Her personality matched her rhinestone boots. She lit up every room with her milk chocolate skin, eyes like warm coals, deep dimples and perfect white teeth. Her hefty laugh was neither offensive nor raucous, but it invited others to join in. Mrs. Pearl truly got a high off people, different people, all people. “I miss those days at the store. I learned so much from you.” A sadness came over me because I had left Mrs. Pearl behind and she would never be willing or able to catch up. “I knew you’d make it big one day. God had already showed me and I knew it would come to pass.” The best thing about Mrs. Pearl was that she was a born-again Christian, not like a lot of the so called Christians I knew. She had a very no-nonsense view of the world, an attitude she attributed to the Bible. I never had to guess what she thought was right, because she didn’t just talk about it, she lived it. Her consistency, if nothing else, won my respect. My eyes glanced at the Oriental rug. I was ashamed to tell her that I had not been to church since I left the U.S. and that the whole idea of God was so foreign to me now. “You haven’t been serving, have you?” Mrs. Pearl could always read me. I didn’t know if it was the prophetess part of her or the mother part of her, but she always knew. “Excuse me? Serving?” “Serving the Lord, girl. Don’t play with me, Makaeli Hunt. “I’m sorry…I-“ “I still remember the first time you came to church with me.’ “I was nervous that day.” “I could sure tell that. You were shaking.” “It was the only time I had ever been to church except for a couple of weddings or funerals.” “ Now, I knew that was a crying shame.“ Mrs. Pearl shook her head. “But when Pastor Brown talked about Jesus dying to wash away all my sins, no matter what they were, I knew I had found something special,” I said. “You’ve got that right.” “I knew I had a lot of sin in my heart, and if this Jesus could die for me-“ “I used to tell you to keep your heart with all diligence.” Mrs. Pearl threw her hand into the air and waved it gently.
“For out of it come the issues of life.” I finished her sentence. “That’s right, girl.” “And I knew I had to get my heart right, ‘cause that’s what I had-issues.” I smiled. “Don’t we all, sweetie.” Mrs. Pearl stretched out her thick legs. “Then you got all choked up one day and came running up to the altar with your hands in the air, tears running down your face.” “I was pathetic.” “No, you were beautiful.” “I remember like it was yesterday.” “So do I.” “Pastor Brown had preached about God’s perfect love.” I felt tears about to overflow onto my face. “That was the best day of my life.” “If that’s true, then why haven’t you been serving the way you promised the Lord you would?” “That was so long ago.” “So what?” “I’ve been pre-occupied with my sister Raquel. She’s sick, you know?” “Lisa already told me about Raquel when she called, but what does that have to do with your relationship with God?” Mrs. Pearl was never one to play games. “Oh, but you don’t understand. I’ve been working hard , trying to break color barriers and gender barriers and trying to do good in Italy and-“ “You can work till you drop and do all the good you think you can do, but good without God is in vain.”