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