Isokene Episode 13 to 15

p@rt 13
“ISOKENE “
(St©p MY WIFE FROM SMILING)
©️Opeyemi O.Akintunde
 
 
“Hello Ma”…the husband snatcher/She-devil said with the most beautifully alluringly textured voice I had heard in my life….If the circu-mtances were right, I could have fallen in love with her voice….,
“And why the unnecessary “Ma”?, was she trying to give me a fake impression about herself that she was respectful? Or trying to act like a good girl before Henry….plea-se she should give that to fools like my husband that she had tied down with her charm” I thought as I blurted out in anger the next few words….
“Hello..Margaret or whatever you are called, I don’t have much to say to you, because I believe you and I are not in the same league.. I just want You to think of how callous you are and do the nee-dful, before I ask God to punish you…”
“ Ma, I know God Can not punish me because I am also a Christian, I am a born again child of God…” She said VERY CALMLY
“ Christi…or What did you just call yourself?….plea-se what br@nd of Christianity is yours? The type that steals other people’s husbands or the one that support polygamy?….If that is it, then it must be a new br@nd from the pit of hell you practice” I said angrily
“ Ma, the Christianity I practice is the very one you practice, the one Abr@ham the father of faith practiced that made him have more than one wife”
“ What?” My ton-gued bec@m£ automatically tied, The She-devil continued
“Yes, the type David practiced and made him have more than one wife and yet he was the man after God’s own heart,”
I was as quiet as a graveyard as I unbelievably was listening to this devil quoting scriptures to me, scriptures she knew so well, she cited so many scriptures to me backing up her point, then just like a dream she said…
“ Ma I am not a devil, neither am I an agent of darkness s£nt to destroy your home, I am just a woman who has found true love and is not re-ady to lose it.
I am not asking you to leave your matrimonial home, all I ask is just share your husband’s heart with me.
I don’t even plan on destroying your ministry. This can be our little secret. Nob©dy has to know.
I just love Henry and He is the first man to show my children and I genuine love after I lost my husband. Ma, God bears me witness that I am not using anything diabolical on Henry, we just love each other and like I said Ma, I don’t plan on taking him from you, We can share him Ma, and I promise to be a good girl….plea-se ma, don’t take him away from me, because if you try, I might be f0rç£d to act back….” she said very calmly pleading
I had never been that ton-gue-tied in my life before….
“ Hello Ma, Are you there? Hello…” Henry took the phone from her…
“ Hello, Hello Betty, Hello Honey…I know you are there, plea-se don’t do anything crazy especially for the sake of the kids…I love you and God knows, but I also love Margaret tooo…So are you willing to share me with her, If you say yes, I will come home right away!”
I couldn’t say No or Yes or what do you think I should have said?
 
p@rt 14
“Ding Dong, Dong Ding” was the sound I was hearing in my br@in…I couldn’t even press the end bu-tton on my phone. All I did was to gently place it on the Table beside me. It was official I had lost my husband. The girl sounded so well cultured, articulate in her points, even though if the circu-mtances were right, I could have given her the right answers to her biblical citing…
I could have told her it was never in God’s plan for man to have two wives, or else he would have made Adam to have two wives or better still when Eve messed up, he could have created a new Eve for Adam.
I could have told her about David, that he been the man after God’s own heart had more to do with his relationsh!pwith God not his acquiring of wives.
I ought to have told her that David suffered a great deal for having so many wives. God’s intention was for him to build a dynas-ty; a dynas-ty where his generation will rule Isreal from generation to generation, but because of his polygamy it st©pped along the way.. I should have told her in capital letters that IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR A MAN OR HIS GENERATION TO MISS OUT INGOD’S PLAN FOR THEIR LIVES as a result of polygamy….
I ought to have responded as regards Abr@ham that it was never God’s idea or intention for him to impregnate Hagar, and even when the opportunity c@m£ God asked him to s£nd Hagar away….
“Yes! Hold on…” I thought to myself “ “That is it….I nee-d God to speak to Henry to s£nd Margaret away., Just like he spoke to Abr@ham to s£nd Hagar away for Sarah’s sake” ….I said to myself as I jumped up so glad I had received the rhema to deliver my marriage.
“That is the solution…” I kept saying to myself….
I was not going to accept the evil proposal.
I didn’t call Henry again as I set myself on a 40 days fasting and prayer asking God to speak to Henry to s£nd Margaret away….but Nothing happened.
Henry neither called, but rather on the 40th day of my fasting he c@m£ back home. I was super excited as I felt God had answered my prayer but…
“ Betty, I am sorry, you didn’t accept Margaret’s proposal. I thought things were going to work out among us, but guess you are proving ha-rd … I am sorry, I will be moving in with Margaret, because she is pregnant with my baby and it is a baby boy and you know how much I have asked you to let us have another baby, maybe it will be a boy, but you refused. So I nee-d to be by her side….
I am purposely telling you she is pregnant so that you can pray for her, because if anything goes wrong with her or the baby, I will ruthlessly hold you responsible “ He said before walking out of the house…
I couldn’t say a word, I just crashed into the floor and Wept….
God! Why? Why are you doing this to me…plea-se wake me if this is a dream, but unfortunately God didn’t wake me up, because it was reality.
For another two months, I didn’t hear from Henry….
I took the best step for me to avoid depression and ultimately insanity that was knocking at my door vehemently…
I took my two daughters from school and we relocated to Houston, Texas to start a new life..
Wasn’t that better?Since prayer and fasting did not work for me…
 
p@rt 15
LIfe in Houston was great, the first month was welcoming. My sister and her husband who were living in a two be-droom ap@rtment told their kids to vacate their room to accommod@t£ my children and I Which was the usual anytime we went visiting for weeks.
I hid my relocation plans from them, even my daughters didn’t know we were relocating, all I told them was we were going To Houston for a short break.
I didn’t hint them on what was going on with their father. I just told them I nee-ded a break and since that was not the first trip to Houston, they didn’t suspect any foul pla-y.
However, when it was about the sixth week, I started hearing my brother in law and Sister arguing behind close doors. I didn’t know what it was about until when my brother in law confronted me about it around the 8th week.(2 months).
“ Aunt Betty, my wife and I are just managing and it’s unlike you to come to Houston and spend two months. We are running low on cash…What’s up Aunt, Are you planning to relocate?” You know how blunt Nigerians who live in America can be ….
“ Well…” I said while trying to find a convincing answer…
“ Aunt Betty, I just want the truth” Richie said
“ My husband and I are having it rou-gh, so yes I am thinking of relocating”
“ I guessed as much, it’s unlike Uncle, He would have called to thank us for hosting his family” He said
“Hmm…Aunty…I think you should go back to Nigeria and sort things out, because living in America as a single black mother with two daughters is not easy!, For starters we won’t be able to accommod@t£ you for long ,because even as we speak the bills are way too much”
“ I can always support in the bills,like I did when I first c@m£ in from Nigeria, at least I gave your wife 1000 dollars to support during my stay”
“ Aunty, we have exhausted it, you know how things are here….the morgage , the….” He said
“ Ok Richie…What do you want me to do?”
“ If you plan on staying in America, I am sorry Aunty, You might nee-d to start looking for your ap@rtment, possibly get a Job, but my best advice is for you to go back to Africa, because even we that are established here, we wish we could return home, but the shame of going back to Africa with virtually nothing is what is keeping most of us here, imagine me Richa-rd , a First clas-s Graduate of Micro Biology working in a Hand car wash , washing cars in Houston…., Aunty, think very well about what you are about to do” He said
I followed the most convenient Option and Used my ha-rd earned money, my savings to be precise to buy a house in Houston. I am sure you know what it cost to buy a house in America, it was my life savings but my thought was, If accommodation was settled, every other thing was secondary.
I had little or close to nothing left.
My daughters began questioning why we were not returning to Nigeria and why dad had not joined them for the holiday as I initially said. I told them Dad was executing a project in an area were there was no network coverage. They believed that because it was not out of the norm.
As regards staying in America, they were excited as their fantasy of attending college in America was going to come to pas-s. All thanks to all the Hollywood college movies and series they had watched on T.V, so this was going to be living their “ AMERICAN DREAM”
Isokene kept calling me to return back to Nigeria, but I kept telling her I was thinking about it. The day I bought my house in Houston, I called her very excited to share my good news with her, but she said…
“ Why waste all that money in buying a house for yourself, when you have a home you nee-d to save in Nigeria… A house in America can never be a home, if the major ingredient is abs£nt, Your husband is not in that house….If your husband was dead, it would have been un-derstandable…
Aunty Betty, What is happening to you? my heart breaks everyday knowing you are going far away from God’s ordained plan for your life, It’s all over the news, people are asking about you as you have been missing all the programs you were invited to….Also, your disappearance from the scene has given the mistress the boldness to come out , She and your husband now walk hand in hand in public….and people are asking questions as to who she is?”
I hung up on Isokene….I didn’t want her to dampen my spirit anymore than it was….My mind was made up. I was going to make America my new home, even if I didn’t have a husband. I intentionally changed my number so none of my pastor friends could reach me, the only friend I kept in contact with was a Female minister like me who had divorced her husband.
“ My sister, marriage is not by f0rç£ ooo, avoid the calls of hypocritical people, I mean some of our fathers and mothers in the Lord who are not also enjoying their marriage, they will tell you “for the gospel sake, pretend everything is fine”…..Abeg, won’t I live my own life?…My sister, you have made the right choice…Settle in America and if God is merciful, you marry someone else!”
This led me into looking for a job as a School counselor, as that was my area of specialization but I looked tirelessly as I never got one….
I decided to call my sister for help as I was seriously running low on cash…
“ Aunty, you can’t find such jobs here, when the real Americans are yet to get Jobs, then you a Nigerian will now get one….Aunty before I went to Nursing School to become a nurse, I did all sorts including washing plates…. I suggest you start looking towards that area”
“What?Me? Wash plates in America?” ….I said in disbelief
 
 
Tbc…