A man was coming towards her dressed in full personal protective equipments: a red coverall, white hardhat, nose mask, safety boots, and dark-shaded eye goggles, and he had his hands in his pocket. She couldn’t tell who it was with all the coverings and she didn’t care. Perhaps it must be one of the guys working at the gas line, she thought. Dropping the bolt she was brushing, she stood up to search for the matching nuts. Suddenly this man was behind her and he thrust something into her chest from behind, covering her mouth with his other hand. She tried to scream and wriggle to get free, but she could feel her strength ebbing away as she fell towards the ground and passed out.
Stacey woke up panting and came down from her bed, kneeling to pray. After praying for a short while, she picked her blackberry phone to check her messages because it was blinking red. She saw that the time was only 9:35 pm. She climbed back into bed, sitting with legs crossed and arms folded, pondering about the dream and what it could mean. Was someone trying to hurt her at her place of work? Why would anyone even want to? “Ah,” she said aloud, nodding her head. Hadn’t Chika invited her for a party? Perhaps this was a sign warning her of impending danger. She decided she had better think of somewhere else to be tomorrow so she could have a genuine excuse to give Chika when she calls.
***********************************************
Carlos dropped some papers on his table and turned to Jason. “Dude, what’s up with you and Bernard, especially you? Because the way I see it, you are the troublemaker.”
Jason gave him a cold look and asked, “What do you mean by I’m the troublemaker?”
“Yes, you’re my friend and I owe you the truth - you are a troublemaker, honestly. Ever since your father died, you two have drifted apart and you always seem to be at the ugly end. Why?”
“Look Carl. You should know better that I wouldn’t make trouble with my brother of all people, if something wasn’t eating me up.”
“So what is eating you up?”
“Bernard! Can’t you see it? Ever since that letter attached to our father’s Will was read and it said the contents of the Will should be read on his sixtieth birth date, Bernard has been acting all elderly and bossy.”
“Hmmmn… but all the same, you’ve been giving him back squarely and unfairly if I may add. He is still your brother and the older one. I’m sure your father wouldn’t cede all his wealth to him.”
Jason chose not to respond to Carl’s last statement; some family secrets where best left within family. So he stood up from the swivel chair and turned his wrist to check the time. “It’s almost 10pm. Let’s drop by at the club for a drink or two. I don’t want to discuss that issue anymore.”
They were actually in Carl’s office. He worked into the night sometimes when the workload was much. Carlos looked around before replying, “Guy, today I’m tired. I want to rest.”
“Alright, I will see you next week then,” Jason said and opened the door to leave with Carlos coming right behind him. He was a bit disappointed that Carlos wasn’t coming because he was really trying to kill time to avoid returning home to sleep and be forced to witness another outbreak of hell’s safari park which seemed to be getting worse by the night. Spending the night at Carl’s place would have been ideal except that Carlos had his fiancée visiting for the weekend and night visitors weren’t allowed the last time he heard.
As he drove back home alone, he thought about a lot: the Will would be read in a week’s time, which would have been Dad’s sixtieth birthday if he were still alive. The man invested mostly in real estate all around the world. His lawyer was all about respecting the wishes of their father and wouldn’t as much as gave them a hint on the estimate of Dad’s property. What looked like forever a year ago was now a week away? Where was all the anxiety and desire to get his share of the wealth? What had really happened to him? His concerns had shifted gradually to the fear of death. Now he was aware about eternity and life, there seemed to be only one way and one hope he desperately needed.
‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one cometh unto the Father but by me.’ Jason could picture the words boldly written in his mind’s eyes. He was now in front of the gate to his house.
The security man opened for him and he went in.
Few minutes later he was in his room surrounded by all the books he once read while searching for the Truth: a truth he was restraining himself from embracing, a truth that was causing him restless nights, a truth that yet he hoped would change the course of his life. He read the books into the night all in a bid to stay awake and he was succeeding until about 4 am in the morning when he dozed off unconsciously.
***********************************
***********************************
All was quiet. One eye lid up and then the other - Jason could see broad day light through the curtain. It was morning and there was no midnight horror. Feeling energetic, he jumped up and went into the bathroom to wash his face. And then he noticed that red spot on his forehead again. It was gone before and now it was back and this time bigger. Seeing it again brought a frown to his face. If this had a connection with the midnight crisis he’s been experiencing, which he suspected, then a doctor wasn’t the right person to see.
***********************************
“Mum, are you going to your church today?” Jason asked his mother while seated at the family table for breakfast. Bernard was yet to join them.
Mrs. Duke looked puzzled. Her son had never asked about church. The last time he even joined her, it was out of necessity and now she wondered what spurred this enquiry. She wiped her mouth with the napkin beside her and replied with a warm smile, “Yes I am. We actually have a prayer meeting for workers in church today.”
Prayer meeting for workers? The sound of it was foreign. He wanted to back out but something held him in. “Mum,” he said, “I could take you there myself if you don’t mind.”
“You will?”
“Em.. Yeah I will. I’ll like to just spend some time with you; you know it’s been busy this week with the new job and all that.”
His mother couldn’t hide her joy. Was God finally answering her prayers? Joining her to church willingly, even if it meant he stayed in the car all through, was a good sign. “You can join the prayers if you want. You’ll be very much welcome.”
“Ah. No, I’ll be fine in the car all by myself,” Jason had just finished saying when Bernard came into the dining hall.
“Good morning family.”
***************************************
“Good morning mummy,” Stacey greeted her mother who was already in the kitchen attending to breakfast for her family.
“Yes, good morning. Please give me that spoon over there,” her mother requested, pointing over to the big spoon hanging on the wall rack.
“I heard someone driving out this morning,” Stacey was saying as she handed her mother the spoon, “was it Daddy?”
Her mother took the spoon and stirred the pot on fire while replying, “Yes it was your father. He said you should give him a call as soon as you wake up.” She brought the pot down and put off the gas cooker.
“Ok. Ah ah, mummy this breakfast is for how many people?” Stacey asked, marveled at the quantity of porridge beans she was seeing in the pot.
Her mother turned to her, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You wake up by this time on a weekend and expect me to cook and serve you? Of course, no wonder you aren’t concerned about your singlehood. You are not even responsible enough to take care of a family.”
The words stung deep coming out of her mother’s mouth. It was okay to scold her for waking up late, but to bring the same old issue of being single into the matter was just the poison on the tip of the arrow. She was still standing right there in the kitchen, fighting back the tears welling up in her eyes, when her mother hissed and walked away.
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