Revelations

“Get up. It’s time to go.”

“I’m comin’, stop hasslin’ me.”

“Don’t talk back. Hurry up.”

 

It was Sunday morning and time to go to church. Big Junior and Little Junior were going to First Baptist Church in Chipshaw, Mississippi. Chipshaw was a small town, four-hundred people, one gas station, one grocery store. Everybody knows everybody and nobody bothers nobody about no thing. Big Junior owned the only gas station; Little Junior pumped the gas. Mary Sue owned the only respectable diner in the town; Billy Joe, a black man, was the waiter. James Horton was the minister at First Baptist.

 

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Did you brush your teeth?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Good boy. Now get in the truck. I gotta go talk to someone real quick.”

 

As Little Junior climbed into the pick-up truck, Big Junior walked across the street to Willie Wilkin’s house. He knocked on the door.

 

“Willie, come out here,” Big Junior shouted. Willie Wilkin opened the door.

“What do you want?”

“You got any whiskey?”

“Naw. Go bother that minister feller.”

“When do you think you’re going to get more?”

“More what?”

“Whiskey.”

“Hell, I don’t know. Hey, did you hear about that Mary Sue there?”

“What about her?”

“I caught her huggin’ and kissin’ that Negro she got working in that diner of hers.”

“Really?”

“Yup. It’s a shame, ain’t it?”

“It is.”

“Such a pretty young thing getting’ dirtied up by that damned Negro. Someone needs to knock some sense in her.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow, Willie.”

“Yup.” And Willie Wilkin closed the door.

 

Big Junior called out: “Boy, just stay right there! I need to get somethin’ from the house!” Big Junior opened the front door and walked to his bedroom. He lifted the mattress and pulled out an old rusty gun. He checked to see if it was loaded; two bullets. He put the gun in his back pocket and put the mattress down. “Somebody needs to teach that Mary Sue a lesson.”

 

The two Junior’s were the first to arrive. They sat down on a bench closest to the exit. The people started coming in every minute. Mary Sue, Billy Joe and the minister were the last people to walk through the entrance. Mary Sue and Billy Bob sat down on a bench in the front row, about ten feet from the minister’s podium. James Horton walked up to the podium and took a sip of water. He grabbed his Bible, opened it, and began: “Today I am going to talk to you marvelous people about the Book of Revelations.”

 

Big Junior went red in the face staring at Mary Sue and Billy Bob. A white woman and a black man. It was shameful in a town like Chipshaw. Big Junior reached around his back and grabbed the gun. Two shots rang out.

 

The churchgoers went insane. They gathered around the lifeless Mary Sue. Big Junior’s eyes went wide looking at the blood spill from her skull. “Somebody call an ambulance!” one person shouted. But it was useless. A group of men tackled the minister. He dropped the gun from his trembling hand and started shouting, “Lord, forgive me! Lord, forgive me!” Big Junior took his hand off the gun and took Little Junior’s hand. “Let’s go, son.” The two walked out of the building as the ambulance arrived. Big Junior whispered to himself: “God save us all.”