Chapter 4: The Good Shepherd
He stood at the door and was greeting and saying goodbye to his church. It was a good service. He was clear and didn't fumble when he spoke. It was hard for him still; he was by nature a quiet and reserved man. One would say an introvert. Yet, he felt this was his calling, and that was his weakness, his quietness, he had to overcome.
The wind picked up a bit, and it was a chilly wind. It was winter, so, it should be cold, but this was abnormally cold. A member of his church had taken pity on him and brought him his coat, so he could still greet them in comfort.
Caleb "Cale" Howard followed his path and took up a religious life. He managed to find a church in his hometown and had been here since he was ordained.
It was nice ministering to the people he grew up around, hard too. He also had found out a lot more about people he knew then he wanted to. There were always minuses that came with the pluses.
A few years ago, Cale went down to a bar at the corner of First and Amistad. The reason Cale went was to check in on a friend. He ended up having an enlightening conversation with the bartender. He would go back every so often and have more enlightening conversations with the bartender, which helped him oddly in a spiritual way. The bar wasn't even there now, and Cale missed those enlightening conversations.
The last member of his church left. Cale closed the church door and turned left. After making sure the door was closed, he looked up to see his wife, Kiley, standing there holding their baby son, Tristen. She looked at him and then checked on her baby son.
"Are you coming home with us?" Kiley asked.
Cale walked over to her. He kissed his baby son on top of his head. He moved a hand under Kiley's brown hair and rested it on the back of her neck. Cale leaned forward and kissed his wife.
Breaking away, "I have my meeting," Cale said.
Kiley nodded, "How is he doing?" she asked.
"He's doing okay, I guess. I'm still worried about him," Cale said.
Kiley smiled, to support him in a moment of doubt, "You'll do your best to help him," she said.
Cale nodded, "I'll try," he said and turned to his two daughters, "Come, give your dad a hug."
The older girl came over, slowly, but she came over, and sort of rolled her eyes. Cale smiled, slightly, she was their honeymoon baby, and now ten-years-old she was starting to show signs of that teenage attitude. Yet he still loved, her. Cale bent down from his towering over six feet in height, he was a basketball center in his youth and hugged her.
"I'll see you when I get home," Cale said.
"What are you doing, Dad?" Amber asked, in that detached, too cool for this attitude, she had started to put on when she talked to him.
"I have to help someone," Cale replied.
Amber nodded, always being raised with him at his station in life, she was used to it. She didn't always like it but was used to it. She finally smiled, "You'll be home later?" she asked.
"Yes, I will," Cale said.
"Okay, bye Dad," Amber said.
Cale shook his head slightly and turned to his younger daughter, the seven-year-old Dakota.
"Daddy, you go now?" Dakota asked.
Cale nodded, "Yes, I do," he said, as he hugged her.
"You have to help somebody?" Dakota asked, being a bit more preceptive then most kids he knew.
"Yes," Cale said, "Someone needs my advice."
Dakota nodded, "Okay Daddy," he said.
Cale hugged both of his daughters, again. He stood up and kissed his wife and son again. He looked at his family and nodded.
Kiley leads their two daughters away. Cale admired the woman he married ten plus years ago. It was a chance meeting, and it was like lightning. He wasn't even finished with seminary when they got married and had Amber. He smiled, as he watched them leave, she was the greatest decision he had ever made.
Cale walked out of the building and to his modest car. It was owned by the church, and his to use for church business. What he was about to do was certainly church business, even just loosely. He drove across the river and came to a rather isolated park, by that same river. Parking his car, he got out and walked out onto the basketball court, the River Court.
Cale looked it over and took in the biting wind. His breath was steam in the unseasonably cold winter weather. In his thirty years, he never remembered it being this cold. But standing on the hardtop of this court brought back memories of playing pickup games here in his youth and playing basketball in high school.
"You came," a young man's voice said.
Cale turned to face where the voice was coming from. The Unnamed Boy, he has yet to tell Cale his name, Cale guessed he had to be around fifteen years old, he was definitely in his mid-teens and was standing by a picnic bench. The boy was strongly built, slightly above average height, his hair was dark and closely cropped, and his skin was caramel in color.
"I'd said I'd be here if you needed me. It would just be easier if you came to my office," Cale said.
The Boy shook his head, "No, no one can know I'm speaking to you, my uncle would have a fit," he said.
"Why would he?" Cale asked.
"It's a long story," The Boy said.
"Would he hurt you?" Cale asked.
The Boy shook his head, "No, he wouldn't hurt me," he said, "It's hard to explain."
"I can't help you if you don't talk to me. How can I help if I don't know what is bothering you?" Cale said.
The Boy shrugged, "I don't know," he said.
"You can start by at least telling me your name," Cale said.
"No, I can't do that," The Boy said, "Yet."
"Tell me how things started at least," Cale said.
"A car accident," he said.
Cale looked at him, "A car accident?" Cale asked.
The Boy nodded, "A car accident," he said.
Cale shook his head, "I'm not getting it," he said.
"My Dad, Step-Mom, and younger brother died in a car accident, and I was left live along with my younger brother and sister," The Boy said.
"So, are your brother and sister also in danger?" Cale asked, considering a worry for his own children's safety flashed through his mind.
"No, their grandma took them in, but refused to take me in," The Boy said.
"Why would they separate you from your brother and sister?" Cale asked.
"Cause, I'm bi-racial, and from my Dad's first marriage," The Boy said.
"So?" Cale asked.
"You don't get it, not everyone is forgiving," The Boy said.
"No, not everyone is," Cale said, "So, your Uncle that took you in, he's your Dad's brother?" Cale asked.
"Sort of," The Boy said.
"So, what are you worried about? What is causing your issues?" Cale asked.
The Boy sighed, "Let's put it to you this way, my uncle wants some alone time," he said.
"Okay?" Cale asked.
"You're not getting it, are you?" The Boy asked, back.
"No, I'm not. Can you please explain?" Cale said.
"I'm going to be sixteen soon, he told me, he'll find me a place to stay on the weekends, so he can be alone," The Boy said, making the sign of air quotes on the word alone.
Cale nodded, "Am I missing something here?" he asked.
The Boy shook his head, "I guess so," he said.
"Please tell me, what I am missing," Cale said, "I can't help you without knowing what the problem is."
"I have to go," The Boy said, checking his cell phone and starting to walk away.
"I want to help," Cale said.
"I'll talk to you soon," The Boy said and kept walking.
Cale watched The Boy leave. He wondered if he should follow him. Cale ended up not following him, as it would close the door rather than open it. He had to build trust with the boy as much as possible. Yet, Cale felt he wasn't doing enough.
Finally, Cale walked off the court. Taking one last look around he got into his car and drove off. As the streets passed by him, he looked around and watched what was going on around him. People were going about their business as if nothing was happening. The weird ignorance of people, Cale noted, maybe it was a coping or survival mechanism. He didn't know, all he knew was there was a lost sheep and he was failing as a shepherd. At least that's how he felt.
Cale stopped at the corner of First and Amistad, he looked out of the window of his car at the now boarded-up bar. These were the times he missed coming here and talking to the omniscient bartender. Cale shook his head, there was no way he could know everything. The bar had just closed suddenly one day and was boarded up. It was gone as suddenly as it came.
Finally, he shook his head and headed off. He didn't let anything else distract him as he reached the house, he lived in. It was owned by the church, a perk of the job. He parked in the driveway and went inside through the kitchen door.
Cale saw Kiley sitting at the kitchen table feeding Tristen. He smiled at his wife as she looked up at him.
"How did it go?" Kiley asked.
Cale shrugged, "I don't know, he told me a few things, but they didn't make sense," he said.
"You'll figure it out, Cale," Kiley said, encouraging him, as she could read, he was failing in his faith and in himself, "I have faith in you, just don't close the door on him."
Cale walked over to her and kissed her cheek, "Thanks Honey," he said.
"You're welcome," Kiley said, "You miss Joshua?"
Cale nodded, "Yeah, he would have known what I should do," he said.
"There is someone else you could ask," Kiley said.
"I do, every night," Cale said.
"So, when it's the right time you'll know what to do," Kiley said.
Cale smiled, "Thanks Honey," he said.
Kiley laughed, "I didn't even go to Seminary and I know this," she said.
Cale laughed, "Sometimes I let my schooling get in the way of my education," he said.
"Well, don't," Kiley said, "After I finished feeding Tris, I'll make lunch for you and the girls."
"Okay, so where are the girls?" Cale asked.
Kiley looked up at her husband, "They are being kids, probably watching the Disney Channel," she said.
"Is that something they should be watching?" Cale asked.
"We agreed to let them have a normal raising, as possible as we could provide, and also teach them what we believe, so we don't have them being all wild," Kiley said.
"I know," Cale said.
"You just don't want our daughters exposed to that stuff," Kiley said.
Cale sighed, "Yeah, pretty much," he said.
"That's normal Dad stuff. Don't worry, Cale, we'll be pro-active with them," Kiley said, "My parents want to take the girls to Disney for a week this summer. This would also give us some alone time, and time with just Tris."
Cale sighed, "Are you sure, I don't want to explain it to the Elders," he said.
"Cale, the girls are eleven and seven, and it's my parent's Christmas present to us and to the girls. Sometimes you have the biggest…" Kiley said.
"I know, I can be uptight, but I want to raise them right and proper," Cale said.
Kiley laughed, "You don't want them to turn out like your friends from high school," she said.
"Yeah, I guess, well sure," Cale said.
"You know Nomi Scott and Key Burke are Amber's best friends at school," Kiley said.
Cale sighed, "I guess it was going to happen, I'm just worried Amber will pick up bad habits, considering who Nomi and Key's Grandma and who their Moms are," he said.
"Dakota is also friends with Scotts, Burkes, and McMichael. Look it's a small town, Cale, people talk, and we can't avoid everyone, and most of the kids our daughters associate with are good kids," Kiley said.
Cale shook his head, "That's what I'm afraid of," he said.
"Don't, remember it's as much as how you raise them as it is in their nature to do something," Kiley said.
"You're wise beyond your years," Cale said.
"Thank you," Kiley said, "Now, go spend time with said daughters, while I finish up with this spud, and make Y'all lunch."
"Yes Ma'am," Cale said, and left the kitchen. He finally took his coat off and hung it up. He walked through the hall and came to the living room. He did indeed find the Disney Channel on, and his two daughters were watching it, sitting on the couch.
He slowly walked in, trying to be quiet, until he was standing behind the couch. "What are we watching?" Cale asked. Both girls jumped with a start.
"Dad, you're disturbing us," Amber said, in her usual tone, which was her trying to act too cool to answer to her dad.
"A movie about kids in school and there is a lot of singing, Daddy," Dakota said.
Cale nodded pretty much standard Disney Channel fare. He shrugged and came over the back of the couch and landed with a thud on the center cushion. Cale landed so hard he and his two daughters bounced.
Dakota giggled; she was still at that age where he could make her laugh. He looked over at Amber and she was shaking her head.
"Again!" Dakota said.
"Dad," Amber said.
"Let's watch it together until Momma has lunch ready for us," Cale said.
They sat there and watched the movie. Cale pegged it right, mindless Disney Channel fare. It was good, light, silly, entertainment for kids, but often Cale would get bored. Again, he wouldn't subject his kids to Davie and Goliath, yet, and that depended on the outcome of a discussion with Kiley. It was Kiley who wanted the kids to be raised as normally as possible, especially after she found out she was pregnant with Amber, after their honeymoon.
"Lunch is on the table," Kiley yelled down the hall from the kitchen door.
"Coming," Cale replied, and got the two girls up and heading towards the kitchen. After they all washed their hands, they went to the kitchen table. Cale got them situated and started the meal with a prayer of thanks. Finally, after the prayer, they ate lunch.