7/20/97, 9:00AM

Everyone was going to church with Mrs. Adams. It was her birthday; and that was what she wanted.

Kourtnee walked into my room at 9:00. She had an outfit, some shoes, and a purse in her hands. It was a cute red suit with matching shoes and purse. She laid the stuff on the bed and told me to put the outfit on for church. I made a face. She looked at me, "Why are you making faces?" I looked at the stuff on my bed, "You couldn't pick out another color besides red?" Kourtnee smiled, "Red is Mama's favorite color. We decided that everyone would wear red." I said, "No one asked for my opinion." Kourtnee walked over to me and pulled my hair, "You are silly." I laid my head on her arm. She tickled the back of my neck. I lifted my head up off of her arm, then stood up, and walked into the closet. I rumbled through my stuff and got my bankbook.

I walked out of the closet and handed Kourtnee my bankbook. She was sitting down where I had been sitting. She took the book from me; "I will have my accountant look at it and get it back to you." I nodded as I picked up my new outfit and inspected it, "How do you know I can even fit this?" She tilted her head to the right, "You just like being difficult. The outfit will fit. Are you hungry?"

I was kind of hungry. I said, "Yes Mame." Kourtnee said, "Come on. I'll fix you something to eat." I didn't move, "You are gonna fix me something to eat? All I have seen you fix was a sandwich with too much mustard on it." Kourtnee walked out of the room as she said, "Fine. I was trying to be a good mother."

Kourtnee was in the kitchen. I didn't see any pots on the stove. I didn't see any pans on the stove. If she was fixing breakfast, there were no clear signs of it. I sat down on one of the stools. Kourtnee looked at me, "So, now you are hungry." I twisted my lip and said, "Not particularly. I just wanted to see what you were fixing for breakfast." She grinned and said, "You can have either raisin bagels, plain bagels, or cheese bagels." I burst out laughing, "A cheese bagel." Kourtnee laughed as she popped a pre-cut cheese bagel in the toaster.

10:45 AM

Kourtnee, Mrs. Austin, Colt, and I all rode to church in Colt's SUV. We drove up to the parking lot of the Greater Bethany Baptist Church in Carrington, Maddocha. The parking lot was full of cars. People were walking towards the church in droves.

We all got out of the SUV. Kourtnee's suit looked just like mine, except she had more sequins and embellishments on it. Colt and Mrs. Austin thought we both looked nice. I felt cheated because Kourtnee's suit had more stuff on it than mine did. Earlier when I had said something to Kourtnee about it, she said, "I bought them so I get to have what I want on mine. Plus you ain't grown enough to wear stuff like this yet." I made a face at her.

Kourtnee, Mrs. Austin, Colt, and I headed towards the church. We looked like we were a singing group or something because we were all dressed in red. Colt had a stylish red pinstriped suit on with a white shirt, red tie, and red and white shoes to match. Mrs. Austin had on a red and white suit with a white hat, white purse, and white shoes. Her hat was so big that I thought whoever sat behind her wasn't going to be able to see what was going on. She looked very elegant. Kourtnee's sequined suit was accessorized with silver diamond studded jewelry, a fancy red purse with red spiked heels to match. We were all dressed for church.

As we entered the church building, there was a group of people standing to one side. They were all dressed in some shade of red. If I had not known that we were celebrating Mrs. Adams birthday, I would have thought that they were the choir or a singing group. Mrs. Shields walked over to Kourtnee, Mrs. Austin, Colt, and I. She grabbed Mrs. Austin, and then she hugged me, and then Colt and Kourtnee. She whispered something in Kourtnee's ear that made Kourtnee blush. I smiled at Colt because I figured that Ms. Shields had said something about Kourtnee and him being together.

We all joined the large red mass in the corner of the church. Them, IV said that Mr. & Mrs. Adams were already in the church waiting. I asked Kourtnee could I go in there and say hello. She told me I could. I went into the church and looked for Mrs. Adams. She was standing up talking to a woman who looked like she was the same age. Mr. Adams saw me and called my name. I went over to him and he gave me a big hug. Then he reached in his pocket and gave me a 20-dollar bill. I hesitantly took it from him. Mrs. Adams had finished talking and she walked over to where we were. She hugged me. I told her happy birthday. She said, "I don't think you are supposed to be in here yet." I smiled and said, "Kourtnee told me I could come in here." Mrs. Adams hugged me again and said, "Get out of here before you and Prissy both get into trouble." I let the sanctuary and went back out to the crowd.

Kourtnee saw the twenty-dollar bill in my hand. She took it out of my hand before she asked, "Where did you get that?" I responded, "Mr. Adams gave it to me." She frowned, "I am gonna get him." I reached my hand out for her to give me the twenty back. She didn't give it to me. I said, "Can I have my money back please?" She put the money in her purse and said, "No!" I was about to start a scene when she frowned at me. I went off to the other side of the church to sulk. Kourtnee turned to look for me. When she saw me sulking she motioned for me to follow her. I followed her outside. She wiggled her index finger in my face as she spouted, "Little girl, do not start acting a fool with me today! I am not in the mood for it and this is not the place for it. You better get your behind in that church and act like you are happy even if you aren't!" Colt was walking towards us. When he reached us he asked, "Is everything ok?" Kourtnee turned around and abruptly said, "Yea, Colt, everything is ok!" Colt looked startled. Kourtnee said, "I'm sorry Colt. Yes, everything is ok." Colt looked at me, and then he looked back at Kourtnee. He said, "I think we are about to go sit down." Kourtnee turned around and looked at me. The look she gave me let me know that she meant business. I still wasn't happy, but I had no choice in the matter. Kourtnee, Colt, and I walked back into the church. Everyone that was dressed in red was filing into the church.

We got to a special section reserved just for the celebrators of Mrs. Adams. I was going to try to sit by Mrs. Austin, but Kourtnee made sure that I sat by her, so I ended up sitting in between Mrs. Austin and Kourtnee. Mrs. Austin rubbed my arm. I was not happy at all.

11:00AM

Service started with the singing of "Holy, Holy, Holy." One of the preachers in the pulpit prayed. Another one of the preachers read the scripture. The service progressed steadily.

Greater Bethany Baptist Church was a nice church. The interior looked like it would seat 4 to 5 thousand people comfortably. It had very high ceilings with chandeliers placed strategically all over the ceiling. The carpet was red and it matched the seat cushions. Most of the benches in the church had a plaque on the sides of it that had a name or several names on it. The members of the church had bought benches and their name or a family member's name was placed on the plaque in recognition of the donation. I asked Kourtnee where Mr. & Mrs. Adams' bench was. She said that the Adams family name was on 6 benches towards the front of the church. I asked Kourtnee, "Why aren't we sitting on those seats?" Kourtnee looked at me, "Girl, be quiet." I put my head down, dejected. Mrs. Austin put her arm around my shoulder and rubbed it.

The choir stood to sing. They sung a slow song. It was rather boring, if you ask me. I was bored. I asked Mrs. Austin if she had a pen and some paper. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small spiral notebook and a pen. I flipped through the spiral. There were pictures that Mrs. Austin had drawn. She smiled as I looked at each of the pictures. Some of them were finished; some weren't. There was a sketch of me on one of the pages. I nudged Kourtnee to show her the sketch. She huffed, looked at the picture, and then told me to put the spiral up and listen.

I gave the spiral back to Mrs. Austin. Mrs. Austin whispered in my ear, "LaDawnya, don't have Kourtnee have to act a fool in here with all of these people. You have gotten into enough trouble this weekend. I think you should just sit here and be quiet. I won't be able to get you out of too much more trouble. Sweetie, it won't be much longer, just sit here, and be quiet." I looked at Mrs. Austin and nodded. I looked at Kourtnee. Her eyes were closed. I could tell that Mrs. Austin was trying to help calm me down, but it wasn't working. I was really bored and it was getting the best of me. I was really trying to not to act a fool. It was very hard because I was bored.

A preacher got up and prayed the pray of penance. After that, the choir sung again. It was another slow song. I thought I was going to go crazy, but I sat still and didn't do anything. After the choir finished, a woman came up and greeted the visitors. She announced that Mrs. Adams had her family with her to celebrate her birthday. The whole church let out a thunderous round of applause as we all stood up. After the greeter finished greeting the visitors, another woman walked to the podium and did the announcements.

The deacons came out for the offering. They moved the offering table to the center of the aisles. One of the preachers from the pulpit prayed and told us to follow the direction of the ushers.

As I faced the center of the church, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Kourtnee had draped a 20-dollar bill across my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "Put this in the offering." I turned to look at her. She motioned for me to turn around. I turned back around. I thought to myself, "How she gonna make me put the 20 that Mr. Adams gave me into the offering?" I rolled my eyes, hoping that Kourtnee would not sense that I had. She didn't. We walked around the offering table. I put the 20 in the basket. I didn't really want to, but I did.

After the offering was over, the choir sung another song. This song was a more upbeat song, but it was still boring. I was much to use to the Pentecostal style of music. The choir finished singing.

One of the other ministers in the pulpit introduced the pastor. When the minister said the pastor's name, the church let out such a booming applause, that I jumped. The congregation clapped for a minute or so. After they sat down, the pastor began his part of the service, preaching the gospel.

He was a distinguished gentleman, somewhere between 50 and 60 years old. He had on a traditional black Baptist robe with gold trim. His voice was deep and bold. He caught your attention with every word.

I looked at Kourtnee. She seemed to be paying very close attention to the preacher or deep in thought. It hadn't really dawn on me, but Colt was sitting on the other side of Kourtnee. I leaned forward to get a look at Colt. He seemed to be daydreaming. I wondered what they both were thinking about.

The pastor said his subject and scripture text, "The Sacrifice of Praise" taken from Hebrews 13:14-16.