Philip’s friend took him to a spiritualist in
the outskirts of the city. As soon as they got into the room, they met the man
praying with his rosary beads. Malik introduced himself and his friend and was
about to begin praying when the spiritualist interrupted him.
Mallam: “You don’t have to tell me anything.
You see, as soon as you came in, the almighty Allah SWT revealed everything to
me. Your friend is worried because he cannot have his way with his supposed
girlfriend”. Malik and Philip were shocked and turned around to stare at one
another.
“How did you know that?” they chorused.
Mallam: “It was revealed to me. Where the eyes
stop to see, the mind starts to see. First of all, it is against the will of
almighty Allah for you to even think of indulging in immorality with a lady who
is not your wife. Secondly, you are expected to stay away from that particular
girl because of the relationship you had with her twin sister. The cord between
twins is very serious, even in death, no one must come in between them”.
Philip: “But Mallam, I never did anything with
her twin sister before she died”.
Mallam: “What matters most is the intentions of
our heart. You have the intention to sleep with her, as a matter of fact, you
slept with her several times in your heart. That is more than enough to make
you stay away from her twin sister”.
Philip: “So, because I thought of doing
something, that automatically makes me guilty of that thing?”
Mallam: “Yes it does. And I will advise you to
tell her sister the role you played in disposing her corpse when you found out
that she was already dead. The spirit of the dead girl is angry at the way you
abandoned her after she died especially the way you desecrated her corpse by
dragging it out of the room on the floor. You need to speak out before her
ghost comes for her pound of flesh. If not for the love she has for her twin
sister, she would have harmed you long ago”.
Philip: “Malik, what gibberish is this man
uttering? You call this one a man of God? I mean what is he saying? That I
should go and tell them she died in my room? Won’t that implicate me? After I
told the police I didn’t know how the corpse got there? You think her family
will believe that I didn’t kill her when they find out that she died in my
room?”
Malik: “I think you are being unnecessarily
hyperactive. Remember that we are in this together and if apologising to her
parents for the way we treated their daughter’s body is the best, I think we
should just do it. I don’t want any ghost to come after me o”.
Philip: “Mehn, there is no way I am going to
stay here and listen to this kind of talk. I don’t even know what I am doing
here in the first place”, he got up and left the place. Malik apologised to the
man and went out after his friend.
====
Florence went to meet Chief in another
different hotel. She was still very angry with him for the way his wife treated
her the other time but he had apologised profusely on phone and being the
materialistic girl that she was, she decided to discard the warning from his
wife and meet him in the hotel. Chief was talking on the phone when she entered
the room. She noticed that his security detail was not there as chief had gone
to the hotel alone to avoid his wife getting any wind of his escapade. He tried
to hug her as soon as she stepped in wearing a denim above the knee button down
gown. Her hair was packed in a ponny tail and on her lips, was a tomatoe red
lip stick that complemented the red Channel chain bag she had on her shoulders.
She sat on the chair opposite chief, calculating her next move. He finished
making his call and came and sat close to her. She moved away and turned her
face away from him.
Chief: “What is it? If you didn’t want me close
to you, why did you come here?”
Florence: “Chief, the memories of what your
wife did to me the last time I was with you is still fresh in my head”.
Chief: “I thought I apologised and told you
that I would make it up to you?”
Florence: “Yes you apologised but that doesn’t
change the fact that you stayed there watching without doing anything to save
me from her claws”.
Chief: “Nana is a tigress, if I had intervened,
she would have blown everything out of proportion. I have an integrity to
protect here. Of all my wives, she is the most troublesome, you won’t blame her,
she is the daughter of one of the most influential politicians we have around.
A spoil brat she is, I would say”.
Florence: “But how can she…”
Chief: “Ohhh, can we just drop this topic? Are
we going to use up the whole day talking about this? Why do I need to run away
from my nagging wives at home if I will come and meet another nagging here?”
Florence: “Fine. Just let it not repeat itself
again. Just warn her to keep herself away from me o, I don’t mind the fact that
she is the daughter of a politician. If she dares me again, I will arrange guys
to beat her up. I am from the street and we know how to handle people the
street way. Can you imagine that she even threatened to report me to my father?
What rubbish”.
Chief: “I have heard all you said. Now come to
daddy”, he opened his arms wide and she hugged him. He began to kiss her and
reached for the button of her dress but she stopped him.
Florence: “What about my request, chief”.
Chief: “I have that in mind. How about we
travel to Dubai for a weekend getaway?”
Florence: “Really chief? That is good news, oh
I would be more than glad to travel outside the country, I have never gone to
any other country before so I am more than excited about this”.
Chief: “I am happy to know that you are glad about
this. Also we shall go shopping, that should pay for all that my wife did to
you”.
Florence: “Thank you so much, chief. She began
to unbutton her dress herself even, she resolved to give it to him like she had
never done before”.
====
Florence’ father woke up at the middle of the
night to pray, his heart was troubled. All night he had tried to sleep but
night mares about his daughter kept on tormenting him. In one of the dreams, he
had seen that she was pushed down from a high cliff by a woman whose identity
he could not recognise. At other times, he saw her drowning in a big
river and he wondered what she had gone to do there. The night mares kept
coming in different forms, anytime he closed his eyes to sleep, he would see
her in one form of distress or the other. He tried to sit up and pray for her
but he kept on drifting into the turbulent sleep. Early the next morning, he
dialled her number.
Baba Florence: “Can you come for the weekend?
There is something very important that I would like to discuss with you”. He
said to her after they had exchanged pleasantries.
Florence: “I can’t come home, dad, I have this
practical that I must attend”.
Baba Florence: “Practical as how? Are you not
in the faculty of arts? What practical do you do in your department?”
Florence: “Don’t mind me, dad. I mean test, I
have 7 tests these weekend, I am sure you don’t want me to miss that”. She lied
to him. She had scheduled to travel with chief to Dubai that weekend and she
couldn’t afford to miss it for anything in the world, not even when she knew
that her father would not demand to see her unless it was something very
important.
Baba Florence: “Okay, then. But I need you to
be very careful in school, don’t join bad company o, always say your prayers
and read your Bible always. I will send some pocket money across to you next
week and if we see anyone going your way, we would send foodstuff across too.
Remember that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit so you must not do
anything to profane it”.
Florence: “I won’t daddy. In fact, I don’t go
out on campus o, it is from lecture hall to hostel, that is my routine here and
I pray always so you have nothing to worry about”.
Her father thanked her and dropped the call.
“Popcy just stay there o, that is how you didn’t use the opportunities that
came your way well if not by now we would be rich. Let me see why I won’t enjoy
my life in this world”. She went to bed giggling, excited about the trip to
dubai with chief the next day.
====
Mrs Lanre woke up with a start that night, the
next day was 25th birthday of the twins and
in her dream, she had been warned to keep her part of the pact that she made 25
years ago to the river goddess or risk losing Maya the way she lost Naya
and she felt it was time to intimate Maya who was the only surviving twin about
it.
Question: “How do you think the issue between
Philip and Maya should be revolved? What exactly is this secret that Mrs Lanre
has kept from the beginning of this story till now
0 comments:
Post a Comment