| 1.25.2007 |
| Collier City |
Tammy started her car. It was 5:38 PM. She was late leaving her job because her manager had asked her to work on a project that was not due until the following week. Tammy's manager was like that. The manager always had to have everything done a week ahead of time. The manager got on her subordinates nerves, but upper management loved the woman.
Tammy pulled out of the parking lot. She had a long drive home, being that she lived on the western end of Collier City, and she worked on the eastern end of Collier City. It was a long drive, but a scenic ride.
Tammy pulled onto the street and got into the flow of traffic. It was busy still. She put her Carver Boone CD in the CD player. Regardless of the dirt she knew about Carver, she still enjoyed his music ministry.
Tammy let the must primate her car and her spirit as she got settled in for the long ride home. Carver's music was blessing her soul already.
Tammy finally reached the interstate after 10 minutes of driving. She set the cruise control once she got into the flow of traffic and coasted. The first 30 minutes of the ride was usually easy because she was going in the opposite direction of the traffic, which was cool.
She enjoyed the scenery of Collier City. The skyline was full of elegant office buildings, tall, short, and medium height. Some were at an angle, some were straight, and some had curved domes. The buildings littered the terrain with all kinds of earth tones.
Collier City was an excellent city to live in. It had a rich history and plenty of money. It had an excellent art district and boasted of one of the best public school systems in the state.
Collier City had been around for over 150 years. It started small, but grew rapidly. The founders of the city insisted that each citizen of the city contribute to its upkeep and appearance, no matter what their lot in life. It was the law in Collier City; you had to keep your domicile neat. A reward was given to anyone who reported a ghastly looking residence.
The city was home to four of the largest churches in the state. Highway of Glory Pentecostal Church, Wheatly Street Church of God in Christ, Rainer Avenue Baptist Church, and Grace African-Methodist Church. The pastor's of the churches were known all over the state. With a combined membership of over 400,000 people, these four churches held some power in the city. Oddly enough, all four churches were predominately African-American in membership.
Collier City had the richest government of the state. The mayor was a former lawyer and judge. The city council was comprised of former lawyers and business people. The city had a population that supported the government wholeheartedly.
The city usually had a voter turnout of over 85% at each election. The city spent a lot of money on voter registration and voter care. They had free bus and van services for its residents to get to the polling stations. Each high school student that was turning 18 had to attend a mandatory assembly at their school where they were talked to about the importance of voting and then given the opportunity to register to vote. Collier City was a city that loved its citizens.
The city boasted of a beautiful bridge that was located at the entrance of the city. The bridge hung the length of the part of the Maddocha River that sat in Collier City. The bridge had been a tourist attraction of the city for many years.
Collier City had architecture unlike any other city in the state. The city had been designed by young, innovative architects from its inception. The best architects in the state came from Collier City. It had the best two universities in the state for engineering and architecture. The Who's Who of architecture had traveled through Collier City.
The downtown landscape was filled with tall buildings shaped in various shapes. It was often fun for children to give the buildings names based on their roof shapes.
"That's the lipstick building."
"That's the pencil building."
"That's the fan building."
The residential areas of Collier City were just as beautiful. Many of the houses had the same style, but the colors ranged from white to red to purple and pink. Even the lower income areas of the city were kept up and clean. That was the law in Collier City. "All lawns had to be neatly cut and well-maintained. To help with this effort, young men ages 13-16 were recruited, trained, and paid to mow the lawns of anyone who requested them. These young men were highly trained and many of them went into the landscaping business.
There were so many programs available to the youth of the city that it had the lowest gang and crime rate in the state. Most of the churches in the city had youth programs that were coordinated with the city's youth programs. Juveniles in Collier City did not like to get into trouble because they would have to face the toughest juvenile court system in the state.
The adult crime rate was low as well. Adult criminals were tolerated even less than juvenile criminals were. Traffic violations had been at a record low for the past 5 years. There was a traffic court judge in town and he did not play around when it came to giving traffic violators stiff penalties.
The apartment homes in Collier City were wonderful. The apartment complexes had to be kept up as well as the individual residences were kept up. Apartment complexes received fines if they did not meet the standards that the city government had established.
Collier City was an excellent city to live in.
The easy part of Tammy's ride was over. She exited off the interstate onto the county highway. Traffic was bumper to bumper. This was normal on the highway on Friday evenings. Tammy could never figure out why this was. You would have thought that people would leave work early on Fridays.
Tammy removed the Carver Boone CD from the CD player to replace it with Oscar Eastman's CD. Oscar was a better singer than Carver was, but Tammy preferred Carver's style of music. Tammy shook her head as she thought about how many times she had ran Carver and Oscar down. She was an awful person. She listened to their music and dogged them out without a second thought.
"God, please forgive me."
Tammy fought back her tears. She needed to see clearly to drive home in the traffic.
She grabbed her cellphone and dialed Helen's number. Helen did not answer the phone. Tammy started to call her mother, but that would not work at all. Tammy would have had to pull over on the side of the road and cry if she talked to her mother.
Tammy looked at the outlet mall as she drove by it. The mall was massive. Every store that you could think of was a part of the outlet. The mall was the best thing about Tammy's daily drive home; she could stop by the mall on her way home.
Thinking about shopping, made Tammy feel better. Soon, Tammy had driven past the mall and all she had to keep her company were the office buildings, trees, and sounds of Oscar Eastman.
Oscar's voice was tormenting her more than ministering to her. She was tired of being tormented. If only she had not talked about Oscar as if he was a dog, she would not be enduring this torture. She clicked the radio button on her stereo. She could not take anymore of Oscar.
"Lord, have mercy. Why is this man tormenting me?"
Oscar's latest song was playing on the radio. Tammy had to wipe her eyes. She did not even know Oscar Eastman, why was she feeling so guilty.
Tammy pressed her brakes because traffic was at a standstill. Traffic usually slowed down at this time because she was near Restaurant Town, which the area was called because there were 16 fast food places and 13 restaurants in the area. Most drivers were trying to get over to the right-hand lane so that they could exit and get to the restaurants. Tammy could never figure out why people waited so late to get over; three miles earlier, there was a sign that said, "Restaurant Town, 3 Miles Ahead," on the side of the highway.
Tammy thought about stopping and getting something to eat, herself. She was not hungry, but she did not want to go home. She did not do it, though; she was in the far left lane and she did not feel like wrestling with the traffic. She journeyed on home.
After 20 more minutes of being on the highway, Tammy came to her turn. She made the left turn off the highway to the street that would take her home. She had another 15 minutes before she got home.
She wondered what disaster awaited her at home.Labels: Gossip |
| posted by Me @ 2:45 PM |
| All scripture used here are found in the
King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise specified. |
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