The Strange Visitors
It was a Saturday night. John was at home watching the television. After some hours, he was tired of watching the programs. He switched the television off and went to bed. While he was trying to sleep, he heard the sound of footsteps on the ceiling. He was terrified. It was as if some spirits had come. He could no longer sleep. It appeared that the buzzing sound was going to come down from the ceiling.
John stood up, switched on the light and the sound died down. He looked everywhere to be sure that no one was around. He again thought that it could be the sound of bandits that were usually prowling. He switched off the light and in the darkness looked through the streets perhaps he could find out those behind the strange sound. But he saw nothing and he later went back to bed.
The following morning when he got to work he told Hain and his colleagues what happened in the night. His colleagues told him that he had been a victim of night visitors and that he needed to do something urgently if he did not want them to harm him.
Every night, John continued to hear the strange noise from the ceiling. One weekend, he got a ladder and climbed to the roof of the house. When he reached the top, he switched the light on. He was shocked to the bones by what he saw. There were dead snakes everywhere on the ceiling. He wondered how the snakes got to the ceiling and the harm they would have done to him if they had fallen down into his bedroom. What killed the snakes? He did not know.
This really made him to be scared of walking in the house. He then decided to tell Hain and his other colleagues in the office about the incident. He was later advised almost simultaneously to consult some spiritualists at the beach so that they will cleanse him and the house with some spiritual bath.
“The house is bewitched and you have to do something,”they counseled.
Three weeks later, John decided to go to the beach where someone had told him he could meet a beach priest that was capable of finding what was wrong with him and could also help solve the problems. At the beach he saw many people swimming and relaxing. On several spots on the beach were priests who wore white dresses adorned with caps and rods that possibly depicted the time of the Biblical Moses. One would have thought any of these could have been the rod that Moses used to separate the Red Sea. Or the rod that he slammed on the rock to produce water for thirsty Israelites when he disobeyed God. Some of these priests who carried Bible in their hands also wore dread locked Rastafarian hair on their heads. These men sang and danced as occasion demanded.
Right there, one of the actors sang a song:
This is the day
That the Lord has made
I will rejoice
And be glad in it
Halleluiah
This is the day
That the Lord has made
I will rejoice
And be glad in it
This is the day,
That the Lord has made.
He wriggled and shook his pelvic to the song. There was no doubt that there were many troubled people on the beach that had come for succor from beach priests and sorcerers who had constructed structures along the shoreline. Why these people love the shoreline was the fact that they believed that God was closer to the beach because of its tranquility to receiving appeasements and answer prayers than other noisy places on earth.
It was believed that man had a better interaction with God along the beaches than any other place. The other place where they could possibly reach God was also on the mountain. The higher you go to the top, the closer they believe you are to God and the easier you could reach God. Bearing in mind that Psalm 121says: I will lift up my eyes into the hills, from whence cometh my help,”
Many had thought that it is not just looking onto the mountain but going and camping on top of the mountain or beaches that answers prayers. It was difficult to really differentiate between the worshippers and priests of the most High God and other lesser gods because of the similarity in their garments. But John knew where he was going and the priest he was supposed to see.
Many other people who had come to see the priests were seen moving in and out of the structures. The most intriguing sight was that of those who were being bathe openly by the priests after the consultations. John saw these activities going on as he walked towards the area where he had been told the priest would be waiting for him.
He found the description of the structure he had been told the priest would be waiting for him and looked inside. But he found no one. He then decided to wait at the entrance of the structure to behold the beautiful beach and other activities that went on there that evening. He saw a priest bathing a middle-aged man in the open space. He was very amazed but he pretended not to be looking in that direction so that they would not be offended.
The man that was taking his bath was obviously a rich man and so John in his mind wondered what could have been his problem. It could not had been that he wanted more money because just nearby was a man who looked like his aide pouring the sea water on his body. John later recognized them that they were in the white Mercedes Benz 500 that parked near him as he alighted from his car about twenty-five minutes earlier. He saw that there was a bag that was full of assorted soaps and perfumes near the man that was bathing. It appeared that the man was going to bathe with all the assorted soaps and perfume his body afterwards to cleanse away his sins.
“What does he want and what could be his sins?” Wondered a man on the horseback who rode past as he bathe.
John heard the man on the horseback but he too could not imagine a sin that would require that the man should wash himself at that particular moment with not less than forty assorted soaps and perfumes.
“Was he the one who killed Jesus Christ?” Asked the man on the horseback loudly when he realized no one answered him earlier.
“Even Judas Iscariot would not require that kind of washing to wash his sins away,” Volunteered another passerby who overheard the man on the horseback.
“It’s really strange or don’t you think so?” Asked a lady who by this time was right beside John.
“Oh yes…. It’s strange,” said John absentmindedly.
He was carried away by the unfolding events and did not realize the time a lady sat near him by the shed of the same priest he was waiting to see.
“I guess you have come to see the priest,” said the lady.
“Yes. I have come to see him,” stammered John.
“He does not come to the beach today. Today is Thursday and he goes to his church on Thursdays and comes back after weekend. If you want to see him you have to be here from Monday to Wednesday,” said the lady.
“Thank you. I am grateful,” said John who was not only surprised that the lady could offer such a privileged information about the priest but was also captivated by her charming beauty.
Although he had come for spiritual help, he thought he could as well speak with this beautiful lady at the same time. He fell in love with her instantly. From the look in her eyes, it appeared to John that the lady too was also willing to have a relationship with him.
“My name is John. What’s your own name?” He asked her.
“Juliet. I am Juliet,” she answered.
“Juliet? Where is Romeo,” John joked looking straight into her eyes.
“There is no Romeo,” Juliet answered.
“Maybe you are meeting him now. I will change my name to Romeo for your sake,” John joked.
“Only God knows the groom of a would-be-bride,” said Juliet sending a willing signal to John.
Few minutes later, John was driving home with Juliet. The Romeo had found the Juliet. As they drove into the blocks of houses in the neighborhood, Jack the dog smelt a deep scent in the air approaching the area and the dog began to bark. The car screeched to a halt and John came out first. He later walked towards the other side door and opened it for Juliet. Jack who was already beside the door began to bark relentlessly. Juliet was scared and John had to drive the dog away. Jack continued to bark. Juliet slept in John’s house that night. John was very happy he had found a lady willing to sleep in his house.
As John slept beside Juliet that night, he began to dream of water. He saw some people dancing around him inside a big aquarium in his sitting room but he did not quite understand what was going on. He also saw a figure that looked like the sea goddess and her daughters discussing inside a mansion at the bottom of the sea. The goddess was half human and half fish. He was terrified.
But he did not understand what was going on. The following day, he woke up and dressed to go to work. He left Juliet in his house and asked her to wait until he returned from work.
That morning, a woman dressed in a colorful garment walked past Juliet as she stepped out of the house to have a look at the neighborhood. Juliet noticed that the woman greeted people as she entered the compound next to John’s house. She felt that something was unusual about this woman but she could not tell. She returned to John’s apartment some minutes after when she was tired of walking. She sat on the couch in the sitting room and dosed off. Some creatures from the aquarium that was in the sitting room began to jump out.
The four tiny fishes that were in the aquarium stretched out and grew really big. Their heads swelled and they walked on their tails towards Juliet. They used their fins to tap her as human hands would tap to wake her up and they began to speak like human beings.
“Do not forget what you are supposed to do with this man,” the biggest of the fishes said.
“I will not forget,” said Juliet.
“We have been asked by the queen mother from the depth of the sea to link up with you,” said another fish.
“Thank you very much for coming,” said Juliet.
“We are your guardian angels and do not hesitate to call us when you have problems,” said the bigger fish.
The fishes later withdrew. They became smaller and entered the aquarium in the sitting room. Three days later, Juliet returned to her house. After two months, she retuned to John with the story that she was pregnant for him. John was very furious with her because he was not ready for any marriage.
“When did you realize that you are pregnant?” John asked.
‘Few days ago,” answered Juliet.
“And you are just coming?” Asked John.
“Yes,” said Juliet.
“How can you do something like that?” Asked John.
“I have done nothing wrong,” she said.
“You have just come to trap me. That is what you ladies do all the time to trap men. Count me out of your pregnancy. I do not want to have something to do with you,” said John.
“Please don’t do this to me,” pleaded Juliet.
“Get out of my house!” John ordered angrily.
“Please don’t do this to me,” pleaded Juliet again.
At this point, John got angry with her and he pushed her out of the house. Juliet was scared, and she begged him as he pushed her out of the apartment. John locked the door behind her and went to bed angrily. Juliet thought of getting someone to plead on her behalf. He thought of Hain as someone that could mediate. She later went to see him to help her plead with John. But John had made up his mind that he would not have something to do with the pregnancy and no one could change that.
©2002 StoriesByEmail.com
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