Episode 17
Forlornly, Janet raised her head and asked, “The feeling is gone, right? You don’t feel a thing anymore, do you?” “There might be hope. It seems to be coming alive a bit,” Emmanuel said, trying to sound courageous. “But it is still looking limp,” Janet pointed out. Emmanuel wrapped his arms around her and they held each other for a few minutes. Silently the two of them cried as tears flowed freely. “Let us go home and try a bit more. If I have begun to feel some semblance of life down there, then there is hope,” Emmanuel said.
Janet nodded a ‘yes’, like a little girl. Emmanuel zipped up and brought the car to life. On the drive home, not much was said between them. They were content to be left alone to their reveries. If Emmanuel said that in the past he had sex with other women and was fine, what then could have crashed his male organ? For God sake, what does he actually mean by something leaving his body on our wedding night? God I am confused! From our wedding night, we have been having great sex until the morning after the night his dead father showed up in our house. It has to be his father who crashed his male organ! It is him! He must have come to destroy the power of the ribbon my mother in-law gave me. After all my mother in-law mentioned such problem already exists in their family. The dead man brought this on my husband! He did it! Janet thought in her head.
I have been fine all my life until the night of our wedding. God, I did everything right. In honour to your word, I kept myself from premarital sex. Why would this happen to me? God, I prayed with fasting for weeks, seeking your face about Janet before I married her. Why would something leave my body on the night of our wedding? I believe that thing was my male strength. It is just manifesting now. I was not in sin or error when I made love to my wife. God she is my wife! I did not commit fornication with her! Why then would something leave my body …” He paused. An ugly thought had flashed through his mind.
He turned and stared coldly at Janet who was looking out through the window lost in her own thoughts. The visage of his face was marred with disdain for her. The only way that could have happened is if Janet is dedicated to a shrine or a member of an evil cult…wait! She might even be jinxed. Jesus! How could I have been this blind?! She must have a spiritual husband. He must be the man I saw taking something from our matrimonial bed… Emmanuel paused again. This time he was 100% certain he had nailed it. He had finally found the root of his problem. I think she knows. Could it be the reason she never allowed me to touch her before we got married? This now explains how she was able to keep to our purity vow. Without her strength, I could have violated the vow many times. Huh… I have got to talk to someone about this. I am living with a woman joined to spiritual entity in the water world. It must be him who took my virility , Emmanuel concluded his dark thoughts.
When they got home, Emmanuel went straight to the bedroom, pulled off his clothes and went into the bathroom. Janet suspected nothing, she was slow in removing her clothes, her mind was still filled with much thoughts. When she was done removing her clothes, when went to the bathroom door and tried to push it open. Much to her shock, it was locked from inside. They never lock their bathroom door; they just close it. She put it down to Emmanuel being sad over the crashing of his male organ. She knocked gently on the door and said, “Baby open the door, let me join you.” There was no response. Janet got angry and banged harder on the door. “Baby, open the door!!!” she yelled, yet there was no response from Emmanuel. She could hear the crashing sound of water, so Emmanuel was fine. While she was still standing before the door, the sound of running water stopped and after a brief moment, Emmanuel stepped out and mumbled, “I am done, you can go in and use the bathroom now.”
“What has come over you? I wanted us to play in the bathroom. Please understand that this is not easier on me. It is not at all!” Emmanuel stood and looked at her with his eyes filled with hatred. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. Janet saw the look in his eyes and understood it for what it was. Her heart sunk into her stomach. “Baby what did I do? Why did you look at me that way?” Janet cried out. Her legs shook and could hardly hold up her body. She lowered herself to the floor and sat on it, still naked. Emmanuel walked over to the wardrobe and began to dress up.
Episode 18
With deep groans, Janet began to cry. She had not had to cry much since they began to date. However, her cries were usually too hard for Emmanuel to deal with. Emmanuel resisted it all he could, and when he was about to leave the bedroom, he walked over to her, tapped her on the back and said tacitly, “It is all going to be fine. I think I have figured it out.” Janet was eager to hear what he figured out. “Okay can you let me in on it? What is responsible for your male organ crashing?” she asked. Emmanuel ignored her and left the room, banging the door behind him as loud as he could. Janet shook terribly where she sat, clutching her chest.
To her, it was a dream. Emmanuel was not capable of that. She could not believe her eyes. Weakly she picked herself up from the floor and threw herself on the bed. She must have cried for close to an hour before she decided to act on a thought on her mind. With the energy offered by the thought on her mind, she went into the bathroom, had her bath and dressed up quickly. She was going to pay a visit to Emmanuel’s father’s grave. Her intention was to plead with him to release her husband’s virility. She had convinced herself he was the one who took it.
The Spiritual House
“There is however, something you must know about your son’s wife, Janet,” the priest added. “What is it?” Mrs. Asibong asked. “She is very pure and your son is going to have his best seeds with her. Thanks for offering us such a soul. This is how it will be done, we will let her have three children for your son, but during the time she will have her fourth child, we will slay her and the new born child. You don’t know what you have offered us. The fourth child that shall come from Janet shall be no ordinary child!” the priest said elatedly.
“What did you mean when you said Janet is pure and that my son shall have his best seeds with her?” Mrs. Asibong asked. “Your son can remarry and even have children by his second wife, but both his wife and the children from her shall all be a big mistake. They are not ordained to be part of Emmanuel’s life. Janet is part of his star… I can see you have been told about your son’s star.” “Yes, I have, but I didn’t know Janet was part of it.”
“It is time to start madam Asibong! Drop five million naira in that basin and give us Janet’s picture,” the priest announced with the sound of bliss in his voice. “I will need to go out and print her picture. I have it here in my phone,” explained Mrs. Asibong. “You will do that later, let us proceed with the rest for now.” “Okay, if you say so.”
For a moment, Mrs. Asibong was thoughtful. She was wondering if her decision to offer Janet’s life was the right decision. Ibinabo pulled her aside and asked, “Are you sure you want to offer Janet’s life? Young women like her are hard to find. Look at how excited the priest is about taking her life. Something is off here, Eme. I feel it strongly. I think that girl should live.” “I have no one else to give. I hate to do this, but the girl has already begun to turn my son against me. I told her something no one knows, and she foolishly told my son.” “What did she tell your son?” “I mistakenly let it slip that my husband died for nothing, only for her to tell Emmanuel. Now Emmanuel is suspecting me of having something to do with his father’s death.”
“That is bad, if it hurts you that much, and if you don’t want the girl in your son’s life anymore, then offer her life. The choice is yours.” “My mind is made up,” Mrs. Asibong said as she rummaged in her bag for her cheque book. She found it and without delay wrote the priest a five million naira cheque and tossed it into the aluminum basin. “Good! That is good. Now strip down and stand before this altar. I will need you to make a binding confession here that you are offering to this altar the life of your fourth grandchild by Emmanuel and Janet, along with Janet’s life.”
Mrs. Asibong stripped down frenziedly like a woman striping off her clothes to join her husband in bed. Standing stark naked before the altar with her hands raised high, she began, “I Eme Asibong offer this altar the life of my fourth grand child who shall be born by Emmanuel my son and Janet his wife. I also offer the life of my son’s wife Janet. Both lives shall be taken after she delivers her fourth child. I offer them to you, o great altar, for you to break and terminate all curses and afflictions placed upon me and my family by the fellowship. Most of all I want my son’s virility to be returned to him this day.”
“Step closer to the altar,” the priest instructed. Mrs. Asibong moved closer. “Stretch forth your hand toward the altar,” said the priest. Mrs. Asibong did so. Without warning, the priest pulled out a knife and slashed her palm and held it over the altar as her blood dropped over it. Mrs. Asibong cried out in much pain, struggling to break free from the priest, but she could not. When the priest was satisfied, he released his grip on her hand and let her go.
Episode 19
At Emmanuel’s father’s grave, Janet stood. She had brought with her a flower bouquet to make the dead happy. A cursory look around revealed to her that the grave before which she stood had been neglected for quite a long time. The other graves had fresh flowers on them and were not overgrown with grass. For a moment, she wanted to walk away. She felt guilty for having come to the grave only because she needed the help of the one who lay dead inside it.
While she pondered how much the grave had been neglected, and how she might proceed with the request for which she had come, a stocky man with a bowed out leg, approached her. The man was seemingly in his mid-fifties. He had bristly beard and looked unkempt. With difficulty, he staggered on his feet, bouncing up and down as his legs were unequal in length. “Good day madam. Does the grave belong to your family?” he asked, making much effort to smile. “Yes, it does,” replied Janet. “The dead can be pacified; they can be shown love. I have often wondered what heinous life the person in this grave committed in his lifetime that his relatives have thought it wise to neglect him. I know he is a man because I have often seen him sitting on his grave at nights looking forlorn and his eye filled with tears…”
“Have you?” Janet asked, her voice filled with fear and trepidation. The man was happy to gain her attention. “Yes, I have. For more than eighteen years I have worked here. By now some of the dead here know me and I know them…” he paused. “So you know the man in this grave then?” asked Janet. “No, I don’t. He prefers to keep his distance and is always in tears. My guess is that he died suddenly. He did not die a good death.” “You might be right. I am his daughter in-law. I have seen enough lately to know he might not have died a good death…” “Don’t worry; however he died, he can be pacified. You can have me weed his grave, bring perfumed flowers for his grave and you can read him words of love. Look at this…” He dug into his breast pocket and dragged out a rumpled piece of paper.
“…this is a poem for the dead. It was written by a celebrated Ghana witch doctor…” the man continued. Janet shrank back at the mention of witch doctor. “…do not fear, you will not be harmed. This poem in my hand, works wonders with the dead. I will do all I mentioned just for a token. I am afraid to go home to my wife and children tonight,” the man concluded, almost pleading. “Why are you afraid to go home, sir?” “I can’t not bear to watch my wife and children go to bed yet another night without food. The government doesn’t care about those who watch the dead anymore. My wife who often helped me out with the responsibilities at home had her shop destroyed in the name of city beautification. As I speak, hunger and lack have made my home their camp. For three months now, I have not been paid my salary…”
Janet raised her hand and hushed the man. She could not bear to listen anymore to the man’s gory tale about his lack. She rummaged in her purse and removed a wad of one thousand naira notes and gave it to the man. “You must go home to night! Make sure your wife and children get something to eat please,” Janet said.
The man went down on his knees to thank her, but she hurriedly pulled him to his feet. “Don’t do that please! All I need from you right now, is to weed this grave and place the perfumed flowers you mentioned on it.” “I will be most glad to do that madam. Please, come over here and sit down,” he said, motioning Janet to a wooden seat under a mango tree some distance away. “Don’t call me madam, you are old enough to be my father. My name is Janet,” she cautioned. “Okay, madam, I will not call you madam again.” Janet had to chuckle at his reply in spite of herself. “Can I ask you a question sir?” Janet asked. “Yes madam, you can.” “I am afraid the man in that grave, took something from me…not exactly from me, though, but from my husband. Do you think if I pacify him he would return it?”
Episode 20
The man made effort to rest on his one good leg, raising his frame like an orator about to address the Greek parliament in old times, he began, “You see, madam, the loss in death has for ages been misconstrued. Those who suffer the real loss in death are not the living. Though the living cry the loudest, it is the dead who suffer the real loss. They are the ones who can’t taste good wine ever again or wear new clothe fashion. They are the ones who can’t spend time with their wives, husbands or loved ones. They see us giggle and laugh, but they sit quiet in loneliness. They see us use modern technology, but they only wonder what the use is like to us…” he paused and searched Janet’s eyes. Janet clearly could not make out where he was headed with his lecture about the loss of the dead. He saw that, and so made his last point which drove home his meaning. “…the dead would be glad for anything you do to let them know they are remembered. I have often heard them wailing by night over the torture of their loneliness, particularly the lost souls amongst them.”
“So your point is that my father in-law will be glad to return what he took?” Janet asked with an edge of impatience to her voice. “Yes, he will be glad to. After all, he has finally got someone’s attention.” “I like this!” Janet echoed, completely surprised she said that.
For the next twenty minutes she sat under that mango tree and waited for the man to clean the grave and drop the perfumed flowers so she could read her dead father in-law the poem which would make him glad. A few times she tried Emmanuel’s phone number but he did not pick up. She was worried about his attitude, but hoped all that would change for the better by the time she persuaded her father in-law to return what he supposedly took.
Emmanuel and his Friend
“I hate to admit it. I am afraid to tell anyone this, but the truth is, right now, I can’t afford an erection or even have any feelings in my male organ,” Emmanuel said to his friend, Samson. Samson shifted uncertainly in his chair wondering if he heard Emmanuel well. “How…how did you come to this? How… I mean what happened, Emma?” Samson asked, almost choking on his words. “It is my wife! I suspect my wife. It all began on our wedding night. While we made love…our first love since we knew each other, something left my body. Ever since then, I have not felt the same. The height of it now is that my male organ is as good as dead. I know there is something down there only because I have this weird occasional jolts down there as if my male organ was battling to come back to life…” Emmanuel paused and wiped at a bead of tear in the corners of his left eye. Samson drew closer to him and tapped gently on his right thigh. “It is okay, Emma. All hope is not lost. The same gods who afflicted a child with itches, also gave him fingernails to scratch them… Tell me why you think your wife is responsible for the crash of your male organ?”
“I think she is jinxed. I believe she has a spiritual husband. Come to think of it, why else would I lose my pride as man when I began to have formal relations with her as my wife? Why didn’t I lose my strength before I had sex with her? Why didn’t I have this experience those days I slept with other girls? Whatever happened to my male organ is connected to my wife, I am certain of it!” “Phew!! Spiritual husbands can be stubborn and jealous; they are one problem you don’t want to have. If indeed, a spiritual husband is responsible for what happened to you, there is a way to find out.” “How? Tell me please,” Emmanuel asked, shifting to the edge of his seat. “You have to give your attention to another woman…” “What! I can’t do that! I don’t want to go back to my sins!” “Wait! Wait, Emmanuel! I am not saying you should embrace infidelity… This is my meaning, spiritual husbands are proud and jealous evil spirits. If you make them think they have won, they will leave you alone. The way out is to use their pride against them. You have to give your wife some distance and turn your attention to another woman. If your male strength returns, then your wife is your problem…”
“And if it doesn’t?” “Then something else took your male strength.” Emmanuel stood up and paced about the living room, wondering how he could do what Samson had suggested. He returned to his seat and asked, “How do I find a woman that will not expose me to the world?” “I will take care of that for you. I have a lady friend whose mere appearance will cause your male organ to riot back to life. That is if a spiritual husband is responsible for what happened to you. You must treat this lady like you treat your wife. The idea is to fool the spiritual husband into thinking you have left your wife for him.” “Wait, Sammy, how did you learn all this?” “My grandmother served water spirits. While growing up I saw unbelievable things. I saw barren women, get pregnant after they pacified their spiritual husbands. I saw men regain their libido when they appeased their spiritual wives or warded off their wives’ spiritual husbands. The spiritual world is as real as this one, or maybe even much more real.”
STORY CONTINUES...
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