THE BASTARD EPISODE 1 BY DE-RACONTEUR

THE BASTARD (An inspiring Christian story)

EPISODE 1

WRITTEN BY: LIZZY OYEBOLA YAKUBU

 

 

Shepherd of my soul I give you full control,

Wherever You may lead I will follow.

I have made the choice to listen for Your voice,

Wherever You may lead I will go.

 

 

I sang with so much joy as warm water from the hand shower I was holding ran over my blooming, fair skin.

 

 

 

As I sang on, it seemed as though my landline was ringing so gradually, the song faded in my mouth so I could listen carefully.

 

 

 

And that was it! The table telephone was blaring so loudly.

 

 

 

I wondered who could be calling when it was already one hour past the official closing hour. 

 

 

 

I ignored the blaring of the telephone and resumed my song. 

 

‘Whoever it is should wait till tomorrow morning’ I thought.

 

 

 

Be it in a quiet pasture or by a gentle stream,

The Shepherd of my soul is by my side.

Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep,

The Shepherd of my soul will be my guide.

 

 

 

I moved slowly and rhythmically as I sang. Many times, my husband would get worried about the way I would always dance in the bath. He would pray that I wouldn’t fall one day and I would say ‘amen’ with a laugh- my husband could worry too much!

 

 

 

As I hung the hand shower and I applied some body wash to my sponge, I smiled gleefully.

 

 

 

“Thank you Jesus for the gift of my husband!” I exclaimed with ecstasy as I started to scrub my body. I was just so amazed at the gift of David. He would never cease to amaze me.

 

 

 

Earlier that day, I had just concluded a session with Dr. Arogundade, the special adviser to the governor on security when a gentleman walked in, holding a small, beautiful basket of flowers and a small, plastic bag.

 

 

 

“Good morning Dr. Zee” He had greeted me as my secretary, Mrs. Jola led him to my office.

 

 

 

“Good morning gentleman, how do you do?”

 

 

 

“How do you do madam?”

 

 

 

“I am well. Trust you are too.” I asked, wondering where the courteous man was from.

 

 

 

“Yes I am. Thank you” He said and I nodded, anxiously waiting to know what he had come to do at my workplace.

 

 

 

“My name is Roland Abel. I am a special florist and delivery man” He started and I nodded, expecting more.

 

 

 

‘Is he an advertiser?’ I wondered at his gestures and smiles.

 

 

He placed the basket of flowers on my table and smiled gleefully at me. I looked on in wonder, waiting for when he would finally reveal his mission.

 

 

“This basket contains 100 Pink camellia and 100 Heliotrope. They are very precious, madam” He said and I nodded, looking at the special pink and purple beauty staring at me from the basket. Their soothing scents filled my gigantic office. 

 

 

“Alright, so…” I asked, signifying with my hands that he should speak on. 

 

 

He reached into the plastic bag he was holding and brought out a pink envelope. He stretched that to me and I collected it. I must have  been seriously taken over by his charisma to be that patient with him. 

 

 

“There is a note in there for you Dr. Zee” He said and I nodded as I started unfolding the well-perfumed envelope. 

 

 

It was a note beautifully written in gold, on the white card. I wore my spectacles quickly to start reading. I couldn’t stop laughing as I started. 

 

 

See your mouth, I know you must have been so anxious to know who was sending you a basket of flowers this cool Friday, right? It is nobody else but me, c’mon! 

 

 

I couldn’t hide my excitement as I read. I rubbed the smooth card on which the beautiful words were written as if it was his ear I was rubbing. I still saw him that morning but my heart started to yearn for him.

 

 

That basket contains 100 Heliotrope flowers. Should I tell you what they signify? 

 

 

I nodded as though he could see me, a smile etched on my face. 

 

 

It means eternal love and devotion. My baby girl, I am sending these to renew my commitment with you. I am using these to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I would always love to see you by my side forever. Zoe, you are my world! You are the queen of my heart! You are special to me! I hold you in high esteem!

 

 

I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. I sniffed wetly as I read on, still smiling. 

 

 

Pink camellia flowers. Do you know what camellia flowers signify? 

 

 

I shook my head. 

 

 

Look at how gorgeous they are. Their looks alone speak volume of how my heart longs for you. Those flowers mean ‘longing for you’ Zoe, I long for you not now alone, every single time. If a flower could spring up anytime I think about you my dear wife, I am sure I would be walking in a blooming garden by now. 

 

 

I burst out laughing at that. 

 

 

“Who is teaching my husband poetic lines? Tell me something!” I said, laughing again and sniffing wetly intermittently. 

 

 

Baby girl, I would love to go on a special date with you this evening. Say ‘yes’! Say ‘yes’! Please

 

 

 

 “Yes, of course!” I burst out laughing again. Just then, Roland placed the plastic bag on the table. I had totally forgotten that he was standing right in front of me. 

 

 

I looked up at him and he was smiling. He signalled for me to read on and I smiled, bowed my head slightly in appreciation and continued reading. 

 

 

I got you a very lovely blue gown that has a sophisticated hem finishing. I love the tie that hangs down the side of the dress and the light fringing. I know your taste, so I know you will love it. Now, smile for me. 

 

 

It worked so magically as my already smiling face lit up in a brighter dimension. 

 

 

“David is a case!” I exclaimed silently as I made to read the remaining two paragraphs. 

 

 

I got you a black heels sandal and a small, sleek clutch to match. I have reserved a table for us at Panache Restaurant. I really want us to have a nice time together this evening. Please after work, have a warm shower, dress up and wait for my driver to come pick you up. Yes, leave your car at your office. 

 

 

I smiled again, rubbing my throbbing forehead gently. I was too excited and my head probably couldn’t head that much excitement. 

 

 

Don’t worry about the kids. I dropped them off granny’s place already. Mum said she would deliver them back to the house tomorrow. 

 

 

“Deliver? David is just not serious!” I burst out laughing when I realized how seriously my husband was taking the whole dinner thing. 

 

 

So, my driver will pick you up at six. Kindly hang around in your office till then. I packed a small lunch for you in that plastic bag. I love you, my raregem! 

 

 

 

The joy of getting it right in marriage wouldn’t even allow me finish the Gizdodo, white rice spiced with crispy carrot shreds and chicken vegetable stir-fry that was delivered to me. 

 

 

After taking like half of the smokey food, I was full already. I called my mother-in-law, thanked her for receiving my bundles of joy with her and apologized in advanced for the stress they would pose to her. Of course she said there was no problem but I knew that it was going to be a hassle coping with them.

 

 

With a heart filled with joy, I moved to my small bedroom which was connected to my office and knelt down to pray. I wanted to worship the name of the Lord for the gift of getting it right in marriage but ust then, I felt a pull on my right hand. I cringed.

 

 

“What is the matter? The Blood of Jesus” 

 

 

I started to pray, asking God for mercy. I stood up and started moving around, pleading the Blood of Jesus and asking the Spirit of God to charge the environment. 

 

 

I couldn’t tell what was wrong but I could feel it. 

 

 

“The Holy Fire of the Spirit of God, charge this place now. Let every work of the devil be put to shame” I prayed as I walked from the bedroom, to the bathroom and outside to my large office. 

 

As I entered my office, the heat that slapped my face was high. I walked to the two split air conditioners and they were blowing so well. 

 

“What then is the problem?” I wondered as I surveyed the whole office. I started to speak in tongues. 

 

“Let there be clarity, Lord. Let all confusion melt away. Father, glorify yourself and let the devil be ashamed.”

 

“Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear” I prayed but didn’t see anything. 

 

I heard my phone ring from the bedroom and quickly dashed inside, sweating profusely. 

 

It was my husband. 

 

“Let me pray for you” He said immediately I answered the call. 

 

I wondered what he meant by that until he burst out into some thick prayers that my heart couldn’t contain. As he prayed, my heart poured out of my eyes in hot tears. 

 

I married a prophet! A seer! 

 

“Thank You Jesus!” I muttered under my breath.

 

“Father, I thank You because You have glorified yourself in Your daughter. Thank You because as You have said, You will do with her. Thank You Lord because she is your battle axe. Thank You Daddy because she will not fail You. I curse and bring into subjection under my feet every power that wants to keep her from breaking forth and breaking through. Arise daughter of Zion for there is now ease for you!”

 

“Amen!” I cried out, shaking my head with all seriousness. 

 

“Nothing will be difficult for you! All mountains before you are brought low before you. All valleys before you are exalted. Everything you lay your hands on shall prosper. Anyone who sees you will see God’s Glory. All these, I have asked in the Most Powerful Name, Jesus! Amen!”

 

“Amen!” My voice resonated in my mini bedroom. “Thank you so much my husband. God bless you abundantly”

 

“You shine brightly like the sun, my beloved. So, check your right hand now. Is it still heavy?” He asked and I was aghast. 

 

“How did you know? What does that even mean?” I wondered.

 

“Just check” He said firmly. I lifted my right hand and it had returned back to normal. 

 

“No more heaviness, right?” He asked and I kept nodding like an agama lizard. I was too dumbfounded. 

 

I had seen my husband manifest the Gifts of the Holy Spirit but not in that dimension of specificity! Oh my!

 

“Go to your office now and check the temperature. It should be cool now” He said and before I could exclaim loudly in awe, the call had dropped.

 

Shaking to my marrow, I walked out of the bedroom to my office to confirm what he had said  and it was so cold. I was transfixed. 

 

My legs couldn’t carry me again, so I fell to the floor, holding my throbbing chest with my two hands for support. I felt cold from inside and shivered vehemently, so that my teeth gnashed against one another. 

 

My ears started drumming as if water had rushed inside and I was scared. 

 

“Lord, have mercy!” I cried with the little sound that could proceed out of my mouth. 

 

‘Grace!’ I heard a voice say, making the palpitation in my ears increase violently. 

 

I was shocked. I thought I was the only one in the office but when I heard that voice, fear gripped me the more. 

 

“Holy Spirit!” I whispered. 

 

‘Grace’ Came the voice again.

 

“Grace?” I asked, trembling.

 

“Grace!” Came the voice again. 

 

Almost immediately, the storm in my ears stopped. The coldness in my office became normal and I could sit up from the falling position that I had been. 

 

I held on tightly to my blouse and looked around. Tranquility had been restored. 

 

 

“What was that?” I asked, standing up and holding the wall for support.

 

“What is grace? Grace?” I asked as I walked back to my room. It all seemed like a dream that I couldn’t comprehend. 

 

I picked up my phone and dialed my husband’s line but he wouldn’t pick up- I tried seven times. 

 

I was about calling the eighth time when my mother-in-law’s call came in. I wondered what it was since we just spoke a few minutes before the drama. 

 

“Zoe darling, how are you?” 

 

“Mum, I am fine ma”

 

“Thank God o. You remember that song that you thought us that day? Shepherd something something”

 

“Shepherd of my soul?”

 

“Correct!” She exclaimed happily and laughed out so loudly. “I have been singing ‘Shepherd hold my soul since this morning.” She laughed again. “I just know that something was not right” She laughed some more and I had to join her out of courtesy. I wasn’t really in the mood. 

 

“Abeg, teach me the song again. I have been meaning to ask you for the song but I was always forgetting” She said and I frowned slightly. 

 

“Mummy, like you need the song now?”

 

“Yes my dear o. Now now” She emphasized and I raised my tight hand to my face in dejection. 

 

I was really happy to hear from her but I was not in the mood at all! 

 

“Okay, mummy, listen.” I said, slowly as I started to sing the song to her. 

 

Shepherd of my soul I give You full control

Wherever You may lead I will follow

I have made the choice to listen for Your voice

Wherever You may lead I will go

 

“So now, mummy, sing it.”

 

“Please sing it one more time oko mi. I am sorry” She said and chuckled shyly. I smiled as I imagined what funny face she would make when she didn’t want to embarrass herself. I started singing again.

 

Shepherd of my soul I give You full control

Wherever You may lead I will follow

I have made the choice to listen for Your voice

Wherever You may lead I will go

 

I repeated the song three more times and she joined me to sing. It was so beautiful that I turned my thigh to my drum. 

 

Be it in a quiet pasture or by a gentle breeze

The shepherd of my soul is by my side

Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep

The shepherd of my soul will be my guide

 

After repeating the chorus twice, my mother-in-law started praying in tongues. She started worshipping and weeping.  My heart opened almost immediately. I wanted to see what she saw that was breaking here. I wanted to experience what she was experiencing and fall on my knees in prayers. 

 

By the time the song ended, both of us had had a beautiful thirty minutes of singing, worshipping and praying in the Spirit. 

 

By the time I dropped the call, I was still very much charged. Just then, I remembered what was still keeping me waiting at the office. 

 

The dinner date!

 

I took off the peplum blouse I was wearing and walked to my wardrobe. I brought out my towel, shower cap and bathroom bag and set out for the bathroom. I was so charged. 

 

 

I sang with so much joy as warm water from the hand shower I was holding ran over my blooming, fair skin.

 

 

 

As I sang on, it seemed as though my landline was ringing so gradually, the songs faded in my mouth so I could listen carefully.

 

 

 

And that was it! The table telephone was blaring so loudly.

 

 

 

I wondered who could be calling when it was already one hour past the official closing hour. 

 

 

 

I ignored the blaring of the telephone and resumed my song. 

 

‘Whoever it is should wait till tomorrow morning’ I thought.

 

 

 

Be it in a quiet pasture or by a gentle stream,

The Shepherd of my soul is by my side.

Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep,

The Shepherd of my soul will be my guide.

 

 

 

I moved slowly and rhythmically as I sang. Many times, my husband would get worried about the way I would always dance in the bath. He would pray that I wouldn’t fall one day and I would say ‘amen’ with a laugh- my husband could worry too much!

 

 

 

As I hung the hand shower and I applied some body wash to my sponge, I smiled gleefully.

 

 

 

“Thank you Jesus for the gift of my husband!” I exclaimed with ecstasy as I started to scrub my body. I was just so amazed at the gift of David. He would never cease to amaze me.

 

 

“Thank you for the gift of my mother-in-law!”

 

“Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit!”

 

Stepping out of the bath and into my room, I felt so ecstastic. I knew it was going to be a very amazing and memorable dinner date. I was going to ask my husband all the spiritual questions I could ask and we would probably scatter the restaurant with prayers. 

 

I laughed at myself at the thought of that.

 

Hey babe, I missed your calls. Pardon me please. Could you please hang on for a while? Stay comfortable please. I will let you know when the driver would be coming. But for now, take you time. Some things came up at the office and Gab has to run some errands for me while I attend to some emergencies. I love you always.

 

I sighed. 

 

“When a doctor marries a doctor, you definitely must learn to doctor your marriage if not, you will be rushed to the doctor and be told that your case can no longer be doctored” I said my husband’s popular joke and started laughing all alone. That was how we teased each other when we became too busy at work. 

 

Instead of wearing the dress he had sent then, I wore my ankara peplum blouse, my red skirt and flat shoes and  started to prepare my handbag for immediate takeoff, once he announced his driver’s departure. 

 

The telephone rang again and that was when I remembered that it had been ringing for a while. 

 

“Why didn’t Mrs. Jola switch this telephone off, for crying out loud!” I exclaimed as I started walking into my office. She wasn’t the type to disappoint me so I was so surprised. 

 

I picked the receiver and raised it to my ear. 

 

“Hello, This is Dr. Zoe Abrahams, CEO/Managing director, The Zoe Medical Consults. How can we help you, please?”

 

“Ma, this is Mrs. Jola ma” I heard my secretary’s voice. 

 

“Ah, what is the problem? You aren’t going home? You forgot something?”

 

“I was at my hairdresser’s place when I got a call from Dr. Olagunsoye saying it was a distress call and that he must see you immediately”

 

“Dr. Olagunsoye of Havana Medics?” 

 

“Yes ma” She said and I was perturbed. The state governor had told me that he recommended me to Dr. Olagunsoye but he didn’t mention that he would be visiting that same day. 

 

“Tell them we have closed for the day, please” I said and was almost dropping the receiver when I heard her voice again. 

 

“Ma, they have been waiting outside the gate for over an hour. They had called and called you to no avail. I had to come down to the office too and everywhere is locked ma. The security men are also nowhere to be found.”

 

“What do you advise? I should see them?”

 

“It looks so urgent ma.”

 

“I will open the main door from here now. Lead them in. Thanks” I said, dropped the receiver, pressed the automated door lock on my table and ran back inside my room. I looked at my face and hair in the mirror. They looked so nice. I picked up my handbag, tucked the plastic bag containing the gifts in there and walked out of the room with it. I dropped it under my table and looked round at my office to see if there was anything out of place. 

 

‘Grace!’

 

I heard again and I was not getting it. As I knelt to pray, committing the meeting to God’s hand, my right hand suddenly became heavily painful again. I cringed. 

 

The doorbell to my office rang and I managed to stand. I supported the heavy right hand with my left, managed a smile and said:

 

“You can come in”

 

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