The Son of a Preacher

Prologue: The meeting *Edited*

Lucas, 1980, Huntsville, Alabama

I wait with my family at the door of our new neighbors' house they moved in yesterday, and my mama thought they would like to have some of her pot roasts since they probably haven't had time to have a "nice" home cooked meal as she put it. If by nice she meant burnt and tasted like butt, not that I would ever voice this out loud or I would get smacked upside the head. If my little brother said such a thing, he would get away with it being the baby of the family, at six years old. He always said such inappropriate things, and they still were deemed to be adorable, while if I even looked like I was thinking something wrong my mom would give me a stern talking to.

My thoughts were interrupted when a charismatic looking man opened up the door. He had this grin on his face while it looked kind I felt chills looking at him. I seemed to be the only one to feel this way my mama blushed, and my daddy and baby brother seemed rather impressed.

" Why Howdy there my name is Bob Harrison and this my Wife, Mary Harrison." My daddy gestured to my mama. " Then this is my two sons Lucas and John..." He was about to continue on when my mamma cut him off. "We just thought we would welcome you and your little ones to the neighborhood." My mamma said gesturing to the pot roast. That's the thing about my parents, my dad handles out the disciplines, so it seems like he's in charge, but it's really my mamma who's in charge.

" Why thank you kindly, I'm sure my family would love this it looks amazing." The man's seemingly kind smile somehow grew, making him look almost like a snake. " Why don't you guys come inside I can introduce you to them." He opened the front door into his house in which was supposed to be a friendly manner, I suppose, but to me, it felt like entering prison. " I even have a son your age." It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me.

" Lucas don't be rude." my mamma said while thumping the back of my head.

" Sorry mama , that sounds wonderful sir looking forward to meeting him," I said with a forced smile.

We went into the man's house, which was somehow nicer than outside it had such an elegant look to it. Upscale living room with leather couches, oak wood furniture and beautiful, classic paintings everywhere. That's not what caught my eye the most though, it was the boy on the couch as he looked up at me with those beautiful big amber orbs, I was instantly drawn in. He looked around twelve years of age, there was something magnetic about him. He seemed to be surrounded by an impenetrable dark bubble that I wanted to fall inside of.

" Oh look at my son, isn't he amazing reading the book of the Lord." The man smiled proudly.

" I wish Lucas would be more like that." my Mamma said with a pointed look at me.

" I'm sure your son has many other talents." said the man smugly.

" Caleb put down the book for a second and come meet the Harrison's." He says in what to me sounds very aggressive.

As he says this a woman and a teenage girl who looks around fifteen come into the living room. As I take in the woman and girl, I can see where Caleb got his looks from, since it obviously couldn't be from the evil man.

" Oh there you guys are, this is my wife Sarah and my daughter Rebecca," then as if he just remembered himself "and my name is Timothy Wymann." the name almost makes me laugh, the name Timothy sounds so innocent, and this man looks anything but.

" Well it's nice to meet you, if your family ever needs your car fixed you can come to me, I own my own mechanic shop. " my dad says proudly.

" Well is that so well, I'm the new preacher at the church that opened up nearby," Timothy says smugly. This scary man, a preacher, is a weird thought since most preachers or at least my past preachers seem like kind spirited men.

" Really that's wonderful, I've been wanting to change churches ever since the preacher at our church got caught cheating on his wife." My mamma says disdainfully.

" Cheating is such a dirty sin, you only need one woman in your life," Timothy says with an edge in his voice. Then as if remembering us kids were there he says " Why don't you kids go play outside, while we have "grown-up" talk." Timothy says, well more like commands.

" Sounds like a good idea and John why don't you go play with your friends and leave your brother and his new friend alone." My mamma suggests, which is strange because she usually makes me let him play with my friends. I guess she really wants to be friends with this family especially the preacher.

His daughter seemed annoyed that she was grouped in with the kids, but I could tell she didn't say anything out of fear of her father. This man looked to instill fear in his family, and I seemed to be the only one to see it. My mamma usually isn't blind to things like this, but I guess her little crush on this preacher seems to be distracting her or at least that's what I hope. Caleb and I wander outside to his backyard and sit down next to each other. We sit in silence for a few seconds before I finally find the courage to speak up to this boy that invokes a weird emotion in me.

" So moving, that must have been tough?" I ask awkwardly scratching the back of my neck.

" Not really, my old neighborhood didn't really have any kids my age," Caleb says shrugging.

" Well there's not much here either, just Harry and he's kind of a pisshead." I roll my eyes at the thought of Harry, who thought he was too good to hang with kids his own age.

" Pisshead?!" Caleb laughs the sound making my stomach feel funny.

" Yeah, pisshead is a term I use instead of cursing, gets me in less trouble with mama," I say with a goofy grin.

" Man I couldn't even use that term, my father would have my head," Caleb says sadly.

" Yeah, he seems like a pisshead himself." I cover my mouth realizing what I just said, but Caleb just laughs.

" Wow, you actually noticed most people are just blinded by his charm," Caleb says looking genuinely surprised.

" I could sense how terrified of him you are," I say feeling angry at the thought of what his father could do to make him so frightened. Then I burst out laughing.

" What's so funny about me being scared of my father?" He huffs.

" You're from the North aren't you calling your daddy, father." I laughed hysterically.

"Maybe, and it's better than saying, daddy, it makes you sound five," Caleb says laughing along with me. This makes me laugh harder, and pretty soon we're both laughing so hard were rolling on the ground.

" Did you have woods to go play in, back in your old neighborhood?" I asked finally calming down.

" Nope, I'm from New York we didn't have anything like that there." He said breathlessly.

" Well I guess I could show you my secret clubhouse, I mean if you want to?" I question all the sudden feeling very shy turning over to face him.

" Of course, I would love to." He says turning to face me too. We just sit there for a second, our breath mixing together just staring into each other's eyes amber on sky blue.

" I'll race you there," I say springing up feeling very nervous all of a sudden. I start running towards the woods behind his house. I look behind me and end up with a big grin when I see him gaining rather quickly.

" Wait up, I don't even know where it is." He shouts with a beautiful smile on his face.

" Well I guess that's too bad, you'll just have to keep up!" I shout back with a laugh.

" Just wait until I catch up with you, you're going to get it!" He laughs.

" Oh, sounds pretty exciting to me," I say with a wink then realizing how that sounds I add on. " I can definitely beat you in a fight." I laugh.

We both run until we get to my secret hideout, both of us arrive breathless but happy and full of life at the same time. It's too bad we couldn't stay this way forever. Just two young best friends no worries, about how to keep our secret hideout hidden from the rest of the world. Not hiding something even bigger and not protecting ourselves. This is the story of how I fell in love with my best friend, The of Son of a preacher.