Trinity
Finding of the Singer, the Deacon, and the Good Samaritan
by
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Outside the door to the Diary Queen stood and elderly Hispanic woman holding a small cardboard box with several trinkets, some homemade pieces of costume jewelry, some silver and gold plated bracelets, and 2 handmade rosaries. One of the rosaries caught AnnaMarie's eyes, especially a red one. It had red colorful beads all the way around. It had clear simulated diamond beads on the front of the cross. AnnaMarie looked at the elderly woman as if asking permission to touch, to hold, and to slip it over her tiny little neck. "See, I wear one too. Now mine is old, but there are still a lot of miracles left in it. I pray to it every morning and every night before I go to sleep." AnnaMarie reached over to touch the old woman's rosary, especially the cross. She noticed that it had one diamond missing on the right side of the cross. The second one from the right of the cross. It was already loose, so I just took it off. "You have a shiny little stone missing, AnnaMarie said. "Yes. It's been missing for a long time. I gave it to the Mother of Jesus a long time ago. I didn't have a single dime to give to the church so I asked my daughter to give it to the church one Sunday about 10 years ago. My daughter was very sick and I asked to take me and save her. So, I took out the little stone and gave it to my daughter so she could put it in the collection basket." "So what happened? Is your daughter okay now?", asked Mary Lou. "Well, with the grace of God she is. And, maybe one of these days you may get a chance of meeting her," answered back the old woman. AnnaMarie then asked, "What's her name?" "Krystal. Her name is Krystal. Krystal with a 'K'." After she said Krystal, both Mary Lou and AnnaMarie felt sad for the elderly lady and did not continue the topic any longer. Realizing that the two did not wish to continue this conversation any longer, she broke the silence by saying, "Go ahead, Mija, it's okay. It's a rosary. It's been blessed already. I make them at home and take them to my church and then I ask the priest to bless them before I sell them. And you know what? This is your lucky day for you see, this beautiful red one was blessed by the Catholic Bishop from the San Antonio Diocese. He was visiting our church 2 weeks ago. There's a lot of power in a Bishop's blessing, you know. It was as if Christ Jesus had blessed it himself. This rosary can make a lot of little miracles come true for you. Yes, this is your lucky day, I'd say, Mija. Here, let me put it around your neck. Well, how about that. Fits perfectly on you. I'd say this one's got your name on it. Yes, how about that..." As she slipped it over AnnaMarie's neck, AnnaMarie felt a sense of warmth come all over her tiny little body. It was a good sense of warmth. She somehow felt being drawn close to the elderly woman. She also felt being drawn close to the cross and for some strange reason, felt the presence of her dad all of a sudden and that he was standing there with her. She felt the urge to want to touch and hold on to the cross and not let go. Mary Lou asked how much the rosary cost. The lady began to tell her that it was only $10 dollars, but she quickly stated that it would only be $5 dollars for your gorgeous little angel. "The rosary really and truly has been blessed by the Bishop of San Antonio, you know," she reminded Mary Lou. "The beautiful hair on your little girl is so soft and so angel like. You must use a very special brand of shampoo. The freshness of her hair reminds me of the beautiful red roses I took to the Virgin Mary this morning at church. Wonderful, simply wonderful." And then, she asked a very awkward and unexpected question. "Would you mind if I touch her face and recite in silence a very short prayer over her?" "I feel the presence of something very powerful coming from your blessed little angel." Not really knowing what to say or how to answer this total stranger, something told her she couldn't just say no, so she just stated, "yes" without thinking and hoped the elderly woman was not putting some kind of bad spell or bad omen on her. The elderly woman made the sign of the cross, touched the top of AnnaMarie's head, and very devoutly, sincere, and silently began praying over her head. The vendor's eyes were closed with what appeared to be sincere devotion. When she finished her short little prayer, she opened her watery and fragile eyes. Mary Lou noticed her eyes were red and tearfully watery as if she had truly been crying.
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About the Book
Trinity is the story about Jason Skarr, lead singer for the band Trinity. As a high school kid, he was a musical genius. He learned how to play and mastered all the musical instruments in his high school band. He also sang with his mother in the church choir. He soon started writing gospel and inspirational songs for the church. His dad is a deacon in their church in St. Louis. Jason Skarr is the stage name for Franklin Jay Scarborough. His best friend, Marty, convinces Franklin to change his name to Jason Skarr in order to keep his parents from finding out he is a singer in a band. Franklin’s father wants him to be a deacon in the church and teach music in high school or in a college. Franklin wears his mother’s rosary around his neck all the time. Before finishing school, both friends form the band with help from other kids in the school band, and the band’s backup singers are discovered in a karaoke bar. They are hoping to be discovered by somebody and start a singing career.
About the Author
The author’s parents came to the United States from Mexico in 1948 as immigrants. After acquiring their green cards and passports, the family moved to Harlingen, Texas, until the early sixties. The family grew to six boys and one girl by the early sixties. They became migrant workers and moved to west Texas in 1963. The family would eventually settle in the Lubbock, Texas, area—more specifically, New Deal, Texas. New Deal is just about seven miles north of Lubbock. The kids attended New Deal ISD, where they all graduated from high school, except for the oldest son, who joined the US Marines in 1968 to go fight in Vietnam. Joe Gonzalez, the author, graduated from high school in 1969 and continued his education by attending Texas Tech University until getting married in 1972. He is a very strong and devout Catholic and believes in its teachings. As a youngster, he worked selling popcorn inside a theater and worked the fields, pulling and picking cotton or hoeing weeds. Later on, he worked as a butcher, a warehouseman, a truck driver, and finally, as a police officer for Lubbock Police Department, where he eventually retired from in 2008. As an officer, he was a street cop, a field training officer, an accident investigator, a crime scene officer, and a member of the Mobile Field Force for LPD. Many of his rookies are now sergeants, lieutenants, and captains at LPD. The author married his high school sweetheart, Orelia Gonzalez, nicknamed Cookie, in 1972. She was also a police officer in her profession. She worked for the Texas Tech University Police Department for twenty-six years before retiring in 2006. From there, she went to work for the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport Police Department, where she currently still works. “But not for long,” she says. They weren’t able to have children, but they both have plenty of family members on both sides of the family to last a lifetime. The author’s dad passed away in September 2015. He always wanted all his kids to have a good education in order to succeed in life. His mom is now in her early nineties and living “one day at a time.”