Chapter 4
Donovan went after the man to try to get his contact information. He was hoping to connect with another Christian man, even if he was under a different denomination. He went closer and closer to him. “Excuse me.”
The forty-one-year-old father of six and grandfather of two turned around. “Yes?”
“You have a card?”
“I’m not a businessman, but an early retiree because I’ve been working on the same company and earning great money since I was sixteen, so they allowed me to retire early and I receive a decent check, but I do have a contact card, yes.” He pulled his card out of his wallet, put his wallet back in the side pocket of his pants and handed the card to Donovan. “Our family’s provided for, thank God Almighty, because I am a minister.”
“Oh, you are?”
“Yes. I just dress casually when I’m not involved in church or ministry activities. Besides, I don’t live off the members of my church. What I do is spread the good news. My whole family works, even my adult children, so my family’s well provided for.”
“So you don’t take tithes?”
“Only those who can tithe. Those that are too poor give one-dollar offerings. I can’t leave my members without their money, you know? I don’t use that money for myself or for my family, not even for our church. I use that money to give food and clothing to the most needy.”
“That’s beautiful. So you’re the minister,” he said and looked down at the card, “Of Saint Jude Baptist Church.”
“That’s right,” said the man, smiling. “You have a contact card, too?”
“No. I never thought I’d need one till now. I am going to purchase some on the internet. My girlfriend’s father let me borrow his computer indefinitely for what I would need, so…I ordered a computer online over one month ago and someone else got it, it seems. They must’ve gotten the address wrong, or maybe I was kind of nervous and typed it wrong.”
“Oh, yes, I was wondering how in the world I got a Toshiba Satellite laptop that I never opened. I never opened it because I never ordered it and obviously I didn’t pay for it. It would’ve been stealing and the Lord would’ve been disappointed in me.”
“Wait. Did you say Toshiba Satellite laptop?”
“Yes. Did I get your laptop by mistake, son?”
Donovan looked down at the home address on the card again. It was Donovan’s exact same address, but with a different name of street, and the residence number didn’t have a letter by it, like A or B, like Donovan’s home address did. “Oh, Dear Lord…!”
“So that computer is yours.”
“Yes, you did get my computer by mistake. I typed the address so wrong, I don’t know what I was thinking. I was stressed about my brother in law beating my sister, and worried about my relationship with the woman who’s now my girlfriend, frightened at what the parents might think of me for pursuing their daughter who was older than me…I just, oh, Lord…”
“Don’t worry. We all make mistakes.”
“I thought the computer got lost and I would never get it and have to buy another one, making my bank account scream. Thank you for not making it yours and using it.”
“I’d never do that. Like I said, that’s stealing, and the Bible says, in people’s way of talking, ‘You should not steal’. I know I would’ve paid the consequences for that even if I had asked for forgiveness, which I always, always do. You want to come over to my house and pick up your new computer?”
Annalia walked out of the restaurant wondering what was delaying Donovan and was amazed at the friendship that was being born between these two men. Obviously the older man was a Christian. Otherwise he and Donovan wouldn’t have clicked this quickly because she knew Donovan had a hard time trusting people all his life. She walked closer to them.
“Each one of us can go in his or her own car. What do you say? That way you can stay a few minutes and meet my family. My children no longer live with me and my wife, but Sunday is family day.”
“Ok.”
As Minister Bentley got into his $30,000, 2011 Toyota Camry, he said, “I don’t have a computer of my own. All my computer’s hardware got fried, but I don’t do what I know is not right. It’s ok. I can go to the store and buy any computer I want, thank God Almighty. No problem.”
Minutes later, everyone was gone. Shortly after that, they arrived at the Bentley home. Everyone got out of the car and Minister Bentley walked right in. Before they were even introduced, Mrs. Bentley and her older daughter, Britney, loved something they saw in Annalia and Donovan’s eyes. They couldn’t explain what it was, but it was something great. These were good people. It was like they could see through Annalia and Donovan. Mrs. Bentley smiled and seconds later, Britney Bentley did the same. “Hello!”
“Hello, Mrs. Bentley,” said Donovan, offering his hand. “I am Donovan Daniel Thornhart.”
Mrs. Bentley shook Donovan’s hand. “I am Bridget Bentley. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Donovan.”
“Likewise.”
Shaking Mrs. Bentley’s hand, Annalia said, “I am Annalia Henley.”
“It’s great to meet you too, Annalia. So what brings you here?”
“Let us start by saying that we’re members of another Baptist church,” Annalia said.
“That’s nice. Is it close to ours?”
“About three miles,” said Donovan.
“I like that. Is your church named ‘Haven’?”
“Yes, it is.”
“We’ve had activities with them several times! How come we never met you before?”
“Because I’ve only been a member for the past month and two weeks.”
“Oh. I would’ve loved to meet you then, but it is written that every event has a specific time to take place.”
“We met your husband at the ‘Maria Bonita’ restaurant. You guys recently received a computer you didn’t order and you left it somewhere, unopened, sealed, just like it came. Well, that computer is mine. I put in the wrong address by mistake when I made that order. I put in my residence number without the letter, because I live in an apartment, and then I put in the name of your street and my. Zip. Code. Yes. Nice, huh? It was my mistake, so now that I think it over, you guys can keep the computer if you want to. My dad is the renowned Daniel Didier Thornhart, and for the first time in a year and a half I am going to ask him to buy me something—a laptop. You see Minister Bentley told me that all the hardware on your computer was damaged and you needed a new one. He said that he would go get one at the store and with all due respect, he has a heck of a lot more money than I do, but I think that if I made a mistake while placing the order and it got here, that it was meant for you guys, and not for me.”
“Are you serious?” said Britney, stunned, and then went out of the kitchen to get her father. “Dad…”
“As a matter of fact,” Donovan said, dialing his father’s mobile number, hoping he’d be at his brother’s house, “I am calling him up right now.”
“That is so sweet of you, Donovan. Thank you. Robert didn’t want to keep it and open it because he knew that would be stealing something from somebody else and he tries his best not to do the wrong thing when he knows it’s wrong. He thinks about it over and over again until he ends up not doing it, ninety-nine percent of the time. He’s human, so he’s not sinless by any means, but he tries his hardest to be perfect. Most Christians know that perfect doesn’t mean sinless.”
Donovan was talking on the phone with his dad know. “Hey, Daniel Didier, how are you doing?”
“When you call me by my real name instead of calling me Dad or father it’s because you need something. Ask for anything. You know you haven’t asked me to get you anything in quite some time, son.”
“You remember the laptop I ordered?”
“Someone else got it by mistake, you can’t get it back and you need another one. I will get it for you at Office Heaven. Don’t worry. That way this won’t happen again.”
“I found the people that got it by mistake, by pure coincidence and I am here, at their house. Minister Bentley brought me over to pick it up but I decided to let him keep it because if he got it instead of me, because I made a mistake in the order and put in the wrong address, instead of it being brought to the wrong address by mistake, although the address was perfect in the order, that’s because the laptop was meant for Mr. Bentley and not for me. It just so happens that his laptop is trashed. All the hardware gave out at the same time.”
“Oh. Well, that’s very kind of you, son. You’re so sweet. Instead of changing for the worse, you became even better than you used to be. I must say, meeting Annalia Henley and her family and going to church with them was the best thing that’s ever happened to you and to us, besides your birth, of course.” Daniel laughed. “All right son, this is what we’re going to do. I am sure that everyone in that house has his or her own laptop, but you’re going to let Minister Bentley keep it and enjoy it, and then as soon as you leave there with Annalia, we’re going to go to Office Heaven to get you a new laptop. Does she want a new one, too?”
“No. She says that she wants to keep mine even when it doesn’t work anymore just because it’s mine, and she thinks of me every time she uses it.”
“How adorable! Well, ask Annalia if either one of her parents needs a laptop, probably her mother. I have a hard time remembering her name for some reason.”
“It’s Anna Christina Henley.”
“Right, Anna Christina. Beautiful name. Ask Annalia if Anna Christina would like a computer.”
The call was terminated minutes later, and then, Minister Bentley came back into the kitchen, just as Annalia and Donovan were leaving, and said to Donovan, “Thank you. I just removed it from the packaging, opened it and turned it on. When I walk back into my office I am going to set up my user account.” Minister Bentley took the liberty to hug Donovan. “Thank you so much. May God bless you endlessly for this and all your genuinely good deeds.”
“Amen. Thank you for becoming my friend and giving me more new friends. I am going to Office Heaven with my dad to buy me a new laptop. He knows that I am still kind of shaky, I’ll make the same mistake but put in a totally different address, a second person will get it by mistake, and that person will not be as good as you and attempt to give my computer to me even if that person knew that the computer belonged to me and he or she found me.”
“That may be true. Don’t take that chance, son. Go to the Max and buy that new laptop. You deserve it.”
“You deserve the one I just gave you, too. I will come visit when I have free time and we’ll gather at the next activity that all Baptist churches in this town have together.”
“Ok, son. Have a great day and once again, thanks for everything.”
Annalia and Donovan walked out the door and a few minutes later, they were gone from the Bentley mansion.
Minister Bentley said to Mrs. Bentley right at the entrance hallway, “Those kids are good. Really good. It’s a shame they’re not members of our church. Maybe someday, you know.”
“Yes, maybe someday. We know how everything is today, but you don’t know about tomorrow. If everything can change from one minute to the next, imagine how things can change from one day to the next.
* * * *
That night, around six thirty, Daniel, Annalia and Donovan arrived at Office Heaven and got out of the car. Anna Christina went in her car to get her new laptop. She was planning to pay her boss back for the computer. After all, this was her boss. She had doubts about accepting this from him as a gift. As they entered the store, she started talking to him about it. “You don’t want me to pay you back?”
“Nope!” Daniel said as they started exploring the store, looking at different office supplies that Daniel and Anna Christina might need.
“Why don’t you deduct a monthly amount from my check?”
“Nooooo….”
“Oh, come on,” she insisted, walking right behind him, all the while, making Annalia and Donovan laugh their butts off to themselves, sounding like little kids to those who were lucky to hear them, “if you deduct one hundred dollars a month, and I get a six-hundred or seven-hundred-dollar-laptop, it can be paid off in six or seven months.”
“Those one hundred dollars could very well be for your satellite-TV service bill.”
“Come on, Mr. Thornhart.”
“I said no. You know how you can pay me back? By being a good employee, doing a good job. If I deduct that from your check every month and you do a horrible job at the office, what’s the use? Think about it.”
“Well, now that you put it that way…”
They continued to walk through the store. “You see how this works? You be the best you can be, for as long as you work for me, and the computer will be paid back in full. I am not giving you this computer for the fun of it, but because you earned it.”
They stopped walking. “So this is a reward.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Thank you so much.”
“You don’t pay anyone back for a reward they give you, now do you?”
“You’re amazing, with all due respect.”
“Compliment taken and respect appreciated. Now let’s shop for computers and office supplies. Let’s see, I need printer paper, pens, permanent markers, staples…”
After getting all of the extra supplies that were needed at Thornhart Enterprises, they got to the section they came for—the laptop computers. Daniel demanded, “Anna Christina, pick the computer you want, no matter how much it is. Just get what you like.”
“I need nothing extraordinary, just plenty of storage for music, videos I create, eBooks, plenty of RAM for gaming, I like gaming and software for photos. That’s all. Oh and I want the hard drive to be less than one terabyte because I don’t need all that space. I only stored 500 songs in the computer I had and I only created like forty videos in the format that takes up the least space, like MP4 format, you see, because I do video blogs in YouTube.”
“Interesting…”
“I would just record it from my webcam straight to YouTube, but I’ve tried that before and my video came out incomplete,” she frowned. “My videos are still on YouTube, luckily. Although I’m implacable in my opinions, none of them have been taken down. When I see a current even that has everyone talking or that I find unheard of or amazing, I do a video blog about it, expressing my thoughts, my opinions, my questions, and people love that. I seldom get negative comments.” They were still looking at the computers hoping to get exactly what they needed, style, lots of hard drive space, memory, a great processor, a screen and a keyboard that would be big enough, and of course an advanced DVD burner and more than one USB port to connect backup devices like flash drives or media storage like MP3 players. “In fact, only one tenth of the comments I receive are negative, and they’re usually voted thumbs down.”
“Wow… so you do get opposition, but it’s censored.”
“Yes. I get negativity and animosity on my channel because not everyone’s going to like me, but usually no one agrees with those who don’t like me. I must be causing some kind of—impact, if you will. I get video responses congratulating me, and the ones I get that are disrespectful, they get taken down. The negative video responses that I get that are not disrespectful usually stay. Usually, not always.”
“Give me the URL of your YouTube channel.”
“You have a YouTube channel, Mr. Thornhart?”
“Yes, but it’s just to watch videos and put my favorite videos and channels in there. I don’t upload anything of my own. People say I have a great-looking face. My son looks just like me. See, this is the way Don’s going to look when he’s forty. Nonetheless, I don’t dare to show my face to the world. I just, I don’t know. I don’t want to become a celebrity. As long as Thornhart Enterprises continues to thrive, I will be more than happy.”
“That’s a good attitude to have. You look as young as your son, also,” said Anna Christina. She would never suck up to anyone or say anything that she didn’t mean.
Daniel knew her intentions were the best and took this as a compliment, but didn’t agree. “I look eighteen?”
Annalia and Donovan laughed hysterically.
Daniel snapped, kidding, “Shut up!”
They got the message and the tone and remained grinning, like five-year-old rascals.
“Yes, believe it or not, you do.”
“I’m known for being outspoken, although I express my opinions with as much respect as I can, but this time, I will keep my thoughts to myself. All I’m going to say is don’t make me fire you, Anna Christina, because you’re great and I would loathe to lose you.”
The children laughed again.
“This has been quite a fun day, don’t you think, Annalia?”
“Shut up, Donovan Daniel!”
They laughed again, this time to themselves, looking at one another with mischief.
An associate came up to them. That face was eerily familiar. At least he looked like someone they knew and loved. It was Wilbert. They recognized him as Langston’ brother, although they didn’t know him, because the only difference in his and Langston’ faces were the shape and color of Wilbert’s eyes. His eyes were just a little bigger. “Hello, I am Wilbert. How can I help you? I see you have a tough time deciding what laptop to get.”
“Are you Wilbert Ainsworth?”
“Yes, sir.”
Daniel shook Wilbert’s hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Daniel Thornhart.”
“No, you’re my twin,” replied Donovan, his laugh sounding like a hyena’s.
“Donovan Daniel Thornhart!”
Donovan was sorry that he couldn’t help but to make fun of his father after the innocent and well-meant comment that his future mother-in-law made to his father. He laughed in silence with Annalia so much that he started to feel that uncomfortable burning sensation in his throat. He yearned for some water and wanted to ask for it but didn’t have the guts to because his father would know he was laughing at him and slap him.
“It’s nice to meet the legend, with all due respect,” said Wilbert, smiling.
This compliment was also sincere and well-meant. “Thank you, son.”
“It’s not every day you meet the founder of the prestigious Thornhart Enterprises. You know I never dared to have relationships with anyone in your family and I would rather us never meet in the past because of everything that my brother put your daughter through. I am just so ashamed because I always loved Diana, but…”
“You don’t have to be ashamed for the actions of someone else, even if they’re your family. You did nothing wrong. You didn’t even give us a chance to get to know you because you were ‘ashamed’. You’re a great guy and I am very proud of you. You’re brother’s always saying wonders about you.”
“Yes, he does that with everyone and then he puts himself down, way down.”
“That doesn’t mean what he said is not true.”
“It’s like he envies everyone. Everyone’s wonderful and he’s scum. Frankly I am sick and tired of hearing the same crap so I just don’t talk to him. I can’t stand him telling me that I am oh so much better than he is because I treat my girlfriend like a queen and he treats his wife like trash. It makes me cry, so I haven’t spoken to him since he entered rehab.”
“Well, I think you should. He’s not like that anymore.”
The guys stop laughing, and Donovan got the relief of that burning that he needed, quick.
“You should talk to him. He is still going to tell you how amazing you are, but he won’t tell you how worthless he is. It’s been several weeks. He’s improved. I know because I visit him every time I have time to myself, for a few minutes, three times a week, before coming home from work.”