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[quote author=sammoe post=28914581][/quote]Epiphany? Grammar Nla

#differnencebetweendoctorandherbalist
#roadtobananaeyeland
#Okbye

[quote author=sammoe post=28912462][/quote]#Oshey
#Thanks
Short stories are tasking. What's with the hashtag...?

Thanks

Jollyjoy:
Heart touching and great!!kip it up

Almost effortlessly? Darn
Thank you so much

Otunbakay:
Great iimaginations! Wonderful writing prowess! And you do this in the most simple way, almost effortlessly. Go girl, keep doing your thing.
You ROCK!

Sad end? Na so life be for some people oh
Thanks

henryukwa:
sad end cool story though, great imagination...nice.

please keep them coming

II

The pastor apparently surprised by my attack yelled incoherently. Rocking on his heels, his probing fingers stilled, he glared at me. Pushing myself away from him, I dragged down my skirt that had ridden up during the ‘deliverance’. The Pastor’s next words filled with contempt were not only disturbing but chilled me to my marrows.
“You do not want to be delivered from darkness?”
“But…you were touching me down…” My embarrassment wouldn’t allow me continue.
“Shut up there! Touching you where? How did you think the snake in your stomach was going to come out?”
“What snake? I thought you said I was from the water?”
“And so they don’t have snakes in the water? Or are you telling me that you didn’t know that the ones that have marine husbands usually have a snake in them?”
“God forbid!” I replied shuddering, there definitely was no snake in me.
“Ha ha! So you think calling God will save you?”
“Then, I want my mother here! I also want to see the snake when you pull it out.”

The Pastor paused for a while and then taking me by surprise stood up, raised his hands towards heaven and yelled in a loud voice.
“Oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; bear me witness that I have tried to help your daughter! Whatsoever demon just spoke out of her right now, I command it to be arrested in Jesus name!” Striding towards the door, he jerked it open and called for my mother.
“Eka Mfon,” he said to my frightened mother, “this deliverance is going to take longer than I had thought. Mfon will have to come and do a three-day vigil in the church.”
“No! I am going nowhere. Nothing is wrong with me.” Realizing that I sounded very much like a demon, I paused, took in a deep breath and spoke calmly. “Mama, remember that I have work to go to. I do not want to lose my job.”
I hoped that the thought of losing one of our means of livelihood was going to change my mother’s mind but apparently it did not.
“What is that job compared to your deliverance? Don’t you know that when you are delivered everything would change, God will smile on us and even give you a better job?”
“Yes,” the pastor added “everything will change even her weight and complexion. For you see, this is not her true weight given to her by God. The marine world has taken part of her true self.”
“Mama, I will not go! The pastor…the pastor…he tried to…I don’t know mama, please I will not go.” I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“Praise the lord, the marine spirit is getting confused. I tried to remove the snake in her stomach from her body but she resisted and instead a demon spoke out trying to stop me. I stopped because I didn’t want the snake crawling and hiding somewhere and coming out to attack any of you when you were spiritually down…”
“God forbid!” My mother interjected shuddering.
“That is why I want her in the church. In the house of God, the devil is powerless.”
My mother turned towards me torn between a mother’s love and what she thought was a mother’s duty.
I cannot readily say what would have happened next if not for the fact that at that same moment, the landlord’s knock that I always dreaded suddenly was a blessing.
“Iya Mfon?!” The landlord’s voice at the other side of the closed door startled my mother.
Opening the door, my mother greeted the landlord. “Good morning sir.”
“Morrin Iya Mfon. There is meeting upstairs o. Where is James?”
“He is not around sir, I sent him somewhere.”
“Ehn, if your son is not around, you come for meeting upstairs now now. Mfon nko?”
“She is fine sir.”
“Ekaaro Baba Kenny!” I shouted from inside.
“Oh jare, Iyawo omo mi; okay Iya Mfon now now.”
Closing the door, my mother apologized to the pastor, who had already picked up his bible.
“Sir mbok, let me go for the meeting upstairs. We will talk later. Mfon, prepare the Ogi and if I don’t come back fast, you can eat and go to work, hmm?”
“Yes ma.”
After the door had closed, I breathed a sigh of relief even if only temporarily. It was going to be fine but it wasn’t.
For days, mother and I played the ‘silence’ game. Even though she didn’t speak further of the incident, I caught her many times looking at me blaming me especially when she started muttering that the landlord had just increased the rent for no just cause.

I noticed her attitude going cold towards me. I tried but finally capitulated to her silent pleas. I agreed on going to see the pastor but on the condition that she came with me. And that is how I was ‘delivered’ of being a mermaid and having the invisible snake leave my stomach. And if you are wondering if things changed, I would have to say that they did.

I slapped one of the brats at where I worked and so got fired, we could not pay the increased rent and so we were evicted from the house but in all these, it couldn’t beat the satisfaction I had when I saw that the pastor was annoyed that my mother accompanied me to the vigils.
Regardless of all our troubles though, my mother was happy, happy that finally my deliverance will herald the beginning of a new and positive change to her household in the near future even when months later, I lost my brother mysteriously to the cold hands of death.

THE END

Thanks

5minsmadness:
Good job, and no grammatical blunders either! That's a huge relief

You no even pity Mfon, na Oga Pastor you wan hear about Thank you. It's just a 2 part short story

henryukwa:
HMMM....NICE...KEEP THEM COMING ...i'm enjoying oga Pastor

THE TRAVAILS OF MFON

I

“Mfon, get up! The pastor would soon be here.” My mother gently shook me awake.
I dreaded the visit of the pastor for whatever reason and could never be enthusiastic even for my mother’s sake.
Standing up grudgingly, I stretched and yawned as my mother bustled around our small room. For reasons I cannot readily explain, she seemed to perk up whenever there was a visit from the pastor. I had initially thought she had ulterior motives regarding the pastor but it seems mother was just happy and excited whenever anyone came to visit and that’s to say how very few our visitors were.
“Mummy good morning,” I greeted, trying to fold my mat and put it away.
“Mmesierende,” she replied trying to push our cooking pot under the bed properly.
“What’s the pastor coming for? I thought we had finished all the assignments that were required from us?”
“What kind of question is that? Can the pastor not visit again?”

I disliked the pastor especially when he looked at me. I didn’t like him coming to our house because I didn’t see any good the numerous assignments had done to us. We still owed the house rent and I have had to stop schooling because there was no money.
We, my brother and I, were chipping in to help mother but there didn’t seem to be any improvement. Ever since my father died, we’ve all done crazy things to survive and that included begging, hawking, menial jobs and recently working as a maid.

I stretched again. The previous day had been terrible; the woman who I worked for had nearly scorched me with boiling water just because I kept her child waiting for breakfast. I had held my peace even though I had nearly tossed down the spoon I was holding in anger and disgust. The only thing that kept me mute was the image of my mother kneeling and pleading with the woman that I’ll be good if she’d just take me as a maid.
I had told myself then that I would try to be good but then I didn’t bargain for her rotten grown kids. The first child tried to be nice and always said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ but the rest were probably born to be brats because they always competed amongst themselves to make my task arduous. The other day I had to go and buy sanitary towels for one of the girls and still had to wash her stained underpants and trousers.

“Mummy, there’s no kerosene. Should I go and get some?”
Today was Saturday and I was usually allowed to go to work later than usual because the family I worked for always went to the gym quite early.
“Hmm…buy akamu and akara too.”
The pastor had already arrived on my return and was exchanging pleasantries with my mother.
“Sir mmesiere,” I murmured hoping he’d hurry on what he came for. Breakfast would have to wait till he had gone.
“Mfon morning, how are you?” He asked his eyes roving all over making me feel quite uncomfortable.
“Fine sir,” I replied, dropping the contents of my purchase beside the bed.
“Alright, get your scarf on and let’s be in the mood of prayer.”
Mother already had a scarf on and I quickly tied my scarf happy that the pastor wouldn’t stay long. The prayers started in earnest and I was singing with gusto when suddenly the pastor asked for silence.
“Mfon, sherikanmba… hmm…hmm. What dreams did you have last night?”
Dumbfounded I opened my eyes “No…no…nothing,” I hated being singled out and anytime it happened I usually stuttered.
“Do not lie to the man of God and do not be ashamed for God has sent me to deliver you.”
Now I was getting angry. I clearly remembered my dream for it was of me pouring very hot water on the woman I worked for and that was reasonable since I had gone to bed angry. Since I couldn’t very well tell him that, I still settled for “nothing.”

Coming menacingly towards me, he started dancing round me and held my head in a bid to push me to the ground. Laughing, he removed his hand and stopped singing.
“Your child,” he said turning to my mother “would need a big deliverance. She has a husband in the spirit world that is holding on to her destiny for she is to be the shining star in this family. You must pray for his hold on her to be broken or else you still remain in poverty. They have been meeting in her dreams that is why Mfon cannot tell us the dream she had last night.”
“That’s not true.” I spoke out, my anger harder to rein in and therein lay my mistake. For immediately, I spoke out, I wished I hadn’t since I realized that I had fallen into his trap.
“You see!” The pastor shouted with glee. “The Mfon you know would never talk this way but her spirit husband is making her to be quite stubborn.”

Laughing wildly, he resumed dancing and singing with my mother fervently praying. Stopping again, he put his hand on my head and pushed me with his leg giving me a slight tackle from behind. I fell to my mother’s shouts of 'Halleluya' and then the pastor asked my mother to go and get a bottle of olive oil.
Forcing me to down the whole contents of the bottle, the pastor touched my feet and shrieked at me “Where did you go to?!”
Determining not to fall into any trap, I kept mute.
“You went to the water world, didn’t you?” Beckoning to my mother, he motioned for her to touch my feet and after she agreed that they were indeed cold, he proceeded to tell her that my deliverance would take longer than expected and that the next stage required that she step outside so that the demon from my body wouldn’t enter hers.
Even though things were getting fishy, I still couldn’t lay my hands on what it was until I felt the fingers stroking my womanhood and one finger forcefully inserting itself inside me; only then did I scream and hit the pastor with the olive oil bottle…