By weekend the resolutions of the impromptu church committee meeting of the Presbyterian Church Molykowas bearing some fruits which turned the tables in the matter of their late Parish Pastor’s death.
The various letters were successfully delivered by the respective means. Although the police neither replied to their letter nor issued any press release concerning the progress of the investigation, the press reacted as expected to the letters they had received by post.
Recent editions of the newspapers, the radio and television stations captured the Presbyterian Church Christians’ assertion that the Roman Catholic Church might have had a hand in their late shepherd’s death, and pinpointed the justification provided by the Christians for arriving at that conclusion.
The Hi TV newscast that Friday evening highlighted the fact that the late Parish Pastor’s confession of the sole legitimacy of the Roman Catholic Church, made under pressure just before his gruesome murder, was too conspicuous to go unnoticed, and that the Presbyterian Church Christians’ assertion was only logical.
All this completely changed the public’s view of the entire matter, and every known Catholic Christian who was met by a Pentecostal Christian or even an unbeliever by chance was thoroughly insulted and some were even beaten blue and black in their compounds, in marketplaces and even in some side streets. The situation got to the extent that the Catholic Christians had to hide in their houses under lock and key for fear of being assaulted by the Pentecostal Christians.
The matter got so intense that Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buea – the Most Reverend Doctor KamadjeEvaristus – granted an exclusive interview with the press in his office the following Monday, arguing that until the police apprehended the culprit(s) responsible for the Presbyterian Pastor’s murder, the public was not to take the laws into their own hands by making innocent Catholic Christians live in panic in their own houses.
As to the glaring accusation made against the Roman Catholic Church, the Bishop stated succinctly that the Church had no hand in the murder, and that they were all waiting for the police to apprehend the real culprits, by which time everything would become clear, for surely everything would be brought to the light and its true nature revealed (John 3:20-21).
When the Bishop’s message was made public by the press, some degree of calm was restored – at least the Catholic Christians could now walk the streets without fear of being assaulted. Nonetheless, there was still tension in the air as everyone now waited on the police to bring the perpetrators of this heinous act to justice.
It was under such tense conditions that Samuel - who had still not spoken with Beltus about his recent drunken show - went to church that Wednesday evening for Bible study. The Full Gospel Mission Church Molyko was situated along the tarred Malingo Street, directly behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The church building, built from wooden boards, was a large one, painted blue in and out. The Bible study was led by a female evangelist who taught on the importance of making peace with one another, citing the Gospel passage from Matthew chapter 5, verses 21 through 24.
The lesson really got to Samuel who groaned within himself as he recalled the little unfinished business he still had with Beltus and resolved there and then to straighten things out with him when he got home that evening.
As the Christians filed out of the church after the Bible study, they found their Parish Pastor – the Rev. Ayuk Peter: a tall, fair man in his late thirties who was very friendly - discussing with an elderly man. They were both standing next to the pastor’s red RAV4 parked near the church building.
Some of the Christians greeted the pastor from afar and went on their way discussing the recent turn of events concerning the Presbyterian Church pastor’s death – for that was what every other topic of discussion now changed into - while a few others stayed back and waited patiently for the old man to finish talking with the pastor so that they, too could discuss a few things with him before going home.
Samuel was among the few others who stayed back to talk with the pastor whom he was seeing for spiritual counseling ever since his return to Buea.
The elderly man finally left and the other Christians talked briefly with the pastor before going their way, finally leaving Samuel standing there alone with him next to the car.
‘Good evening, pastor,’ Samuel greeted.
‘Hey, Samuel, how are you doing?’ the pastor said with an amiable smile as he patted Samuel on the back. He and Samuel had become so close that the pastor now treated him like a friend.
‘I’m fine, thank you,’ Samuel replied.
‘How has everything been going?’
‘Everything has been going well, to the glory of God.’ Samuel then explained to the pastor the incident with Elvis, Nelson and Karl that had ended with him staggering home drunk, and what had happened in his house that evening between himself and Beltus; including the fact that they had not yet addressed the matter, simply because Beltus had not demanded an explanation. He also added the fact that he had been ridiculed the following day in school by those of his course mates who had seen him in that drunken state, including those to whom the story had been spread.
Afterwards, the pastor advised him, ‘Try and make peace with Beltus by bringing up the matter yourself, no matter how embarrassing it may seem. You never know why he has kept silent throughout. You have to approach him and tell him the truth of the matter as you have just told me. You cannot live a peaceful life if you cannot make peace with those closest to you.
‘As per the incident itself with those three young men you just mentioned, it is an obvious lesson for you to steer clear of them; those are the kind of friends your uncle warned you to keep away from. Concerning your reputation in class, you have to know that such things do happen, and you still have ample time to make amends by living the righteous life you have always lived.’
The pastor gave him further advice and prayed for him before asking him to hop into the car so he could give him a lift to Malingo Junction on his way home. This was a treat the pastor often gave Samuel, and it was another major contributing factor to their close friendship.
At Malingo Junction, Samuel alighted from the car after thanking the pastor and watched the car disappeared to the west toward Checkpoint. He then turned and walked home with a smile plastered across his face.
When the Rev. AyukPeter got to the Santa Barbara Junction, he steered the car to the right and ascended a gentle-sloping stony hill. Just a little up the hill, he turned left into his compound fenced by a tall hedge of flowers.
The structure of his one-storey concrete building came into view as the headlights bathed the compound with a yellow glow. He parked the car just in front of the house, and killed the engine. He saw that the security light on the roof above the wide verandah was on as he walked up to the front door. The verandah was surrounded by a waist-high concrete fence and a small iron gate.
When he entered the living room, he saw that his wife, Mrs. Ayuk Constance had fallen asleep on the sofa with the TV set on. It warmed his heart to know she had been up watching TV while waiting for his return when she had fallen asleep.
He walked up to her, kissed her forehead and whispered, ‘I love you, darling.’
For the seven years they have been married, they have been blessed with three children: a boy and two girls whom he knew were now asleep in their bedroom.
He then dropped his Bible on the coffee table and carried his wife to their bedroom, careful not to rouse her. After carefully placing her in bed and pulling the duvet over her, he returned to the living room turn off the TV, get his Bible and then go to bed. It had been a long day.
Just as he was entering the living room, he heard his phone ring. He fished it out his trouser pocket, saw that it was an unknown caller and answered the call. ‘Hello?’
Just as he was picking up the TV remote control to turn it off, he heard a voice from the other end of the line: ‘The Rev. Ayuk Peter, I presume?’
‘Yes,’ he replied as he turned off the TV. ‘Who am I speaking with?’
‘Not important,’ the caller said, causing the pastor’s brows to furrow in annoyance. ‘We know what you did.’
The pastor smiled, thinking it was a sick joke from an old friend who was using a strange number to taunt him that evening.
‘Excuse me?’ he said to the caller as he got off his tired feet and flopped down on the sofa. ‘Are you sure you know whom you are talking with?’
‘You think I’m joking?’ he heard the anonymous caller’s voice from the other end of the line, mixed with a tinge of irritation. ‘Well then, go outside and see what has just been delivered at your doorstep.’
Now that is not funny, the pastor thought as he got to the front window, pulled the curtain a little and looked out through the shut glass louvers. There was no one out there. So he went to the door and opened it to check out what the caller was up to.
Upon opening the door, he found a brown envelope lying all by itself, half covered under the floor mat. His face turned deathly pale and he felt his body shudder with dread as he realized that the caller was not joking after all, knowing full well that that envelope was not there when he just got home.
He looked about again to see if there was anyone around but all he saw beyond the glow of the security light was only impenetrable darkness for the moon, it seemed, had gone on vacation.
He picked up the envelope, returned inside and shut the door behind him before opening the envelope to see what was inside.
His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open in astonishment as he saw the photos he had just removed from inside the envelope. In each of them was himself making love with a strange woman in bed.
‘Oh, my God,’ he whispered, careful not to rouse any of his family members from sleep. ‘What kind of sick game are you playing here?’ he barked at the caller on the phone.
‘My game, pastor,’ the caller said leisurely as though he enjoyed the manner in which the pastor regarded the situation and decided to play it his way, ‘is that if you do not want those photos to reach the press and, subsequently, your congregation of worshippers, there is a simple task I want you to perform for me.’
***
An hour later, the pastor was pacing up and down his bedroom restlessly like a caged animal struggling with all its might to free itself from the confines of its cage, the only difference being that the kind of cage he now found himself in was a more complex one and his means of escape were very limited.
His anonymous caller had just ended the call after dictating the task he was to perform, failing which the photos he had now stashed away in a hidden place would be made public and he would be dead in the space of a few days. He felt sweat form on his forehead and his body shiver with spasm after spasm of anxiety as he weighed his options.
Performing the task meant taking a very big risk that could cost him almost everything he has worked for his entire life. Yet, doing otherwise would drag his reputation to the mud as his adulterous deed would be the talk of the town, his wife would abandon him and probably go to join her parents in the village with the children, and his own Christians would lose whatever respect they ever had for him. There was also the inevitability of his death, as he had been warned. He flinched with dread at the mere thought of this. Either way he looked at it, it was not going to end well for him.
It was then that he realized he was standing between the devil and the deep blue sea. He got to his knees and tried to utter a prayer, mouthing words, as his own voice deserted him; but guilt and tension would not let him do so. When he closed his eyes and tried to summon an image of Jesus Christ, his mind was overflown, instead, with the memory of that night when he had given in to the desires of the flesh and lain with another woman – a woman he had never met before and never saw again since that terrible night. And now, many months later, the demons of his past had finally come to make sure he paid dearly for his mistakes.
It was while he was calm enough to think more reasonably when something hit him hard! He realized that he was in a similarly tight situation the Rev. Maliba John Bosco had been in shortly before his death. The sheer thought of the horrible fate that had met the late Presbyterian Parish Pastor sent shivers down the Rev. Ayuk Peter’s spine as he sat motionless against a wall in the bedroom, staring absent-mindedly at his wife sleeping peacefully in bed.
Then, somehow, he heard a voice from within telling him that there was always a way out of every situation, and that he was certainly going to find a way out of this one. It was with infallible hope in that single optimistic thought amidst the numerous petrifying others nibbling at his half-crazed mind like cannibals feasting mercilessly on human flesh that he finally found the willpower to get to his feet and go to bed.
***
As Samuel sat in class the following morning whilewaiting for the lecturer to arrive, he recalled what had happened the previous evening.
After alighting from the pastor’s car at Malingo Junction, he went home with the firm resolve to talk things out with Beltus. Upon getting home, however, he saw that Beltus was already asleep. So he decided that they would talk in the morning.
When Samuel woke that morning, he could not findBeltus in the room. Seeing that Beltus’ school bag was not where it used to be, he realized that he had already gone to school. And so it was that Samuel got school that morning still without having discussed the crucial matter with his roommate.
Then, out of the blue, he found himself thinking about Sylvia, wondering how she was holding up. He craned his neck to see whether she was in class, but could not find her where she usually sat in class.
Throughout the two consecutive lecture periods for a single course, he kept glancing in that direction, yet she was not there; so he figured she must have decided to sit somewhere else that day.
After lectures, as he walked out of class that afternoon, he dialed her number. The phone rang but there was no answer. Dialing a second time yielded the same result, much to his annoyance. Wondering where she had kept her phone, he heard his own ring. He was seized by a spam of excitement as he fished it from his pocket, hoping it was Sylvia calling back.
When he checked to see who was calling, however, he saw that it was not Sylvia, but his eldest brother Kelvin. His spirits fell with a sharp physical pain in his heart as he answered the call. ‘Hello, brother. Good day.’
‘Good day, Sam. How are you doing?’
‘I’m fine, thank you. Hope you are all fine over there?’
‘Yes, we are. How is school?’
‘It is going on very well.’
‘Ok, Sam. I hope you are still as devoutly committed to God as I have always known you to be, and that you have not compromised yourself or your studies in any way?’
‘Everything is fine, and nothing is ever going to make me relent in any way. I know why I am here and what I intend to achieve.’
After talking with his brother for a while, he heard the call end, and it warmed his heart to know his brothers loved him so much that they kept calling him every once in a while to know how he was faring.
Propelled by this newfound joy, he dialed Sylvia’s number yet again. This time, the call was answered on the second ring. But it was not Sylvia’s voice which he heard over the phone; it was an unfamiliar masculine voice which simply said, ‘Sylvia’s busy,’ and ended the call.
Samuel felt his throat go dry as he stared wide-eyed at his phone, unable to believe that the call had actually been ended. He did not recognize who the correspondent was and why it was he who answered Sylvia’s call.
It was with this very unsettling feeling that he made his way toward the students’ restaurant to have lunch, only to bump into none other than Elvis, Nelson and Karl!
He walked right past them as though they were not there, but Karl caught him by the right arm, saying, ‘Hey, Sam. Don’t tell me you did not see us.’
‘What if I did?’ he shot back, casting them a hard sidelong scowl and shaking his arm free from Karl’s grip.
‘What’s with the attitude, Sam?’ Elvis said, a toothpick dangling from one end of his mouth now curled into one of those his smiles. ‘Last time we saw you, you were so happy that we had set you on the path to become a real man.’
‘You mean a real drunk,’ Samuel countered.
‘Easy, Sam,’ Nelson said; ‘we thought you were enjoying yourself that day.’
When Samuel did not respond, but rather maintained his strong resolve, Elvis patted him on the shoulder like an old friend. ‘If you did not like the beer, then fine: we won’t make you take it anymore. Why should we let beer get in the way of our newfound friendship?’ Elvis could see that Samuel was cooling off now, and his smile broadened even more. ‘So where were you up to, Sam?’
‘I was on my way to the students’ restaurant for lunch.’
‘What!’ Karl exclaimed. ‘Don’t tell me you eat that cheap, half-cooked stuff they sell there.’
Seeing the quizzical look on Samuel’s face, Elvis wrapped his hand round him, saying, ‘You see, we are on our way to a place on campus where good quality food is served. How about joining us? I promise: no beer. We are just going there to eat.’
‘I don’t know,’ Samuel said reluctantly. ‘The food there is probably expensive and I cannot afford it.’
‘Nonsense,’ Elvis chided him. ‘Who said you are going to pay a franc? Take it as a treat from us.’
Samuel felt like hugging them all at once. He had never bought cooked food on campus anywhere other than at the student restaurant, and he was wondering how good the food sold at the eateries on campus tasted.
‘Ok then,’ he said with a smile.
‘That’s what I’m talking about,’ Nelson said as they all shook Samuel’s hand jovially before heading off for the UB market.
While on their way, Samuel asked, ‘Hey, has any of you seen Sylvia of late?’
‘No,’ Karl said, ‘not since yesterday. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘No. It’s just…’ Samuel tried to hold back but his tongue failed him, and he ended up telling them how he had only recently been dialing her number only to get an awful reply over the phone. ‘I’m just worried,’ he concluded.
Elvis eyed him keenly before saying, ‘I can see you have a thing for her.’
‘No, I don’t!’
‘Don’t deny it, Sam,’ Karl said. ‘It’s very obvious you like her. Besides, you can open up to us; we are your friends.’
‘Plus,’ Nelson added, ‘we are her friends, too. We could put in a good word for you.’
‘For sure,’ Elvis added.
Samuel then felt the tension around him dissipate. ‘Ok, I guess I do care for her. I just don’t know who she has left her phone with. Come to think of it: what if the phone is missing and it was the thief who answered the call?’ Worry created contours on his face.
‘Tell you what,’ Elvis said. ‘Let’s go get some food first; then we’ll see what to do about Sylvia.’
When they got to an eatery at UB market, they ordered their food and told Samuel to order anything he wanted. When the food was served, Samuel marveled at the quantity of meat on each of their plates. As he ate his food, he realized that it was far more delicious than the food he usually bought at the student restaurant.
After they finished eating, Elvis ordered four bottles of Fanta to help wash down the food, and to prove to Samuel that the issue of beer was now ancient history.
As they sat there drinking, Elvis said, ‘So Sam, you say the person who answered Sylvia’s call told you she was busy? Was that all?’
‘Just that,’ Samuel said, ‘before ending the call.’
‘Maybe you should dial the number again,’ Karl said.
Good idea, Samuel thought as he got his phone and dialed Sylvia’s number for the fourth time that day. A while later, he dropped the phone onto the table and – looking even more worried now – said, ‘The phone is switched off!’
‘Calm down, Sam,’ Elvis said.
‘How can I…?’ Samuel stopped in midsentence when he saw what Nelson was holding out for him to take.
‘Drink up,’ Nelson said, dropping the sachet of ‘Lion d’Or’ whisky on Samuel’s phone.
‘Sorry, I don’t take whisky,’ he protested as he regarded the sachet with apparent disdain.
Elvis leaned forward in his seat, saying, ‘See, Sam, you have got a worse temper now, and the whisky is certainly going to help calm your nerves, so we can reason a way out of this. Besides, it’s just a sachet – what harm can it do?’
After a brief hesitation – during which time Samuel looked from one face to the other in a dying wordless protest that seemed to say, ‘Come on, reason with me,’ – he finally took the sachet, tore it open with his teeth and took a short sip. At once, a soothing warmth enveloped his head as felt his anxiety disperse; and a warmth radiated in his stomach as the whisky flowed down his throat.
‘There you go,’ Karl said. ‘How does it feel?’
‘Soothing’ Samuel whispered, and drained the sachet with a second sip. In no time he drained three more sachets, feeling like he was riding above the stars. The threesome kept encouraging him to go on, saying it calmed the nerves.
After draining the fourth sachet, Samuel began to misbehave, saying things he would never say in his right senses. He kept ranting to the threesome about all the misery wrought on him throughout his life, and even went as far as saying he did not care whether Sylvia answered her calls or not. ‘She can go to hell for all I care,’ he said at one time, flinging his right arm carelessly across the table and almost knocked down the bottles of Fanta.
The threesome amused themselves with his behaviour and derived pleasure in responding to his foolish ranting as though they were having a very pleasant discussion with him. This was, of course, until he started feeling the soothing warmth of the whisky wear out and the dull pain set in at full gear inside his head which felt like it was going to explode. He started muttering inaudible words to himself until he finally collapsed on the table which had, luckily, been cleared of their bottles.
‘And down he goes,’ Elvis said, spreading his hands in amusement and they all burst into peals of laughter as though they were playing a game to see just how long Samuel was going to hold up before finally collapsing.
‘He’s a tough one; I’ll give him that,’ Nelson said, ‘He managed to hold his ground up till the fourth sachet.’
‘Indeed,’ Elvis concurred as they got to their feet. ‘Now let’s be on our way.’
Karl cast him a puzzled look, ‘What! Are we just going to leave Sam here?’
‘If you want to take him home,’ Elvis said with an indifferent shrug of the shoulders, ‘it’s your call. As for me, I’m out of here. He can find his way home whenever he wakes up.’
And so the three of them went their way, leaving Samuel slumped over the table like a habitual drunk at a cheap tavern.
When the lady selling at the eatery came out to attend to two customers who had just arrived, she gestured toward Samuel in disgust, saying, ‘Do you see what some students come to do in school? His poor parents are probably at home thinking he is here studying whereas he is wasting himself out on booze.’
The customers just laughed and left after consuming their orders, discussing about the wayward life some students led in the university and the trouble it has been landing them into.
And so it was that poor Samuel became a paragon of academic perversion and a ridiculous source of amusement to whoever chanced upon the eatery that warm afternoon – including some of his course mates. Some of them even dared take snapshots with him with the intention of posting the photos on social media.
As fate would have it, Beltus happened to be passing by that way when he noticed Samuel slumped over the table. He did not believe his eyes at first, not until he walked right up to him and stopped short, rooted where he stood by utter stupefaction. Samuel had certainly gone too far this time. Beltus swallowed the unbearable shame enveloping him as the few people in there who knew he was affiliated with Samuel started booing and jeering at him.
He carried Samuel’s unconscious body reeking with whisky over his shoulder and took him home through a shortcut, too embarrassed to board a campus shuttle with Samuel being such a mess.
The students who saw him leave the campus with Samuel slumped over his shoulder whispered to one another while some of them burst into peals of laughter and jeered at Samuel, especially those who know him well.
Beltus cursed under his breath as he felt like he could just throw Samuel to the ground and walk away like he never knew him.
***
It was not until late that evening that Samuel finally regained consciousness with a throbbing head and whirling eyes. He surveyed his new environment through a blurry vision, noting that he was now in bed in their room and wondered how he got there. Before he could work out any logic on a his still-crazed brain, Beltus materialized before him – spirited, actually, if Samuel’s opinion just then were to be considered - arms folded across his broad chest with an angry look on his face.
‘First, it was beer,’ he heard Beltusroar. ‘I let it be, thinking you were grieving. But this, Sam,’ he pointed at Samuel helplessly sprawled on the bed, ‘is way beyond the line. You should have seen how ashamed I was to find you the way I did! What’s going on?’
Samuel did not utter a word. He was too consumed by guilt and anger toward himself, the trio who had now landed him into trouble twice and – to his own surprise – even at Beltus. He could not bring himself to imagine that Beltus had carried him home after finding him drunk at an eatery on campus. So he simply lay there silent, and Beltus’ attempts to get him to talk seemed to fall on deaf ears until he finally gave up asking and went to bed.
When Samuel woke the following morning, he saw that Beltus was still asleep; so he took his bath, dressed up and ate so stealthily that he himself could almost not hear the clanking sound of his silver spoon against the ceramic plate as he took breakfast. He intended not to rouse Beltus and be confronted with yet another insufferable barrage of questioning.
Just as he was about to open the door and leave for school, he froze where he was when he heard movement on the bed and saw that Beltus had awoken. Not so stealthy, after all!
‘Do you mind telling me what happened yesterday?’ Beltus asked Samuel who was now frozen at the door with his right hand on the doorknob. Samuel stood there awhile, as though contemplating whether or not to answer the question. He then opened the door and walked out without uttering a word.
Beltus almost shed a tear for Samuel whom he knew was going through a lot, yet would not share anything with him. That was the part that hurt him most. Had Samuel suddenly lost confidence in him? He doubted it, for he knew he had never given him any reason to do so.
***
It was while Samuel was just within view of the Amphi 600 where he was scheduled to attend lectures that morning that a terrible thought hit him hard like a sledge hammer: he was supposed to submit an assignment worth ten marks during the Business Law lectures he was just about to attend, and had completely forgotten about it. If his memory served him well, he was supposed to get it done the day before after having lunch at the student restaurant, but it had not been so.
He kept pondering why he had not done the assignment as he walked to class in self-disgust. Then his messed-up mind finally remembered that he had been “hijacked” by the trio; they made out, ate, talked about Sylvia, and he took what, four or five sachets of ‘Lion d’Or’? He could not recall.
The fact that the whole scenario had stemmed from his getting worked up over Sylvia not picking his calls made him add her to the list of people he was angry at.
To add salt to injury, the first face he made out when he got to class was Sylvia’s! He saw her wink at him, but turned abruptly and sat as far away from her as possible.
The class ended with him not submitting his assignment which was considered as a third of the Continuous Assessment test they were yet to write. He felt his chest burn with rage at the fact that he had lost those marks simply because he hadmet the wrong people – the very same people his pastor had warned him to steer clear of! – at the wrong time.
As he stormed out of the class in a fit of rage, he wondered whether he would ever forgive himself for the stupid mistake he had just made. He found two concrete seats built into the ground around Cultural Village – a part of campus comprised of three blocks of buildings housing two classrooms each, and standing perpendicular to each other with a small café at the front.
He sat on one of the seats, buried his face into his hands and wished he could just cry. But he knew that as an adult he could not cry, unless it was over a very emotional issue. As a child, he had always believed crying was a way of letting out the “bad feelings” whirling within you. But now he realized that one of the things about being an adult was that you either dealt with the “bad feelings” head-on or you let them kill you from within.
Just then, the subsided pain consequent of his mother’s death joined forces with the guilt, anger and regret eating him inside out to form a stronger joint army and launched a merciless attack on him from the inside.
It was while he was enduring this ordeal that he left a tender hand rest on his right shoulder. He looked up only to find Sylvia seated next to him, looking genuinely concerned. Had he been so immersed in his thoughts as not to have seen or heard her arrive? Not that he cared.
‘What’s wrong, Sam?’ she asked in that angelic voice of hers, looking both alarmed and concerned at the same time.
All at once, competing responses within him scrambled amongst themselves as they wriggled, scratched and clawed their way up his narrow wind pipe in the race to get to his mouth and be voiced out. These were responses such as: “We can start with you telling me who your boyfriend is” – for Samuel had presume the masculine voice that answered her phone call the previous day belonged to her boyfriend, which was why he had unconsciously taken umbrage and become jealous. Perhaps he was in love with her and did not realize it until that moment when his feelings for her were tested - , “Who was that arrogant young man you left your phone with yesterday?” and so on.
Rather, he just stared blankly at her as though he were seeing a strange apparition that rendered him speechless.
‘Jesus, Sam, you are scaring me!’ she gasped. ‘First, you give me that look in class before avoiding me; and now you look like – I don’t know – very scary?’
Just then, Samuel felt so sorry for himself that he turned his gaze to the ground and after a short silence, he said, ‘What is his name?’
‘What name?’
‘His name!’ he barked with untethered rage.
‘I don’t under…’ her voice trailed off as she tried hard to decipher his question to no avail. ‘Sam, I have no idea of whom it is you are referring to!’’
‘Someone answered when I called you on your cell phone yesterday. Who was it?’
She gave a sigh of relief at having being given a time frame, although she still did not understand whom he was asking after. So she gathered her thoughts and summoned the memories of where she was the previous day, the people she was with… ‘Oh, I was at home all day yesterday…’
‘With your lover!’ he cut her in midsentence, ignoring the shock on her face. ‘The least you could do, Sylvia, is answer my calls, and not let some arrogant young man tell me off like an underling!’
‘Would you just shut up and hear me out?’ she cried. ‘I missed classes yesterday just so I could have a one-on-one chat with my father who just got back from Yaoundé. Now, if anyone told you off, it must have been my brother Roland.
‘I was in my room yesterday when Roland told me our father had just returned, so I left my phone in the room and went to see him while he was having lunch at the dining-table. So Roland must have answered the call and said… What did he even tell you?’ Her words now carried a tinge of bitterness.
It was then that the events started aligning themselves in Samuel’s mind, building logical sense until he finally understood what had really happened and felt so stupid about it.
He had seen the whole thing in a different way, thinking she had been with her boyfriend, and out of jealousy, he had… It was too painful and embarrassing for him to recall. He felt so ashamed now for being so hard on her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said calmly.
She seemed to be all the more confused. ‘Sorry? What are you…?’ her voice again trailed off as she herself began to understand why he was angry, and that made her frown. ‘You thought I was with my lover when I did not pick your calls?! Even if I had a lover and I was with him yesterday, how is that your business? Besides, am I mandated to pick the phone whenever you call? And here I thought this was such a grave matter! I am disappointed in you, Samuel!’
‘I messed up, and I’m sorry,’ he apologized.
‘Ok’ she said, trying to control her anger, ‘let’s say you did not know why it was someone else that answered the call instead of me, and you did not know who it was. Is that enough reason for you to look so depressed?’
If only you knew, he thought as he stayed quiet.
‘Sam?!’ she insisted.
‘Well, I got to hang out with your friends Elvis, Nelson and Karl, and they got me so messed up that I could not even do my assignment.’
She stopped dead upon hearing this, and for a moment he thought he saw her face blanch. But it was only for a moment, because the next moment, colour filled her cheeks as she bloomed into full rage. ‘Did you just say my friends? Who said they were my friends? Did I introduce anyone to you as my friends?’
The life drained out of Samuel as he regarded her in disbelief as though she had just told the biggest lie of the century. If - against all odds - she was saying the truth, then he had been used, twice, by a bunch of rascals who claimed to be her friends, and that did not sit well with him.
Shaking off such a bizarre possibility, he insisted, ‘But…’ and stammered. ‘They said they were your friends, and I hung out with them – twice; and both times I ended up drunk and stupid and…’
He stopped midsentence as he saw her get to her feet. She said, real anger palpable on her delicate face now, ‘Listen, Sam, I am not in the mood for this nonsense. I have got enough family issues on my plate to sit and hear you talk rubbish,’ and with that she walked away.
That was the moment in Samuel’s life when he wished he could just kill himself. His encounter with Sylvia only magnified all the feelings assaulting him from within: guilt, regret and anger. His face grew pale and his eyes bloodshot as he just sat there, pondering what a mess he was in, wishing to God that he could just break and cry it all out.
***
After classes that day, he went to the Rev. Ayuk Peter’s house to tell him everything that had transpired since their last encounter, and get sound counsel. He felt an odd feeling in his gut while he was in the taxi as he braced himself to be scolded by the pastor for not following his advice.
When he got to the house and knocked on the front door, it was opened by the pastor’s fourteen-year-old son, AyukTakow Caleb, who looked very exhausted.
‘Good day, Sam,’ Caleb said, standing in the doorway.
‘Good day, Caleb. How are you doing?’
‘I’m fine.’
Samuel nodded. ‘I’m here to see your dad. Is he in?’
‘Yes and no.’
‘What do you mean, yes and no?’ Samuel asked, a quizzical frown etched across his already tired face.
‘Yes, he is in his bedroom,’ Caleb said; ‘and no, he would not entertain any visitors.’
‘Tell him I am here to see him.’
‘You don’t understand. He has denied stepping out of the house for any reason whatsoever since yesterday morning, and has asked me to send away anyone who came to see him, whatever the reason for which they had come.’
‘What!’ Samuel was dumbfounded. ‘Is he Ok? Is he… is he sick?’
Caleb seemed to mull over the question before saying, ‘His mood seemed to have changed overnight. He gets so angry easily and scolds my mother every time she does something that makes him angry. And he hardly eats. We have asked him what is wrong, but he would not say.’
Samuel was taken aback by this. The pastor’s behaviour was indeed strange. He recalled that he and the pastor had talked casually the other evening, and he had not noticed anything wrong with him. ‘Where is your mother?’ he asked.
‘She has gone to the market.’
‘Ok. I will be leaving now. When you get in, just tell your dad I was here to see him, Ok?’
‘I will,’ Caleb said just before Samuel left.
***
When Samuel got home, he found Beltus having supper at their study table. He kept his school bag and sat next to him. After a brief silence, he said, ‘I owe you an explanation, bro. First, I’m sorry about everything. I have been going through tough times lately.’
Beltus was overwhelmed with joy to see that Samuel had finally decided to open up. He offered a silent prayer of thanksgiving to God.
He then dropped his spoon and said, ‘I understand it can be hard dealing with your mother’s demise, Sam; that was why I chose to say nothing the day you came home drunk. But what happened yesterday was really embarrassing. You know you can always talk to me. What is going on?’
Samuel shut his eyes for a moment as he realized that Beltus had never been mad at him after all. He then told Beltus everything from when he first met the trio up until his last encounter with Sylvia; and all the while Beltus listened attentively without interrupting.
Afterwards, Beltus took a deep breath before saying, ‘I’m sorry to hear that, Sam. You see, there are some people out there who pretend to be friends, yet they are wolves in sheepskin. You really have to be careful about the people you hang out with’
Just then, an image of Elvis with a toothpick dangling from his mouth and a smile on his face popped up in Samuel’s mind and that made him shiver. Wolf in sheepskin indeed!
‘Now I know better,’ Samuel said. ‘I have to gather myself and work things out with Sylva. It seems I made her already bad day even worse. Thanks, Beltus. Talking about everything makes me feel better.’
‘You are always welcome, Sam,’ Beltus replied with a pat on Samuel’s shoulder. ‘A problem shared is a problem half-solved. You can always share your problems with me.’
Whatever it was Beltus did earned him a wide grin from Samuel, perhaps even wider than any one from Elvis.
***
The following day was a Saturday and Samuel had no class that day, so he knew he would not be seeing Sylvia in school. He sent her a text message that morning, apologizing about the previous day’s incident. When she did not reply after an hour, he sent her yet another text message, and another. Still, she did not reply.
By two o’clock that afternoon, or thereabouts, when he had already given up all hopes of making things right with her, he received a text message from her, asking him to let her be. However, he used it as a stepping stone to insist even more; and she relented a little. So he asked to take her out that evening for a few drinks. After a long while, she accepted.
He met her around Checkpoint three hours later, dressed in a short-sleeved blue shirt over a black pair of trousers with loafers without socks. She was clad in long red dress and a pair of low-heel sandals, looking more relaxed than he had last seen her.
‘Hello, Sylvia,’ he said as he walked up to her, noticing she had arrived by taxi, and not her vehicle. ‘Thank you for coming.’
She smiled weakly and said, ‘Still, what happened yesterday was dumb and stupid.’
He smiled self-consciously. ‘I know. That’s why I want to make up for that tonight.
He took her to a bar called “Black and White Drinking Spot” where they ordered their drinks and talked.
He reached out and touched her left hand on the table, feeling the ring on her index finger. He then cleared his throat and said, ‘I am really sorry about yesterday, Sylvia. It was a dumb move. Please forgive me.’
When she just sat there looking at him, he added, ‘I’m really sorry, Sylvia. I promise it won’t happen again. You know I hate to see you angry.’
She took another sip of her drink, and said, ‘It’s Ok; I forgive you.’
‘Thank you,’ he said with an enthusiastic smile. ‘So how are you holding up?’
‘Not so good,’ she replied, whirling a manicured fingernail round the rim of her glass, her gaze captured by said glass. ‘My father made it abundantly clear the last time we spoke that there was no getting over his hatred for me. He looked me straight in the eye and told me that my very existence is a reminder of my mother’s death, and that he is not sure he would ever get over that. You should have seen the look on his face, Sam. I could not believe it was my own father telling me all that. I won’t be surprised if he sends me out of the house one day to start renting my own place!’ She seemed to be fighting back tears as she sneezed into an immaculate white handkerchief she had retrieved from her shoulder bag.
‘Anyway, I was crying by the time I left his presence. When I met Roland at the corridor on my way to my room, he asked why I was crying; I told him what happened before going to my room where I cried even more.
‘Later, I could hear angry voices from the living room; then I realized that Roland had confronted our father and they were quarreling.’ Her lips curved into a tight smile. ‘I couldn’t have wished for a better brother than Roland. Were it not for him, I’m sure I would have committed suicide by now.’
Samuel caressed her hand more tenderly now and said, ‘He is indeed a blessing. So tell me about him: What does he do for a living?’
‘Oh, he is pursuing his Master’s degree in medicine now at the Faculty of Health Sciences.’
‘I see. You see, there are some things we cannot change, but we can be strong. Never limit yourself to what you are going through at the moment because these are fleeting moments; there is a bright future ahead.’
They talked about other things for a while before Sylvia said it was getting late and she had to get going.
Samuel paid the bill and took her out to the frigid air that bit at his skin. He cursed under his breathe for not having worn warmer clothing as they crossed the street. He then got her into a taxi and watched it disappear among other cars on the road, feeling more relieved at heart now.
Feeling like all was right with the world, he boarded another taxi that took him home.
YOU ARE READING
The Moment of Truth
Mystery / ThrillerWhen the Presbyterian Church pastor dropped dead after making a mind-blowing confession, everyone thought he was crazy. But when other Pentecostal Pastors start dying under mysterious circumstances, the situation becomes alarming as the media emphas...
