Chapter 35: The Minister
Some Sunday Afternoon he would come to his office and sit there fiddling about waiting for someone to visit him. Other Sundays he would not have a minute of rest. There were days like today, where he would sit here and have one or two people stop in.
Cale Howard sat behind his desk working on ideas for sermons. His pen mainly just doodling in the corner of the legal pad. Finally, he put the pen down and looked at his office door.
A tall black man stood in the door. Cale looked up at him and smiled.
"Hi Kole," Cale said.
"Church Boy," Kole said.
"Well you were right, I'm a Church Boy," Cale said and laughed.
"It's not funny anymore when you embrace it," Kole said.
"Come in, sit down, you'll be more comfortable," Cale said.
Kole nodded, "Fine," he said and walked in and took a seat in front of the desk, across from Cale.
"So, how are you doing, Kole?" Cale asked.
Kole shrugged and sighed, "Living my life. It's been a while," he said.
"Still have trouble with the family?" Cale asked.
"It's been rough since I got my nephew, and my Mom is sick, and Lou is across the country," Kole said.
Cale nodded, "So, how are you coping?" he asked.
"One shot, one bourbon, one beer," Kole said.
"Back to the bottle?" Cale asked.
"No, not at all, I have responsibilities, too many responsibilities," Kole said.
Cale nodded, "So how many responsibilities do you have?" he asked.
"I have my house, a job, my Mom, and my nephew," Kole said.
Cale nodded, "Kids are great," he said.
"You have how many?" Kole asked.
"I have three, Amber is ten, Dakota is seven and Tristen is one," Cale said.
"Those aren't names one would normally associate with a minister," Kole said.
"Kiley and I talked about it and when she was pregnant with Amber, we didn't want them to have biblical names, and we wanted them to have some sense of normalcy," Cale said.
Kole nodded, "Yeah, I don't have that option, I kind of became a parent by surprise," he said.
"It happens, more than you think," Cale said.
"I guess," Kole said.
"You remember Huck Burke?" Cole asked.
"Yeah, I saw him just the other day," Kole said.
"You know his two oldest daughters with Chase?" Cale asked.
"Yeah, they're close in age," Kole said.
"You know, someone asked how he had two daughters so close in age," Cale said.
"Yeah?" Kole responded.
"You know what he said?" Cale said.
"What did he say?" Kole asked.
"Oops," Cale said.
Kole laughed, "That so sounds like, Huck," he said.
"So, back on topic," Cale said.
"Which would be?" Kole asked.
"Why did you come here," Cale said.
"Which would be?" Kole replied.
"I'm thinking you need to talk about your life," Cale said.
"Maybe, I wanted to visit an old teammate," Kole said.
Cale nodded, "There's that possibility," he said.
Kole shrugged, "I'm raising a teenager Cale," he said, "What do I know about raising kids, I'm still one."
"You're thirty-three, Kole," Cale said.
"You know what I mean," Kole said.
Cale shrugged, "Have you read the bible?" he asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Kole replied.
"It has some good parenting advice in there," Cale said.
Kole stared at Cale, "Look, I'm looking for some practical advice on raising a teenage boy," he said.
"I don't have any other thing to say, other than trying to teach them the best you can, the morals you want them to have," Cale said.
"How do you do that?" Kole asked.
"When you find out…" Cale said.
"I'll know?" Kole replied.
"Oh no, tell me so two of us would know," Cale said, and they both laughed.
"I guess it's a mystery," Kole said.
"Yeah," Cale said.
Kole nodded, "Well I have to head home," he said.
"Did I at least help?" Cale asked with a laugh.
"A little," Kole said, as he got up.
"Glad I could help," Cale said.
"Thank you," Kole replied.
"You're welcome," Cale said.
Kole left. Cale looked down at his legal pad and wondered where to begin.