extract froma novel2

DAY THREE

My son, it appears that death, stalking my area, has made brave to announce to me that I am not meant to live beyond tomorrow.

Let me not beat about the bush: Papa is dead. So is Monsignor P.H.C. Nwankiti.

Papa is truly dead, my son. Although nobody has told me about this, I am convinced of it. May be by the time you get this letter, you must have heard it. I know he is dead because he came to inform me himself.

Let me tell you how it happened. When I was about to sleep early this morning, I saw Papa standing at my bedside. He looked somewhat taller than usual, but surrounded by light. He also looked much younger. My son, he said, I have come to see you so that you will be able to help me to sort out things I did not do when I was keeping my house in order for this journey. He then told me things he said I should write down and give to you so that you know what to do during the burial. That was what I enclosed in the brown envelope that I have already addressed to you.

I did not need to ask whether he is still in flesh because I just knew he would not be going back to his body. Although I did not see the silver cord, I had the feeling that it is no longer attached to him. You know what the silver cord is? It is the thin elastic cord that connects a soul to his body. As long as it is still intact, the soul could still be drawn back to the body, even if the person is dead. Sometimes, depending on the level of attachment of the soul to the physical world, the cord may be attached to the body up to eight days after death. For some people, it severes immediately after death. Lazarus, for example, still had the silver cord connected to the body, which made it possible for the Lord Christ to bring him back to his body. For Christ must also obey his father’s laws.

The silver cord is mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter twelve. That book itself is a metaphor of old age and death, but time will not permit me to discuss that here.

When Papa finished speaking, he called me and asked me why I have got the knowledge of everything in existence – or rather the secret of everything- and I have never told him about it. I was surprised he had reached this level. It then means that he had been dead for sometime now. But then, you never know with these things. He appeared really unhappy about it, though he said he had also met others longing for the same knowledge. He told me that there is some consolations, though that he was told I will soon cross over, that I will tell them all they need to know.

So, in truth, the knowledge is for those living and those dead.

Father Jonas just left my house this morning. He brought a parcel to me saying that Father Nwankiti insisted, during the last minutes on earth, that he must take that parcel to me, that I must hand the parcel to you. Jonas was the one who administered the extreme – unction to Monsignor Nwankiti.

Of course, you remember Father Nwankiti, one of the reverend fathers who presided over the investigations of your alleged loose life with the Parish girls where you were doing your Apostolic work.

I once told you that you acted hastily then by leaving the seminary even before your case was concluded. You did not know the length I went to help your case and get you transferred out of the Parish instead. Perhaps for you to appreciate what I had tried to do, I will here summarize the story as you told me, with explanations of the actions I have taken.

You remember your last point of Apostolic work was in Enugu, the state capital and Diocesian headquarters. When you arrived at the Parish, you were welcomed by the Parish Priest in charge, father Nwankiti.

According to the story you told me, Father Nwankiti took you in as a son, and was always advising you, until you met Mrs. Emeregini. Mrs. Emeregini was the president of the Catholic Women Organization. She was so powerful she doubled as the Diocesian Chairperson for the same Organization. She was a Businesswoman, deals on fashion materials, and was always traveling out of the country. You heard she died in London due to undisclosed illness long after you have left the seminary. But the truth of the matter was that her death was a scandal, for she was actually arrested for drug trafficking related offences and was injected to death in detention. But her death is not the subject of this letter now.

When you met her, she was with her son, Polycarp. She was introduced to you and she suddenly took a linking to you. She invited you to her house, and then advised you to always take care of her son and advise him since she would also want him to go to the seminary like you.

Since then, it has been one gift after another. Whenever she traveled, it is usually one perfume after another. Your suitan was of the most expensive material, thanks to her.

Then one day, you received information that she was very sick and that she was hospitalized. You rushed to the hospital where she was and was ushered into a private room where she was kept. On entering there, you saw her dressed only in a transparent nightgown.

When you walked in she was moaning softly on the bed, alone. She turned her head and looked at you. Father Jasper, she said, please come and hold my hands and pray for me. You came closer and held her hands and offered some prayers. She then requested that you massage her stomach, and, after some hesitation, you started feeling the stomach through the nightie. No, she said, put your hand underneath, I feel such pain. As you massaged, she started moaning seductively. She told you to move upwards towards her breast. When your hands touched the breast you wanted to pull it out, but she stopped you and held it there, she looked you straight in the eye; and the sick person you saw when you came in was no longer there, only a woman desperate to seduce. Father Jasper, are you a virgin? She asked. Yes, you replied, even though you knew that was not true. Then I am lucky, I am going to be your first, she said.

I guess by then your head must have been in turmoil, because she stood up from the bed and removed her nightie, smiling at you. I don’t want the impediment of a nightgown between us, she said.

That was when you took the decision that ruined your vocation. Telling her you need to go and urinate, you left the room and went home, never to come back again.

It was two days later, after morning mass, that she walked up to you smiling, and out of the ear shot of others, said: You have just destroyed yourself. No man snubs me without suffering for it.

And that, my son, was the beginning of your troubles. Rumors started filtering in about your escapades with young ladies from the Parish. Then one day, Father Nwankiti called you to ask you what has been going on, and whether there are some truths in what is rumored. After explaining everything to him, he was silent for some time and then said; my son, you have to pray very hard. Do you understand? You need to go and soak your chaplet in water because she has petitioned the Bishop and the Bishop has set up a panel to investigate the issue. I am a member of the Panel and I am aware that the other two members are under the claws of the iron lady. You will definitely be found guilty, he said, It was at this point that you packed your load and left the Parish house, particularly after the first session with the Panel, who first of all suspended you. Unknown to you, I had gone to the Bishop and told him the whole truth as you told me, and he was inclined to allow you get away with a warning and a transfer. But you have left, and your pride never allowed you to come back.

You can now understand Nwankiti’s attachment to you and why he decided to leave the legacy to you. Behind his action lies a tinge of guilt, that you were not fairly treated during your seminary days. But those things happen all the time.

I half expected to see Monsignor Nwankiti when I finally slept, but it was a dreamless, exhaustive sleep I slept. The expected vision rather happened, not during my sleep, but when I have woken up. Of course, I missed the morning mass, which I already detailed my assistant to celebrate, as I was indisposed. Hence when I woke up, the Parish house was deserted. I was about getting out of the bed when I heard a rushing sound which some how quieted down. Some kind of roseate perfume filled the room. Suddenly, the roof of the room disappeared and a pillar of dazzling light suddenly shot down from above the star-studded sky. Three bright crosses appeared before my gaze, dazzling, lined up in the order of bigger, biggest and big. The three crosses were distributing the light rays to all the nook and crannies of the room. I was quivering like a dry leaf under the effect of a gentle breeze. Then slowly, the vision faded, and, at the end of the room, looking at me with a smile on his face was my shinning one. Then he spoke. Prince of the church, your work here is nearing it’s end, so you will soon be released to those waiting for your approach. You may yet be permitted to spread the good news of the kingdom across the waters. You are to educate them on the judgment that is going on and the coming of the star of promise. You will receive all the help you need just for the asking.

With that my shinning one vanished and I was left alone. With this latest mandate, I was then left to bring such enormous knowledge that had it not been that help is always surrounding me, I could not have been able to.