*ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH:*
EPISODE 9
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred sat at the dinning table enjoying their dinner. The children have all gone to their various rooms, some were watching TV in the sitting room. Mrs. Alfred was the one who started the discussion.
*Mrs. Alfred:* Honey have you heard?
*Alfred:* Heard what?
*Mrs. Alfred:* Chief Ike is set to take another wife, the number 7th wife.
*Alfred:* What?
*Mrs. Alfred:* Yes dear, he wants to take another wife. An elder in the church and yet no one is talking to him.
*Alfred:* Who will talk to him?
*Mrs. Alfred:* The Deacons and Deaconesses, the Pastor, the Reverend. Someone ought to talk to him.
*Alfred:* You are ma-king me laugh. Chief Ike is like the pillar of that church, nob©dy will tell him anything. You want him to angrily leave the church? Who will sponsor the church, who will support the church. Haven’t you heard him br@g that his tithes alone is enough to settle all the members of the Church for life?
*Mrs. Alfred:* Are you serious? Na wa o. I don’t un-derstand our church these days. Pure and physical sin like this and no one will rise and speak about it. Not even the Reverend.
*Alfred:* Which Reverend? Abeg talk of something else.
*Mrs. Alfred:* Talking about the Reverend, I heard his wife is finally pregnant. After all the years of waiting.
*Alfred:* I heard it too.
*Mrs. Alfred:* Thank God for her o, I am very happy for them. Especially for our Reverend. Thank God for them.
Alfred’s phone started ringing, he looks at his wife and then picks up the phone and steps out. Mrs. Alfred has been noticing him for some time now, he has been acting funny especially when his phone rings.
Not quite long, he walks back in and gave his wife a pe-ck and told her he was coming and nee-ds to meet up with a client. Mrs. Alfred was not happy because this attitude started recently. But she said nothing, she watched him step out.
Hours later he returned. Mrs. Alfred was still very much awake, but she quic-kly pretended to be fast asleep as Mr. Alfred took his phone and replied a WhatsApp message that c@m£ in and then falls on the be-d, and few minutes later he was snoring so loud.
Mrs. Alfred got up and picked up his phone and went throu-gh it to see the client that called her husband that evening and kept him so late till this time. She went throu-gh the call logs and saw the number saved as Mr. Wale.
Then she went throu-gh his WhatsApp chats and she got the shock of her life:
*Mr. Wale:* Thank you for being such an amazing lover. I had fun tonight.
*Alfred:* I had fun too sweetheart. plea-se no more messages I am off to be-d. I will see you tomorrow.
*Mr. Wale:* No problem, I am home alre-ady and about going to be-d. I hope you are home too and your wife has no suspicion.
*Alfred:* No dear, she is alre-ady here snoring like a cow.
*Mr. Wale:* Hahahaha. See you tomorrow Darling, I promise to give you treats that your wife has never and can never give to you. Good night!
plea-se delete these messages from your phone.
Mrs. Alfred was surprised and furious. The last message from Mr. Wale c@m£ when Alfred had probably sle-pt off, because it was not yet re-ad.
Mrs. Alfred was angry, she thought of what to do to her husband whom she has concluded is cheating on her, she wanted to wake him up, sl@p him or even hit him with the phone but then she thought again, *”who is this Mr. Wale?”*
Obviously, it’s not a Mr., it’s definitely a woman, and so she picked up her phone and copied out the number and dialed it. What she saw almost blinded her. Boldly written on her phone, *”Mummy Reverend”*
“It can’t be!” She muttered.
“It’s not possible!” she repeated.
How can her own Reverend Leo’s wife be having an affair with her husband?
Mrs. Alfred wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, different emotions overwhelmed her, she wanted to go crazy but surprisingly she was just there unable to do anything.
__________________
It was almost 7pm, but Reverend Leo was still seated in his office staring into nothing and thinking of how far his family had grown ap@rt. He and his wife have suddenly become strangers in their own house. He had st©pped eating her food and she has moved into another room in the house. They ba-rely even see each other except on Sundays when they pretend before the church and smile to the congregation.
Everyone will be fooled that they are the perfect couple. Rachael’s smile s£nt a lot of messages to the movers who are always re-ady for gossip. Some believe that she looks more beautiful and younger now that she is pregnant. No one sees the inner pain from the Reverend. He has lost a lot of weight due to staying hungry and always praying for a miracle to happen in his home, despite his looks and unhappiness no one seems to notice the pains the Reverend is going throu-gh. Instead they come to him for prayers and advice and even marital problems.
Now he had no one to go to for advice on his own marriage that is falling ap@rt because he is the one the people normally come to. As he sat in his office thinking and br@in storming, Sister Tina walks in.
Sister Tina is one of the very active members of the church, she was always in church from time to time, sweeping and cleaning the church.
Reverend Leo sat up when she c@m£ in and greeted her warmly.
“Reverend, how are you? I c@m£ in to tell you I am about to leave. Ain’t you leaving yet?” She asked.
“Oh, thank you so much Sister Tina, but I will still stay a little while before I leave.” The Reverend managed to say.
“Reverend, I hope all is okay with you, I’ve been noticing you for days now, you come here sit alone in your office and leave very late at night. You ain’t the cheerful Reverend I used to know. I also noticed that you don’t s£nd me to get food for you anymore like you used to. You don’t eat or drink. Or are you on a fasting program? Because I know you are not. Whenever you are on fasting program, I always hear you praying from your office. But lately, I know you have not been praying. So, what is wrong Reverend.” She asked.
Reverend Leo looked at her, he nee-ded someone to talk to, he was almost tem-pted to open up to her but then he held back for reasons he didn’t un-derstand.
“Thanks for your concern Sister Tina but I am fine, the Bible says the temptation a man cannot overcome will not come his way, and so whatever it is I am pas-sing throu-gh will pas-s soonest by the power of the Almighty.”
When Reverend Leo made this statement, it sounded like a confirmation to Tina as she had been watching him for sometime now and she suspected something was wrong. The other day, she had suspected that Reverend Leo had sle-pt in the office because when she c@m£ in the morning to sweep, she saw him at exactly the same sp©t where she left him the previous night. But she couldn’t summon the courage to ask him. Even though she heard the Reverend well, she decided to push forward.
Reverend Leo was a man she admired so much and before he got married she had shown him the green light severally but he refused to notice her. She had taken the job of cleaning the church just so he would see her everyday and notice how serious and devoted she is to the work of God but still he went ahead and married Rachael. She would have left the church when he finally got married but she decided to stay so she can be close to him until she finally gets her own husband. She was happy all the years the Reverend and his wife suffered because of childlessness and she sometimes wish the Reverend’s wife will just die one day so that she can get his full attention and probably marry him and bear him beautiful children.
The news of the Reverend’s wife being pregnant broke her heart terribly and she really would have left the church but she somehow felt again that the Reverend’s wife might just die during child birth and so she decided to hang on a while longer.
Seeing how sad the Reverend looked, she had decided to try her luck tonight.
“Is it your wife? Is she the reason you feel so lost Reverend?” She asked.
Leo was surprised because his wife was the exact reason why he was like this.
“How did you know? Because of a truth my wife is the reason I am like this, but how did you know?”
Tina smiled before answering, and as she spoke she moved closer to the Reverend putting her hands at the back of his n£¢k.
*Tina:* Reverend, I am a very spiritual and dedicated member of this church, I have devoted my life to the things of God alone and so sometimes He reveals things to me that others don’t know. You should have known but you don’t ever notice my pres£nce in this church.
*Leo:* Ah! Sister Tina don’t talk like that. Everyone sees you and what you do in the church and God will surely reward your good works. I notice you, I see you and I always pray for you.
Tina pushed her effort forward by ru-bbing his cheeks and trying to show off her cleavages to him.
*Tina:* Reverend about your wife, I want you to relax and not let whatever she does bother you. Sometimes, women are like that. But instead of you to be weighed down you can always call on me and I will take care of you just as I take care of the church.
By now, she was ru-bbing her brea-sts against the Reverend, who quic-kly jumped up and pushed her away.
*Leo:* Sister Tina what do you think you are doing?
*Tina:* Reverend plea-se relax, I am not doing anything, I am only trying to make you relax and calm your nerves from all the stress your wife is putting you throu-gh.
*Leo:* St©p that ru-bbish. Calm my nerves by trying to s£dûç£me? What is the meaning of that?
Tina unbottoned her dress ex-posing her br@ to the Pastor.
*Tina:* Reverend in honesty and truth, tell me when last you felt a woman’s t©uçh. I know your wife is stressing you, I just want to ease up some of that tension.
*Leo:* Put on your clothes and leave my office now.
As the Reverend was talking, Tina let the dress fall of her b©dy ex-posing her th!ghs and bu-ttocks.
*Leo:* Blood of Jesus!
(Reverend Leo shouted as he picks up his phone and runs out of the office outside)
Sister Tina I can see that something had possessed you. I bind that spirit out. I am out of here.
Luckily for him, he saw a bike man outside and quic-kly jumps on the bike straight home. When he got to his house he knew Rachael was not home because the whole place was so dark. This has been her new habit of keeping out late.
He had made up his mind not to ask her anything. And so, he went straight into his room and fell on his be-d wondering what just happened in his office.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 10
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