𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐔𝐁𝐁𝐘’𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐑 MUMMY
🅿🅰🆁🆃 🅾🅽🅴
“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫.”
That was the bible quote that dropped from Deaconess Beatrice’s mouth. She stood at the front of the pulpit facing the church. Dressed in a multi colored blouse and a pleated skirt that ran down to her toes and with a fashionable turban around her head, she looked like a thirty-year-old housewife, and not the fifty- something-year-old that she was. Everyone loved Deaconess Beatrice. She was beautiful, had a pleasant personality and was generous.
” 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬,” Deaconess continued.
Jumoke, a church member nodded her head at the statement and smirked at the same time.
Dcns. Beatrice removed her glasses and placed them close to her bible. She moved nearer to her listeners to drive a point home.
“𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧-𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬, 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮; 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧.”
” I hear you.” Jumoke mumbled under her breath and looked away. Her husband, Kola was seated beside her with his face fixed on the speaker. He was raptly taken by what the Deaconess was saying.
It was the last Tuesday of the month. Every last Tuesday was set aside for marriage seminars at Beulah Salvation Assembly. Normally, it was either the Pastor or his wife that took the seminars, except occasionally when one of the elderly ministers is assigned to teach. Today, Deaconess Beatrice is teaching about cohesiveness between couples.
Kola was fully taken with the teaching, while his wife’s mind ran round like the rotating hand of a clock. At one moment she was in church and by the next moment, she was with her friend and they were talking about Deaconess Beatrice. That was two days ago.
Jumoke raised her head from the bible and looked straight ahead. Her vision blurred and something rose from her inside. That thing pushed her to bounce up and take determined steps to where the Deaconess stood. Grabbing the mic from her, she looked straight into her face. At the next instance, she bellowed into the microphone. The microphone was very loud. It was fixed as such so that people in the neighborhood could always hear messages from the church.
That Jumoke grabbed the mic from Deaconess was a misnormal. People were suprised at her effontery. Revd. Alhassan sat up straight and made wild gestures from his seat. He gasped as Jumoke screamed and pointed at the Deaconess.
“Church! Please tell this woman to leave my husband alone.”
Deaconess Beatrice opened her eyes wide in surprise and held to the pulpit to steady herself. Several ushers rushed forward to drag Jumoke away. She fought them. Now, most of the people were on their feet, keenly watching the unfolding drama. Kola stood to one side in shame. He was thinking of how his wife had gone mad.
Jumoke brushed her right palm down her face and shook herself out of the frightening imagination. That cannot happen, she told herself. She was too soft to carry out such a scandalizing feat. What would be her motive?
…that her husband is getting too close to Deaconess?
Day before yesterday, her bosom friend, Tosin, had casually asked if they were related to Deaconess in anyway. She said that she noticed that Kola had been frequenting Deaconess’ house since she returned from her trip abroad. Tosin and her family were staying in the same estate with the Deaconess.
“Hmmm,” Jumoke had sighed deeply while not giving a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to her friend’s question. She had also noticed the growing closeness between her husband and Deaconess Beatrice, but had choosen to let it pass. Whereas, it wasn’t up to a year that Deaconess lost her husband. Immediately after his burial, she had left for Canada to stay with her children for several months. When she returned, everyone had rallied round her, including she and Kola. But why would Kola be visiting her now without his wive’s knowledge? That must be the mystery behind his frequent and late returns from work. He had sighted overtime as his reason for returning home late but…
Jumoke had been worried since yesterday. She had repeatedly asked herself if Kola could be having an affair with the Deaconess?
Never! Except the whole world is going crazy. She trusted her husband. She’d never had a single reason to doubt his faithfulness. He was a gentleman to the core. He was also a child of God. For the three years they’d been together as husband and wife, he had never given her any reason to doubt him except now.
Jumoke raised her head and heard the Deaconess say. “𝗗𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲…”
” Oh…I almost forgot that you are a widow.” Jumoke mumbled under her breath. ” A widow that wouldn’t allow young married wives to enjoy their husbands.”
Kola turned and looked at his wife. He noticed that she wasn’t concentrating and was talking to herself. He tapped her and whispered. ” Your mind is not here. What is the problem?”
Jumoke sighed and pushed his hand away. At the same moment, Deaconess Beatrice noticed that the couple were talking. She smiled. ” Mr. & Mrs. Kola Johnson,” she called. ” What are you discussing that cannot wait until you get home?” She made the statement in a jovial way but Jumoke read meaning into it.
Kola stood to answer the Deaconess but his wife beat him to it. In a sarcastic tone she said. ” Ma, you just taught us that intruders are not allowed in marriages?”
The church laughed.
” Our subject of discussion is not for a third ear,” Jumoke added.
” Leave your love talks till you get home,” Deaconess replied and smiled.
———–
The service ended. Jumoke waited at the front of the church for her husband. When she got tired of standing, she opened the car and balanced in the front seat. She crossed her legs and shook the right one in an impatient move.
It took 15 minutes before Kola emerged from the back of the church. Jumoke raised her head and said in a subdued tone. ” Please let’s go home.”
” I still have somethings to do.” Her husband answered.
Jumoke looked at her watch. ” Like what? Must we always be the last people to leave the church? At least, you are not the church sexton.”
Kola touched her left cheek and asked. ” Why are you so grumpy this evening? Anyway, Deaconess Beatrice’s driver is sick.”
Jumoke’s heart jerked. The Deaconess again? What has her sick driver got to do with them going home?
“She drove herself to church,” Kola continued. “She said she’s been warned about driving at night because of her bad eyesight. She requested that I drive her home.”
Jumoke almost flared up but remembered that they were still in the church premises. She took a deep breath and sighed. The deaconess was few feets away, talking to someone.
” She begged or you offered to drive her?” Jumoke whispered. “Are you the only man that knows how to drive in the church? Why must you please others to displease your spouse? Didn’t she know that you need to drive your wife home? This is getting out of hand. You even go to…”
” Shhhh.” Kola whispered. He sensed that someone was coming from behind. It was the Deaconess. Kola feared that she might have heard part of what Jumoke said. Her next statement gave credence to that.
” Maybe you shouldn’t inconvenience yourself Mr. Kola,” she said. ” I will take a bike and come get the car in the morning.”
” No ma.” Jumoke objected in a most gentle voice. ” I can drive myself home. Let him drop you ma. I’m okay.”
” Are you sure?” The deaconess asked before turning away.
” Sure ma.”
Jumoke frowned the moment the deaconess turned her back to them, especially when Kola followed her like an obedient dog.
Jumoke hissed and moved to the driver’s seat.Tears clouded her eyes as she drove home alone on that cold night.”
To be continued
@Fagbluminous stories
👉Do you think Jumoke has a reason to be worried?
Yes o