John Northcutt Young

Duo: Two Novels John Northcutt Young

Two novels combined. DEARLY BELOVED: Donnie Lawrence, owner of Eternal Tranquil Chapel, is an over-the-top cliché. His mother moved into his lower Alabama waterfront home and keeps asking, ?When are you getting married?? adding ?I want grandchildren before I die? and ?The patter of little feet will be like beating to my heart.? Coming out doesn?t help. Neither does blurting out a name before the groom-to-be knows. Confessing to his receptionist/secretary does ease Donnie?s conscious, but she winds up being his mother?s Plan B. No wonder Donnie is having a mid-life crisis enabled by the ghost of his dead father. Life changes following the death of a child. Kumbaya Night featuring a drag queen gospel trio at Dearly Beloved furthers the transformation. SECOND BLESSING: Damascus Southern Baptist Church is holding a revival. Mildred knows it will be a disaster. Francis Paul Day, an ex-junkie, is the speaker. She snorts. ?If matters aren?t horrible enough, that heathen has the same christened name as my beloved son!? Francis Paul Day proclaims, ?I am a sinner! Saved by the Grace of God! Washed in the blood of Jesus Christ!? Mildred mocks and ignores him. Knows what a heathen is. Describes her Second Blessings as ?more than just doing right. It?s the knowledge that you are pure. It?s not thinking of yourself better than others, though you are, or showing it, though you do, since it?s as natural as breathing. A Second Blessing is a gift shared with prophets of old and yet to come. It?s not just having my name written in the Book of Life, but engraved.? The first night ends with Communion. Mildred chokes on the Host. Although Francis Paul Day saves her, she knows he?s obsessed with her granddaughter. Is determined to keep them apart. But exposing him reveals a family secret. Jonathan Swift said, ?We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.? SECOND BLESSING ponders this truth.