Read Online John Crow's Devil by Marlon James - Free Book Online

the same way, but the sermon was not to be blamed.
    “Beloved, when Je— Oh praise God! When the Lord, the mighty God of Heaven and Earth, forgives you. I’m just going to read something from Matthew, Chapter Four, verse eighteen to twenty-five.”
    Fifteen minutes before the hour, Lucinda had been stocking hymnals behind the church benches. She was feline in her purpose. The woman never wore perfume, but her new freshness and bounce had brought heat and sweat, and the need to pound her chest with Cussons talcum powder until it looked like a breast of bird feathers. She now took baths with lavender floor cleaner, which she poured into the bath water, ignoring the burn in both holes. A trivial thing to do, but Lucinda had fallen in love with the trivial and now played with the petty. She would tell him the hymnals were carefully stacked, just to make sure he knew that she was responsible. She wanted his approval, even if that only meant the slight rise of his left eyebrow and the tentative curl of his lips into a smile. She was surprised at how much she wanted to be wanted. Lucinda’s life had been so efficiently clipped and blinkered that she had desired nothing from a man but distance.
    “Apostle, the hymnals put out pon the bench. You want me do the Bibl—”
    The keys slipped out of her fingers and fell to the ground. She had cracked the door open slightly. Inside the office, on the floor, were red books and black books, opened and unopened and scattered throughout. The Apostle stood firmly, almost facing her, with his hands on his hips. But he was looking behind him at the full-length mirror. He was naked. Her tiny gasp cut through the din like thunder. He swung around and saw the blur of her as she closed the door and ran off.
    For the first time, Lucinda sat to the rear of the church, staring at the floor as the sermon passed by in a blur.
    … Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. He called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
    “Beloved, when the Lord opens your eyes, because how many of you know that we’re all blind? And if we not blind, some of us can only look behind us. But church, when the Lord opens your eyes it’s your invitation to follow!
    “Listen to me.
    “Now is the time to follow! Any time the Lord reveals something to you, He wants you to be like Elisha. Sell off everything! Get rid of everything! Join Him now, church. Don’t waste any more time in that woman bed you should not be sleeping in. Or spending that money you stole, or reading that letter that you should not be opening, or gossiping that lady you shouldn’t be gossiping, or drinking that liquor you shouldn’t be—oh, do I have a witness in here this morning? Don’t let me start preaching, church! Cut it out! Cut it out! Cut it out!
    “The Lord is looking for followers. Remember the story of the rich man in Mark Ten? Or Eleven, don’t look it up. You know why we don’t have thirteen disciples? It’s not because Adam and Eve sin on Friday the thirteenth. You know why we don’t have thirteen disciples? Because the last one couldn’t throw down everything and follow the Son of Man. Now he’s condemned, still burning in the chambers of fire, mind you, and all his millions of dollars can’t buy one snow cone in Hell. Is that where you’re heading?
    “He’s calling you.
    “There are things you need to burn. Destroy. Give up. Leave behind. If this is you, meet me at the altar right now, praise God!”
    The altar was full. A man screamed Jesus! and collapsed. The Apostle stepped over him to get to the others. Lucinda remained at the back, trying and failing to sweep her mind empty. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. No foreskin. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost.
    “Lucinda.”
    His voice pulled her from the cluster of thoughts and she realized that the church was empty, save for the man still lying on the floor whom