Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

Born Again

Selma, Alabama

1977

Sookie had called Dena at work and said that she needed to talk to her as soon as possible and that it was extremely important but that she could not discuss it over the phone. “It’s something I need to tell you in person.”

Dena was somewhat alarmed and asked if she couldn’t at least give her a hint as to what it was about. Sookie would give her no clue except that something had happened that she needed to share with her and she could only do it face-to-face. “Can you plan a trip here anytime soon?”

“Well, I can try, Sookie; let me call you back.” Dena got on the phone with her secretary and they rerouted a trip she was making to Seattle, Washington, to include a stopover in Atlanta for one night, which was hard to do but they did it. Dena was concerned. Whatever it was, it sounded serious.

The trip was going to be extremely inconvenient but for the first time in her life, Dena was making an attempt to be a good friend. But she also wished that Sookie would get over her silly refusal to travel north of the Mason-Dixon line. By the time she got into Atlanta, she was exhausted.

Sookie had reserved a quiet table for them at the hotel’s dining room, a lovely formal room that was almost empty. They sat across from each other at the dining room table. After the waiter had taken their dinner order, Dena said, “All right, Sookie, what is going on? What is it?”

Sookie looked somber as she began a speech that she had either rehearsed or had given many times before.

“Dena, there is something about me that you should know.”

“You know you can tell me anything, Sookie, whatever it is.”

“Dena, on May the twenty-second, I invited the Lord to come into my life and I have completely accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.”

“What?”

“As my best friend I wanted to share with you that I now have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

“Sookie, surely you’re not serious?”

Sookie leaned toward her. “Of course I’m serious. I would not joke about a thing like this.”

She was not kidding and was waiting for Dena to say something, but Dena was at a complete loss for words.

“Oh … well, uh … I hope you two will be very happy. I mean, what can I say? Is this what you had to tell me?”

“Part of it. Dena, the other thing I wanted to share with you is that two weeks ago Jesus spoke to my heart and told me that you needed to be saved and I would like the opportunity to personally witness for Christ and introduce Him to you.”

Dena was horrified at the prospect and desperately began looking around for the waiter to bring her a drink.

“You know what, Sookie—that’s great, and if that’s what your thing is, fine—whatever floats your boat. But I don’t go in for all that Bible stuff.”

The waiter was there in a second and Dena ordered a double vodka.

Dena looked at Sookie. “Do you still drink or what?”

Sookie gave her a coy little look. “Of course. I’ll have a glass of Chablis. Even Jesus drank wine.”

“I can’t believe you dragged me all the way down here to tell me this. God, Sookie, I thought it was something important.”

Sookie’s eyes got big. “Well, it is important. To me.”

“I can’t believe you’re serious.”

“I thought you would be happy for me. You don’t seem happy for me.”

“Gee, you’re right, Sookie,” Dena said. “I guess I should just be thrilled to find out that my best friend who I thought had good sense tells me all of a sudden she has some hot line to heaven and is chatting on the phone with Jesus Christ every day. And when did you get so religious all of a sudden?”

The waiter brought their drinks. “Dena, I was always a Christian. You knew that, don’t you remember? I always went to Kappa Bible study on Wednesday nights, you forget, and I always went to church. You would just never come with me. I tried but you had all that theater stuff going on. It’s not anything new. It’s just that I have really made a commitment to live as a true Christian and help spread the Gospel to others.”

Dena continued to stare at her in disbelief.

“After all, Dena, it was Jesus Himself who said that unless a man is born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven and I don’t want you not to be there with us. I care about you. I worry about your soul.”

Strangely enough, at that moment the waiter brought their meals and Dena’s entrée just so happened to be filet of sole. As Dena tried to enjoy her meal, Sookie kept at her.

“You do believe in God, don’t you? Don’t tell me you don’t even believe in God?”

“Sookie, I love you, but let’s don’t talk about this. You are going to make me say things I don’t want to say. Let’s talk about something else. How are the girls?”

Sookie was clearly disappointed but she gave up gracefully. “All right. I promise I won’t talk about it anymore. But I’m not going to give up on you, Dena; no matter what, I’m going to pray for you.”

“Don’t.”

“Well, I will. I am not going to heaven without you … and I have my sneaky ways.”

On the plane back to New York, Dena was still somewhat astonished at Sookie. She must have been brainwashed. When Dena landed she jumped into a cab and headed for the studio. Opening her purse to pay the driver she saw the pamphlets that Sookie had slipped into her purse. One said, “Are You Saved?” and the other, “Jesus Wants You for a Sunbeam.” The only other thing that made the trip worthwhile was the look she imagined would be on Ira Wallace’s face when he found them on his desk.

But the minute she walked into the office in New York, her secretary handed her a news report that had just come in over the wire.

SAG HARBOR—Howard Kingsley, the retired newscaster and “conscience of broadcasting,” died at his home of heart failure last night. He was 68 years of age.