A TOAST ON A TOMB EPISODE 24
Chief Kalu was fast asleep when the scream that pierced through the serenity of the night woke him up. He turned around to touch his wife but she was not on the bed. He went into the bathroom to check her but she was not there.
“This is strange. Lolo doesn’t leave the bedroom by this time of the night. Where could she have gone? ” he said and ran downstairs. When he got down, he saw his workers gathered round somebody; some of them were weeping and shaking their heads already.
Linda was half awake when she heard the scream. She thought of getting up and running out to see who it was but fear paralyzed her for she thought it was robbers that were in the house. When she heard footsteps close to her door and voices of domestic servants, she summoned courage and opened the door. There at the front of her door was Lolo sprawled on the floor, her face disfigured.
Linda: “Goodness, what happened to her” she shouted jerking chief Kalu out of his reverie for he couldn’t believe that he was not dreaming.
Chief Kalu: “Move away let us take her to the hospital” he said and the servants helped him carry her out to the car which his driver had already kicked started.
Linda went into the car with him and while the drive to the hospital lasted, she tried to put a call through to Ike whose number was switched off.
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Chief Kalu: “Doctor, what is wrong with my wife” he asked as soon as the doctor invited him to his office.
Doctor: “your wife had stroke affecting the left part of her brain. Her left side is paralyzed and it will take lots of physiotherapy and good medication to get her on her feet again” he said.
Chief: “What! Lolo paralyzed? This is unbelievable. I mean my wife has always been healthy and full of life” he removed his glasses.
Doctor: “your wife has always had high blood pressure that fluctuates all the time. From the series of tests carried out on her, we observed that she took some blood pressure moderating drugs last night before going off to sleep. Now I don’t know what happened that she woke up suddenly and went downstairs before she fell down. Those drugs she took had forced down her blood pressure. All she needed to do was sleep well until this morning when her blood pressure would have stabilized. When she woke up in the middle of the night, her blood pressure was too low and that was what triggered the fall and partial paralysis” he explained slowly.
Chief Kalu: “I woke up to discover that she was not beside me in bed. This is very unusual because she never goes outside our bedroom at that time of the night. And we are always conscious of the medical advice that says one shouldn’t get up and walk immediately one wakes up from sleep. She knows that too well”
Doctor: “well, it has happened and we will do our best to restore her health. Right now we have sedated her and she is fast asleep, she would need the sleep”
Chief Kalu: “I want to take her abroad, I want to move her to a hospital in London. I cannot afford to allow her condition deteriorate here” he said shaking his head.
Doctor: “that would not be a problem but I will advise that you allow here receive medical attention here for few weeks before moving her outside the country. The truth is that her condition right now is very unstable and moving her around in cars and aircraft may have adverse effect on her health. When it comes to partial paralysis, one has to be very careful not to complicate issues. As soon her condition is stable, you can fly her out for further treatment” he advised.
Chief Kalu: “I agree with you, thank you very much doctor”
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Lola was in the hospital for two weeks during which period Linda stayed with her taking care of her. It was a most trying period for Linda who had to feed and bath Lolo and clean her up after helping her to ease herself because she could not walk. She was doing so diligently without complaints because of how kindly the family had treated her. ‘
After two weeks, Lolo was discharged to go home pending when travel plans would be concluded for her to be taken outside the country for further treatment.
As soon as they got home Lolo became hysterical.
Lolo: “get out of my house, you witch!” she shouted at Linda who was bringing in Lolo’s things from the car.
Linda: “ma?” she asked with surprise engraved in her face.
Lolo: “I said get out of my house, you witch! Do you want me to get the security men to throw you out?” she said panting on the wheel chair that she had been given from the hospital.
Chief Kalu came close to her and tried to calm her down.
Chief Kalu: “calm down honey, you have been through a lot and it is telling on you but you have to exercise restraint. Linda here means no harm, she is only trying to help” he said quickly, the pain of his wife’s failing health telling on him.
Lolo: “she is a witch. Everything is happening because of her. Tell her to leave now!”
Chief: “What do you mean by everything is happening because of her?” he asked turning to look at Linda who was as confused as he was.
Lolo: “I have been healthy until she came into our house. Doesn’t it send a warning to you that I fell down on her seventh night here? Do we have to wait for her to do more harm before we send her packing? Please, let her leave my house”
Chief Kalu: “But…I…” he stuttered.
Lolo: “Get out!” she summoned all the strength in her and shouted.
Linda who was already in tears from the false accusation against her ran into the house, picked her belongings and ran out of the house.
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Ike: “calm down” he tried to console Linda who had gone to the office to collect her personal belongings.
Linda: “I am sorry but this is the height of all that I can take. I was with your mother all through the period that she was in the hospital. I took care of her, fed her and cleaned her mess. Today we returned home and she accused me of being a witch who caused her illness and threw me out of her house” she said sobbing and Ike drew near and hugged her just then Gift who came to inform Ike that she was pregnant for him opened the door.
Gift: “What are you doing here, you fiancé snatcher. Leave my man alone, I am already carrying his child and there is nothing you can do about it, go and look for your own man” she screamed and charged at Linda who took to her heels when she couldn’t take the embarrassment.
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“Pastor, what must I do to be saved?” Linda said to the passenger who had been preaching in the bus she boarded to the village.
Pastor: “You need to give your life to God and repent of all your sins, that is the only way you can be free” he said.
Linda: “I am interested. I need to tell you my story first of all” Linda opened up and told him everything about her birth starting from the story her mother had told her about the sacrifice on the tomb.
Pastor: “Your mother did the wrong thing by going to perform that sacrifice on the tomb. You see, you were not supposed to suffer for the sins of your mother because the word of God says that the soul shall sins shall die. You went through all these afflictions because you do not believe in God, you never acknowledged his presence in your life and so you opened up yourself to demonic manipulations. But today, you shall be free because you are ready to give your life to the author of life and He is more than able to break all yoke”
The man of God prayed for her and promised to visit her house with prayer warriors from his Church the next day for family deliverance. Linda thanked him, feeling light hearted and wondering why she had not given her life to God all these while.
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Linda knocked on the door to her father’s house and he came out looking ten years older than he was.
Linda: “daddy, it is me” she said excitedly and jumped on him crying.
Mr Kola: “Who are you?” he said looking confused.
Linda: “Linda, now. Your daughter” she said holding tight to him.
Mr Kola: “I don’t have any daughter” he said and made to go back to the house but Linda held him by the hand.
Linda: “Are you angry because I travelled without your permission? I am sorry, please forgive me”
Mr Kola: “I don’t know you. Iyawo mi, come and see this girl that I don’t know calling me her daddy” he said going back into the house.
Mrs Kola came out, looked at Linda from head to toe and signed leaving her.
Linda, being conscious of spiritual manipulations after her encounter with the pastor went into her room which had her things exactly the way she left it before going to the city, got on her knees and began to pray.
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Lolo: “I am dying o, there is fire in my bones” she cried out very early in the morning startling her husband who was lying beside her.
Chief Kalu sat up abruptly.
Chief Kalu: “What is the problem? Should I take you to the hospital?” he said panting.
Lolo: “Call my son, we have to go and see Linda this minute” she said weakly.
Chief Kalu: “But the hospital…”
Lolo: “Call him now” she said and he obeyed.
Ike who had started sleeping in his parent’s house after mother’s illness ran up to his parents’ bedroom as soon as he saw his father’s call, he was scared for he thought something terrible was happening to his mother.
Ike: “daddy, what is the matter? Mum are you okay?” he said going to her.
Lolo: “I am fine” call Linda, I need to tell her something” she said weakly.
Ike: “Linda has gone back to the village and her number has been switched off. I guess she has finally shut us out of her life because of the way you accused her unjustly” he said scratching his head.
Lolo: “we have to go there now, I need to relieve this burden in my heart before I die. I know her village, she told me everything about herself the day she told me she had a twin brother”
Father and son tried to talk her out of the journey but she refused saying she would not forgive them if she died without seeing Linda, they had no option than to indulge her.
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The pastor and his team were praying when the Kalu’s arrived. Linda was dumbstruck when she saw them helping Lolo out of the car. Having been preached to about the importance of forgiveness, she ran to help them out of the car.
Linda: “sorry, ma. I hope you are okay? You shouldn’t have embarked on this long journey considering your health status, she said sweetly.
Lolo: “I have a confession to make” she said when she sat down on the chair provided by Linda in the middle of the compound where the prayers were taking place.
Linda: “confession?” she asked looking up to the pastor who was raising up his hands in thanksgiving to God for prayers answered.
Pastor: “Halleluya, I saw this revelation a short while ago. Linda, behold your twin brother” he said pointing at Ike. “Today, salvation has come to this house” he said.
Linda: “not at all pastor, he is not my twin brother. That is Ike, a friend and a manager in the company I worked in Lagos. And these her his parents, they are Igbos and I am Yoruba, we are not related at all” she dismissed the pastor’s words.
Ike: “She is very correct; I am the only child of my parents. You see why I don’t believe in all these pastors? They are professional liars. Imagine him saying Linda is my sister and that he saw a revelation, bla, bla, bla. Mister Pastor abeg, shift make we see road” he remarked sarcastically.
Lolo: “the pastor is correct, Linda and Ike are twins” she dropped what sounded like a bombshell in the ears of everyone.
“What!” the twins and her husband chorused.
Lolo: “Yes, 27 years ago, having had series of miscarriages and threats from my husband’s family to get him another wife if I do not give their son a child, I got pregnant and because I was afraid of another miscarriage, I lied to my husband that I was going to my parents place to have the child. Then with the help of a friend, I came to this village where I was told that I could easily buy another baby should I have a miscarriage again. As God would have it, I didn’t have a miscarriage but I had a still birth; I gave birth to a dead baby boy. Afraid that my husband’s family would get him another wife, I paid the midwife who exchanged my dead baby boy for a boy from a woman who had twins. That woman’s name was Juliana and she died shortly after giving birth. When Linda told me her story, I realized immediately that she was my son’s twin sister and so that night I got up in the middle of the night to stab her to death because I was afraid that she and Ike may discover their true identity one day. I fell down before I opened her door and that was how I got the stroke. I am sorry” she said weeping profusely and stretched forth her hands towards her husband.
Chief Kalu: “Don’t you dare touch me, you Jezebel. So you gave me another man’s child and deceived me all these years? What did I ever do to offend you? Even when we were childless, I stood by you and vowed never to take a second wife. To make it worst, you made attempt to kill the girl just to keep your secrets, gosh you are wicked!” he said shaking his head.
Ike: “I trusted you mother, I loved and trusted you with all my heart. Why did you have to deceive me like this? What if I had slept with Linda and made her pregnant or even married her? How could you do this to us?” he said crying.
Lolo: “I am sorry” please forgive me she said and the pastor resumed his prayer session after which the twins were loosed from the bondage of the old woman who was tormenting Linda and causing Ike to flirt because of the sacrifice that her mother had made on her tomb.
Epilogue
After the prayers and deliverance session, Linda and Ike were delivered and the bond binding them with the spirit of the old woman was broken. Also, during the prayer session, the spell that Mrs Kola casted on her husband was broken and his wife was struck with madness as a result of her evil deeds.
Chief Kalu and his wife returned to Lagos leaving Ike and Linda behind to get acquainted with their roots. Few days later, Mr Kola and the twins returned to Lagos where Ike got them a bigger house. Ike repented and gave his life to God and married Gift who also became a devout Christian.
Tedela was struck dead by the occult group he belonged to for failing to provide another human for sacrifice after the failed attempt at using Linda.
The hospital where the twins were exchanged was closed and the guilty parties were arrested and their licence seized. Few months later, Lolo died as a result of high blood pressure. Chief Kalu accepted Mr Kola and the twins as members of his family and made them heirs to his business empire.
And so the story ends. I do hope that you have been entertained and enlightened. It is pertinent to state at this juncture that pride goes before a fall which is one problem that Juliana had that led to her death. We should learn to respect elders, no matter how fragile and irrelevant they may look. Parents should be very careful because whatever their actions to a great extent affect the lives of their children.
Kindly share your thoughts, opinions and lessons learnt on this story even as i strive to serve you better.
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