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My parents are devout withnesses,my
father was an outstanding elder in
our congregration and my mother was
a regular pioneer-regular pioneers
are people who devote thier time to
tell people about jehovah.. Although i was born into a Godly
family i was more of a rebel,jehovah
withnesses are never stubborn my
parents keep reminding me..
My parents were unfortunate to have
a bully like me as an only son,mama would always tell me that an only
palm fruit never get lost in the fire.
But did i pay heed to her words??
* * * * * * * *
Emeka! Emeka!” mama’s voice woked
me up from my stupor,i was unconciously folding the awake
magazine.
”mama good afternoon” i greeted. I
was surprised to see her at
home,when i had arrived from my
friends place my youngest sibling had told me that she had gone for field
service. *
”you look troubled,what is it?” she
asked as she came to sit beside me
on the bench, i was so fond of
mama,although she had given birth to five girls before me,people preferred
to call her mama-Emeka, i was so
close to her muchto the envy of my
siblings.
”mama something is troubling me” i
began ”what is it?”
”there is this young girl i love so much
and am thinking of marrying her”
”hope she is a withness?”
i sighed ”no mama,she is not a
withness,but i love her so much,and i want to make her the mother of my
babies”
”taaaaa”mama rebuked me,her eyes
fiery red.
”thats rubbish,you better remove that
thought from my mind..you hear me?” my heart sanked,i had feared telling
mama about nkeiru.
I knew no staunch withness will be in
support of my marrying someone who
isnt our fellow member.
But i loved nkeiru so much…. ”have you forgotten solomon in the
bible,when he married out of thier
tribe,he started worshipping idols”
”but mama she is not an idol
worshipper” i interrupted her..
”hush what do you know? Doesnt she celebrate christmas? The both of Us
know that 25th december is an
ancient pagan holiday in worship of
the sol-invictus the unconquerred sun
which was the enjoyable period of
longer days and shorter nights.”
LINKS TO AVAILABLE EPISODES
episode 2-7 (SCROLL DAWN)
WATCH OUT FOR PART TWO OF THIS STORY
mama was saying.
I sighed and stood up
”mama i love nkeiru,it is not her
religion that am marrying,but herself”
i retorted and walked awayI walked into my room and sanked
down on the only armchiar.my
thoughts were far away and my head
was spining,i felt confused…i didnt
know when i started biting my finger
nails,this was a childish habit i had stopped doing for long.
Back then when i was an adolescent,i
always bite my nails whenever i was
nervous or in a confused state, this
led to been called ORI MGBO AKA
(finger nail eater) by my peers,and i had to stop the habit.
The nokia tone of my ringing phone
brought me back to reality,i brought
out the phone from my trouser pocket
and stared at the screen.
The call was from chuka,the friend i just left his house,he was my close
buddy although he wasnt a fellow
withness.our friendship started far
back when we were both little
boys,we even formed a languange of
our own then.He knew my secrets and i knew most
of his,he was the only friend i had
confided in about my problem.
”Emekus whats up?” he asked
immediately i accepted the call.
” o boy..i just told my momsy and she wasnt in support of it oo”
”haa,i said it!”he excliamed
”yes you did,am just confused,i dont
think my parents are going to be in
support”
”then try and talk things over with nkeiru,maybe who knows? Due to her
love for you she may agree to be a
withness’
i shooked my head” i know her very
well chuka,that girl is stubborn.and
moreover she doesnt know i am a withness,i have been hiding all this
from her because i know she doesnt
approve of jehovah withnesses”
”my dear love can move
mountians,anyway i think you need to
give this issue serious thinking,you know marriage is once and nothing
like dating,are you sure you love this
girl so much?”chuka asked
”i do,i love her with my life” i remarked
strongly.
”okay but be careful,i will call later to get feedbacks from you”
”nsogbu-adighi” (no problem) ireplied
in igbo.
He disconnected the call and i
dropped the phone on the side table
beside the armchiar i was sitting on. I remembered i had an assignment in
our congregration that evening,i had
forgotten i had few hours left to
prepare for the assignment.
I quickly brought out my watchtower
and awake journal from my leather bound briefcase.
Just then my cell phone ranged and i
picked it up.i wasnt able to recognize
the eleven digits on the screen.
”hello who is this?” i cautiously asked.
”haba…bro emmy so you have deleted my number already” a familiar
female voice accused.
”no..my phone got stolen so i did
welcome back with the new
sim,please dont be annoyed”
”okay,this is ogechi,elder Bethel’s daughter”
”ooo Nne,is that you? Long time ooo
what happened?”
”i travelled to kano,i lost your contact
there,i came back yesterday and i
retrieved your number from my phone book”she explianed in a hurried
manner.
”okay..hope you will attend todays
study?”.
”yes,we will meet there”
”okay,takecare” iretorted and quickly disconnected the call.i was in a haste
to prepare for the assignment.
I was surprised that ogechi had called
me,ogechi was one of the
outstanding beauties with good
personality in our congregration,she was also a regular pioneer and an
Elders child likewise I.
Few years ago i had a crush on her
and we went out on a couple of
dates,but i became fed up of her,she
treated me like i was below her level just because she had many admirers
that were far handsome and marture
than me. The days study went fine as i had
planned,i had performed the
assignment without stammering and
when i left the podium i was greeted
by a pronounced oviation.
My mother smiled at me as i returned to my seat while my immediate elder
sister chioma winked at me.
After the closing prayer,we held a
meeting on the issue of the building
project which we had at hand-we
were building a fence around the kingdom hall premises.
”bro Emmy” a familiar voice called my
name from behind as i came out of
the kingdom hall after dismissal.i
turnedkingdom hall after dismissal.i
turned,ogechi was the one who had
called me,but it wasnt her that caught my attention,it was the younglady
beside her.
I approached them slowly,with a
smile on my face,still wondering who
the younglady beside her was.
”ogechi how far” ”we are fine oo,meet my friend
chioma from Umuna congregration”
she introduced.
”haa..chioma,thats the name of my
elder sister,Nne kedu?”
”am fine”she replied in a sonorous voice that reminded me of birds
singing at dawn.
Someone called ogechi and she
excused herself,i cleared my throat.
”i really enjoyed your public talk”
chioma was saying.i noticed she was wringing her hands,she was also the
nervous type.
”ooo Dont mention,its jehovah who
inspired me,i remembered the first
minute i stepped on the podium,i had
stage fright,i had to take a deep breath before i commenced”
chioma smiled,i saw the twin dimples
on her cheeks and i liked her the
more,she was light skinned,average
height and had a shape to die
for.although she wasnt wearing atight fitting gown,her feminine curves
was clearly visible.
I felt turned on,i havent felt this way
for any other girl since i started dating
nkeiru,maybe this was a good sign.
”bro i have to go now,i came in the company of my siblings and they are
about to start going”
i panicked” please can i have your
phone number?” i gave her my phone
and admiringly watched her as she
typed her eleven digits and save it. ”i will call you in the evening” i
promised as she gave me back my
phone just as ogechi approached
Us,she left in a hurry after whispering
into ogechi’s ear.
” oge..kano treated you fine oo” i said when ogechi joined me,we were both
heading out of the kingdom hall
premises.
”which fine? Dont start that your yeye
talk,are you mocking me?”
i smiled ”not at all,i like your friend chioma” i said after a prolonged
silence.
