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While dressing, Abernathy disclosed sheepishly to King that he could not join him in Washington for the preliminary lobbying in the Poor People's Campaign, because the new start date of April 29 conflicted with his long-scheduled spring revival at his West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. King said this would never do. Abernathy's congregation was a magnificent one already, he purred, claiming that he would have gone there himself if Daddy King had not invited him to Ebenezer, and surely the deacons would understand that Abernathy had to revive the soul of a whole nation instead. Abernathy weakened, but did not give in until King promised to help secure a substitute revival leader of stature. Upstairs, Hosea Williams loudly evicted the last of the Invaders (a gang accused of being agent provocateurs in the riot) from two rooms provided during negotiations, after discovering to his outrage that 15 of them had crammed inside to live on meals charged to the SCLC account. Downstairs, Jesse Jackson rehearsed a singing group from his Chicago-based program Operation Breadbasket, and bystanders crowded into the room to belt out extra hymns such as Yield Not to Temptation and I'm So Glad (Trouble Don't Last Always).
Reverend Kyles left Jackson's songfest and knocked at Room 306 to hurry King along. Abernathy played him for a sign of deliverance. "Why don't you do my revival?" he asked Kyles, who adroitly dodged, saying he thought he was scheduled to preach in Columbus, Ohio. King chimed in to needle Kyles about the relative status of his invitations. "Anybody'd rather come to Atlanta than go to Columbus," he said. He shifted tone to inquire how Memphis churches achieved such unity behind the sanitation workers, who were not members of the prestige congregations, but Abernathy reopened preachers' banter on the subject of food, making clear his preference for soul food over fancier fare. "All right now Billy, I don't want you fooling me," he said, warning that if he went all the way to the Kyleses' home for T-bone steaks or filet mignons, which he pronounced "FEEL-ay MEEN-yuns," then, "you're gonna flunk."
"Now Billy," said King, "if you've bought this big new house and can't afford to feed us, I'm gonna tell everybody in the country."
Kyles rejoined that there would be more soul food than King's waistline needed.
"Your wife can't cook, anyway," King teased. "She's too good-looking." He fell into a chauvinist bromide about the value of plain wives, and Abernathy took up the flip side with remarks on the beauty of Gwen Kyles. He retreated to the bathroom with a flirtatious grin that he must splash on Aramis cologne just for her.