Old Things Are Pass Away

Old Things Are Pass Away….

   It was  on the 2^nd day of April. Paul could still recollect vividly, their stealthily steps with their one big bag, as they hurried away from their home in the City. It was still twilight, the Sun was still asleep and a few lazy Stars still trailed behind. He had followed sleepily behind his parents, not understanding, half-conscious, till they disembarked at the Main motor park, from the Tri-cycle boarded just outside the house gate.

Paul was the only child of the parents. Not for their lack of trying either. The mother had experienced several miscarriages and two still-births before Paul. After they had Paul, a friend had talked the parents into visiting a so-called ‘powerful man of God’, to ensure Paul lived to ripe old age. The man of God, who they later came to know as the ‘Prophet John’, wasted no time in confirming that their enemies dwelt in Paul’s paternal hometown of Kese. The Father’s brothers, 4 in total, had been at loggerheads with Paul’s father for some years running over a particular parcel of land. The prophet instructed that Paul’s father must hands off that property and come join his church, for protection of himself and his family.

Paul’s father was an ardent believer. He needed something to hang his faith unto, he had been through trials that would have made the biblical Job to ponder, or so he often claimed. His burning desire had been to have his own child, and so miscarriage, after miscarriage or stillbirth, severely tested his faith. He had been a low ranking clerk at the State Ministry office, being without Tertiary education. It was easy to join his wife in adopting the Prophet’s claims that his brothers’ had been behind his troubles all this while.

Deep down within him however, he had always felt it was Nature’s way of exacting punishment, his karma for having abandoned his studies as a Seminarian. He had been sent to a Seminary by his proud father, a Catechist in their Village. It was a first step to qualifying as a priest under the church in Rome. He had been excelling in his studies at the Seminary, winning prizes in Theology and philosophy all through his earlier classes. In the Final Class, he saw her. He fell in love.

She was a sister to the Seminary Chief-cook, who lived in the Staff quarters. He was the Seminary’s dining hall prefect, and had gone to brief the Chief-cook about an impromptu fasting scheduled for the next day, and there she was! She was young and dark, with a smiling knowing face. She had smiled at him and two dimples appeared on either cheek, as if from a magic wand. Her teeth were the colour of white corals, immaculate and dazzling in their brightness. She had run her tongue along her lips as if to wet them and then asked in the sweetest voice he had ever heard, ‘whom do you wish to see, Sir?’ Her voice was as he had imagined heavenly choristers would sound, musical with yet a tinge of delight. ‘I want to see your Mum, the Chief-cook’, he replied. She had leaned forward and laughed. She was her sister, not her Mum, she had corrected. Leaning forward had stretched the unbuttoned front, He had gleaned the early fair skin above the enlarging buds on her chest. He had begun breathing heavily, no other girl or woman had ever produced an effect on him like this one. The Chief-cook wasn’t home and so he had left a message for her with the young lady, who he now knew to be Linda.

Back in the hostel that Evening, he had been restless. Such animal stirrings were alien to him, but all he could think of was the fair skin on her chest. To touch it and have those eyes gaze into his again. He made a sign of the Cross. No! This wasn’t right. He grabbed his towel with soap-dish and made for the bathroom. It was a communal bathroom, All the students used the same bathroom which was built in the form of a hall with stalls. It was lonely and dark, with light coming in from the outside hallway. His thoughts went to Linda again, and he began to wonder how soft she would feel in his embrace. Unconsciously his hand laden with soap-lather, brushed ever so lightly against his organ. There was a short, sharp thrill that coursed his body. No! He tried to exhort himself again, this was Lust. Lust belonged to the devil and his acolytes. He fought the strange feeling, this new urgent need to rub his soap-leathered hand against his organ. ‘Soapy’, the seminarians called it. All knew of it but only a few had been caught ‘pants-down’. It was from lusting and belonged to the devil. But Linda was calling to him in his head, to come hold, come touch! He began rubbing again.

He began spending all his free time with Linda at the Chief-cook’s house. The Chief-cook was rarely home anyway and he was a prefect and could go into the Staff quarters without any qualms. She welcomed his visits and they became closer each day. She shared her collection of naughty magazines with him but showed little interest in his stories about the Theology Teacher or ancient philosophers. She was daring and kissed him one day that it was raining outside and they were alone and had been reading one of her naughty magazines. That day marked his entry into Manhood, as she guided him into her body, holding him tightly till he was spent and limp. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other again, until Linda had to return home from the holiday’s at her sister’s. They had promised to stay in touch via mails. The Seminarian’s head had been turned. He had eaten the forbidden fruit. Severally at that! He now was present in his classes only in body but not in mind or spirit. Linda had left him a few of her naughty magazines which often had him in the bathroom afterwards most Evenings, rubbing against himself.

Most things done in the dark often came to light in the most unexpected ways. So was the Seminarian’s liaisons with Linda. His father the Catechist, had a cold that morning and couldn’t go to the farm. He was sat outside the house, acknowledging greetings from sundry passers-by. He was popularly called ‘nna-fada’ in the village. It was a name that thrilled him no end. His son was still in Seminary and a long way from Priesthood, but the Catechist knew that his Son would be the first Reverend father in Kese village. Maybe he would even be the first African Pope even. He was admired and envied in the village on his status as a father to a Priest-to-be. His life was one of contentment.

Then the big car drove in. The Head of the Seminary, an aged couple, a rattled looking young lady and then his son, all climbed down. The old Catechist had wondered what they had come for without any notice at all. He wondered to himself if they might have come to baptize the young lady in the village stream or maybe to chastise some of the demons that seemed to have made her rattled into the big forest. Their reluctance for kolanuts and their sullen faces indicated all hadn’t been well as it turned out the young lady had been impregnated by his son, the seminarian. The seminary had then expelled his son and the couple, had insisted on Traditional Wedding rites being performed immediately as the pregnancy had passed first trimester.

Even after a long time had passed, the memory was yet not easier to take. A silent tear still coursed the cheeks anytime the flashback came. He became married and a Seminary drop-out. Worse Linda miscarried! The first in a series of miscarriages and stillbirths. The old Catechist was the worst hit. He resigned his position at the church, claiming old age and poor health. However it was the shame of knowing there were now looks of derision on every face. The old admirers had all left town. In their wake had come the scorners. He had even stopped attending church altogether and only went to the farm whenever he couldn’t help it, with a big Fedora hat on in a silly attempt at disguise. The old Catechist had died in his sleep after one stroke, barely a year after the expulsion. His brothers all accused him of causing their dad’s death and barred him or his wife from attending the late catechist's burial. The whole villagers openly mocked him and his new wife. He was the one that returned with a wife instead of a Theology degree or papal ordination. They fled to the City. Thus he knew there were no evil spirits after him. However a man had to believe in something. Life had been hard and full of menial jobs until his recent job as a Ministry clerk.

Then Paul had fallen ill. Paul was his only child, his light, his world. Paul was all he had to hold on to in the world. After days in the hospital without improvement, Linda had taken Paul to the Prophet’s place. This Paul learned after his return from work. The prophet had reassured them that the son would get better once they forsook the old world and joined his ‘living church’. He and Linda would have to be baptized and given new befitting Christian names. Fear over Paul’s health drove them onwards. The one-time seminarian was torn. Linda wouldn’t let up. She cried all night and cursed the day she had met him and threatened him if any harm came to Paul. The Old Seminarian couldn’t hold out anymore. He went with them to the prophet the next morning.

Prophet John baptized them and renamed the Old Seminarian, Thaddeus. Linda became Esther. Old things had passed away, along with old names. Thus began the new life as members of the ‘Saviour’s Living Church’. Their scalps were scraped of all hair, even Paul’s. Paul soon enough recovered to full health. The parents had become members and were beholden to the Prophet and his church. They were mandated to work with other members most weekends on the prophet’s farm and also engaged in constant repetitive chantings, ‘spirit mantras’ the Prophet called it. Thaddeus had never encountered this sort of worship in all his years, even as a seminarian and beyond. He found it odd but to please his wife Esther, he went along with it.

Then one day, after a few years had passed, Prophet John narrated his vision where he claimed Thaddeus had been ordained to work in the ‘vineyard’, as a helper. Thaddeus was to share daily shifts looking after the members who had developed mental challenges and were now housed in one of the smaller buildings in the compound. Thaddeus was to resign and resume in the vineyard of the Lord immediately. Thaddeus was in shock and vehemently disagreed with the wife Esther who sided again with all the Prophet said. Esther as she was wont, began crying and threatened to leave with Paul to go live in the church. The next morning, Thaddeus resigned his post at the Ministry.

Paul met up regularly with his father after school at the clinic, as the rehabilitation facility within the church premises was called. He would wait until the father’s shift was over and they would leave for home together. Paul liked two of the inmates most as they were quite lively and lit up the place with their activities. His father though regularly joked that with all the chanting going on, it was sooner than later before all the church members ended up at the facility.

One of Paul’s favourites was fondly called ‘School Boy’. He could recite whole conversations from different Shakespearean plays and was enamoured of high sounding words. He also quoted copiously from Plato and Aristotle. Paul had never heard these alien names in his young life, but loved how School Boy called them, with fondness and a straight face. Some days, School Boy would be everywhere, solving complex algebraic equations in the wind and pottering amongst the books under his bed as he debated viciously with unseen men or even women. Paul’s father told him that these people only existed in School boy’s mind, Paul wasn’t as sure for School Boy variously gesticulated and sometimes even patted his opponents on their invisible heads when they made valid but inaudible points. Other days, especially after rainfall, he was quiet and moped around. He could be heard saying his mind had reverted to a ‘tabular rasa’ and doubted if his feet were still on ‘terra firma’. Paul wondered who these foreign sounding men could be but he enjoyed being around School Boy as there was never a dull moment.

The other was known as ‘Old Soldier’. He spent half the day marching and the rest charging at the enemy lines, stick-gun in hand. Paul’s father had told him Old Soldier developed the challenge after a grenade went off very close to his head during his stint with the Ecomog forces in Liberia. He was an incredible sight as he marched around, never missing a step, or when he crawled on his belly as he charged at the enemy, who was referred to as ‘Charlie’. It was odd that it was always Charlie every day. Paul wondered if all the enemy soldiers were named ’Charlie’. During marching, he would routinely scream; ’Remove Headdresses’. Then he would perform an elaborate but smart removal motion involving his hand and head. Paul often wondered if he meant headties, the sort his mother and other women wore. Paul felt really sorry for him, to think himself now a woman and in perpetual search for his headties. On some occasions he would seat on his bed, speaking codes into a clenched fist. Paul’s father explained he was on a reconnaissance mission and was now radioing for air cover, so his battalion could charge the enemy line.

One late March Evening, Paul’s parents were up in discussion till very late. The discussion was full of exclamations of surprise from his father while his mother had been sullen and seemed to be in shock. He was still wondering what could have affected his mother so much, when he slept off. Thaddeus and his wife remained baffled long after Paul had slept off. The wife had been relating her experience that day at the hands of Prophet John, who locked her inside his office and tried to force her. He wanted his way with her and claimed that the anointing in him needed to be shared with her. He also promised her everything he could remember but Esther wouldn’t budge. She may have had a colourful past but experiences had sobered her. She had a husband, albeit a long-suffering one. She had begged and cried but the prophet was determined to have his way. Then there was a knocker. It was the prophet’s wife. The Prophet then unlocked the door and claimed he had been trying to exorcise her of the ‘Lusting Demons’. Esther ran all the way home, fueled by pure adrenaline.

Thaddeus knew he couldn’t fight the Prophet within the Country’s poor judicial system.  Nor could he win in the court of public opinion, the prophet had far too much money and influence. He contemplated the hand he had been dealt by life and decided it was time to try something new. He must run elsewhere with his young family. He was a hardworking man and would make do with any menial job until something better came along. Besides his Maternal Uncle had a big farm up-north in Jos. He would settle there for now. He would start his life again. They must set out at dawn to join the first bus going up north, so as to arrive before dark. He may even change his name again, after all ‘Old things are pass away’!

April 2^nd; Paul sat sandwiched between his parents in the Bus. His father had a smile on his face and he wondered what he was thinking about. The Old Seminarian was only chuckling to himself at the sticker tucked to the top right of the Bus windscreen;-‘For Old Things Are Pass Away’. Must be a sign from the Heavens, he thought to himself.

THE END