“So” Elder Chinyere started, “Sister Tina, you are accusing
the pastor of fornication?” Tina looked down at her hands, “that’s not what I’m
saying” she mumbled suddenly aware of her folly, “what are you saying, witch?”
Pastor Ivie shouted, “Ivie, please calm down let her talk” Elder Orosanya
admonished, they all turned to Tina who sat there fidgeting, looking for a way
to get out of her present predicament, “Pastor was talking about how Haggai was
a blessing to the household of Abraham until Isaac was born” she paused, “and
you thought you will be the Haggai in my home?” Ivie said again eying the other
woman heavily, “I thought if I told her that I was pregnant she will be happy
to hear the cry of a baby, regardless of where it’s coming from” Engineer Kufre shook his head disbelievingly, "are you pregnant or not?" he asked amidst cries of "gbam!" "ehen" and other grunts of assent, Tina looked down, refusing to answer. "Tell the witch to confess o!no wonder sunday service has not been power packed like before!" Pastor Ivie screamed from where she was sitting, "the problem is not who she is pregnant for" Elder Orosanya said trying to be philosophical, "the problem is why finger the pastor of this church as the culprit!" Some of the elders nodded again, Elder Ekanem disagreed, "the pastor is a man, why not accuse him? abi is he the holy spirit?" he asked as Engineer Kufre again asked him to shut his dirty mouth if he had nothing better to say. Sister
Chinyere shifted in her seat in the fractured silence as she exchanged looks with
the other elders, “I think we need to inform the deliverance department that
the head of choir is possessed! because this girl" pointing a crooked bony finger at Tina, " wants to divide the church!” she proclaimed as everyone nodded in consent,
finally Pastor Ivie started to cry, lamenting on how hard it was to be the
mother in Israel when there were demons parading as choir mistresses. Tina sat
quietly saying nothing, it was almost as if after making her proclamation she
had returned to her normal quiet self, “the pastor must hear of this!” said retired
engineer Kufre, Elder Ekanem eyed him and turned his back to them all, he disagreed with the possession theory, but as usual, he kept quiet.
*
The doctor finished his check up and patted Aisha’s
shoulder, the nurse moved in and started to sponge bath her, she had been
instructed not to allow her stand up, she had lost a lot of blood. Ada paced
outside the room, once in a while she will take a sneak peek at the half opened
door to see if her daughter was alright, then she will resume pacing. She wasn't sure what to tell her husband. After breakfast, she had asked Aisha who
was responsible for her pregnancy and she had replied that it was someone from
the church, meaning her husband had been right after all. When she had pressed
her for a name Aisha had started crying again and she had been asked to leave
the room so that the doctor could conduct his check up on the patient. She held
her phone now in her hand, dreading the call to TJ her husband, the nurse
presently came out of Aisha’s room, smiled at her and walked away. Ada
reentered the room and stared at her daughter, suddenly she wished her own
mother was still alive, Dame Mona would have known exactly what to do she
thought dismally. She took her seat again and leaned forward, “daddy wants to
say hello to you, are you up to it?” Aisha nodded vigorously. Finally after
inhaling and exhaling several times, Ada placed the call, just as she was going
to say hello, her husband’s brusque voice cut her off, “put her on the phone!”
he said without pleasantries. Ada handed the phone to Aisha who shifted to get
comfortable and for the first time since the ordeal started, she saw her
daughter smile as she chatted animatedly with her father. Ada got up and left
the room, feeling lost and dejected.
*
“Is it Sister
Chinyere’s son, Godfrey? You told me he was always playing pranks when you went
for counseling” Ada asked trying in vain to get the name of the boy responsible
for knocking her daughter up and leaving her to clean up the mess, she has been
calling the names of all the boys in the teenage section but Aisha kept shaking
her head, her father had asked and she had started crying, presently tears
welled up again in her eyes and Ada leaned from her sitting position to wipe
them, “if you tell me, it will be our secret, I won’t even tell your dad.” She
cajoled quietly, Aisha shook her head again, “Please mum, I don’t want to talk
about it ever again” she said turning her head away, she was healing the
bleeding had stopped completely, there was no spotting and the doctor had
informed Ada after the morning check up that she will be ready to go back home
by evening. Ada sighed heavily, TJ had ordered her to bring his daughter to Canada as
soon as she could fly; it was almost as if Ada had allowed what happened to
happen deliberately. Why was he so angry with her? She was just as shocked by
the whole event as he was, she rearranged the sheet protectively around her
daughter and got up and stretched, it was Monday afternoon, she would have been rounding up the Monday
morning meeting and returning to her
office to tackle the files, but she was instead in a hospital room, trying to
make her daughter tell her how she got pregnant right under her nose, some
mother, Ada thought again as she exited the room, she was going home to cook
and hopefully sleep a little before returning in the evening, to bring her daughter home.TO BE CONTD...
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