CigarBox – There But By The Grace of God

Dish Bob straightened his tie and checked his hair in the bathroom mirror of his apartment. He had to be over to the church by ten that morning and it was already past nine. As he walked out of his door he took the empty bottle of gin and put it in the dumpster. He eased into his car and started it. As the engine warmed, he opened his well-worn King James Bible and thumbed through some passages. This was to be a difficult funeral. He didn’t know how many people would attend, but he’d arranged to use the First Baptist church for the event. Ray had friends, but Bob didn’t know how many would show. Still, this was actually a historic event. Ray had made his mark on his way out of this world.

He found his way over to the row of shacks behind Fat Eddie’s, and pulled into Barbara’s gravel drive. She was making coffee when he walked into the front door. He had seen her through the window and she motioned him inside, so he didn’t have to disrupt the peace of the morning by knocking on the screen door. Once inside he began to look around at the innovations the little home afforded. Ray had fixed up the shack in many ways. There was bright paneling on the walls, and carpet throughout. The furniture was homemade, but very strong, and very nicely finished. Little “pretties” graced the rooms, and the ceiling was textured with the finest material.

“You like my place,” Barbara said as Bob looked around?

“Why, yes sister. This is well put together.”

“Every time Ray would have a little something left over from a job he’d bring it either here or his momma’s place and fix up something so we’d have something nice. He made them chairs all by himself. He watched all them shows on TV about decorating and he’d try out this, or that, but he never wanted anyone to know, ‘cause he didn’t want anyone to know he was that sensitive.”

“May I sit?”

She motioned toward one of the chairs, “You want coffee?”

“Surely. How are you feeling this morning, sister?”

Barbara stopped pouring the coffee for a minute and hung her head. She didn’t cry, but it was obvious that she was struggling with it. “He’ll always be with me preacher. I know he wasn’t much, but he was all I
had. You can’t kill a man like Ray. He goes on.” She turned with the coffee cup, “I really believe that, Bob.”

“Paul tells us that to be absent from the body is to
be with Christ. Was Ray saved?”

“I don’t know. He never went to church, but in a
way his church was his work.”

“Our Lord Himself was a carpenter, you know.” “Then I guess that means that Ray was a little like
our Lord, doesn’t it?”

Bob was talking around the subject to put together
the sermon for that morning. Ray had a reputation, and he didn’t want to be obviously a liar when he mounted the podium. Still, Ray had made his mark, and a man like that needed a good send off.

“Will you be needing a ride to the church?”

“No, preacher. Ray’s mother is coming over to pick me up. I’m going to ride with her.”

“And June?”

“She’s with that bunch over at the Bend. You know that.” She laughed quietly, “Funny how we’re all going to be sitting in the family section today, huh?”

“We are all in the family of God.”

Barbara smiled and sipped her coffee. “He built the Bend Preacher. No matter what anyone tells you, he built it. Ol’ Claudette and Bill, they took all the glory, but them houses would never have been there if Ray hadn’t done it. That land shifts. We got little earthquakes out here all the time, and Ray, he knew that, so he designed the supports and foundations to roll with it. Bill didn’t know shit about that, but Ray did. Every time you see one of them houses in the Bend you just better believe that it is standing ‘cause
Ray was there.” The old preacher touched her shoulder as he left her shack.

Dish Bob left and went over to the Baptist church to begin the set up. He didn’t have a regular church, but all the local preachers were partial to him because of his connection with the Bend and the proximity of the wealth that resided there. He could ask for just about any church, save the Catholic Church, and that wasn’t to say that the priest wouldn’t show up at the funeral, and he’d get it! Mid morning found Bob sitting alone in the First Baptist Church staring at the walls. Under his breath he prayed, “There, but by the grace of God, go I.”

The Butcher Shop

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