A SHADE OF DELILAH

CHAPTER 8 (PART 2)

In the TAR class, being a Christian was cringeworthy.It was the class where the indigenous culture of the different regions of Africa was studied. Some  people chose not to show up for the class. It was consistently full of insults to the culture of the white man as the cause of the African's lack of progress. They also blamed colonialism for it.
As if others hadn't recovered from their slavery and groomed their economies into something biiiiiiiggggg!
In this class everybody was entitled to an opinion; the economists, the socialists, sociologists, ecologists... everybody except Christians whose religion was supposed to have contributed to the downfall of Africa.
As soon as the period was up,Henry and co left for their hostels. They had been reported to the headache several times but they wouldn't budge.He couldn't stand that an idol worshipper would condemn his Jesus and he had hate to get into more arguments with Mr. Abrebrese.

Their last encounter had ended in a brawl because Henry had stated frankly that when a Christian prays, it's answered, when a Muslim prays it's answered, when a tradItionalist prays it is answered but it is the source of the answers that makes the difference. Anyone who doesn't pray in Jesus's Name is really not looking in the right direction.

That had been it.
An hour long disagreement.
Henry ended up with a bleeding nose and his teacher, a two-week suspension. They couldn't keep him away for too long. Despite his drunkenness, the school couldn't fire him. It was hard to find someone as knowledgeable to teach TAR.

The petit, lean pawpaw-coloured man entered with his briefcase. An hour into the lecture the bell went.Despite the fact that his teaching was to last for two hours, he dedicated an hour to ruining lives.

Today, he was making fun of the prophets "pushing people's heads about and pretending to be carrying out devils, shootings of their heads and defying the Almighty with their noise. "

He said that was in vain, he denied their special abilities to see beyond the physical and with the cunningness of the serpent, caused many weak to ask questions. With a polished tongue, he was selling his noxious ideas and Samuel could hear all the whispers around him.

People were questioning prayer.

He referred to a book Ingersoll wrote about some mIstakes in the Torah.

People were questioning the Bible.

Then he was talking about a god who was invisible or lived some 2000 years , a god who died like a culprit. Like a looser.
His face was quite mean by this time.
He loved this stir in his students.

Samuel boils feel the palpitations.  It was in his head, in his chest, on his hands ,all over.

"You need Jesus. "
"What did you say?"
He hadn't been expecting this. Who was this boy and why did he think he had to right to speak back.
"Who are you? "

"Toys" he heard Eva's low whisper. She frowned, tried to make him sit. But no, he continued "Samuel Yaw Tawiah Otoo. "

The name struck the teacher familiar.
"You are related to the former minister of roads and housing? "

"No.He is just my father's childhood friend"
An uproar went up in the class.
Eva gnashed.
She hadn't shared with her friends that Samuel was the Son of a big-time business tycoon who earned millions of what the country's import and export was worth.
Heck! Shit! Damned bloody fool!

It had been her secret, the way she could retain Samuel was to keep people believing that he was a nobody and nobody was interested in a nobody.

But now Estella and Amanda would know why she had refused to quit her vendetta after Samuel had been badly mutilated by Devin and they had all felt that was punishment enough. She refrained from glancing at Amanda.

She had to think up something quickly before she was faced with loosing the only two people who stood by her no matter the heat.