Tilt For Tat - S01 E02

3 years ago

Tilt For Tat - S01 E02

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

Streams of Pain

The saying that “good things don’t last forever” is true……

The ‘paradise’ Bill had seen soon turned into Pain. After a few months of hot romantic engage

ment with Linda, she lost her period. She knew at once she was pregnant. To her there was no way she could bring a bastard into this world. She wanted to terminate the pregnancy because her father would eat her raw if he became aware she was impregnated by a hungry looking pauper. Besides,she planned to further her Education in London after completion of her

High School to fulfil her dream of becoming a chartered accountant.

“No,Linda.Don’t terminate the pregnancy. It’s a sin,” Bill said.

“The series of sex we have to create a child we don’t need is also a sin. So Sin-Sin equals to super sin. What is your sweat?”In any case I’m the one carrying the thing. Is it not because of our sin that Jesus Christ came to the world?

If there is no sin,his sacrifices and death would be valueless and there would be no redemption.”

“Linda,”Bill called her, “Mathew,

Chapter 6 :1 said” What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”

The fact that God’s grace make it possible for our sins to be forgiven doesn’t mean we should keep on sinning.”

Linda smiled shyly and said, “Yea,that’s true but Ephesians 2:8 also said “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.It means our salvation is not based on what we do but the sufficiency of God’s grace in our life. ”

Bill looked at Linda. He was shocked Linda knew the scriptures of head. He also knew he was defeated in the scriptural debate but decided to give one last shot to the issue.

“Linda, Don’t do it. You can’t justify abortion with the scriptures.”

Linda laughed and said. You don’t seemed to know your scriptures very well. She took a bible and opened to 2 Samuel 12:15- 22.

And began reading:

***

“Then Nathan went home. And the LORD caused the son of David and Bathsheba, Uriah’s widow, to be very sick. David prayed to God for the baby. He fasted and went into his house and stayed there, lying on the ground all night. The elders of David’s family came to him and tried to pull him up from the ground, but he refused to get up or to eat food with them.

On the seventh day the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, “Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell him the baby is dead, he may do something awful.”

When David saw his servants whispering, he knew that the baby was dead. So he asked them, “Is the baby dead?”

They answered, “Yes, he is dead.”

Then David got up from the floor, washed himself, put lotions on, and changed his clothes. Then he went into the LORD’s house to worship. After that, he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave him some food, and he ate.

David’s servants said to him, “Why are you doing this? When the baby was still alive, you fasted and you cried. Now that the baby is dead, you get up and eat food.”

David said, “While the baby was still alive, I fasted, and I cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the LORD will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’

But now that the baby is dead, why should I fast? I can’t bring him back to life. Someday I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”

( End of scriptural Reading)

Linda then said, “When Bathsheba got pregnant for David,God was not in favour of their union so he caused the baby to fall sick and died despite David’s attempt to save him. My dear,you can’t change my mind. It’s made up. We will make more babies at the right time. ”

Bill pleaded again with linda but she was intrasigent to his pleas. She left without saying Goodbye.

***

The next day, the body of a dead girl was found in a bush near the school. This plunged the known serene school climate into a circle of confusion and pandemonium.*

The cause of the confusion turned out to be the discovery of Linda’s dead body. She had attempted to abort the pregnancy and death had stretched its long hands to snatched her from life. Blood was oozing between her legs from her genital. It was an awful sight. A lot of people shedded tears.

The police was called and the body was deposited at the mortuary. Bill was arrested for impegnating her and forcing her to abort it.

We lived in a society where the rich and powerful ruled the poor even if it’s not justifiable. Though the police found no direct evidence to suggest that Bill was the one who coerced Linda into such an act,Chief Ekene used his position and Money to ensure that Bill was sent to Jail.Sadly,he didn’t even have the chance to go to his girlfriend’s funeral.

~~At the funeral ground~~

Pastor Emeka quote the words of

Henry Scott-Holland

Death is nothing at all.

It does not count.

I have only slipped away into the next room.

Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.

I am I, and you are you,

and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.

Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.

Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.

Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it ever was.

There is absolute and unbroken continuity.

What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you, for an interval,

somewhere very near,

just round the corner.

All is well.

Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before.

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

It was a solemn moment as the pastor finished his funeral sermon with the words “Life is a free gift of from God. We did nothing to create it and so we cannot do anything when it is taken from us..”

*****

Bill stayed in Jail for three months before luck shone on him again. When going through Linda’s Books,her older sister came across a note which read;

“Sorry Bill,I have to disobey you on this matter. I love you but I can’t keep your child. I’m about to take a concoction. If I survive,I will still be yours forever. If I die,I will be responsible for it.”

Your love

Linda Ekene.

She knew at once that Bill was innocent. She went quickly to the Assistant Superintendent of Police to show him the letter that proved Bill was innocent.

The handwriting was crossed-checked with other writings of her.

A graphologist* was called to verify if that handwriting was indeed Linda’s. It matched.

With the new evidence,Bill was released from Prison and all charges against him dropped.

Bill managed to complete his high school. He knew University was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

He stayed at home looking more wretched and poorer than before.

He wrote a letter to Baji Beef Factory to be employed as a labourer but failed. He wrote several other letters to other companies but none was willing to employ him. They have a tall list of graduates looking for job,why would they employ a common SSS Leaver?

Luckily,He got the job of a pupil teacher in a private school. The earnings from teaching was not favourable at all. Even the professional teachers in other schools were complaining of meagre salary and poor working conditions. How much more a mere pupil teacher.?

What made the situation worse was that he had to cater for his parents and four siblings!

Three years after taking the job as a pupil teacher, his parents and four siblings died in a fatal car accident. They were going to Mbaleke ,a village in Cross-river state,to attend the traditional wedding ceremony of one of their church members. He could have been in that car but for the weekend class he organised for the Final years to make additional income.

As if that was not enough,he was fired from his teaching Job because one of the teenage girls, who wanted to seduce him but failed,lied to the school authorities that he was sexually harassing her. Her name was Chioma. Two weeks after he left the school ,Chioma confessed she lied against him but alas,it was a little too late. Another teacher was employed.

Now jobless, he decided to sell his only legacy, his poor father’s half piece of land; the only thing he inherited from him.

He told himself “I will succeed in life. I will change my destiny. ”

He remembered one of Bill Gate’s favourite Quotes: “If you are born poor,that’s not your mistake but if you die poor,that’s your mistake.”

With that determination,he surged through the thick barriers of difficulties in order to break the chain of poverty which had engulfed him.