Impeccable Love (On Hold)

Father's Day

The deep voice of men rumbled in the hall.

"You can do better than that."

Their voices were louder this time.

"There are indeed fathers in the house!" The woman said, "So the junior church has a presentation to render to appreciate all the lovely fathers in the house. We want to say a big thank you for going all the way to take care of the household. God bless you fathers."

She left the altar and some children marched in a straight line, with wrapped presents in their hands and they arranged themselves on the altar.

I love you Daddy, oh yes I do!
I love you Daddy, and all you do.
When you're not home with me, I'm blue,
Oh Daddy I love you.

When they sang, my heart sank. I looked over at mum and Joshua and mum had her arms wrapped around Joshua in a comforting manner. A rain of sadness awash me and tears welled up in my eyes. Joshua wasn't part of the children singing. He couldn't be. He didn't have a father. He didn't even know what it was like to have a father. He wasn't opportune to see dad. But I was. I had memories of him. I remembered when mum and I would be patiently waiting for him to return from work so one of us could be the first to give him a hug. I was always the first. In my naivety, I thought I was faster than mum but in hindsight, mum always allowed me to be the first to hug him because she knew if she ever was first, I would cry. Dad would always lift me so high and spin me around when I got to him with outstretched arms and that made me happy. It made me feel loved.

Until I lost him to the demon, fever. Despite mum and I had prayed, he still died.

Though mum had cried, I didn't. I had a strong hope that I was going to see him one day. He had promised to never leave me so I had held him by his words. I believed he was going to come back.

But he never did.

I remember crying and praying for God to bring him back, but as usual the almighty was silent.

"God took dad away from us?" I vividly remember asking mum that question when she was breast feeding baby Joshua but she replied with, "No God didn't take your dad away from us. Fever took him away. But the good thing is, your father is in heaven watching over you, me and Josh."

"But why didn't God stop the fever from taking him even after we prayed?" I asked mum and I remember it took a while for mum to respond.

She was very thoughtful before she said, "Everything happens for a reason. There are some questions I can't answer dear. But just know that God didn't kill your father and He loves you so much."

No, He didn't. If He did, He wouldn't have let dad die. The church said God was omniscience- all knowing, then he should have known that I loved my dad so much. He should have kept him until this day so that Joshua and I could also celebrate Father's Day with our father.

How I miss him so much!

Tears trickled down my eyes.

"Are you okay young lady?" An elderly woman sitting beside me asked.

"No." I got up, moved the chair back and walked out of the church briskly.

MERCY WAS was seated in a bench at the Love garden located around faculty of art. The garden had sparse tall trees and cemented benches. It was a place where students came to read, hang out with their lovers and enjoy swift Wi-Fi connection. Mercy needed some alone time to get her mind off all that had happened to her on just her first week in Unilag. She was still confused on what to do about the lecturer's case. She certainly didn't want to have sex with him. If at worse she was to lose her virginity before marriage, she wanted to lose it to someone young and one she liked, not some old goat. She really couldn't imagine herself doing such despicable thing with an old man.