10:20 am: BJ
BJ watched Judy primping at her dressing room vanity. He grinned: it was so ordinary, but he wanted ordinary. After their marital problems, Judy and Kelvin both quitting the church, the kidnapping, and the rescue, it was nice to be just plain dressing for the morning service again.
Judy led him out into the south corridor and kissed him. He saw that Jesse and Amber were also kissing goodbye. But Kelvin and Keefe just pressed their foreheads together. Ugh! That was ordinary, too. How many times had Keefe complained about Kelvin's fear of being open in public? Well, he didn't really complain -- he was so devoted that anything Kelvin did was fine with him. But BJ could tell that he was suffering over being treated as a good buddy. "The kidnapping and rescue didn't change anything!" he thought."If that doesn't do it, what will?"
Jesse signaled "show time!" Judy took her place at his left side, and Kelvin at his right, and they walked toward the stage entrance. BJ saw that Amber was already halfway to the sanctuary entrance, waiting for the other partners to join her so they could walk to their assigned seats together. But Keefe was just standing there, watching his "good buddy" Kelvin walk away. Poor guy!
Suddenly Kelvin backed up, turned around, and walked back toward his dressing room. Did he forget something? No, he looked terrified. He took Keefe in his arms and kissed him -- twice! Jesse and Judy were shocked -- BJ could hear them gasp from 20 feet away! But Kelvin strutted back, proud of himself, on top of the world. Jesse gave him a "My baby brother got balls!" grin, and they continued on to the stage entrance.
BJ rushed over to Keefe and hugged him. "He finally did it, Buddy! Congratulations!" He kept his arm around Keefe's waist and led him down the hallway to where Amber was waiting. "How did you convince him to overcome his fear?"
"I don't know, really." Keefe was still smiling his angelic smile.
"Did you have a conversation about it?"
"Kelvin talk about it? Not in this lifetime!" He laughed. "Yesterday we went to Abraham's soccer game -- his parents couldn't make it. Then we got Thai take-out, watched a movie on Netflix, and went to bed. That's the only difference I can think of...he was more..."
They had caught up to Amber. She wasn't smiling. Keefe looked down at his shoes. "Uh...tell you later, Buddy."
10:25 am: Amber
Amber stared at Chief walking toward her, as if she had never seen him before. And, in a way, she hadn't. She should have known that he and Kelvin were...lovers, but honestly, it never occurred to her that they were more than just good friends. This changed everything. He was a nice guy, certainly, but was he an appropriate wife...um, husband? Spouse? ...for a Christian minister? Not just because he was a man, because he was so weird. He gestured more than he talked, and when he talked, it made no sense.
But twenty years of being gracious to the oddest types took control, and she smiled serenely at Chief and took his arm, and they walked down the sanctuary corridor. "You know, Chief," she began...
"His name is Keefe," BJ said.
"That's what I said, Keith. It occured to me that we know very little about you. Who your people are, what your Daddy does...so I was thinking, would you and Kelvin like..."
Suddenly Abraham met them, coming down from his Sunday school class.
"Your game yesterday was lit, Dude," Keith told him. "You were on fire!"
Abraham fist-bumped him. "Thanks for taking us out for ice cream and wieners afterwards." Wait -- Queef went to Abraham's soccer game? Alone, or with Kelvin?
"Hey, I'll take any excuse to eat some wieners." Eat some wieners? Was he deliberately using a dirty double-entendre in front of her 14-year old son? Or did he not notice that it was dirty?
Amber calmed herself. "Anyway, Heath, would you and Kelvin like to..." But they were taking their seats -- she was separated from Heath by Abraham and BJ -- and the music was starting. She would have to invite them over for dinner later.
10:35 am: Gideon.
It felt strange sitting next to his Granddad in the congregation, after so many years seeing him on-stage, and Granddad seemed a little uncomfortable, too. "I've never been down here during church before. But I'm retired. I'm a member of the congregation, not a preacher, and this is where I belong."
"And I'm your driver, so this is where I belong," Gideon said, although he felt a little wistful to see his Mom two rows up, sitting with Abraham, BJ, and Keefe. The whole family together. Well, except for Pontius, who skipped church more often than not. "Are we going to Jake's after?"
"Of course, Gideon. I may be retired, but I still have to eat."
Suddenly his phone started vibrating in his pocket. Of course, he had no choice but to check. A text from his friend Jackie, who worked in security. "You'll never guess who I saw kissing in the south corridor!"
"Mom and Dad?" Gideon answered. "They always kiss before Dad comes on stage.
"Close, but no homo. It was your Uncle Kelvin and his butt buddy!"
Darn South Carolina homophobes! "So what?" Gideon typed. "Mom and Dad kiss, why can't Kelvin and Keefe? Are you heterosexist?"
"No, dude, of course not. It was just weird." Another text "Not that they're gay, or anything."
Another buzz -- an email from the Courier, requesting an interview? Why would they want to interview him? But before he could read the email, the music started, Granddad glared at him, and he put his phone away.
12:05 pm: Judy:
Judy knocked on Kelvin's dressing room door. "We're leaving for Jake's, Dummy. You boys about ready?" They didn't answer, so she let herself in.
Yep, they were kissing, so tightly wrapped that you couldn't quite tell where Kelvin ended and Keefe began.
She thumped Kelvin on the shoulder. "Will you give it a rest before you sprain your tongue? Geez, it's like you never kissed anyone before."
Kelvin broke away. "Sorry. But I don't think we can make it to Jake's today. We've got some things to do this afternoon." Keefe smiled that annoying angel-smile. It was more than obvious what "things to do" meant.
"Nope, nope, your lovemaking session can wait. Going to Jake's as a family is as important as the church service. Your fans will be expecting you. Yours too, Bicep Boy."
"I have fans?" Keefe asked.
"Don't tell me your boyfriend confiscates your fan mail? Half the comments on the church website are about you. Maybe one in twenty asks about Kelvin. You're the Golden Boy of the church."
"Then why did you demote me?"
He was talking about removing him as assistant teen minister. What a crazy thing to be hung up about! "You mean, moving you from a part-time job that barely pays minimum wage into a job with three times the salary and five times the responsibility? The only downside that I could see was not being able to spend every minute of every day at Kelvin's side. Or is that a benefit?"
"We like being together," Kelvin said.
"Yeah, that's obvious. But like it or not, sometimes you and your true love have to spend a few minutes apart. Or hours." She grabbed Keefe's arm and led him out of the dressing room. "I'm taking this one to Jake's for dinner. You coming, Dummy?"
More after the break