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Chapter 6
That day, Blessing got home, sweating like a Christmas goat that just escaped being slaughtered.
“Men are wicked.” She told herself as she removed her shoes by a swing of her legs; the shoes flew to a corner. She opened her fridge and gulped down a bottle of water.
“That was close.” She laughed at herself.
“And that was stupid too.” Sister Mary interjected her from the wardrobe.
Blessing went over to the wardrobe and brought out Sister Mary’s picture. She had accustomed herself to talking with the picture of the dead lady whom she always imagined also talked back to her. As usual, she placed the picture in front of her mirror and started the usual mental drama,
“I know it was stupid, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what came over me.”
“You cheated on me, that is what was stupid,” Sister Mary supposedly said.
“We didn’t have sex. I mean, we could have, but we didn’t. But I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you didn’t because Emeka spotted Ruth alighting from the vehicle just when he was about to take a condom. But, it’s okay, I am dead, anyways.” The picture said.
“Don’t say that. You are alive. I am sorry, please.”
“Okay, I forgive you.”
“Thanks, my love,” Blessing said and kissed the picture.
Just as she was about to put back the picture, her phone rang. It was Emeka. She let it rang out two more times before asking for the permission to pick from Sister Mary. The picture said she could, so she did.
Emeka was full of nonsense, begging her to come to his house because he wouldn’t be able to sleep if they left the business unfinished. After she stood her ground on not visiting him, he asked if he could come to her place- she refused that also. This went on for weeks. Not a day passed without Emeka begging and sending in his naked picture to her phone, hoping to stir a feeling. Sister Ruth has told Blessing that they should be meeting at Brother Ade’s music school and no more at her house. She still feared something may happen between Emeka and her while she was away. That was okay by her; it was better than seeing that gigolo of a boyfriend of hers.
Two months after the incident with her and Emeka, there was a rumour which was almost turning out into physical manifestation about the Pastor contemplating on making Sister Ruth the Choir Mistress! Everyone was happy except Blessing and Sister Mary. So, at home, they discussed the way out.
“You need to act fast,” Sister Mary said.
“I know, but I don’t know what to do?”
There was silence between them, as both the living and the dead mull over a solution. It was the dead that first got an idea,
“You once said that Emeka said he will do anything to have you, right?”
“Yes,” Blessing replied. “What about that?” She asked.
“Come closer,” the picture urged, and Blessing took the picture and placed it against her ear, nodding her head in agreement as Sister Mary whispered the way-out into her throbbing ears.
It was a good plan; she loved it instantly. Since it involved finishing the unfinished sexual business she and Emeka ignited a couple of months ago, she smiled. She admired her evil grin as she watched her reflection in her mirror.
The rest of the week was trouble for Sister Ruth; she couldn’t even have time for their musical lessons. She was so engrossed in winning back Emeka who has broken up with her. Even the winds knew that Sister Ruth was devastated.
“Emeka was like a prized possession to her; she was damn too ugly for that handsome man,” Blessing told herself in justification for her part in the breaking up process.
“So, what next will you require of me before we finish the unfinished business between us?” Emeka asked Blessing when they met.
“You need to relax, okay. I am not yet convinced you guys won’t get back after you must have had your way with me.”
“I have told you, I am not planning to just ‘have’ my way with you, I am planning on having you to myself. Why should I go back to that ugly girl? I have always been looking for a way to break her forced attachments with me. But I must admit she was always ready whenever I wanted it; so I never really bothered about her ugliness. Sex has been good.”
“Gross,” Blessing turned her lips in disgust. “Okay, you have just one step to go.”
“I told you, I will do anything.”
“And remember,” Blessing started the riot act, “we can’t be seen together. It will be bad; we have to make it remain a secret…”
“I know; I am not a kid. Just tell me what to do and I will do it.”
Blessing braced herself, “Tell her you didn’t feel compelled to be with her again after all you did together. If you needed a wife, you wouldn’t go for her type.”
“I already broke up with her. Is that not the same thing?” Emeka asked.
“No, it is not. It has to be a text message, and it has to be on Thursday evening.”
“I don’t get it, why…”
“Do you want me or not?” Blessing cut in.
“Okay, what time should I text her? I am sure the timing matters too.”
“It does. I will alert you, and you should text her immediately you see my signal.”
“Which is?”
“A call- I will call you.”
“Jesus! Okay; all these for a pussy?” Emeka was puzzled with all the conditions and rules.
“Well, maybe my pussy was paved with gold.” Blessing said calmly.
“God; you are not even a virgin that you claimed to be,” Emeka protested.
“You don’t know that.”
“My finger does!”
“Well, then forget it, since you already have a taste of the gold mine.” She stood up angrily to leave, but Emeka quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand,
“That was a joke. You know that. I will do it. Just alert me, and I will send the message.”
“Good,” she said and yanked her hand off his grip. “And if she replied to your message, do not reply.” She finished and swaggered away.
Emeka watched her as she swayed; he bit his lower lips and held his crotch tightly, “Damn!” He said. “All these for a mining permit?” I should have taken her that day!”
****************
THURSDAY, FOUR O CLOCK
The Choir members gathered together as usual for the weekly rehearsals. Sister Ruth plugged her phone upstairs at the gallery as her usual practice and was conducting the rehearsals downstairs at the main auditorium. When they were deep into the practice, Blessing asked to be excused and went straight to the gallery.
She called Emeka on her way up and asked him to send the message to Sister Ruth’s phone, immediately. By the time she got to Sister Ruth’s phone, the message was already in. She didn’t bother to open it; she just minimized and sent back a reply to Emeka from Sister Ruth’s phone. The message reads:
“You cannot do this to me, Emeka. Not after I aborted for you, six times! You need to think about it; where do you want me to start from?”
Emeka was confused with that reply. He called Blessing immediately,
“Was that you? Did you send the message about abortion?”
“Literarily, yes.” She answered coldly. “But technically, Sister Ruth did because it was her phone that sent out the reply.”
“I don’t understand where you are going with this but…”
“Stay out of this okay? I will see you on Saturday night if you can play along. Then you can have your way all night long.” Blessing replied sharply and fast.
“Okay, okay; but for the record, she never aborted for me, not even once. She never got pregnant- I was always protected!” He disconnected immediately.
Blessing hissed and took Sister Ruth’s phone along with her. She gave it to Sister Ruth that a message came in while she was at the gallery. Sister Ruth thanked her and continued with the rehearsal.
Moments later, when she was free, she excused herself in order to read her message; Blessing watched her moment and she expected a reaction. The effect was awesome; Sister Ruth almost fainted when she opened the message. It was the message that Emeka sent. Sister Ruth shook her head and read the message again; slowly,
“Dear Ruth, it is over. You need to stop begging me. I am simply not attracted to you anymore!”
She collapsed in a chair.
Nobody really noticed except Blessing who has been watching her. She raised an alarm immediately and pointed everyone to Sister Ruth’s direction. Three of the Choir members rushed over to a surprised and sad Sister Ruth who kept saying she was fine that she was just feeling drowsy. She tried to stand up but fell back on her seat. There was commotion, everyone tried to make her feel better by doing their part, but she kept saying she was fine, even when her countenance said otherwise.
The plan was perfect, and Blessing loved every bit of it. Without being suspected, she took Sister Ruth’s phone from the floor and slid quietly into the Pastor’s office which was within the main Church premises. She explained the current commotion to the Pastor and claimed she knew what caused it. She handed over Sister Ruth’s phone to the Pastor and directed the Pastor to read Sister Ruth’s reply to the guy. The Pastor was lost in words; he couldn’t believe another vocal leader has been another mistake in his own part.
“This is serious,” he kept muttering to himself, “God, why all these?” He lamented. He scrambled for nothing on his table as he took and dropped everything, opening the drawers and closing it back.
Blessing enjoyed every bit of the Pastor’s confused reaction. At a time, she smiled without the Pastor noticing. The Pastor was silent with this head immersed in his hands. Suddenly, the door to his office flung open, and a very distressed Choir member rushed in,
“What is the problem?” The Pastor asked.
“Sister Ruth, she…” she struggled to catch her breath, “She…she has fainted!”
“Jesus Christ,” the Pastor said, and sank into his expensive leather chair. “Take her to the hospital; tell my driver to take her.”
“Okay Sir.” The town crier left.
“Sister…”
“Blessing, Sir,” she reminded the pastor of her name.
“Yes, Sister Blessing, you can go. But I will like to keep this phone as evidence.”
“No problem Sir,” she said and stood up.
As she was about leaving, the Pastor called her back;
“This Sister Ruth, she is your Church-mother, right?”
“Yes, Sir.” she answered.
“And you didn’t deem it fit to cover up this mess? I mean, due to your closeness with her. I heard you guys are very close.”
“Well, Sir,” she started, “I really wouldn’t have done that if this … this building was never a Church. If it were some kind of a worldly music school, I wouldn’t have minded. But this is a house of God, and I can never cover such madness!” She started throwing her fist in excitement and enthusiasm like a preacher preaching about tithe. She continued her hypocrisy,
“Worshippers of God must be holy and without dark secrets. I know this guy with her, and whenever he visited when I was around, Sister Ruth will ask me to go home, and that will be the end of our practice for that day. I approached her and she denied ever having intercourse with him, and I believed her because I never caught them in the act.”
“Hmmm,” the Pastor hummed, enjoying her. “So, you mean you believed that anyone who is to worship God must be holy? You mean only for the period of holding that position?”
“No Sir, I mean the person should live a holy life, worthy of emulation, forever.”
“I am sure you also have a boyfriend.” The Pastor tried to drill her. “But I am sure you don’t have sex with him.”
She moved towards the Pastor’s table and grabbed a bible,“I swear to God in heaven that I have never in my life copulated with a man, and I don’t even have a boyfriend.” She dropped the bible and continued, “I am a virgin as far as a normal intercourse entails a man have sex with a woman. How can I even do such things? I mean, why should I live a double life? I have devoted my life to Jesus Christ, and I will never indulge in such practices until I am married.”
“You can go, Sister Blessing. Thank you,” the Pastor said and watched her leave.
That was the end of Sister Ruth who was suspended, and like Sister Joy, she never returned to the Church due to the shameful incident. Blessing denied the allegation of replying the message when Sister Ruth approached her for answers, but even if she did confess that she sent the message, it still wouldn’t have saved Sister Ruth, whose messages on her phone were full of former sexts between her and Emeka.
That scandal rocked the Church, and that was the last stroke of scandal under the Pastor’s nose. He was transferred to another Church, but not after he has already filed a letter of recommendation on behalf of Sister Blessing to be considered as the future Choir Mistress. And that was also the beginning of the relationship with Emeka.
The newly appointed Pastor-in-Charge, Pastor Akin, didn’t even bother to read the recommendation letter; he scraped the office of the Choir Mistress completely and held on to the idea of a male Coordinator. The first Coordinator resigned few months after he was married, and Brother Ade took over. Sister Blessing was appointed as the vocal leader after her good works and zeal to the work of God were noticed; one which could not be placed under doubt. The night that she was appointed a vocal leader, she and Sister Mary had a nice time of celebration. She placed her dead lover’s picture on her chest and masturbated with a very big condom-wearing dark plantain!
Chapter 7
That was how Blessing and her lover ensured that Sister Ruth’s reign was not long enough. The Coordinator’s voice snapped her back to reality, back into the Pastor’s office from the land of the past,
“Pastor, I already told she will not talk; not when she is guilty of betraying the only Sister who took her in and helped her grow into what she is now.”
“Brother Ade, I have told you to allow the Sister explain the situation herself. Whatever you guys are saying is total darkness to me.”
All these while, Blessing had remained silent, enjoying the session and waiting for the right moment to switch to the next plan. The Coordinator continued, turning to the Pastor,
“Sir, before your arrival, Pastor Ajani, the Pastor that you succeeded, actually called a meeting after he was served a letter to handover, after the series of scandal that rocked his administration; I was privileged to be part of the attendees. He explained to us that Sister Blessing was the one who exposed the text message that incriminated the…”
“Incriminated or exposed?” The Pastor asked him sternly.
Blessing smiled inside of her. She knew the Pastor had seen the situation from her perspective.
“Well…” the Coordinator wanted to say, but the Pastor interjected,
“We need to be very careful about the choice of words here, because the way I am seeing it, I am beginning to accept, just like she accused you, that you are not happy with how Sister Ruth went down in connection to her.” He pointed to Blessing, whose head was still hung low- though, pretentiously.
“I’m sorry about that Sir, but that is not true. We were…I mean, I was glad, but we just thought she shouldn’t have been the one to do that. Not with the way Sister Ruth treated her as a sister.”
“So, you meant to say that if your own flesh and blood is into something that was as bad as that, and yet, held an important office in the Church of God, you would have covered it up?”
“No, Sir.”
“I think you would!” The Pastor said with all certainty. “This is interesting; I believe for the first time, we are really getting to know each other.”
“Ha,” the Coordinator shifted uneasily in his seat, “don’t see it that way, Sir. We were only worried that she should have displayed some kind of loyalty. We believe even a simple loyalty will go a long way.”
“That is true,” the Pastor agreed.
“Thank you Sir,” Brother Ade quickly eased up. “And that was why we were worried when Pastor Ajani said he has prepared a letter of recommendation to suggest Sister Blessing for the post of the Choir Mistress.”
“Interesting,” the Pastor got more interested, “Please continue,” he insisted.
By this time, Blessing knew the plan was hatched, and the result was already out. She sure overheard that Pastor Ajani had recommended her, but she had waited in vain to be announced, only for this new Pastor, Pastor Akin, to make her a vocal leader and blocked all her hope of getting to the coveted throne. But, the way things turned out to be, she realized that Pastor Akin didn’t even know anything about the letter.
“So,” the Coordinator continued, we kicked against it based on the issue you also agreed on- her display of lack of loyalty. We believed that if she can do that to a close colleague, then, she will show no respect to the Church.”
“You see, Brother Ade, the issue of loyalty I agreed with, was not as you are seeing it currently. Sister Blessing has shown her commitment and loyalty to God and not to men, by exposing your friend.”
He paused to see Brother Ade’s reaction, and his reaction was full of defeat. He shook his head, shifted in his seat, and started sweating. But the Pastor continued, much to Blessing’s gladness.
“So,” Pastor Akin continued, “you people going against her because she exposed a particular person who wasn’t even fit for the post of a leader in a Church, are only against God.”
“Ha, Pastor.” He gaped and became more inconvenient in his seat. As it appeared, the tide had turned against him. The plan was working.
Blessing slowly turned her head to look at him without really raising it and winked at the Coordinator. An action only the Coordinator noticed. The Coordinator looked transfixed with surprise.
“Where is the letter of recommendation, Brother Ade?” The Pastor asked.
“It is in my office, Sir.” He replied, fidgeting.
“Why haven’t I seen this letter?”
“Why haven’t I seen this letter?”
“Em…Sir, it was agreed, based on the same issue we were talking about…”
“The issue of lack of loyalty, I suppose?”
“Yes Sir.” He said, and nodded at the same time, raising his finger like a pupil wanting to ask his teacher a question.
“Lack of loyalty,” the Pastor paused, “to men, right?”
“Ha! Not like that Sir.” The Coordinator managed to say, clearly showing his surprise at the sudden turn of things against him. Blessing only managed not to laugh.
“Please, fetch the letter.” The Pastor ordered and turned away from him.
“Now, is your time,” Sister Mary told Blessing. Only she could hear her dead lover talk.
“Sister Blessing,” the Pastor called her softly.
“Sir.” she answered coarsely.
“Are you crying? Please raise your head.” The Pastor pleaded with her. “You don’t need to cry, God has vindicated you once more. Can you hear me, Sister Blessing?”
“Do it, now!” Sister Mary ordered and Blessing bursted into tears. She wailed louder and sniffed harder. The Pastor was helpless- he tried to make her calm. Brother Ade came in; he held the letter to his chest.
“What happened, Sir?” He asked as he closed the door behind him.
“Well, you can hear and see for yourself. It really hurts to think we are doing some good, and people turned it into a bad thing. You people need to apologize to this lady. She has done nothing wrong by exposing the wrong person in this Church,” he lectured.
“I… em…we are very sorry, Sir. I believe we only saw it in a different way back then. But now, I think with all you have said, I know better-God first, Sir.” He finished his damage control speech that was dry anyways.
After a while, Blessing wiped her face and looked up.
“This is your letter of recommendation, I promise to look into it. But I am not promising to go back out of the decision not to have a Choir Mistress for now. You shall remain the vocal leader and we will discuss more on how you can help us with Sister Hannah. I am glad we still have people like you in the Church.”
“Thank you Sir,” she spoke after a long time, half kneeling.
There was a disturbing silence until she broke the silence again, “Can I be excused Sir?” She turned her head backwards to check the time from the wall clock in the Pastor’s office and added, “I need to pray for at least one hour before I break my fast, and as it is, the time is already…”
“Oh, you’re fasting?” The Pastor asked excitedly.
She nodded.
“May the Lord answer your prayers, my daughter,” he prayed.
“Amen Sir,” she replied with a shy smile.
“Please, be quick about it. You can go.” the Pastor said, rubbing his palms together and smiling broadly. It was clear that she has won the Pastor to her side; another step closer.
“Please, remember us in your prayers,” the Pastor called out as she was about to exit the office.
“I will Sir.” She replied and smiled back, closing the door after her. Once the door was closed behind her, she pressed her ears against the door, ready to eavesdrop.
The voices were faint, but not faint enough for her not to make sense out of it.
“You need to be very careful as a leader, Brother Ade. We cannot afford to lose such a God fearing Character in this Church. I, personally will not accept that!” The Pastor said.
“I understand Sir, but we can’t just judge a book by its cover. Sister Blessing is not who she was pretending to be Sir. You need to open your eyes!” He said that loudly.
“So, I am blind?” The Pastor asked.
“I am talking of the spiritual eyes, Sir,” he corrected.
“Still the same; you will need to get me a spiritual glasses then, since I am supposedly blind spiritually.”
“Sir, I didn’t mean it that way.” He lamented.
“Please, leave. I have a lot of things to attend to.” The Pastor retaliated.
Blessing quickly left the door and headed to the main exit. As she was close to the door to the main auditorium, her bag got hooked by the door latch and its content spilled. She quickly packed them and tucked them bag into the bag. There was a cucumber; a half-emptied plastic bottle of soft drink, a half-eaten snack, a small note and a pen. She looked around to ensure that nobody saw her and quickly packed her things; she tucked them into the bag with great disorderliness.
As she was closer to the gate, she brought out the snack in her bag and took a quick bite after blowing the dirt from it. Immediately she opened the gate, she bumped into Hannah who was just about to enter. She jumped back in fear.
“I’m sorry, Ma; I didn’t know you were coming.” Hannah apologized.
“Oh, it is okay, Hannah.” She mumbled between mouthfuls and waved her off, trying hard not to let Hannah suspect anything as she forced herself to swallow.
“Alright, take care, Ma.” Hannah said and continued on her way to the office.
Blessing watched her with great hate and contempt as she walked away.
“I hope you are ready for the showdown?” She asked Hannah who has already vanished into the office complex and not within an earshot. “I just hope you can handle the heat?” She said again and moved outside the Church premises.
She closed the gate, brought out the soft drink from her bag and gulped it all down. She closed her eyes and let out a refreshing loud belch and a big sigh.
“Fasting my foot.” She said and flung away the empty plastic bottle. With a great air of victory and ostentation, she swaggered down the way home.
THE END OF CHAPTERS 6 AND 7
