Page 7 of Jade

“I… which part exactly?”

“The part about music and the effect it has on us, and… whatever else you feel led to share.”

Ryan was taken aback, and as he always did, he looked up and prayed for guidance. He expected to feel heavy and stressed, conflicted about what to say, anxious about how to say it. Instead, he felt only lightness.

The man upstairs had given him a big green light.

Jade

Alone in her room, Jade sat at her desk, opened her laptop and logged into the online community education site where she took the extra classes Baze insisted she take. It was hard to focus on analyzing poems that were ancient when her heart was pounding and her butt was tingling and all she could think about was how much trouble she was going to be in when Baze got ahold of her, but she somehow pushed through, and finished the assignment, before moving on to the reading for the next one.

She figured she’d better spend her time wisely now, since she didn’t want to make her trouble worse, and she had no idea how long Baze planned on making her wait before he disciplined her. It could be any time, or if he was really busy, he could make her wait until after dinner. That was always the worst; waiting for a punishment sucked, especially when she knew it was gonna be a big one.

What had she been thinking? Well, for one thing, she’d been thinking that she wouldn’t be caught, and yeah, she’d have confessed eventually, but that wouldn’t have been as mortifying as what had happened. Caught cussing by a pastor—a hot pastor, no less. It truly was just her luck. Really. She was a good girl. If she got in trouble, it was usually just her going along with her friends. Of course the one time she’d broken the rules on her own, and made her own mischief, this had happened.

Figuring she’d have plenty of opportunity to regret her stupidity later, she turned her attention back to her schoolwork, and finished another assignment. She debated whether to work ahead, but in the end, decided her focus was shot, and laid down on her bed, propped against the pillows, her legs crossed at the ankles, her stuffed dragon squished in her arms. She’d barely gotten comfortable when there was a knock on her door.

“Jade? May I come in?”

“Yes.” Her answer was soft spoken and full of regret but she liked that Baze had asked instead of just barging in.

Permission granted, Baze swung the door open. She cringed at the look on his face. That was bad enough, but she nearly had a heart attack when she saw Pastor Ryan behind him.

“Pastor Ryan! What… what are you doing here?”

Baze answered for him, taking a seat on the edge of Jade’s bed. “Pastor Ryan had some interesting things to say about music and how he felt when he heard you saying all those naughty lyrics, and I thought you needed to hear it, so I invited him up here to share.”

“Oh.” Jade straightened up like a shot and sat on the bed cross-legged, her eyes wide.

Ryan looked around the room until he spotted her desk chair. He dragged it over and sat near her bed.

Jade couldn’t speak. At least not much. Every fiber of her being was consumed by the fact that Pastor Ryan was in her room, her space, and the expression on his face was all Daddy.

She’d been led to believe he wasn’t kinky in the least, and until he’d found her downstairs, she hadn’t seen any evidence to the contrary. Even then, she’d told herself he was doing what any employee at Utopia would do in that situation, and she’d believed it too, until now.

“Jade, look at me please,” Pastor Ryan commanded. Jade obeyed without thinking, twisting her body to face him, and forcing herself to meet his gaze.

“Jade, Little girls shouldn’t listen to that type of lewd and vulgar music. You knew that and you did it anyway, and that bothers me, for a different reason than you might think.”

“What reason?”

“Well, for one thing, I don’t think anybody should listen to that kind of music.”

“You don’t?” A knot settled in the pit of her stomach. She’d grown up in the Bible Belt of the south, and she was pretty sure she had a clear idea of where this was going. Pastor Ryan hadn’t come off as one of those strict, rule-following, my way or the highway, gospel-music-only pastors, but apparently he was. She tried not to roll her eyes and forced herself to give him the courtesy of at least being heard out.

Pastor Ryan shook his head. “I don’t. I think that music is powerful and should be listened to with reverence and awareness to that fact. There are so many wonderful types of music and beautiful lyrics out there for us to enjoy that will uplift us, speak power and peace and love and gratitude over our lives, and fill us with those same things.”

“Right.” Jade nodded. “You mean like gospel music.”

“Gospel music certainly does that but it’s not the only music that does. There are so many different types of music and so many amazing lyrics that can speak to us where we are at and bring happiness to our soul. Classical, instrumental, contemporary, pop, blues, jazz, country.” He paused. “Even some rap.”

Okay. That wasn’t the explanation she’d been expecting. Jade found herself leaning forward, fully engaged as he continued.

“But there is also music, like what you were listening to, that I believe does the opposite. Vulgar angry music can get into our soul as well. It can have a negative effect on our outlook on life, our mental health, and the way we view the world around us. It can breed things like anger, depression, and hate, and bring us down.”

Jade was rapt with interest. His explanation was something she’d never heard before and it was giving her a lot to think about.

“When I heard what you were listening to, and singing, it upset me. I wanted to protect you from its message and the possible effect it could have on you, and, knowing you were breaking at least one rule, I found myself wanting to punish you.”