Chapter 4
The Good foundation church Amaife had recorded an increase in members over the past few years and a significant increase within the last few weeks. The recent terrible murders had sent more villagers in search of the God they didn’t believe in and previously ignored. The Devil had driven them to church. And as a matter of fact, plans were being made to move to a bigger location. Pastor Bartholomew started the church few years ago in a small shop. The pastor who had been relatively young at the time had converted his shop and started a six-man church service every Sunday. Six was the maximum amount of people who could sit in the small shop and still breathe easily.
With time, there were more chairs outside the door and window every Sundays. Before long, the wall of the next-door shop had come down and the church had extended. With careful arrangement the extended church could contain 15 people. The chairs increased once more, and the third wall came down. The church expanded to a 30-man church. Before long the church had bought off the remaining shops in the complex, renovations had taken place, and the church had grown and was still growing.
When the bus parked in front of the church building, Osi was beginning to feel the first signs of hunger. He got down, chasing thoughts of food and the young lady out of his mind.
Deacon Oforbuike remained in the bus studying the church.
“So, he’s going to remain in the bus now?” Gregory said under his breath.
Osi ignored him as he observed the building. He was quite impressed but at the moment he was searching for any sign of life. The place looked deserted.
“That might be a good idea, I’d rather go in and check for the pastor alone, you all wait in the bus.”
“I prefer the open breeze, inside the bus is too stuffy,” Ovie said.
“Look, during the course of this crusade it is very important we keep our mind and thoughts right, and our attitude too,” he looked towards the bus where the deacon sat, “don’t let anybody push you, because when that happens, you could be easily pushed to sin.” With that he strode towards the church.
He hadn’t taken more than two steps when the door opened, and the deacon got down. He hurried to cover the ground Osi’s long legs had eaten. He followed Osi silently and Osi smiled because the Deacon had such a petty thinking that he needed to be in the front always -as the leader- however his short legs were no match for Osi’s and save for breaking out in a run, his fastest walk could only draw him level with the young pastor.
A young man came out before they got to the entrance. “Good afternoon. You must be pastor Osi,” he said to the Deacon.
“No, I’m the pastor,” Osi spoke as the deacon remained quiet.
“Oh, sorry about that, I’m Sofiri. Pastor Bartholomew told me you would be coming in today. I’m to set you up in his house…”
“Where is he? Is he not around?” The Deacon interrupted.
“Actually, he had to go to the village square for a meeting, but he’d be back soon.”
The three wise men as they were called kicked of the meeting at exactly 10 minutes past one.
Pa Kenneth who was the oldest man in the village invited Pastor Bartholomew to start with the opening prayer.
After the prayer, Dé Nwachukwu addressed the crowd; “My people, people of Amaife over the past four weeks there have been unrest among us, among our daughters. We all know that three of our families have been thrown into grief.” He paused, looking at the crowd. Dé Nwachukwu was an orator, and he knew how to use his words to good effect. “We are gathered here because we cannot afford to lose any more of our daughters…”
In the crowd the villagers all listened to their leaders. All was silent and the only voice to be heard was De Nwachukwu’s powerful voice.
Okudili sat at the back where he could keep an eye on Amara. He had been on the lookout and had even come to the meeting early with the hope of seeing her. But they had arrived late, just minutes before the opening prayer. Okudili paid zero attention to the words coming from De’ Nwachukwu. He was more interested in his daughter. He frowned as he saw the young man in the leather jacket lean in to whisper something in her ear.
De’ Nwachukwu continued, “I need to appeal to every one of us, we cannot allow one demon to come and ruin our happiness and our peace as a community…”
“This is the time to stand together, be on the lookout, our youths and young men especially, we boast of some of the strongest men one can find around. We need to task ourselves with protecting our women, we need to flush out this person and we need to be united to do so, the worst thing is he is one of us, he might even be sitting here listening to me….”
He let that hang in the air as he took his seat.
Pa Kenneth who was still agile for a man in his seventies stood up to address the villagers. “Visitors from another state arrived in our community few hours ago. They would be hosted by our very own Bartholomew, and I understand you will come in contact with most of them over the course of the week. I want to implore you to receive them peacefully, people of Amaife have always been known for their hospitality, let us not let that change.”
“Our daughters are landing in the mortuary without passing through the hospital and you want us to be hospitable?” Someone shouted from the crowd and immediately there was a little chaos as the villagers broke into murmuring and side talks.
Pa Kenneth tried to calm the crowd, “My brothers and sisters, we need to play our part, if you can expose this monster through diabolical means please, please and please do that but let us not refuse our brothers who serve pastor Bartholomew’s God the chance to do so.” His attempt at silencing the crowd backfired as their voice increased.
De’ John stood up in a desperate attempt to calm the villagers. Raising both hands as he called for decorum, but alas the uniform voice of protest grew louder.
A figure emerged from the crowd. He walked briskly to the front and conferred with the leaders. Pa Kenneth nodded and gestured to the crowd with his hand as if to say, “They’re all yours.”
Then a funny thing happened, the moment the man opened his mouth to speak, the crowd fell quiet. It was Stevenson.
“People of Amaife, you all accepted me in your midst and I’m grateful for that. I’ve learnt so much from you all, I’ve been able to get priceless material for my book, but not only that, you’ve taught me values that were alien to me in my country.” He began to pace, “It’s so unfortunate what has been happening the past couple of weeks, but I assure you all whoever he is, he would be caught, your leaders are doing their possible best and it’s up to us to do ours, our girls and women please never walk alone. If you’re going to the farm, go with your brother, if you’re going to the stream don’t go alone, take someone with you. With time whoever is doing this would slip up out of frustration and we’d catch him,” he paused, stopped pacing and looked at the crowd till his eyes met hers, “As you people would say, 99 days for the thief, but one day for the owner.”
“So, we should allow 99 of our daughters to be killed first abi?” the voice from the crowd fired again.
“Don’t mind the idiat,” Okudili added.
The crowd started shouting again.
“Did you see the way Steve looked at me?” Oluchi asked Amara after the meeting as they walked home.
“Yes, Oluchi, I saw it,” Amara replied. Although for a minute she had thought the European had looked at her.
Paul who had stayed behind to greet and catch up with his old friends caught up with them.
“Amara, I’d like to come over and say hello to your father,” he said as he tried to hold her hand.
Amara didn’t need a soothsayer to know what was coming next. She had to talk with Oluchi, she couldn’t afford to lose their friendship and at the same time she couldn’t be dragged into any relationship. All of a sudden, she needed to be alone. She needed to think. “You know what? I need to check on my sister and need to prepare food for my father. I know he would be very tired.”
“That reminds me, I heard about your mother passing away, I’m so sorry,” Paul gave himself a mental kick for not remembering earlier.
“It’s alright, Oluchi we’ll see later,” but her eyes had gone blank.
“You shouln’t go alone.”
“I’d be fine, I’m sure I’d see Joy on the way.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Paul asked his sister as they watched her walk away.
“She’s upset.”
“About what?”
Oluchi shrugged.
The team had been set up in a three-bedroom bungalow that belonged to Pastor Bartholomew and offered to the team for the duration of the crusade. Osi wondered where the pastor himself would be staying. He made up his mind to ask him.
“What kind of meeting is this? For how many hours? This is quarter to three.” The deacon asked loudly from the bedroom. He had taken one room, Bukky had a room to herself, which left Osi, the driver, Gregory and Ovie with the last room. Ovie being direct and straight forward had wanted to join the deacon, saying the rooms ought to be shared two to one. Osi had restrained him saying the three-seater in the parlour looked tempting.
“I’d like to stroll round a bit, farmiliarize myself with the village,” Osi said, “I’d be back soon.”
“Please don’t get lost o,” Ovie said.
He chuckled, opening the door, “I promise I won’t.”
The mention of her late mother had brought too many painful memories, memories she kept repressed most of the time. Now it kept flooding her mind, wave after wave and she walked the lonely path with her mind faraway. Her mother died two years ago after battling diabetes for more than a decade. Beautiful and kind, she had been her daughters’ best friend and their confidant. Amara vividly remembered the talks they used to have while her mother plaited her hair in her favourite cornrows or while they prepared dinner. Suddenly she missed her mother so much her heart ached; she yearned to speak to her. Without knowing it, she headed towards the path away from home, taking the bushy path that led to where her mother was buried.
The devil watched her as she approached the grave. After the meeting, he had watched her walk alone and on impulse followed her at a distance. He couldn’t believe his luck when she had chosen the path that was lonely and surrounded with grass and trees. He could feel himself growing immediately hard as she squatted to run her hands along the marble surface of the graveyard.
The devil imagined the different ways he would have Amara, and he couldn’t wait anymore. He imagined laying her lifeless body on the grave when he was through with her. He couldn’t wait anymore, no….he had to have her now!
Speaking to her mother always brought her comfort and made her feel better. She talked about anything she could think of from what she had prepared for breakfast to her younger sister, to Oluchi and Paul and the stranger she had seen that morning.
“He was very tall, I was surprised to see them, but Pa Kenneth explained that they’re pastors here for a crusade…”
She suddenly felt a presence behind her and heard the breaking of dry leaves. She whirled around and gasped “You.”
Chapter 5
Osi raised both hands and dropped the thick branch he held, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Amara blinked, placing a hand on her chest. Her heart was beating like a talking drum. She could literally hear it against her ribs, “You…you from the park.”
Osi nodded in reply. He hadn’t meant to scare her. He had been walking around aimlessly for the past 15 minutes trying to find his way, but it seemed he kept getting more and more lost. He had doubled back or so he hoped and was beginning to get worried especially when saw a furry animal dash into the bush by his side. He quickly thought it wise to have some kind of weapon handy just in case of snakes although the most dangerous animal he had ever killed was a rat. He managed to break off a thick branch and continued his walk, searching for civilization and trying to assure himself he wasn’t lost and then he heard a voice, her voice. He couldn’t discern what she was saying but he had followed the voice till he saw her standing in front of a grave. There was something painful and heartbreaking about the way she stood there, and he had stared for some seconds before deciding to approach her. Not until she turned around that he realized she was the very same girl he had seen earlier in the park. But the look of fear in her face rendered him speechless. She looked so frightened.
“What are you doing here?” She demanded. Her pulse was returning to normal now. Maybe it was still racing, albeit for a totally different reason now.
“I was taking a walk, and I got lost, I tried to find my way, but I ended up….” He gestured awkwardly.
Amara nodded slowly but she remained where she was. “Who are you?”
“My name is Osi, I’m a pastor.”
“You’re here for the crusade?”
He nodded, “Yes, how do you know of that?”
“It was announced earlier today.”
He took a step closer, looking at the grave, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Where are you heading to?”
“Pastor Bartholomew’s house,” Osi replied. He desperately wanted to say something, he could only guess whose grave that was and who she had been talking to but she seemed to be on her guard and instinct told him not to push it.
She was talking to him now and her voice had gotten lighter and friendlier, “Wow, from pastor’s house. How did you end up here?” she smiled, “you’re really off, but don’t worry, I’d take you.”
“Thank you. I don’t know your name yet.”
She smiled, “Amara.”
The devil couldn’t believe his eyes. He had been about to jump out from the bush when this tall baboon had appeared from nowhere. He watched in disbelief, listening to their exchange. So, this was the pastor?
The devil gritted his teeth in anger as he watched them leave, rage clouding his vision when he saw Amara take the man’s hand.
He needed to break something. He clenched his fist in rage as he imagined breaking the pastor’s face.
Pastor Bartholomew also mistook the deacon for pastor Osi, “I’m sorry I’m late sir, we had a meeting, and I had to stay behind to talk to the leaders,” he explained as he shook hands with all of them.
The deacon didn’t look impressed, “No problem, but time is of the essence and valuable time has been lost. You know it takes less than a minute to win a soul.”
“Exactly pastor, believe me it couldn’t be avoided, I’m glad you all came in now, when the reverend called me about the crusade, I was quick to accept. We need you all now more than ever.”
“Why, what’s going on?” Gregory asked.
“Actually, he’s not the pastor, the pastor isn’t in yet,” Ovie corrected.
“Oh….” Pastor Bartholomew looked surprised. “I’d rather wait till he comes then.”
Deacon Oforbuike once again didn’t look pleased. He was about to say something when they heard voices from outside and the backdoor opened.
“Thank you, hope I’d see you again.”
“Yes, hopefully but in the meantime try not to get lost again, oya come Joy let’s go.”
Pastor Osi entered the parlour looking flushed.
“Sorry I took long,” he looked at Bukky, “I missed my way.”
“Welcome back, pastor,” the deacon greeted, “hope we can set up the crusade or should we all go sight-seeing?”
It was becoming natural for Osi to ignore the deacon. He shook hands with Pastor Bartholomew and took a seat. His eyes drifted to the dining table where a plate of food was covered.
“Welcome pastor,” Bartholomew continued, “like I was saying, when the reverend called me, I quickly jumped on the opportunity to have you all here,” he rubbed his hands, looking at each of them, “the thing is, this past month has been a very dark one for us, someone has been raping and killing our daughters, in four weeks three girls were raped, beaten almost unrecognizable and killed, so everyone in our community is living in a state of fear and despair.”
The team was shocked. Even the deacon couldn’t help it as his mouth hung open in disbelief.
For once Ovie didn’t have a reply or a comeback. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
Osi was shocked. He remembered meeting Amara earlier and the look of terror on her face when he had startled her. He felt his heart bounce against his rib cage like a wrestler on the ropes as he imagined the possible danger she could have been in earlier.
Pastor Bartholomew continued speaking, “We have no idea who is behind these dreadful acts, and we had a meeting this morning to talk to the villagers who are understandably agitated.”
The deacon was the first to speak, “We are pastors not detectives, we don’t solve crimes we preach the word of God.”
“That is why now more than ever my people need you, they need this crusade, they need the word of God, they need to discover the peace which only God can provide.”
Osi could see there was a retort coming from the deacon, so he spoke up hurriedly, “I totally agree with you, we need to seek God for direction. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence or that we are here by chance, God wants us here and we have to make ourselves available for his use.”
Pastor Bartholomew gave a sigh of relief.
“When was the last girl killed?” Gregory asked.
“Her body was found three days ago.”
“Who found her?” Bukky asked.
“Two very young girls saw her body floating on the stream, the younger girl is still traumatized as we speak.”
“Has any autopsy been carried out? Test for semen, any DNA samples?” Ovie asked.
The pastor laughed. A strange sound considering the mood everyone had been thrown in. Even Samuel the driver sat at the dining table, a solemn look on his face.
“We don’t have any medical examiner. The state police have been informed and according to them they are carrying out their investigations.” He twitched his fingers behind his ears.
The Deacon shook his head and for a second, he looked sad, “this is dreadful, just dreadful but now can we go over this evening’s schedule, we are behind already.”
“You like him, don’t you?” Joy teased her elder sister as they walked home.
Amara shook her head, “No I don’t, I just helped him out because he was lost,” but her eyes betrayed her.
She had been surprised at the easy connection. After the initial awkwardness, she and Osi talked freely like they were old friend, and she had been surprised to find out she could be herself around him.
They met Joy walking home with her friends, and she had bid them goodbye and followed her sister curious about the tall stranger who was no doubt the reason for the abundance of smiles that was so rare on her sister.
Joy and her sister didn’t really get along, but they loved each other. “Is he one of the pastors that pa Kenneth talked about?”
“Yes.”
“He’s cute,” Joy said.
That drew a frown from her sister, “He’s too old for you.”
Joy laughed, “I only said he’s fine biko, don’t cut off my head.”
They continued walking in silence. Each girl lost in her thought.
Stevenson walked round the market square, a pad and pen in his hands. He wore khaki shorts and his shirt from the meeting earlier but had unbuttoned his shirt. He wore a white V-neck underneath and the breeze blew his shirt open as he walked.
“Our very own oyibo,” Dé John waved at him. Stevenson forced a smile and walked over.
“Dé John, good afternoon.”
“Afternoon, my son, why? You look frustrated.”
Stevenson sighed, “I’ve been asking questions, trying to get information about the new yam festival but I’m not really getting much background. I need to know as much as possible.”
“Ohoooo…I knew it must be your book that would make you frown, anyway you met the right person,” Dé John chuckled cheerfully. One thing he enjoyed most was talking about his culture and tradition especially to a foreigner.
“Let me collect this fresh palm wine, undiluted and we would go to my compound while I tell you everything you need to know.”
Stevenson smiled, “I’d appreciate that sir.”
Osi’s sleeves were rolled up to his elbow. He was sweating profusely as he balanced on the ladder to fix a light bulb. He was yet to set up the speakers, tune in the amplifier and run sound tests.
Gregory and Ovie were setting up the drum set and piano respectively while Bukky had set up the banner and arranged the podium.
Pastor Bartholomew had promised to bring people to help with the set up but presently there was no sign of him.
“Arrange the chairs three here, two there so that there would be space to walk through the middle,” Osi gestured as he instructed Samuel the driver who was busy arranging the chairs.
As he got down from the ladder and began rolling up the excess wire, he noticed a white man making his way towards him.
“Good evening pastor, anything I can do to help?” The man asked cheerfully as he offered his hand for a shake.
Osi was surprised the man had figured him to be the pastor and not the deacon. Probably because the deacon was not around, he thought.
He shook the hand vigorously, noticing the man had a firm handshake.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir, if you wouldn’t mind assisting to set the chairs, I’d be very grateful.”
“It’s my pleasure, you can call me Steve.”
“I’m Osi, that’s Greg and Ovie, the lady laying the carpet is Bukky and the young man setting the chairs is Samuel.”
Steve waved in their direction. “Nice to meet you all”
“Dé I’d like to go to the evening service,” Amara told her father as she set a bowl of water before him.
Dé Nwachukwu washed his hands and studied his daughter. “I don’t have any problem with that, as long as you don’t go alone.”
“I won’t papa, Oluchi would go with me.”
“How did you find out about the service this evening? Did you go to the market square?” He stopped rolling the ball of fufu and frowned at his daughter.
“No, I didn’t, I met one of the pastors earlier and he invited me.”
Dé Nwachukwu continued eating, satisfied with her answer. “Speaking of Oluchi, her elder brother came to see me today,” He announced after a while.
Amara remained quiet.
“He’s a fine young man,” her father continued, “I remember him as a young rascal and very stubborn but now he has really grown up and mature.”
Amara still had nothing to say. Instead, she sat opposite her father and continued sifting the grounded cassava into a basin.
“He wants to settle down and he wishes to marry you. Of all the suitors who have come for you recently he stands out and it’s my wish that you two get married.”
“Papa, I do not love him, when I marry, I want to marry for love. I want to have something like you and mama shared.”
“You know your mother was chosen for me, we grew to love each other. Love is something that grows and develops,” her father said as he attacked a piece of stock fish.
“I promise I’d think about it,” Amara assured her father. This was the first time he was speaking to her directly about a suitor. Paul must have really made an impression on her father.
The man of the hour himself showed up half an hour later. He strolled into the compound whistling cheerfully and waving at Joy who was spreading clothes on the line.
“Where’s Oluchi?” Amara asked with a frown.
“She couldn’t make it, she has been having stomach pain since we got home so she asked me to escort you to the service while she rested,” he replied with a charming smile.
Amara didn’t really believe him; she sensed it was all a setup to get her and Paul alone together.
“Okay let me just get my scarf and we can go.”
“All right, what of Dé Nwachukwu, is he around?”
“Yes, but he’s sleeping,” she replied hurrying into the house.
Osi was pleased and surprised with the turn out for the service. The chairs which numbered up to 300 were almost filled.
He stood behind the amplifier board, tuning the knobs as he followed the melody of the worship song led by Bukky. When he saw Amara, his face brightened immediately. He noticed she was with somebody and felt a foreign feeling come over him. What kind of pastor am I? He asked himself as he almost went off key.
She looked at him and smiled and he looked away hurriedly, his eyes running into the stare of a short thick man who glared at him in a way that got him worried. He noticed the man had a bottle in his hand and he didn’t need anyone to tell him it contained alcohol.
The man wasn’t involved with the worship, his eyes were wide open and he looked like he had only come to check out the strangers, Osi in particular, judging by the way he kept glaring at him.
Osi shut his mind from all thoughts and focused on the worship song, singing along, “you are alpha and omega….”
The devil had seen the exchanged looks between the pastor and Amara. He also noticed the way she had responded to him earlier, blushing and smiling like a schoolgirl while he boiled with rage and animal lust in the bush.
He was beginning to suspect the pastor was going to be an obstacle.
That wouldn’t be a problem, he knew how to take care of obstacles.
