I have good news to report, but first I must thank Elohine, my wise sister Scribe, for her advice. Who knew that my means of communicating with you would return to me in such a positive way?
Elohine came to me soon after I wrote my last installment. She knows very much about humans, having observed and recorded their actions for many years. In regard to Tammy and Lamarr and their troubles, she had some advice to offer. Her theory was that the trouble was not in the mother’s opinion, but in the mother’s position of authority. “There will be many who have such opinions,” she told me, “but as you said, one must honor one’s mother. Because she is an authority in Tammy’s life, Tammy does not feel comfortable defying her. That lends her arguments strength.”
“How can I overcome this?” I asked her.
“Seek another authority, one with equal status in their lives, and a more positive influence,” she advised. “This will give Tammy strength in her belief that she should be with Lamarr. Her own happiness with him should do the rest.”
I spent a bit of time thinking about Elohine’s advice. It was sound, but I wasn’t certain where I could find such an authority. And then I thought of it. Who would be an equal authority to a mother, except another mother?
I went to find Lamarr’s mother and immediately knew that Elohine’s advice was well thought of. Shawna Woods lives in a small house less than an hour from the city of New York. Like Lamarr’s home, it is shabby and dim, and like Lamarr, there is a light that shines from inside it, and Shawna is the source. She is the mother of nine children, all of whom she loves deeply, and she seems to spend all her time either cooking or laughing.
I gave Lamarr the idea that he should introduce Tammy to his mother, and so the two of them got onto the train this afternoon. I went with them, just to be sure that all went well. I wasn’t needed.
“Ma!” Lamarr shouted as he went through the door. “We’re here!”
He needed to shout, because there was chaos inside—two of his brothers were chasing one another, while his youngest sister trailed after them, shouting. Somewhere, someone was crying, and there was a radio blaring music while something sizzled on the grill.
“You’re late!” Shawna bellowed from the kitchen. “Ay! What’d I say about fingers in my food? You get on out of here! ’Marr!”
She came bustling out of the kitchen, wearing a grease-splotched apron and a kerchief over her hair. Her black eyes picked out Tammy, who was feeling very nervous indeed. “There she is, there she is!” Shawna tugged off her apron, shoved it into Lamarr’s hands, and threw her big arms around Tammy, kissing her on both cheeks. Then she took Tammy’s shoulders and stood back to look at her. I could feel her approval.
“Mm-hmm,” she said, looking Tammy up and down. “Yup. You gonna keep this one.” She nodded and reached out to pinch Lamarr’s cheek. “Done your prayers yet?”
“Not yet. Mind?” He jerked his thumb toward the other room.
“Nah, go on, don’t keep the good Lord waiting. I got her. I hope you’re hungry,” she said, putting an arm around Tammy’s shoulders. “I slayed the fat calf for you. He’s been talking and talking about you, sayin’ how smart you is, how sweet, how pretty. He’s right about that last one.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Tammy said, still nervous, but beginning to feel better. I followed them into the kitchen, doing what I could to soothe Tammy’s anxiety.
“Ma’am, you hear her?” Shawna demanded of her teenage son, who snatched his hand away from the fish fillets grilling on top of the stove. “She be respecting her elders. Sit on down, girl. Food’ll be done in a minute. You want something to drink?”
“Uh, water will be fine.”
“Mitch, you get it for her, go on,” Shawna ordered her son. “Make yourself useful. You work in the city?” She set to work flipping over the fillets.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m working with a graphic design company.”
“They do the logos for signs and ads and such?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you,” she said to Lamarr’s brother, who sat down next to her at the small table.
“What kind of stuff you work on? I seen any of it?”
“Well, I don’t have anything up in the city yet, but there’s a play running next month at the York Theatre—I did their posters.”
“We’ll keep an eye out for that, sure. We don’t get out to the city all that much, but I sure am gonna come more often, now that ’Marr’s got you. You taking good care of my boy?”
Tammy smiled at that. “More like he’s taking good care of me.”
Shawna nodded in approval. “That’s my boy. Since his daddy died, he shaped up to be a real good man. Helping me put Casey and Miranda through school right now. You’ll meet them if you come back in the summer. Mitch, you set the table.”
“I set it last time!” Mitch complained.
“Well, you gonna set it again.”
“Here, let me help,” Tammy said, getting up.
“Nah, she’ll thrash me if I let a guest do any work,” Mitch said, rolling his eyes at his mother, who smiled. “I got it.”
Against their protests, Tammy helped lay out plates, forks, knives, and cups on the table. I couldn’t see how they were all going to fit around that small table—there were seven people to feed that night. The food, seasoned and prepared with a skilled hand, filled the air with scents that I wished I could perceive more clearly. I have seen a few times that the sense of smell has a strong connection to emotion, and these smells made a strange place into home.
When the food was dished out, Shawna said a quick blessing, then shooed her younger children into the other room and sat down with Lamarr and Tammy, moving a stack of books and a pair of large shoes out of the chairs before they did so. They talked about many things—Lamarr’s job and his friends, his sisters in college, his married brothers and the one overseas serving with the military (his name is David Woods—do any of you Guardians know him?), and the concerns of his younger siblings still at home. Tammy was soon fully relaxed and confided in Shawna about her mother’s concerns.
Shawna was not offended, as I had feared she might be. “Mamas gonna be extra careful about they kids,” she said wisely. “Especially about things and people they don’t know anything about. First reaction when they scared is always gonna be to say no. And my ’Marr don’t make it easy for a pretty mama up in Central Park, huh?” She grinned at her son. “But we’re good people, even if we’re different. You tell her that, honey. You tell her that we love you already, yeah? And if she don’t listen to you, I’ll go tell her myself.”
They laughed at that, but Shawna meant it. Tammy was reassured, and determined to approach her mother again, not in anger as she had before. When she and Lamarr left Shawna’s house, late that evening, there was a tranquility between them that hadn’t been there when they arrived. “I love your mama,” Tammy told Lamarr on the train back.
He kissed her forehead. “Everybody does,” he answered.
I believe it. We speak so much about the troubles on the Earth, the way the Garden is ruined, but the blessing of having a mother such as Shawna might be worth all of the struggle and fight of living there. No wonder Lamarr is such a bright light.
Thanks again to Elohine. I would never have thought of this on my own, but it was clearly exactly the right action to take. Perhaps angels of different disciplines should consult with one another more often.