I awoke amidst the heavy sounds of
thunders and wild breeze threatening to
shatter my windows. It was about to rain
and it seems like it was going to be a
heavy one. I quickly closed my windows,
drew my curtains securely , switched off
the standing fan and crawled back into bed
covering myself with my heavy blanket. It
was already getting chilly and the thought
of a sweet sleep made me smile. A quick
glance to my handset made me realise that
I hadn't much time to enjoy my sleep, I
had less than ninety minutes before I start
preparing for service by 7am.
The loud knock on my door made me
scurry to check who the caller was and
before me was kunle my neighbour who
came to call me for church. He had a
surprise look on his face when he
registered my unkempt state and knew I
hadn't taken my bath.
“do you know what the time is” kunle
asked me
“I guess its six already” I replied yawning
and stretching at the same time.
The frown on kunle’s face deepened as he
told me it was already past seven. We
weren't going to make it for the first
service anymore.
Damn it!!! I overslept, it wasn’t my fault
either, the whether had been so cool and I
had slept so deep. I wouldn’t have been
up by now if not for kunle.
Kunle left me pissed and murmuring, if he
knew how to drive, I knew he would have
left me at home. He just got his car and
hadn't completed his driving lessons and
since I knew how to drive and we both
attended the same church, he didn’t have
an option but to wait for me.

The rain must have been heavy as I
assessed the scenery before me –
drainages overflowing with dirt, ladies
lifting up their skirts to wade into the pool
our street transformed to, a little boy
scooping water out of the compound
opposite ours, a parade of different shades
and sizes of umbrella. Geez, thank God we
were using a car, I couldn’t begin to
imagine how we would scale through the
mess without ruining our Sunday attire.

Approaching brown bus-stop, we saw a
woman partly drenched by the rain trying
to stop a cab to no avail, so many taxis
zoomed past her and I concluded they
must have occupants. We got closer and I
heard her her shout CDC to the next taxi
approaching her which didn’t stop either.
She was heading for Calvary Dominion
Church, the same place we were headed
to.
“Lets help that woman, I heard her say
CDC, she is definitely a member” Kunle
said
I slowed down, unwind the glass to get a
clearer view of her. I saw a relieved
expression on her face as our eyes met, a
look of hope.
“Three is a crowd” I said to Kunle as I
zoomed past her splashing
muddy rain water on her body.
“What the hell was that for, are you crazy””
Kunle shouted with a stunned look on his
face. He kept glancing back to the woman
and saying lot of things.

I honestly didn’t know why I did that, it
was the second time I am pissing my kunle
off this Sunday morning. Maybe I wasn’t
supposed to be out today, may be…….

David Emegha, I heard my name being
called. It was my turn to face the interview
panel. It was a bright Wednesday morning
and I had prepared well. My outstanding
CV, power suit, confident strides was
gonna get me the job I thought. I knew I
was qualified for the position of the Risk
Manager. My life was going to turn around
in a very short while, with the fat check,
bonuses and allowances, it was only going
to get better.

I was answering the questions being
thrown by the panel and it was going so
well. I noticed a woman walk into the
room from the adjoining door. I didn’t pay
much attention to her as I was facing a
panel who was throwing questions at me
from several angle. I saw her sit down,
taking a copy of my CV and assessing it.
She began staring at me and looking at my
CV between intervals. Her eye movement
unnerved me as I kept wondering what
was going through her mind.

Then, our eyes met and the moment of realization hit me so hard. The room spun round me, time stood still, my mouth became dry and i suddenly broke out with sweat despite
the fully air-conditioned room. She looked
at me and smiled and at that moment, I
knew within myself that I had lost the job.
My bladder became heavy all of a sudden
and I had a strong desire to pee.

“David Emegha” she called me still smiling
“do you remember me”?

I opened my mouth to speak, but words
failed me. I just stared at her blankly, what
could I have said.

“Well, Mr David, it seems fate has brought
us together again” she said still smiling her
eyes fixed to mine.

I was really panicking now, what was the
smile for? I prayed the ground would open
and swallow me up
“Oh! Let me introduce myself properly”
she said with a voice filled with humour
“I am Mrs Melinda Ogudu, the Branch
Manager of Xerox group of Companies,
Zulu Branch”
“Well looking at your CV and your
credentials, you are very qualified for the
post”
She looked at her colleague over the table
and said “This young man here helped me
to church on Sunday morning while it was
raining”
“My car suddenly developed a problem on
Sunday morning and I needed to be in
church. Standing on Brown’s Bus-stop
partly drenched and waiting for a cab, this
young man suddenly stopped and helped
me”
“Now fate has brought him here to our
company. What a small world, she
concluded” she concluded looking at me
with that smile.

And then, I did it. I peed on myself. I
looked at the happy faces of the panelist
and the congratulations being offered andI
felt very faint.
Mrs Melinda got up and offered me her
outstretched hand “congratulation” she
said “you have the job”
I dragged myself from the chair and gave
her a weak handshake and was dismissed
form the panel.

One week later and I didn’t hear from
Xerox. I felt like committing suicide
whenever I replayed her voice laced with
sarcasm in my head. I became depressed
and no amount of pleas from Kunle could
make me divulge the reason for my
depression. May be I shouldn’t have gone
out that Sunday morning, may be I should
have helped, may be I shouldn’t have
stopped in the first place, may be…, may
be……. So many may be’s
Two weeks later, my phone beeped as I
received as SMS from Xerox. I rushed to
Kunle’s room, told him everything and
asked him to help me read the text as I
couldn’t muster the courage to open it. I rushed to my room, laid
down and closed my eyes. Whatever the
outcome was I have learnt a lesson.

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THE END.
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