Wife By Postage
Hain and John did not know what was happening in Freedomtown and that a woman had been picked to harm them wherever they are. Both friends settled down in America and the thought on their mind was how to find someone to marry. While John was on the look out for an American woman, Hain decided to check the web sites to see if he could get a beautiful lady from any part of Buenos. Hain later found the photograph of beautiful Paullina who also desired a man on the web site. She was five feet eight inches tall. Both of them began to communicate with each other and later decided to get married.
Hain sent a message to Buenos that Paullina should be sent to him in America and they would later get married. Paullina's family back home got together with a plan to send her to America to meet her husband.
Most women in the village who heard the story were surprised that a man would want to marry a woman without setting his face on her physically. These were women who have never heard anything called the World Wide Web. They gossiped about the relationship to a very ridiculous level. A woman in the village even said that she heard that Paullina was going to be posted to her husband in America.
"Do you mean that they are going to post the woman to him in America?" Asked one of the illiterate villagers.
"Yes. They are going to post her. All arrangements have been concluded to post the lady to her husband abroad," they joked.
"Are they going to put her in a big envelope and post?" Asked the woman.
"I do not think that they post them like that. Someone told me that they will put a kind of label on these women that they post to their husbands and on the label there will be the inscription of where they are going and who they are supposed to meet," explained the woman.
"They will put a label on them?" Asked the first woman ignorantly.
"Yes. I heard that it is something to show where they are coming from and where they are going," the woman explained.
"That's postage! Does a letter know where it is heading? It is like posting a letter," She declared.
"Will her husband be able to go to the post office to claim her when it is being told that some wizards have spread dangerous powder that can make people burn in the post office?" Asked another woman.
"That is my main concern," said the other woman before anyone could even say a word.
She was making reference to a story she overheard some years ago that it was possible to put germs such as anthrax in an envelope and post it to an enemy. Many tales were usually circulated among the illiterate villagers who waited for the confirmation of such stories when their literate wards returned from the cities.
The women left the spot and walked home still curious about how Paullina was going to be posted to her husband in America.
The news that Paullina was to be posted to her husband went round the village. Everyone wondered how she was going to be parceled to someone who was thousands of miles away.
The families later met and finalized the plan to send her to America. Few weeks later, Paullina flew into America. On arrival, Hain, her husband, and John met her at the airport. At first, they did not recognize her. But after questioning her, they found out that she was the one they were expecting. They later drove her home. They were extremely overjoyed that she had arrived. When they got home, they spent the whole day together with John discussing all events about home. When it was about eight o'clock, John left the two lovers and went home.
Hain was very happy that his lover had come at last. Paullina spoke about the trip and what it meant to her. She informed Hain that it was not difficult for her to recognize him at the airport from the photographs and the conversations they had together on the dating web site. That night, they spoke together about their love and relationship on the web site and watched television together. Both of them were very happy with each other and they spoke about their families and friends. They ate and later retired to bed. After about two hours of sleep, some strange events began to happen in the room. A buzzing noise was heard.
At first, it appeared as if it was coming from an apparition that was approaching the room. Hain woke up from sleep. He tried to figure out what was happening. He was still on the bed and he pretended that he was still fast asleep. Suddenly, he saw an apparition breezing into the room like wind. Paullina was sleeping on the bed in a very awkward position, raising her legs up. The apparition with this buzzing wind carried Paullina from the bed and suspended her in the air. Paullina woke up and began to have dialogue with the apparition. Hain almost collapsed when he saw his new wife, not only being suspended in the air, but conversing with an apparition in the night. He was scared, but he did not know what to do.
Few minutes later, the apparition sat on the same mat. The breeze opened the doors and the mat carried the strange figure and Paullina outside the house. It was obvious to Hain who was very scared on the bed that his new wife was not an ordinary person.
For the next one hour, Hain was still on the bed. He did not move at all because he did not know what might happen. He also thought that any attempt by him to scream or show that he was scared would even spell his doom more quickly. After some minutes, the suspended mat flew back into the room with Paullina and the apparition. The mat landed like an aircraft and placed Paullina on the bed as if nothing had happened.
The mat took off like helicopter and carried the apparition away. Hain now saw clearly that the apparition actually bore the true resemblance of Buffalo. He began to wonder if the apparition was really Buffalo.
Throughout the night, Hain could not sleep. He was terrified but he did not know what to do. When it was dawn, Hain quickly got up and went to the sitting room. Paullina woke up later and joined him. As they greeted each other, Hain looked at her with suspicion. But he pretended not to be aware of what happened the previous night.
John arrived later after breakfast to greet Hain and the new wife. Hain was actually expecting him and he naturally wanted to unburden his heart and new discovery as they had been doing together over the years. This new discovery was very stunning and fearful. He told John what he had found out. They were both scared. They later shared this experience with someone who said that the matter would be worse if he jilted the lady at this point because the lady would torment him thereafter. The travails of John when he jilted Juliet some years earlier also reinforced this position. Hain then decided that the best thing for him to do in order to stay alive was to continue the relationship with Paullina.
Since his arrival in America, Hain worked in a theatre company where he was able to exhibit his creativity. This was something he could not do when he worked at the Cough 2000 International Inc. Within few months of his arrival in America, he had performed in three productions and the audience loved his performances. However, the production that was very challenging to him was the one that was billed to mark the Halloween festival. The theatre company asked him to write a script to celebrate Halloween. The production was to take place two weeks after his wedding to Paullina.
Few months later, Hain formally got married to Paullina at a very impressive ceremony attended by many friends despite the fact that he had found out that she was a very strange lady. The ceremony took place at a location far from the city. While the ceremony was on, there was a big black bird on a big tree near the wedding hall. Hain looked out and saw that the bird was similar to the one that once entered his room in Freedomtown. The priest who officiated at the ceremony did not know what was taking place at all. He continued to carry out the ceremony as expected of him.
"Do you take this man as your wedded husband?" Asked the officiating minister.
As he was about to answer, a demon that looked like the one in Maxwell's rod appeared and touched her. The demon whispered into her ears.
"Tell him you do publicly and finish him off later secretly. Call on us anytime you need our assistance and we will help you," said the demon.
No one saw the demon or heard him. But they sat there enjoying every bit of the ceremony.
"Yes I do," answered Paullina.
The minister later turned to Hain and asked him if he was willing to take the bride as his wedded wife and almost at the same time, another demon stood by his side and whispered into his ears.
"Tell her you do and she will be happy," said the demon.
After the wedding ceremony, the bride and the groom walked out with the bridal train.
Unknown to Hain and John, a bird had been dispatched from Freedomtown to spy at them at the wedding and confirm their identities. This bird was not to harm anyone but carry out espionage in the place. Hain and John were not aware that another decision had been taken on them. But they noticed that every night in Littletonville a bird used to come near their windows to sing into their ears. They did not believe that something similar to their experiences in Freedomtown was taking place. But their minds kept on going back to the days they lived in Freedomtown. It looked unbelievable. But the bird kept coming.
One day, Hain got home and parked his car at the parking lot. He looked in the direction of his house and found that the bird was struggling to fly out through the window. He was very afraid as he recalled the evil that some birds had done to many people in Buenos. The bird looked at him and flew away. There and then, Hain made up his mind that he was going to get rid of the evil bird at the slightest opportunity. He returned to the performance that was being arranged for the annual Halloween festival.
He created a story that would befit the Halloween tradition. He and the actors went through the script's reading session. The story was an amazing and interesting one and they planned to put it on stage for the Halloween festival.
What was it about? It began thus:
"Once upon a time, three beautiful women lived in Africa. The women were Pumpkin, Cassava, and Yam. Their beauty attracted men everywhere they went on the continent. Pumpkin was big and pink in completion while Cassava and Yam were not as big. They were brown in color. Everywhere they went, it was very easy to see Pumpkin in their midst because of her pink color. Many men struggled to marry the three women. But they did not succeed. The King of their town married the three women on the same day because polygamy was the practice many years ago. However, tragedy struck the town after. There was famine. The King consulted the gods to help him find a solution to the problem. The oracle said that he knew why the land was not fertile and there was famine. According to the oracle, the King was the real cause of the problem because of his marriage with the other three women, Pumpkin, Cassava, and Yam.
"This is greed," said the Oracle
"What can I do then?" Asked the King.
"You have to appease the gods with the three beautiful women you acquired through greed," said the oracle.
"This is a big cost," the King complained.
"If you do not do that, your people will continue to starve," said the oracle.
"I will do it. What do you want me to do with the three women?" the King asked.
"You have to tell them to enter the ground and they will provide enough food for the entire populace to eat. They are not supposed to be walking on he surface of the earth. They are to provide food for the people," said the oracle.
The King called the three women and informed them about what the oracle said. He pleaded with them that they should enter the ground and they would be compensated for doing so to save the community. The three women looked at each other and later held a small meeting to decide on whether to agree with the King or not to save the populace. They emerged from their meeting afterwards to inform the King that they would bail the people out of famine by entering the ground.
They later chose the day to enter the ground. On that day, the whole town gathered to honor the three of them. Pumpkin as usual was radiating with smiles while others were equally happy. The three women entered the ground at an impressive ceremony in front of the palace of the King. People wept but they had no choice because the women had to go. Three days later, the villagers went to the spot where the women entered the ground. They found that some crops have grown. They began to have seeds and tubers later and everyone in the town had enough food to eat.
One day, Pumpkin was tired of living with the other women in the African soil. She decided to be a stowaway in a ship that was traveling to America. She sailed through the Atlantic Ocean and got to America two weeks after. She got out of the ship and stepped on the American soil for the first time. The Americans she first saw fell in love with her and decided to honor her because of her beauty.
She greeted the people but they did not understand what she was saying.
"Hallo... Hallo. I hope I will win here?" She asked.
"Hallow in! Halloween. Oh yes, Halloween!" Said the ancient Americans who did not hear her very well.
"Yes. I mean Halloween," said Pumpkin.
The story sounded great and everyone agreed that it should be performed.
After the story telling session, the people were excited. They went to Hain and shook his hands before departing the venue. That night, Hain discovered that the pestering strange bird had returned and was singing beside his window. The bird sang all through the night and Hain knew that something unusual was going on. He could not sleep through the night and he waited to see if the bird would make the mistake and enter his sitting room but the bird did not come down from the tree where it was perching. He later went to bed and had a dream where a bird was chasing him.
©2002 StoriesByEmail.com
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