I will start this endeavor again in October.

Helen Ware hung up the phone after finishing her conversation with her friend Angela Hines. Helen was always calling Angela. Angela had told Helen that Karen had called her too. Helen took a sip of the cup of coffee on her desk. She almost choked. She had forgotten that the cup coffee had been on her desk for more than an hour. She started to throw the half-full cup of coffee in the wastebasket, but she remembered the note that the cleaning crew had left her before. “Please do not throw liquid into the trash cans.” The cleaning crew had even gone to her manager on her. She decided against throwing the cup in the trash. She sat the cup back on her desk.

Helen’s mind was spinning because of the email she had received from her friend Tammy Andrews. Helen still could not believe what Tammy had written.

Dear Helen,
I am writing this letter to do several things. First, to apologize for telling all of you all's business the other day. I should not have done that.

Second, I no longer want to be a part of this group. Of the past few weeks, hanging out with you all is not fun. All we do is talk about people. I am tired of talking about people. It was fun at first, but now it is just down right wrong. I am at fault, too. I should have never told you all the things I told you. It felt good to be the one that knew everyone’s business, but now, I do not even want to know my own business much less anyone else’s business. I took a long look at myself in the mirror and I did not like what I saw. This will probably cause me all kinds of trouble, but I am willing to take that chance because I want my soul to be saved.

I wish only the best for you all. I mean no harm by this letter. I will not cause you all any harm. It is my hope that you all will cause me no harm. I have asked God to forgive me. I am asking each of you to forgive me.

Be Blessed,
Tammy

Helen laughed as she thought about how Angela had reacted to the news about the letter. Helen expected Angela to react as she had. It was funny how upset Angela got at the least little thing.

Helen knew that Tammy was right to a point. Her and her friends did gossip too much. Helen could not argue with that fact. She just could not believe that Tammy wanted to end their friendship like this. Helen was good friends with Tammy, much closer than the rest of the girls. Angela did not like Tammy. Mary was indifferent, but she was indifferent to most things. Karen did not seem to care for Tammy either. Helen was the only one who actually cared anything for Tammy.

Tammy was a nice person. She was always cordial to Helen. Tammy even let Helen borrow some of her clothes, which Helen still had. Helen tried to figure out what Tammy had to be thinking.

Helen played with her long black hair. It was time for her to get her weave adjusted. She pulled at the loose strands of her hair. She threw them in the wastebasket. She hoped that the cleaning crew did not leave her a note about her hair.

Helen looked at her longs stocking less legs. She needed to shave her legs as well. She let her hands run the length of her long legs. She was so skinny, that she could feel the bones in her legs. She could not figure out why she had lost so much weight recently. She went from a size 8 to a size 6. She was not trying to do that either, but she had.

Helen thought about her conversation with Tammy when Tammy noticed Helen’s weight lose, “Girl, you are loosing a lot of weight. Is it because you are worried about what Peter is going to say if he finds out that you told the girls about that girl that he got pregnant?” Helen blew a breath. Her cousin peter had told her about that in confidence, but Mary had convinced Helen to tell all his business. Mary had a crush on peter. Why had Helen opened her mouth?

Helen felt bad at that moment. Maybe Tammy was right. They did gossip too much. Their gossiping had gotten several people into a bunch of trouble. Helen put her head down on her desk. She felt sick to her stomach. She was sure that it had something to do with all the gossiping she had done. Maybe it had to do with the lie she had told Tammy.

Helen’s head started hurting as she thought, “Why did I tell Tammy that I had been filmed while having sex? That was such a lie. I cannot believe that she did not tell anyone either. I guess Tammy can keep her mouth shut. Why did I say something about it when I was with the girls? I am in a mess. Lord, you have got to get me out of this.”

Helen lifted her head. She reached into the credenza behind her head and grabbed two aspirin. She did not want to, but she took the pills with a swig of the old coffee. She almost gagged on the pills, but she managed to swallow them down before she spit them out.

She opened her email program and located the email from Tammy. She clicked the reply button and responded to the email.

Tammy,
Of course, this email shocked me. I can’t believe that you don’t want to be friends with us anymore, well I can see why the other girls, but me too. I thought we were friends, but I guess I was the only one who interested in a friendship. If you do not want to be friends anymore, then that is cool. I am not going to cause any trouble for you, but Angela probably is. Mary and Karen will follow Angela’s lead, so watch out.

-Helen

Helen pressed the send button before she could tell Tammy that she was right for not wanting to hang out with the evil gossiping women. Helen was glad that Tammy had the courage to get out now. Helen had to figure out how she was going to get away from the Café Sisters herself.

10.18.06 - Word Count: 1,092

Angela Hines walked through the hallway. She was going to the copier to make some copies. She walked pass the geeky computer guy. He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes at him. He had asked her out before but there was no way that she was going out with him. Angela was only 5 feet 3 inches, but the computer guy was shorter than here. She had no interest in dating a guy that short. He was a pale white color. She was dark chocolate brown. They would look a hot mess in public. Angela giggled as she thought about the looks she would get if she walked into her church, Highway of Glory Non-Denominational Church, with that pasty geek. 

Angela headed back to her desk after she made her copies. She ended up taking longer than she had expected because her friend, Karen Valwood, was in the copy room. They ended up talking about what had happened the other day with their friends, Helen, Mary, and Tammy. Angela was not sure if she should call Tammy her friend after she had told everyone’s business. Angela turned dark purple thinking about Tammy. 

Angela moved the mouse around so that her screensaver would disappear. She noticed that she had several email messages. She hated reading emails, so she paid no attention to them. She looked at the program on her computer screen and began typing the numbers into the program. She was doing well when the phone rang. It was Karen. Karen asked, “Did you see the email from Tammy? This girl is a trip.” Angela made a face. She did not feel like being bothered with that girl. Angela responded, “Naw, you know I cannot stand checking emails. Besides, I ain’t even in the mood to deal with her trifling behind! She is going to make me slap her!” Karen chuckled at how mad Angela was getting before she said, “You need to calm down before you pop something. Why do you let her get to you like that?” Angela huffed, “I do not know why she is tripping anyway. What did she say in the email anyway?” Karen sighed and said, “You should read it for yourself.” Angela grunted, “Whatever. When I get around to it. Bye.” Karen mumbled a response and then they both hung up the phone. 

Angela hit her knee on the bottom the keyboard tray of her desk. She mumbled an ouch and rubbed her knee. Why was she letting Tammy get to her? Tammy was not really her friend anyway. She was a friend of Helen. Helen had let their pastor, Bishop Anthony Powers, push Tammy off on her and Helen had pushed Tammy off on them. Angela did not even like Tammy. Tammy always acted as if she was better than everyone else was. She did not have a reason to act like that either. She did not wear the latest style of clothing and her shoes were always two years old. Tammy could not stand Tammy. No matter what the email said, Angela was going to give Tammy a piece of her mind. 

Angela maximized her email program. She scrolled down through the emails. She could not believe that she had sixty-two unanswered emails. She finally found the email from Tammy. It was in the middle of the list. Angela clicked on the email and printed it out. 

Angela grabbed her keys from inside her purse. She stood up and walked outside to go to her car to read the email. Angela wanted to read it while she walked, but she resisted the urge to do that because she might have act a fool and she did not want to act a fool in front of her co-workers. 

Angela sat in her car. She read the email.

Dear Angela, 
I am writing this letter to do several things. First, to apologize for telling all of you all's business the other day. I should not have done that. 

Second, I no longer want to be a part of this group. Of the past few weeks, hanging out with you all is not fun. All we do is talk about people. I am tired of talking about people. It was fun at first, but now it is just down right wrong. I am at fault, too. I should have never told you all the things I told you. It felt good to be the one that knew everyone’s business, but now, I do not even want to know my own business much less anyone else’s business. I took a long look at myself in the mirror and I did not like what I saw. This will probably cause me all kinds of trouble, but I am willing to take that chance because I want my soul to be saved. 

I wish only the best for you all. I mean no harm by this letter. I will not cause you all any harm. It is my hope that you all will cause me no harm. I have asked God to forgive me. I am asking each of you to forgive me. 

Be Blessed, 
Tammy 

Angela almost laughed after she had read the email twice. This was some bull. Tammy had lost her mind. Angela read the letter again just to make sure that she was reading what she was reading. It said the same thing that it had said the first two times she read it. 

Angela was not sure how she wanted to respond to Tammy. Did she want to respond back by email? Did she want to respond in person? Did she want to respond on the phone? Angela was sure that she did not want to respond by email. She hated writing emails more than she hated reading emails. Who invented email anyway? Angela shook the thought of hurting the person who had created email from her head. She had to focus on Tammy and what she was going to say to her. Angela was trying to figure out if she wanted to do it in person or on the phone. It should probably be by phone because if she did it in person, Tammy would end up hurt or dead. 

Angela folded the email up and stuck it in the pocket of her purple pants. She composed herself and went back into the office. Angela could not get Tammy off her mind, though. Tammy had no idea what kind of trouble was coming her way. 

10.17.06 - Word Count: 1,087

Tammy Andrews leaned back in her chair and stretched her 5 foot 6 inch body as far as she could. She had been sitting at her desk for over two hours. Her light beige face was half red from the frustration that she was feeling towards her friends. She was not even sure if they were her friends. She blinked her light brown eyes and stared at the computer screen. She tried to think of what to write, but nothing came to her at that moment.

Tammy brushed a string of her brown hair back behind her ear. She was tired. Every since lunch with her friends, Angela, Helen, Mary, and Karen, she hadn’t spoken to any of them. She was sure that they were all mad at her. Tammy didn’t even really care at this point. They were all gossips and they needed to be on the altar on Sunday. That was not going to happen because she was the only one that thought they needed to be delivered from their gossiping spirits.

Tammy thought about Highway of Glory Non-Denominational Church. She wondered what the pastor, Bishop Anthony Powers would think if he knew that several of his members were out gossiping about the fellow pastors in town. “He probably would not think much because he was one of her sources,” Tammy thought. Tammy either verified or got her information from her pastor. How had she gotten caught up in this whole mess?

No one knew that Bishop Powers was Tammy’s third cousin or something like that. The Bishop never made it point to mention it, so Tammy did not mention it either. They had met at a family reunion a few years ago. Once Bishop found out that Tammy had just moved to Collier City, he invited her to the church. He had preached such a dynamic sermon at the family reunion that Tammy went to his church. It was wonderful at first. The services were on fire. The choir sung the glory of the Lord down from Heaven. Bishop preached sermons that convicted you to the core. Lately, though, Tammy very rarely felt anything when she was at church. After Tammy had gotten in good with the Café Sisters (as she called her friends that she gossiped with), she had not felt right about a lot of things in her life.

Tammy shook her head. That caused that annoying strand of hair to fall from her ear. She put the hair back behind her ear. Tammy took a sip of her coffee and went back to typing the letter to God that she was working on.

Lord,
Forgive me for being a gossip. I am tired of being a gossip. I am tired of gossiping. I don’t know how to quit. I cannot seem to quit either. I am tired of feeling like I feel. I want to stop gossiping. I need Your help. Please help me.

Tammy paused for a second. She heard her grandmother’s voice say… “Lord, put a bad taste in her mouth whenever she starts to gossip. Tammy smiled and wrote some more words in her letter.

Whenever I go to gossip, Lord, put a bad taste in my mouth. Lord, I am tired of being friends with the Café Sisters, especially if they are going to keep gossiping. Lord, help me to break those ties without any mess. You know how they are. They will be mean and vindictive. I just want out of this mess. Help me, please.
-Tammy

Tammy read over the letter once more. It sounded good to her. She printed it out and put it in her Bible. She prayed silently that God would answer her prayer quickly.

Tammy saved the letter to God that she had just written. She opened up a new document and started typing a letter to the Café Sisters.

Dear *,
I am writing this letter to do several things. First, to apologize for telling all of you all's business the other day. I should not have done that.

Second, I no longer want to be a part of this group. Of the past few weeks, hanging out with you all is not fun. All we do is talk about people. I am tired of talking about people. It was fun at first, but now it is just down right wrong. I am at fault, too. I should have never told you all the things I told you. It felt good to be the one that knew everyone’s business, but now, I do not even want to know my own business much less anyone else’s business. I took a long look at myself in the mirror and I did not like what I saw. This will probably cause me all kinds of trouble, but I am willing to take that chance because I want my soul to be saved.

I wish only the best for you all. I mean no harm by this letter. I will not cause you all any harm. It is my hope that you all will cause me no harm. I have asked God to forgive me. I am asking each of you to forgive me.

Be Blessed,
Tammy

Tammy opened her email program. She sent out four individual emails; one to each of the Café Sisters. She was not sure how they were going to react, but she was half expecting something crazy to happen.

Tammy went to the restroom. She needed a break. She had put so much effort into writing her letters that she needed a moment to relax. The walk to the restroom seemed longer than usual. Her feet seemed to get heavier with each step. She walked by her manager. Her manager smiled at her. Tammy forced herself to smile back at her manager. Tammy did not want her nosey manager bothering her right now. Tammy shook her head as she thought, “I am surrounded by nosey gossiping people. This does not make any sense. Lord, I need help.”

Tammy finally made it to the restroom. She walked into one of the stalls. She leaned up against one of the walls. She wanted to slide down and sit on the floor, but she did not know how clean the floor was. Tammy’s body gave way to the weight that she felt. Before she knew it, she was sitting on the floor with her head in her hands, crying harder than she had ever cried. Tammy sat on the restroom floor and cried for over 5 minutes. When she finished, she felt so much lighter. She even felt happier. Tammy was glad about that.

10.16.06 - Word Count: 1,111

Tammy sat at the table and listened as the four other women sitting with her gossiped.  When the five of them got together, all they ever did was gossip.  They talked about everyone that they could think of to talk about.  Tammy wondered what the others would think of each other if they knew that they all gossiped about each other when they visited one on one.  Paul was right, "The tongue was an unruly creature."  How many sermons had they heard about the tongue being a source of mess?  Tammy wanted to ask them, "Are you all sure we are Christians?"

Angela, Helen, Mary, and Karen were currently gossiping about a gospel singer in the city.  It had been alleged that the singer was cheating on his wife with a female pastor in a neighboring city.  Tammy was waiting for her friends to ask her for her side of the story.  Tammy knew the whole story.  Tammy usually knew the latest gossip.  She knew someone, who knew someone, who knew a person who knew everybody who was anybody's business.

Tammy could not believe how she had gotten caught up in gossiping.  She never grew up gossiping.  Her mother was always the last one to know anything of interest.  Her mother had always told her, "Honey, it's enough just to know your own business.  You do not need to be worrying about anyone else's business."  It was easy to get caught up with the gossip though.  Once she met Caroline Franklin, gossiping became a part of Tammy's life.

Caroline Franklin knew someone who knew everybody in the gospel world.  Tammy had never met this friend of Caroline.  Tammy was not even sure that Caroline's friend existed.  Caroline got Tammy hooked by talking about Carver Boone, one of Tammy's favorite singers.  Apparently, Carver was fooling around with his manager's 19 year-old daughter.  Tammy stopped her thoughts.  She could not believe that she was gossiping with herself.  Lord, she needed help.

Angela touched Tammy's arm, "Girl, did you hear me?  What do you know about Oscar Eastman?"  Tammy did not answer Angela.  Tammy was trying to resist the urge to gossip.  It was hard though.  All four of the ladies who were sitting at the table with Tammy just stared at her, waiting for a response.  A rush of adrenaline raced through Tammy's body.  The roof of her mouth salivated and her heartbeat raced.  Every fiber of her flesh wanted to spill her guts.  Her spirit told her to keep her mouth shut.  Tammy was not sure what to do.  Karen said, "Well, are you gonna tell us?  I know you know.  You need to quit tripping and gone and tell us."  Tammy smiled, "You all know I got my sources.  Yea, I know the story."  Tammy paused and then said, "Apparently, Pastor Callvar's husband walked in on Oscar and Pastor Callvar in the middle of it.  He almost passed out.  Pastor Callvar's husband cussed them both out, called the police, and blocked the door so that Oscar could not leave."

"Girl, you know you lying."

"Who was on top?"

"Did anybody go to jail?"

"Is Pastor Callvar's husband ok?"

Tammy shook her head.  She told herself that she was not going to gossip, but she had done it again.  Tammy felt tears welling up in her eyes.  She was tired of feeling like this.  Excited while she was spreading the gossip, but shameful after she had opened her mouth, that was no way to live.  She often prayed that she wouldn't gossip when she got together with her friends, but it never worked out for her.

Mary said, "Is that all of the story?"  Tammy shook her head, "No.  But it's enough of the story.  We do not need to be gossiping anyway.  None of that is our busy anyway."

Helen made a face, "Oh, Lord, here we go again.  You act a fool every time you say something about somebody.  Why don't you just quit saying stuff about folk, instead of bothering us?"

Tammy lamented, "If I did not tell you all what you all wanted to know, I would be ostracized and you all know it."

Angela rolled her eyes, "If you do not want to gossip, then why do you always know the latest gossip?  Seems like you want to know the latest info, but you do not want to share it.  That ain't right."

Tammy sighed, "It ain't like that.  I am just tired of getting together with you all and all we ever do is talk about people.  That is all we do.  That is not right.  We even talk about each other when the groups are separated.  Angela, didn't you tell me that Mary was looking at porno sites?  Karen, didn’t you tell me that Helen had run over her neighbor's rose bush?  We all gossip and no one, I mean no one is off limits.  God only knows what you all have said about me."

Angela made her mean face, "You are such a witch.  I cannot believe you said some mess like that.  You just messy."  Karen added, "That was cold-hearted.  You did not even have to go there.  That was just messy."

Tammy lowered her head.  She wanted to cry.  She could not believe that she had been that callous and cold.  She did not usually act that way.  Tammy just wanted to get out of there.

The women ate their food in silence.

Helen interrupted the silence, "Tammy is telling the truth.  We do gossip about each other like we ain't even friends.  I mean Mary may only be looking, but one of us has actually participated in some porno.  I ain't saying who, but that is what I heard." All the ladies looked at each other, trying to figure out which one of them was the guilty culprit.

Tammy shook her head.  What had she done?  Had it come down to this?  She wanted to quit gossiping so much that she would jeopardize her friendship with the four ladies sitting at the table with her.

Tammy stared at Helen.  Helen gave Tammy a wicked smile because Helen knew that Tammy knew who the culprit was.  Tammy wondered, "Which one of the two women would be the first to reveal that Helen was the one who had participated?"

10.14.06 - Word Count: 1,058