The Club Of God-Fearing Men- 12

Genesis had been propositioned a number of times in his not-so-long life; when he was seventeen, their twenty-three year old next door neighbor had offered her ‘services’ if he wanted experience with a ‘real woman’.
His first blow job had been in his third year in the University, when his study-partner had followed him to the back of the classroom and in the darkness had begged to ‘do’ things to him with her mouth.
And so many other times he could not begin to recall, and yet when Abbey asked him to spend the night, the excitement that pulsed through his body wasn’t the usual kind.
His first thought wasn’t about her in bed with him, no, that came later. His first thought was about how good it felt to be that trusted. He knew she couldn’t ask it of just anyone even if the person had just spent two hours babysitting her kids; it was no delusion the kind of world they lived in.
“Are…you sure?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s…uh…been a while I had anyone to talk to…and…I know there’s no guest room but…I promise; the couch is quite comfortable.” Her smile was nervous.
He hadn’t been expecting her to offer her bedroom to him of course, but he also hadn’t expected her to mention the couch idea so unabashedly.
“I think I prefer my soft, wide bed,” he replied, a playful lilt in his words.
“Genesis, seriously. Are you gonna make me beg?”
And just like that, he was back to thinking how incredibly sexy she was standing there, arms akimbo, hair askance.
He blinked then. How could he possibly spend the night in the same house as this woman without going crazy?
“I’m…not sure …that’s a good idea,” he muttered, averting his eyes so she wouldn’t see his thoughts through them.
“What? Brother Genesis can’t handle spending the night in the house of a woman without thinking carnal thoughts?” there was a light in her eyes as she teased.
It was then it dawned on him that he was still supposed to be in character! He was supposed to be the spirikoko brother from Grace Assembly, the sort of man who did not get moved by such things as beautiful sisters-in-the-Lord.
“Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God…” he responded, enjoying the light banter.
“Well, Jesus said in this world…ye shall have trials…but be of good cheer I have overcome. Don’t you believe that through Jesus, you can overcome all temptations, brother Genesis?”
His eyes searched her face, wanting to know whether she was being serious or if she was just baiting him. Did she have any idea how much she affected him even in her ‘unsophisticated’ state?
“Okay, okay. I give up. I’ll stay tonight. On the couch. Satisfied, madam?” he had to change the direction the conversation was taking. He didn’t know how long he could pretend he was not affected by her especially with Little Johnny beginning to rear its head.
“I’m sorry. I know you didn’t plan this at all. And today being Monday, you have to go to work and all that…please no vex. I have asked too much of you already, but be sure that for coming to the rescue of a widow…God is definitely gonna reward you.”
It was when she said the W word that he remembered that she had lost her husband, that he was about to spend the night in the house of a dead man’s wife. It was then he noticed the small framed picture hanging from the wall and suddenly he wanted to know more about the man whom she had pledged her life to, who had fathered her daughters.
“Will you tell me how he…” he began, not sure of the words to use.
She shook her head, “not today, Genesis.”
“When?”
“Some other time but…not today, please.” She yawned. “I’m so tired right now; all I wanna do is sleep.”
“You can’t go to work today, you know?”
“Fortunately, I’m a semi-boss so I am not obliged to. I’ll just stay home with the girls.”
“You know…I don’t know…enough about you.”
“Enough? I don’t know anything about you,” she yawned again, moving towards the corridor. “But that would be for another day. Let me get you a blanket and pillow. If you wanna take a shower, you can use the guest bathroom.”
“Er…I’ll pass on that. I just need to sleep too.” The mention of shower brought pictures to his head that he didn’t want to entertain.
As he settled in for the night, he wondered if he was going to get any sleep because all he could picture was her, lying in bed naked. Without him.
*****
“Genesis, are you okay?”
“Huh?”
“Oya, talk to me,” it was Lola. “Something has been taking your attention away from me and I want to know what it is.”
Genesis sighed. It was their second week of Salvation classes and he had already recognized Lola’s powerful intuition. She reminded him of his mother, who could take one look at him and know something was up.
“Nothing is wrong na. I’m listening to you,” he feigned interest.
“Eh…and I was born yesterday. Okay, what’s the last thing I said?”
“Uh…you said something about uh…how Jesus promised us the Comforter when…”
Lola burst into laughter, interrupting him.
“What’s funny?” he asked.
“What’s funny is that, that’s what I taught yesterday! You haven’t listened at all to anything I’ve said these past ten minutes!”
“Seriously?” he was flummoxed.
“Yes. So, now you owe me. Talk…what’s on your mind. Maybe I can help. Woman troubles?”
Genesis sighed. He couldn’t tell her that it was indeed a woman on his mind, that since he had spent time with Abbey that night, two weeks ago, he could not stop thinking about her.
Sleep had fled him for another hour when she left him to go to bed; because he kept wondering what she would do if he invited himself to her bedroom. Would she a) kick him out, b) welcome him and tell him she had been waiting for him to take the step, c)slap him, then kiss him.
The only option he saw was a). This was no American sitcom where he would be cheered a hero for taking advantage of a woman’s vulnerability like that.
He left her house at 5 a.m. that morning so he could make it to work. He checked on the girls before leaving, to make sure there was no immediate danger and then he had written Abbey a note.
He left that house that morning with a promise to himself never to come back. There was something about her that made him uncomfortable. He wanted her and yet, he didn’t. He hated that he wanted her. He didn’t want to want her.
He hadn’t called her since then and the salvation classes with Lola had kept him preoccupied. When he met Lola for his first salvation class, he had been distracted by how good she looked. The distraction had expired a few minutes after they parted ways and Abbey was back in his thoughts.
As he sat across from Lola now, he realised he was being stupid. He remembered his bet with the guys and mentally kicked himself for ignoring a potential prey sitting right in front of him.
“Genesis, I’ll walk out of here, if you keep giving me that spacey look! You want us to postpone our classes today?” she was frowning now.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I just…well, you’re right, I’ve got other things on my mind.” He began to spin his lines mentally.
“Mind sharing?”
“I…didn’t want to say anything before. I didn’t want to spoil anything…but…uh…spending time with you has uh…I have come to admire you, Lola. Your zeal for God makes you attractive in a way I never knew was possible. I’m not trying to sweet talk you or anything…and you don’t have to do anything about it now…but I just want you to know…you’ve got a fan in me.” He paused for effect, letting his eyes speak. “You asked what was on my mind? Well, you are.”

His words hung in the air.
To Be Continued….
Mimi A.

The Club Of God-Fearing Men – 11

He had taken about five paces into the night when he realised what he had done.
The woman he had met earlier had been shaking, almost unstable on her feet. Her skin felt like hot coal when he touched it and despite her stubbornness he knew she wasn’t fine.
No matter how he felt about being used, he could not blindly walk away from a possibly sick woman and her equally sick daughters; his ego was not that inflated.
With a sigh, he turned back to the house, hating himself for giving in yet unable to not.
He knocked lightly.
“Abbey, it’s me.” He spoke, against the door.
When the door opened, she was standing there, looking smaller than he remembered.
He didn’t say a word as he stepped across the threshold and took her n his arms. She didn’t resist, instead she folded into him, like it was meant to be.
They stood that way for some minutes; he, listening to the slow beats of her heart against his chest, she, so still it was almost like she had fallen asleep against him. He couldn’t recall the last time he had held a woman that way without other intentions.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, wondering even as the words left his mouth, why he was sorry.
She didn’t respond and he pulled back, wanting to see her face.
“Don’t look at me,” she protested, twisting away her face.
“Why not?”
“I…er…” she retreated from him then, turning to the living room.
“You’re crying?” it was a question because he couldn’t tell whether the wetness he glimpsed in her eyes were truly tears.
“Of course not. I just…washed my face,” she was out of his reach now and he found he missed the warmth of her body against his.
“Prove it. Look at me.”
“Look Genesis, this is not a game…I said I am not…argh!” she groaned in surprise as he spun her to face him. “Are…you crazy? You almost broke my neck!”
“You are crying,” he ignored her protests. “Why?”
“Why? Because that’s what women know how to do best!” her voice was hoarse. “Their stupid eyes betray them even when they don’t want to cry!” she stormed away from him, heading for the dining table.
“Or maybe they need to cry because there’s so much bottled up inside,” he said, following closely behind her.
“Ha. Psychologist Genesis,” her face was streaming with tears now as she gripped the back of one of the leather dining chairs.
“Stop it. Tell me what’s eating you.”
“You wanna know?” she sat now, her chin in her hand.
“Yes, I do,” he replied, even though he heard the sarcasm in her voice.
She sighed. “Tonight made me realise…I don’t have anybody. Do you know how many options I had to call tonight? One, my parents and they are in Akure, two, my mother-in-law who doesn’t speak to me even though she stays right here in Lagos. Three, my only real friend who has her life, her husband and kids…they’re all on vacation in some stupid island. Four, my neighbor…travelled for a burial. Five, my pastor, lives on the Island. See, that’s about how many people I know to call on short notice. If I was dying…there’d be no one to be there…”
“Abbey don’t…”
“Shut up. You wanted to know what was wrong with me, yeah? Don’t interrupt me with Nigerian clichés. Just listen.”
“Yes ma,” a smile tugged at the side of his lips.
“Do you know why you’re here?” she continued without waiting for him to respond, “I prayed you here. I was scared…I was desperate when I realised there was no one. Then I said a small prayer, asking God to send someone, anyone. Just a phone call was all I needed…that’s what I told God. And barely five minutes later, you called. That’s why I didn’t care who was calling, I just knew whoever it was, was the answer to my prayer. See…my babies, they’re all I’ve got. I can’t…lose any more loved ones. Not my daughters. It would kill me. When Star said she was afraid she wouldn’t wake up, it was the exact way I felt when I saw how hot she was. She was crying, complaining about pains everywhere and I wished I could take her anguish and make it mine. And then this crazy thought dropped in my mind. What if this was it? What if she just died?” there was a small pause then she looked up. “Know what’s funny? I couldn’t even think up any scripture to counter that devilish thought. Me, the Bible guru, the counselor, couldn’t begin to counsel herself when challenges stared her in the face.”
Genesis had never been so taken in by a story like this. At the mention of ‘I prayed you here’, he was supposed to flee because he didn’t believe things like that. Because it wasn’t logical. Because God, whoever He was, didn’t answer prayers until it was too late, until something bad had happened.
Perhaps he was losing it. To sit and listen to this woman talk about scripture and prayer and challenges, without protesting. Worse, he believed her. Something deep in him could not refute, no matter how hard he tried the fact that things had happened as she said they had, that God had used him as the errand boy, that he was the answer to her prayers. His mind rebelled at the possibility of that, but something stronger than his mind embraced the thought.
“It was Amber who gave me strength, you know. She came to us and said, ‘Star, Jesus said we are healed by the strokes of cane He was flogged. Don’t worry, you are healed’ and then I began to laugh at myself. I taught her that. Once I was teaching them something and she asked what stripes meant and the only thing that came to mind at the moment was strokes of cane. Then a scripture popped up in my head right then, how God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. You know it, yeah?”
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He knew it, not because he had read it in the Bible himself but because his mother had quoted it a dozen times whenever he tried to logically dissect her faith.
“That’s when I got the idea to ask God for help. I asked him to send someone to help me,” she smiled at him now. “And here you are.”
He was involuntarily silent. His mouth could not form the words that rang in his head. He wanted to tell her that he had made the call, that he had been thinking about her and called her. That God had absolutely nothing to do with that. That it was natural for human beings to attribute every single thing to a higher being but what if it was not? What if things happened just because?
What if he hadn’t been thinking about her? Then he wouldn’t have called her. And then would she be telling this story now? Would she be thanking God for…nothing?
“I think…” she continued, “even if it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. I don’t know…that’s just how God works. He wouldn’t leave me stranded.”
He glanced sharply at her, wondering if she had read his mind.
“So, thank you. Again. Thank God for you.”
This time he stood, uncomfortable. He felt like his butt was on fire.
“It’s late…maybe I should leave. The girls are sleeping, they would be…”
“Genesis,” there was a pleading in her voice as she stood with him. She was tall enough; the top of her head was above his chin. “Can you…uh…do me one more favour, please.”
Mentally, he rolled his eyes. “What now?”
“I…really don’t…want to bealonetonightpleasestay,” she said the words in a rush that they came out sounding like mashed potatoes.
And yet, he heard every word.
To Be Continued…
Mimi A.

The Club Of God-Fearing Men- 10

She picked on the first ring, like she had been waiting for the call.
For an instant, Genesis was caught off-guard.
“Finally!” she spoke, almost breathless. “Hello, who’s this?”
“I…um…this is Genesis from…”
“Ah, Genesis! I need a favour from you immediately, please! Do you stay anywhere around Opebi?”
He didn’t understand what was going on, but he replied, “Erm…yeah. I stay somewhere around Berger.”
Her sigh of relief was audible. “Good. Please, I need you.”
“Excuse me, but do you know who you’re speaking with?” He asked, befuddled.
“Genesis, yeah? Stalker dude with the weird name from Grace Assembly and then the club?” her words came out sounding like full-stops. Like she was fighting to be cordial yet abrupt; like she was talking to a 911 operative.
“Well, yes…no. I mean…”
He was no stalker dammit.
“Which is it please?”
“Yes, I am that Genesis.”
“Please I need your help…just…come over, please. Here’s my address.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond as she rattled off the address.
“When you get to the gate, just call me,” she said, with a finality that he could not argue.
Genesis wanted to ask if she was crazy, if she knew what time of the night it was. He wanted to tell her he wasn’t coming.
Instead, he said okay and hung up.
He did not think about it as he hurried into his clothes. There was nothing to think about, his brain wasn’t going to process anything about the situation at this moment so he figured his best bet was to get to her place and figure this whole thing out.
As he drove out of his compound, it occurred to him that she hadn’t bothered to know how he would find his way to her place. What if he didn’t own a car?
It was Sunday night, the roads were free and in ten minutes, he arrived at her gate.
As soon as he called to inform her of his presence, he saw the gate parting to let him in. In the dimness of his car lights, he saw her. She was carrying something.
He watched her struggle with the gate with one hand, while using the other to support the bundle she was carrying.
He stepped out of the car towards her.
“Leave it. I’ll open it,” he said, taking over.
She nodded and he noticed she was perspiring. Her feet were bare, like she had rushed out not caring.
What was going on?
He drove in and closed the gate behind him. By the time he was out of the car, she was standing on the porch.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“Come in. I need you to help me with the girls.”
She turned to enter the house and Genesis saw her stumble, instinctively he reached out to steady her and his hand brushed against her skin. He recoiled.
She was burning hot.
“Jesus! You’re burning up!” he exclaimed, stretching his hand to take the bundle, which turned out to be one of the girls, from her.
“I’ll be fine. She’s worse.”
And yes she was; the little girl’s body seemed to be prickling with heat.
“You’re all sick?” he asked, following her into the house.
“Talk later. I need to get a wet towel to calm her temperature down. Would you do that for me, please?”
Genesis thought she looked terrible, she was almost swaying on her feet and there were bags under her eyes.
“Sure. Where do I get water and the towel?”
She pushed a small pink towel into his free hand and pointed him in the direction of what he surmised was the guest bathroom.
“Just keep dabbing her body with it. I have to attend to Amber.”
He didn’t ask questions; instead, cradling the whimpering girl in his arms, he set to work.
He didn’t see her again for another thirty minutes, mostly because he was busy with the girl and he didn’t bother looking up to know her mother’s whereabouts.
“You’d be fine, honey,” he whispered, over again to the child. Sometimes he found himself muttering soothing words he couldn’t remember, words whose origin he couldn’t fathom.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Abbey’s voice startled him from behind.
“It’s better than before,” he replied, touching the girl’s neck.
“Okay. I need to give her Paracetamol. Give her to me.”
“You can’t handle any more tonight. Don’t worry, I’ll carry her.” With that he lifted the child and carried her back to the living room.
He laid her on the couch, placing the damp towel on her forehead.
“Which one are you?” he asked, hoping to get her to talk.
She sniffed, blinking. “Augusta,” her voice cracked with unshed tears.
“Beautiful name for a princess. Augusta, you will stop crying now, okay? By tomorrow morning, you would be up and running, promise.”
Her nod was barely visible.
Abbey knelt beside him, touching her fingertips to her daughter’s face.
“Star baby, mummy’s gonna give you your drugs now and then pray for you. And then you’re gonna sleep and wake up tomorrow, good as new, okay?”
Genesis glanced at her, admiring the cheerfulness and hope in her voice. One he was sure she didn’t feel.
“Mummy…I’m afraid,” her voice was small as she spoke.
“Oh my baby, afraid of what?” Abbey was sitting now, a tremor in her voice.
“What if…what if…I don’t wake up tomorrow?”
The sheer simplicity of her question tore at Genesis heart and without thinking he said;
“Of course you will wake up tomorrow. Or don’t you want to see my handsome face again? Remember I promised you a treat when you get well?”
His heart warmed at the semi-smile that formed at the corner of her mouth.
“Okay…but my sister will come with us too.” She said, still in her soft voice.
“Deal.” He gave her a small tap on her hand.
*******

The next time he checked the clock, it was half past midnight and that was when he had the opportunity to actually settle down with Abbey.
After administering her meds, Star had drifted to sleep almost immediately but Amber had needed more attention because she had been having difficulty breathing all night as a result of her asthma.
After some struggle, she had finally drifted to sleep and Genesis had helped tuck both girls in.
It was when he and Abbey both slumped on the couch in the living room that he realised how much time had gone by.
“You don’t know what you’ve done for me, Genesis,” Abbey began, running her fingers through her weave. “I owe you big.”
She looked tired, like she had just been through a marathon. Despite the chilly air in the living room, she still had beads of sweat formed on her nose. It was then he noticed she was still fully dressed in one of her customary turtle necks.
“You should take a cold bathe. Your temperature was a bit on the high side when I came in,” he said. It occurred to him that there was nothing suggestive about his suggestion. It was something he would say to an old friend. The thought of it made him smile inwardly.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” she said.
“At least get rid of the turtleneck,” he said. “We don’t want you sick too.”
“Genesis, I said I’m fine, okay?” she snapped.
He nodded, standing. “I think I’ll take my leave now, ma’am.”
She shuffled to her feet too, her hand reaching out to touch him. “I’m sorry. I’m just a bit strung out. You’ve really been a God-send. It’s late, you should stay…”
Under different circumstances, Genesis would not have hesitated to take her up on her offer, but it crossed his mind that she was probably asking out of courtesy, not because she really wanted him there. After all, she had used him, what more did she need him for?

And so he shook his head.
“I should leave.” He didn’t wait for her to protest; instead he took long strides to the door, closing it softly behind him, he let the darkness embrace him.
To Be Continued…
Mimi A.

The Club Of God-Fearing Men – 9

If she found his suggestion strange, her face didn’t give it away. In fact she glossed over it in a manner that suggested she had warded off many an unwanted proposition without blinking an eye.
She chuckled lightly, saying; ‘I know this new place in Ikeja. Because it’s new, there aren’t so many people flooding it yet, so I think it’d be great if we take advantage of the serenity for this week at least. We can come up with something better later, yeah?”
Genesis was also an expert at hiding disappointment, so his response was a cross between cheerful and reserved. Too much of everything was no good; if he responded in an overly cheerful manner, she would know he was faking it.
He felt he had underestimated her. Just because she was small and playful didn’t mean she was stupid, he decided.
And when have you ever settled for stupid? A voice reminded him at the back of his mind. What he loved, was a challenge. So, dear Lola, be it inside the church or on the top of Mount Everest while fasting sef, I shall have my way when I’m ready.
Their plans were final. Friday by five-thirty, they would meet for their first Salvation class.
It was odd that by the time Genesis was waving her goodbye, he realised he was strangely looking forward to it.
That night, while he prepared for the new week; he found himself thinking about Abbey. It was unexpected because he hadn’t seen her since that night at the club and apart from the brief nostalgia he felt when he was in Grace Assembly earlier that day; she hadn’t entered his thoughts again.
What was it about her that made her pop up in his thoughts now and again? It couldn’t be physical beauty, because he had met many gorgeous women in his day.
In fact, he had once been literally blinded by a particular lady’s beauty. He could hardly look at her without blinking. Staring at her was difficult for him because hers was the kind of beauty that made you question everything, that made you wonder how God could claim to love everyone equally and end up bringing out the ‘fearfully made’ in some people and the ‘wonderfully made’ in others.
So no, it definitely wasn’t beauty that drew him to Abbey.
In his short playboy life, he had come to accept the fact that on some counts the Bible is right. Physical beauty is indeed vain. It is unnecessary in some cases. Only a shallow man, one who didn’t really understand life, would place physical beauty above all else when looking for a woman or a wife.
He had seen many ‘ugly’ of women end up with the most unexpected caliber of men. One time, a classmate of his had introduced him to his fiancée, a lady who had lost her left leg in an accident and had a metal prosthesis in its place.
When she walked, there was clumsiness in her steps that put Genesis off when he first met her. He avoided looking at her legs or in her face, afraid that she would see the irritation in his eyes or the question – why had his friend not picked someone better?
He didn’t really get to know her until his friend married her and moved to Oyo State for his new job. Something happened later that year that caused Genesis to bunk with them for a week. By the time he was leaving their house; he had nothing but praises for Nnedinma. Whenever he looked at her, he forgot about her disability and saw the beauty his friend had seen. And it shamed him that he hadn’t looked beyond the metal to see the human being with a beautiful heart.
Maybe he was doing the same with Abbey. He was refusing to see beyond the fact that she was a widow and had children. He was refusing to see that beyond that, she was human and could have something more to offer.
He sighed, turning in bed.
His friends usually accused him of overthinking things.
If they saw him now and heard his thoughts, they would remind him that this was all a game. Get in, get out and it was over. Besides who wants a woman with baggage? They were not supposed to get emotionally attached with their spirikoko conquests; they were not supposed to look at them as human beings with feelings. No, they were just conquests, pawns. And this was a game.
Just a game, Gen.
He needed to remind himself that. He needed to get his head straight and focus on nailing the smart, sexy Lola Ajibade.
But before then, he had to figure out what it was about Abbey that he couldn’t get out of his head. And maybe when he did, he could get her out of his head and focus on giving sweet Lola some salvation classes.
He roused himself from bed and began to search his trouser pockets, sure he would stumble across her card.
It was 10:54pm when he found it. Tucked somewhere between the pages of a newspaper. He must have slipped it there for safekeeping.
Way to go Gen.
And he thought he had disposed of it long ago.
He hadn’t looked at the card very well when she gave it to him because he hadn’t cared, after discovering she was a mother. But now he looked.
The card was a deep blue colour with her name embossed on it.
Abigael Olaitan.

Manager
Her number was written in small block letters at the edge.
Genesis glanced at the pearl-shaped clock hanging from his wall. It was exactly eleven o clock. It was too late to call anybody, especially someone who was practically a stranger to you.
Maybe it was the pressing need to get her off his mind that overshadowed all reasoning, or maybe it was something more profound that caused him to disregard his rational mind and make the call.
He dialed.

To Be Continued…

MIMI. A

More Than An Apology

Sigh.

Dear Hourglass reader, I enter with my knees bowed. I have been away too long. Five weeks of radio silence is totally unacceptable on the Hourglass no matter what the excuse is, yeah? I can see the inter-webs(internet cobwebs, just in case you’re wondering) and there is a musty smell coming from this space. I know that smell, it’s one of neglect, distance. The smell that welcomes you to your home after you’ve been gone awhile.

Sigh.
This post is dedicated to you, dear reader; because I care, because I appreciate you, because I am grateful to you. I am posting here strictly to say I am sorry.
I have been underground for a while, away from internet connection, cut off from y’all and it has been like a bad case of withdrawal. I missed this space, I missed y’all, I missed the delightful comments.
I have been trying to post this apology for days now, but a certain internet demon has kept me from doing it, it has been extremely difficult to open the web page. But alas, I persisted and here I am!
I would have put up a post to compensate but due to some circumstances beyond my control blah blah blah…(I’m beginning to sound like a politician.)
Basically sha, I’d have to take a raincheck on putting up a story today but I am sure that would change soon! I am so hopeful that things would get back to normal around here and I would have the blog up and running in no time.
Meanwhile, thank you all, for being here, for reading and for following. I do not take any of you for granted.

LOADS AND LOADS OF LOVE.

MIMI .A.