The Eleventh Commandments - S01 E01 (Story Episode)

Story 4 years ago

The Eleventh Commandments - S01 E01 (Story Episode)

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 1

Tonye King , 22 year old student of Education at the university of Benin was late for choir rehearsal. His last class had closed later than he had expected, finishing at 6 pm instead of 5 . His rehearsal was supposed to start at exactly 6 : 30 pm and he had to go across school to get to his rehearsal venue . As he hastily made his way from his classroom to the nearest bus stop , he flirted with the idea of skipping rehearsals, considering the fact that he was both tired and hungry, haven been in class since eight that morning, but quickly discarded the idea when he remembered that he was not only the lead tenor , but also the present serving choirmaster . He had missed one rehearsal in the past , and it had badly affected the morale of his members, they were still rallying and waxing more serious , and another miss so soon would render at least half of the choir members unserious .

As he got to the bus stop , the skies which had otherwise been calm grew suddenly dark , and droplets of rain started drizzling . He was almost inside the bus stop but was nevertheless spotted with the first few splashes of rain with hit the dry and caked brown earth, releasing a heady scent that tingled the nostrils . He hoped to catch a bus from that would take him directly to the schools basement hall where the rehearsals were billed to start any time soon .

He was a thin and willowy lad , never being able to gain any weight despite the amount of food he consumed . His extremely fair complexion and average height made him stand out in a crowd , and his calm and gentle manners had endeared a lot of people to him. He had joined the fellowship in his first year , haven been introduced to the exuberant crowd by his elder brother who was the pastor in charge, and had risen steadily in the ranks , thanks to his unique and reliable tenor and his marked humility. His steady rise had been watched and monitored by a number of the members of the fellowship , earning him admirers and as often comes with success , quite a number of secret haters. He never seemed to notice all this , as even his die hard critics would often observe that Tonye was the kind of brother who personified the typical christian life . His elder brother had since graduated, but had placed him in the hands of a veritable mentor and veteran of the fellowship, Sister Jane to offer him close monitoring and spiritual guidance . Sister jane was the immediate past choir director and the present vice president of the fellowship. She was very passionate in discharging her responsibilities both as a leader of the flock and an integral member of the coordinating team of the fellowship . Never before had the fellowship been so blessed with one so alive to her responsibilities .

Tonye knew that Sister Jane would be at the rehearsal and his determination to make it to the venue on time doubled . The rain was gathering strength when he was fortunate to see a cab approaching . He hailed it and gave directions to his destination, settling in and calming his nerves in preparation for the rehearsals. He managed to arrive the venue at the nick of time and after paying the cabbie , he hurried into the hall , defying the freezing rain droplets and the accumulating mud . A few members of the choir were already seated at the venue when he rushed in , and apologizing to them for almost coming late , he opened the special choir box , a wooden contraption about a foot high , which was held all the essentials of the choristers , and which was always kept at a corner of the hall , and distributed the manuscripts for the songs they would be performing that evening. As the raindrops pelted outside , he took stock of those who had made it for the meeting that evening.