“No he didn’t,” Sister Mabel shouted.
“But you didn’t make your nieces get up here when they got pregnant. Or any of the boys
right here in this church who made them that way. I count about twelve so far. And that’s
not including the ones who had abortions.” Reign snapped her fingers as realization hit.
“But wait a minute, that counts a sin, too, right? But it’s not one that you can see.”
Gasps echoed throughout the congregation.
“So which is it? Whore or young lady?” she taunted, stretching out her hands as if in
supplication. “Either way, I’m just saying—a sin is a sin. Let the church say ‘Amen’.”
Needless to say, Reign and her mother were immediately escorted from the church’s
main sanctuary, out the door, and told never to return.
Thelma was angered at not only losing her church home, but also the pastor, who—
unknown to Reign—had become the main source of income for their family.
That day, Thelma said she never wanted to lay eyes on Reign again. She kept that promise
until her dying day.
What she couldn’t know was that Reign had already made her peace with whatever
consequences would come with her brutal uncovering of church hypocrisy, long before
she opened her mouth that Sunday.
NKLC MAGAZINE | 33