Fallen Grace

by Sadeqa Johnson

Bubbles had been dismissed from the flock, but she would not tuck her head between her knees, bearing their condemnation and shame.

“Where does it say in the Bible that having a baby out of wedlock is wrong?”

“Psalms 127:3–5: ‘Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward.’

“All that singing and carrying on you do every week in the name of the Lord, and you’re going to put your flesh and blood out on the street because you’re afraid of church gossipers?”

“Yep. In the Bible, one of the Psalms says, ‘Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.’ I never hurt as bad as the night I went into labor, but when morning came, so did my baby. I named her Joy.”

Bubbles’s mother always said houseguests were a lot like fish. “They start to smell after three days.”

Bubbles nodded, though she was as scared as a hooker entering a church on Easter Sunday.

“Both of you are going straight to hell in a handbag!”

Bubbles drank the shot of liquor that Gertrude put in her hand, declaring that this moment was for them. The girls who went away and were left behind.

She didn’t want to run in disgrace anymore, cowering from a family who feared judgment.

“The Bible teaches us that children are the ultimate blessing from God. So why condemn her mother?”