The Salvationist - Chapter Two

“He makes me so mad!” sulks Emma to herself peering out at the large dining room window at the well manicured floral garden but loudly enough for her father to hear in the cream plush recliner in the living room.

“What are you talking about dear? Have I upset you?” kindly asks her father in a nonchalant manner.

“No, of course not dad. Knightly just gets on my nerves sometimes” bluntly answers Emma.

“He’s not here. Why are you talking about him now?” curiously asks Mr. Woodhouse.

“He’s on my mind. I’ve been thinking about what he said to me at the wedding. He thinks he knows everything” and then Emma sharply adds “What does he know about life, relationships, or anything else?”

“He’s a smart man to me with every encounter I’ve had. One of the brightest young men I know. He is going somewhere some day” counters her father.

“That’s not what I’m talking about anyway. I know he’s smart but he doesn’t understand anything about people. I understand about people and they way they interact and connect with each other. I’m quite good at setting up couples together even if I say so myself” replies Emma defensively.

“Well, do your friends like being set up by you Emma? Are they happy?” asks her father.

“Yes, they are very happy” Emma states firmly “Look at all the couples I set up in high school and college. Most of them are still together - some are married and having children now. I think that is a very good success rate. Even my own sister with Knightly’s brother has worked out quite well. You are enjoying your grandchildren, right?” defensively responds Emma.

“Oh yes. They are the best treasure in all the earth, perhaps the universe. They are my little tiger and lion with a princess to govern them” jokingly muses her father with a chuckle as memories of their last visit flood his thoughts.

“What exactly did Knightly say to you? Is it something I should be concerned about? He doesn’t seem someone to intentionally offend anyone” investigating asks Mr. Woodhouse.

“No, he was just being himself as usual telling me what to do and not to do” replies Emma rolling her eyes at the memory of Knightly’s comments “He needs to concentrate on himself a little bit more and quit worrying about what I’m doing”.

“He seems to take a special interest in you, Emma. He is very complimentary of you when he speaks to me. You enjoy his company too from what I have seen when he joins us for dinner and other family events. I like him. I think he has some wisdom and offers good advice” gently suggests her father “It wouldn’t be such a bad thing to listen to what he has to say I would think”.

Emma folds her arms, shakes and throws back her head while rolling her eyes and heads towards the stairs to recover some support from the confines of her bedroom.

Closing the door behind her and not too quietly, she picks up her phone to check her text messages and voice mail. The first message is from Harriet, “r u coming 2 the mall w/Martins?”

Emma reads the message and texts back, “I don’t think so. I have things to do today” but thinks out loud to herself, “I don’t know why Harriet likes hanging out with the Martins so much. They are very nice girls but if Harriet wants to improve herself she needs to reach out some and develop more friendships.”

The next text is from Jane “New music for singing company. See you tonight.”

“She is always ordering new stuff from Trade. She can sight read anything. I wish that I could do that. Everything she does is so perfect. I don’t get it. I think it would be pretty hard to be absolutely perfect all the time” slightly jealous truthfully states Emma to herself.

The third text is from Knightly, “Sorry if I upset you. See you tonight”.

“See, he knows he was wrong!” smirks Emma in denial of the actual words of the apology “He knows that I am right and admits it.”

Next Emma listens to her voice mail, the first message is from Ms. Anne Taylor who is the Young People’s Sergeant Major or “YPSM” at Crestwood. She is a teacher but also a life long friend and mentor. “Emma, would you like to come over to my apartment for dinner? We haven’t had a time to catch up in awhile and it would be great to see you again.”

Emma quickly texts back to Ms. Taylor, “See you tomorrow at 6 pm!!!!”

The second voice mail is from Mrs. Bates, one of the elderly Home League members of the Crestwood corps whom Emma is distantly related to. Her mother is not in good health and hasn’t been for years since her stroke. Her mother has difficultly speaking. Mrs. Bates often intuitively speaks out loud for both of them to keep herself company in the silence of their home. They do not have many visitors but are thoroughly enjoying the present seasonal company of Jane, their niece.

Mrs. Bates who was widowed after her husband died in a car accident after only a year of marriage, lives with her mother and takes good care of her. But she is lonely but isn’t able to reach out or meet new people because of the continual daily responsibilities of her mother’s care.

Most people genuinely like Mrs. Bates but because of being alone so much to her thoughts when she has the chance to be with people she tends to ramble and talk incessantly. This is because she is delighted to finally be in the company of other people and wants to feel accepted and a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, most are just annoyed and ignore her. However, Emma has always had time for her and been kind. Mrs. Bates considers Emma a real friend. The truth is that Emma and Mrs. Bates get along quite well most of the time.

Emma believes Mrs. Bates makes the best desserts in the entire city. She sincerely likes to visit Mrs. Bates and her mother on Sunday afternoons because it is very relaxing for her even if most of the time is spent with Mrs. Bates unintentionally bragging about the accomplishments of Jane. Jane is there so the time slips by a little more quickly now.

“Hello Emma. Are you there? Hello! Hello! Hello! Oh yes, yes. This is just a voice mail. Silly me. What was I calling about? Mmm. I don’t remember. Just a minute … uh … let’s see. That’s right. Emma, are you there? I was wondering if you would like to come over for dinner on Friday with Jane, my mother, and me. There will be four of us. It would be so good to see you again. I know that we saw each other Saturday. It really hasn’t been that long ago, only three days. Time does fly. But Jane would really like to see you again and so would I even though it has only been three days but by then it will nearly be a week unless I see you at church before then. Do you think that you would be able to come? I know that you are so busy – a busy schedule and a busy life. You have lots of friends to spend time with – busy, busy, busy. I hope you consider me a friend. We have been friends for such a long time. Jane, my mother, and I think it would be wonderful if you could come Friday. Do you think you could come? I mean do you think that you would be able to come?” Mrs. Bates rambles as the voice mail beeps.

Emma smiles to herself and immediately texts back “I’ll be there on Friday and looking forward to seeing all of you again!”

Emma looks through her massive closet of clothes and decides that she can’t find anything acceptable to wear for work. She has tons of suits and dresses that would be more than satisfactory, but today her mood is keeping her from finding anything in particular that she likes.

Finally choosing a coal pencil skirt and a sage blouse heads off to work in her crystal blue Audi that her father bought for her recent birthday. Emma is a little spoiled and knows it but tries not to let these feelings overwhelm her.

Walking into work everyone greets her in their own grey speckled cubicles. She is well liked and respected as a supervisor in spite of her age. She works in the Public Relations department at area command. Most of her job includes photography and supervision of the area wide web page. She reviews and edits a few feature articles for press releases and for The Salvation Army publications. She enjoys her job most of the time. Austen Knightly works at divisional headquarters as the development director so she has occasional contact with him. Although lately Emma has noticed, he seems to be visiting area command more than he use to even though it is usually a pleasant experience for Emma.

Opening her burgundy soft leather briefcase, she pulls out the most recent set of proofs for the monthly donor newsletter which are due at the end of the week. Everything is almost in place and looks quite professional. “You have an eye for finding just the right touch!” notices Mr. Weston glancing over the desk at the proofs on the table.

“Thank you so much!” Looks up Emma with a friendly smile, “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing fairly well. This has been a busy week in the audit department. I’ve been traveling quite a bit but enjoying my time visiting with the staff and officers at the corps” kindly replies Mr. Weston.

“Have you heard from Grant recently?” asks Emma who met Grant as a young child when he still lived with his father before his mother was promoted to glory. Jane, Grant, and Emma were toddlers in the nursery and often found on the slide of the company sponsored top-notch wood chipped playground at the corps.

“Yes, he’s written. But it doesn’t look like he has plans to visit for awhile. I hear the area command development director position is opening up after Simmons retirement and I was hoping that he would apply” answers Mr. Weston.

“It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for him. You never know. He would be an excellent employee I’m sure because he takes after you” compliments Emma.

Mr. Weston is deeply grateful to think that his son would be considered to be like him. With slight tears in his eyes, Mr. Weston politely thanks Emma and walks out of her office. Mr. Weston has lived alone since his son went to live with his wife’s sister at age ten. This impulsive decision was made at a moment of grief and sorrow on losing his wife. His sister-in-law not having children of her own has limited the amount of time and contact that she made available for Frank to see his father while he was growing up. Grant Churchill has misunderstood this lack of contact as a lack of interest from his father and resented that his father has not had more time for him. Mr. Weston is a kind and gentle man. Grant is never far from his thoughts.

Emma taps the corner of her pen on her cheek while she thinks about how she can help Mr. Weston. She hears the buzz of a text on her phone. It’s Ms. Taylor, “Great I’ll see you then! Dinner will be delicious!”

Suddenly an idea pops into Emma’s strategic mind. Her eyes light up and she jumps and leans forward placing both hands solidly on her desk, “This is perfect! I wonder why I didn’t think of it before. Ms. Taylor and Mr. Weston will be a wonderful couple! They need just a little help working some magic and I’m the right person to do it!”

The day passes rather quickly as Emma has spent most of the hours scheming and daydreaming of plans for matchmaking. The clock hits 4:30 pm and it is time to get some dinner and then make her way to the corps for singing company rehearsal.

Driving to the corps and listening to her Ipod through the car stereo system of The Singing Company from the Central Territory, Emma thinks about how much she will miss Brandon and Anne. They have been good friends for awhile now. She wonders if Lt. Elton will be as good a pastor as Brandon. She hopes so but also believes that it would be difficult for anyone to follow Brandon who is so well liked by the congregation. She doesn’t personally understand the Army rule of not being able to have contact for a year with soldiers after moving but rationally accepts that this is a reasonable rule in order for new officers and soldiers to adjust to their new appointments.

Sunday is the welcome of Lieutenant Elton Phillips which will be followed by a typical corps potluck and time of fellowship. She wonders what Jennings is going to bring this time. “It’s always something crazy and original but oddly tasty” reflects Emma.

“Crestwood has always been assigned to married Majors. When Brandon came it was quite a shock but now to add a single Lieutenant seems strange. Brandon was a really good choice though for the corps. Lt. Elton Phillips must be very capable and educated for the personnel department to decide to send him to Crestwood too. At least he is attractive from his picture at commissioning with his session mates in the recent Northern News” ponders Emma in her thoughts “I hope everyone likes him when he arrives this week. It’s going to be interesting”.