THE VISIT

My father was the perfect picture of the cheerful giver. We usually had many aunties and uncles visit so as to sip from my father's fountain of milk.

One of them was uncle Mike. He was my paternal uncle. His father was a nephew to my dad. I couldn't tell why I never liked uncle Mike. Maybe because he seemed too pompous. Or maybe because he always spanked us at any little offence.

I wasn't the only one who felt that way about uncle Mike. Some of my siblings also did. They didn't like the fact that he reported and exaggerated things we didn't do to our parents, to ensure we were beaten thoroughly.

One of my sister once reported that she had seen him secretly stealing money from our parent's drawer.

At first it sounded like a lie. I felt she might have said that due to the hatred she had for him. Or was it that he was truly a thief . That didn't sit right with me Stealing was the crime he usually accused us about, so he had no reason to do it.

I also doubted, because in my childish mind, I felt that adults had no reason to steal, since they could easily get what ever they wanted.

Uncle Mike also had no reason to steal, since Father usually gave him large chunks of money.

One day, an uncle we love so much, visited. Uncle Sam and his wife were our favourites. They hardly visited, but whenever they did, we usually celebrated it, as they would come with lots of gifts and eatables for us. We always looked forward to their visits.

One day they visited again. We all sat in the living room giggling and gisting with them.

They looked perfect and happy, even though they hadn't had a child yet.

They also looked contented. Uncle Sam was the younger brother to Uncle Okoro, the same uncle we usually visited at Abuja.

The couple chatted away their wins especially in their business and some of the projects they had engaged in. Uncle Sam was light in complexion while his wife was much darker. They however complemented each other.

Somehow and sometimes, I usually felt their was something odd about them, even though I couldn't tell what.

I also noticed that she would visit at odd hours alone just to speak to my mother. At such times, she wouldn't look her cheerful self.

I didn't understand anything about it, and I feared to ask Mother about it. I was sure mother would scold me for doing so.

HOW RELIGIOUS I WAS

The next day was Sunday, the day we usually attended church programs with my parents. My parents usually left early since they never want to be delayed by waiting for the rest of us. We usually spent much hours dressing up than they did.I was usually the last

that always left the house because I never quite understood what the fuss about attending service early was all about. The thought of being locked up in a wide hall with voices of children screaming all across the place with "take me to my mummy" really

neausated me.

Even with all the noises, the preacher still somehow managed to continue talking non stop. Words that one could not decipher due to the loud voices. That also infuriated me. Most times, I couldn't wait to leave the church hall or even the premises. I also dreamt of growing up quickly to finally join the adult church.

I heard it was more serene and organized than that of the children church. One day, I even managed to sneak in there when the guard at the door of the children church permitted me to go out, after I had taken an excuse to go and drink water at the tap.

After drinking the water to my fill, I managed to find my way secretly to the adult church. Although there were also securities that kept watch at the

entrance. However I guess, I was too lucky, as it was time for offering and some of them had being carried away in their dancing and hadn't expected that a little child would sneak in at that moment.

I was elated and began to move my body as the ogene sound mixed with the sound of the drums gave a rhythmic mixture of music, we missed at the children church.

The women choir also sang a song that got me humming for the rest of the day. The male choir by their side, with their husk voices, gave another solo to the rhythmic melody from the songs being sung.

The whole service, people and serene of the hall, looked colorful, and even seemed like a beautiful carnival festival was taking place as various groups in the church dressed in colourful regalia, came out to dance to their fill, while others cheered and clapped vigorously for them. It really proved that the children church was missing a lot of things.

From that day, I made up my mind to always find my way to the adult church instead of being caged in the children church.

Being in the children church killed any enthusiasm for attending church service.

One of such days, I had woken up and didn't feel the need to attend any service. My mom had somehow caught the drift and quickly decided to beat me to my game by ensuring she stayed back to lock the door herself, when everyone had left.

Unlike her, she stayed back and then ordered everyone to hasten up and leave the house, since she wanted to lock the door before leaving. She also announced that she didn't want to be late for church, hence everyone should hurry.

I sluggishly and painfully took my bath and dressed up. I was still properly trying to buckle my shoe, when I heard my siblings calling me out, screaming that my mom was already putting the lock to the door to lock me in, if I didn't hasten up.

I quickly joggled out, as mom almost shut the door on me. I then headed to church with the others tagging along. My younger siblings followed my mom as she walked hastily to church.

When we arrived at the church, everyone of us quickly disappeared into their various tents of meeting, while I stood outside the gate, wondering whether to go in or not, since I wasn't sure, if the ushers would let me into the adult church.

I also felt like leaving the church to somewhere else, inside of being trapped in the children church.

Entering inside the compound of the church was also like a trap, as the gatemen wouldn't let me out again, until service had dismissed.

I had to think of something fast.

I quickly searched for the money, I had taken from my father's drawer for offering, and then decided to take off, for some spending spree instead. Atleast to burn time.

I walked across the road, until I found a lady selling rice snacks. I bought it, and began to munch on slowly while walking on the road.

Then I saw some kids wrestling among themselves, while some others stood by to cheer the winners. I also took a safe spot to watch the intriguing wrestling match. I wasn't happy, as no one seemed to be really winning.

Then I suddenly realized that it was almost time for church service to dismiss. I quickly found my way back to the church to attend the last part of the service. Atleast to avoid my parents from discovering that I was not in church.

That was the last day, I would officially be attending that particular church, as my father was soon to be introduced to another church by his best friend.

At the new church, the pastor and prayer warrions could see special visions of the future of others, which was unlike my previous church. Our previous church didn't have time for visions. They would rather use the time for singing and dancing. While in the new one, they also had a special band of firing prayer warrions.

But the new church was not only far away from home, unlike the old one, it was also located out of town. Almost at the outskirt.

We usually spent hours on the raid trekking, unless Father decides to call his driver to come pick us.

By the time we would get to church, the prayer warriors would have being making preparations to start prophesying, especially after engaging in a rigorous dancing.

At that point they would become uncontrollable and some designated person's would be sent to hold and stabilize their movement and position.

They would then be lined up horizontally in front of the congregation, while each of them would be prophesying, while someone among them would be going round the church to point at those who were revealed by a particular prayer warrion that he or she, had a message from God.

One of such visions ended me being locked tightly in the room on Christmas day, by my mother, after one of the prayer sent for her and announced that someone would try to poison me on Christmas day. My mother decided to lock me up, atleast to prevent the person from seeing me that day.

It sounded absurd to me, but what could I possibly do?