Markus patted her hand. "Aunt Sadie, you ain't gonna do anybody any good at all if you start blubberin' like a baby."

Jerked back to the present, Sadie couldn't help herself from adding, "And I keep on prayin' that God will teach you some respect and snatch that sassy tongue right outta your mouth."

*****************

It was cold outside as Markus brushed the snow from the car, so cold his fingers felt numb through the gloves. It didn't take but a few minutes before his nose felt frozen like one of the giant icicles hanging from the eaves that would snap off if it were bumped. The heat of summer seemed so distant and foreign, like something he had read about in a book or had seen on the television. He thought about summer for a moment, staring at the leaden sky through the vapors of his breath rising in the air. Summers would never be the same again, forever they would be the season tainted by tragedy.

First, there had been the funeral of Jay C. His momma sobered up enough to attend but she was a wreck. She looked like she couldn't wait to get back home and crawl into a bottle and never crawl out. It didn't seem real that Jay C was in that box. It didn't seem real when they lowered it into the ground. But it sure seemed real when he realized he would never see his friend again.

After that, he couldn't bring himself to go to Derrick's funeral. Aunt Sadie had cajoled, then threatened, then begged, but he refused to budge. It all just hurt too much.

And then there was Abbie. Her mother had driven all the way from Ohio and had Sadie's body hauled back to be buried in a cemetery located in a little tiny town near Toledo, a place barely big enough to merit mention in the Rand-McNally atlas. There had been quite a commotion when Abbie's mother rode into town. She castigated the police, the mayor, and every person in the entire neighborhood, but she saved the worst of her wrath for Mr. Morris. He suffered a withering attack of anger and acrimony, powerful enough it could have turned a lump of coal into a diamond. Her voice could be heard resounding throughout the whole neighborhood and not a single word of her diatribe was pleasant.

Markus wanted to go to the funeral. He wanted to see her one last time. He wanted to say goodbye. But it wasn't an option. His one brief meeting with Abbie's mother had resulted in the unspoken threat that if he dared show his face in Ohio, he would never be returning to Gary. Instead he was left with a chunk of his heart torn out and a big empty place he was sure would forever remain so.

At the church, Brother Gibbs welcomed them into his office and offered them coffee from percolator sitting on a hot plate. "Helps warm a body up on a day like today," he said.

"No thanks, Brother Gibbs. I'm fine." Markus said, preferring the cold. Maybe he could freeze away the pain and emptiness.

Brother Gibbs smiled. "I'm glad to see you Markus. We just need to be seein' your face around here a bit more often."

"You tell him, let him have it." Aunt Sadie couldn't resist an added voice to her mission of getting him in church more often. "I been tellin' him that long enough."

Brother Gibbs smiled but his heart wasn't in it. He cleared his throat and said, "I guess you all realize the police been investigating everything that happened this summer. They done talked to everybody in the neighborhood, they even talked to me. 'Course, you all been in and out of the police station because of this mess so many times, you oughta have your own room over there."

"We know Brother. We're grateful for the support of all our friends and for all them what been prayin' for us." Aunt Sadie started to get all emotional again. Markus feared she was going to be forever stuck in this mode, somewhere around halfway between normal and on the brink of tears.

"Well," continued Brother Gibbs. "You should know they have interviewed Mr. Morris at length. They pushed him hard to figure out who was involved. And they been looking for a reason to throw a ring around anybody who was even close to the whole mess."

Markus didn't like where this conversation was headed. Not one bit. He knew the police didn't need much of a reason to suspect and implicate him. He could be just another brother dragged into something he had nothin' to do with. It happened every day and it could happen again.

"And that's the reason I done asked you all down here today."

There was a commotion from the outside and it was clear someone else had entered the building. Lots of foot stomping and shuffling as if someone were trying to rid themselves of the snow covering their shoes.

"Excuse me just a moment," Brother Gibbs said, rising from behind his desk and heading out the door of his office. "We're expecting one more for this little meeting."

When he disappeared, Markus turned to Aunt Sadie. "What's goin' on? You think the police have somehow found a way to drag me in to all this? What have you got me into by getting me down here?"

She shrugged. "I got no idea. He just called and said to be down here. And here we are."

Before Markus could grill her with more questions, the door opened with Brother Gibbs leading another man into his office. It was a man Markus recognized and one he had thought never to see again.

The man reached out his hand and smiled as he spoke. "Good to see you again son. I'm hoping things might go a little more smoothly than the last time we met."

Markus felt his head spinning. "Good to see you too, Coach Holmes."

Aunt Sadie whacked him on the arm. "Ain't you got the decency to introduce me? Did I raise you in a barn?"

"I... I'm sorry. Um. Coach? This is my aunt. Sadie Andrews. She's my aunt." Markus felt confused and flustered and sweat broke out on his forehead in spite of the coolness of Brother Gibb's office.

Coach Holmes shook hands with Sadie. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I'm Drew Holmes, men's basketball coach at Wheeler Tech. And I'm guessing from Markus's introduction you must be Markus's aunt."

Sadie replied, matching his mischievous grin. "Well it is good to meet you too, even if you've managed to turn a perfectly normal young man into someone who seems to have forgotten his manners."

Unable to help himself, Markus interrupted. "Please. Can someone tell me what's going on? Brother Gibbs?"

The older man settled in his chair before replying. "Let's everybody have a seat and get comfortable." He waited while Sadie and Coach Holmes arranged themselves while every second that passed seemed to increase the confusion Markus felt by truckloads.

"Markus, it seems some things have been happening behind the scenes. The police have finished their investigation. I have been keepin' tabs on what's been going on and they are satisfied Jay C and Derrick had acted on their own. They have closed the books. I didn't want to talk to you or Miss Sadie about this until the details were worked out, but, well, here we are. Coach Holmes, why don't you take it from here."

The man Jay C had chased away four months earlier leaned forward in his chair. "About a month ago, I received a call from a man who practically begged me to come and talk to you. He said I was making a big mistake if I didn't. Frankly, after all that's gone on this past summer, the last place I ever again wanted to find myself was Gary, Indiana."

Markus frowned. What has Brother Gibbs been up to? "Coach, I don't know what to say. I..."

"Hang on a minute Markus, let me finish. First things first, how would you like to join us at Wheeler Tech? The basketball season's already underway but who knows? This time next year, I'd really like to see you on the court for us."

Markus sat stunned. He realized Aunt Sadie had tears flowing down her face without even looking at her. His legs felt numb and he couldn't speak. It was like he had been a castaway, forgotten and marooned and believing his life to be forfeit only to find himself rescued and saved at the last minute.

"How about it?" asked Coach after a moment. "Does that seem like a good deal?

"Coach, I... I don't know what to say." He vaguely recognized he had repeated himself but couldn't help it. "I'm shocked, I guess. But yes! Of course I'll be there. I never dreamed in a million years a scholarship would come through. Brother Gibbs, I guess you were..." Markus stopped talking. Brother Gibbs had a peculiar look on his face that mirrored the one Coach Holmes wore. "What? What's going on?"

Coach cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. "Son, There's no scholarship for this. I had a tough time getting our admissions department to take action after all the events of this past year."

Elation turned to stone. His hopes had dared to soar but were shot down yet again.

Aunt Sadie spoke up. "You didn't come here today Coach Holmes just to get this boy all riled up then leave him adrift again, now did you? You know perfectly well we ain't got the money to be payin' for no college. I'm guessin' you got more to tell, don't you?"

"You're right. There is no scholarship offered. Yet there is a way. Your tuition and all room and board would be covered through another source. From a man I only met just last week. Well, I should say from a man I formally met just last week. Although I did see him with a baseball bat in your front yard a while ago."

Mr. Morris? If Markus felt confused before, he was doubly so now.

Everyone spoke at once then and he felt a peculiar mix of emotions. Indescribable emotions. Sorrow and elation. Anger and joy. Empty yet full.

He realized Aunt Sadie was speaking, cupping his face in her hands. "I once told you, and it seems so very long ago, that there ain't nobody ever walked so far down a road that they can't turn back. I guess Sammy Morris done figured out he'd spent enough time runnin' down that old road and it was time to try a new one."

Markus could feel it, he swore he could. It was all his pride and anger snapping and breaking into a thousand pieces. How could he possibly stay angry at the world when a man who had lost everything he loved and held dear could do this for him. It was too much and the emotions he couldn't describe a moment ago washed over him in a wave. He realized tears were running down his face but he didn't care if anyone saw.

Somehow, someway, Mr. Morris had come full circle. Rising up from the midst of loss and sorrow, he breathed life into one left for dead.

He was a man who had found his way home.

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Thank you for reading and sticking with me all the way to the end.  I really do appreciate it!