The loud alarm won’t stop blaring, her head was spinning hard as she jumped out of the bed. She bent over to pick up her diary and the event of the previous night came flooding in. She had too many drinks the previous night to douse the pain of Tolu’s breakup with her. He ended their 5-year relationship over a little tiff when plans were in the air to tie the knots… She was broken but it was a Sunday, she hoped to find succour in God’s presence.
Suzan looked at the clock and 8:00 am was the time displayed. She cursed under her breath. Her day had apparently started on a disorganized note, she was a mirror of confusion that morning. Going back and forth in the motion of thoughts processing was she when a gentle knock on the door jolted her back to the present. She wobbled to the door and saw a bouquet of flowers shielding the stranger’s face. She hissed and said, “Tell him to keep his flowers”. After the statement she made, she was about slamming the door when the person held her hands and said “S.Z, you’re still feisty as ever.” Her jaw dropped, only one person called her that_ Julius, her Egyptian friend from her University days. She ushered him in hastily.
“How did you find me? I mean it’s been ages since we last saw” said Suzan. Julius watered down her curiosity with his response “The world’s a small place, you know”. Suzan was with mixed feelings, she got an unexpected visit and she had to go to church. She waltzed into the shower, jumped out and hastily dressed up and carried her purse. In all these, Julius was in her small-sized parlour fiddling with his phone. When she stepped out, she told him her church was on the island and he obliged to drive her down.Â
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When Julius ignited the engine, Steve crown’s healing wings rented the air and she hummed along. It was an unusual miracle as they encountered no traffic gridlock. Julius and she said little to nothing in the car, she assumed he was biding his time. Getting to the church premises, the parking space was jammed like the sardine in geisha. Julius had to park outside and quietly they walked into the church. They snuggled our way to the back pew to avoid the preying of eyes and they sat quietly. The choir were rounding off their special number and they were greeted with thunderous applause from the congregation. They also joined in.
Pastor Frank, the presiding pastor of The seed bearers assembly which is her church was clad in an all-white outfit donning his Italian tie and Italian shoes not leaving out his Hublot_ Papa as he’s often called truly never fails to pay details to his appearance. He mounted the podium grinning from ear to ear and said” Today will be an usual manifestation of God’s revelation.” He continued:” Tell the person sitting next to you that I won’t miss out on God’s move”. Julius and she did what he instructed. Then he said his topic of the sermon was “the Egyptians you see today.” He said he would be walking them through the book of Exodus chapter 14, He urged them to open their Bibles. He emphasized physical Bibles and not the ones on their smartphones. “The Lord is intentional about today’s sermon”, he added.
The preaching was almost coming to a close when he said “tell the person sitting next to you that the Egyptians you see today you shall see them no more.” She hastily turned to face Julius forgetting that the supposed person next to me was an Egyptian, disgust was written all over his face as the words were pronounced. He stood up and left the church. She was numb, she didn’t know whether to go after him or sit till the end of the sermon but it seemed the eyes of the Pastor was scanning her heart and this pierced her soul. After the preaching, she dialled Julius’ line(they had exchanged contacts before they left her place), it was dropped calls upon dropped calls. Suzan was clueless and blank and her mind drifted away from the service.
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After the benediction, it dawned on Suzan that she had just lost a friend and her ride home. The latter hurt her the most because she left home with only the cash sufficient for offering and didn’t take her credit card with her. The implication was this_ She was stranded… Days rolled into months and it seemed like Julius wouldn’t come around. She had sent tons of texts, left him unreturned calls but he never replied or called her back. The Egyptian she saw that day, she saw him no more.