Eleven

It is Sunday, and the Central Auditorium of the Golgotha Heights International Church is filled to capacity, as usual. It is a huge church, a sprawling three-story edifice that rises majestically into the air with its finery and proud lines. It also has an underground pool area for baptismal sessions.

Main church activities take place on the ground floor. The second floor is an equipped conference center, whilst the topmost floor is taken by the various administrative offices.

A high wall divides it from the other half of the plot where another beautiful building, the Mission Manse, is located. That is the home of the much revered Reverend Brand Bawa.

The church compound has a recreational center housed in a structure separated from the main church building, comprising a restaurant, an internet hub, research library and a beautiful garden.

The car park is a well-demarcated area which is also a huge two-story construction.

That particular Sunday, the church auditorium is crammed as the congregation listens, enthralled by the powerful message of the man of God. He is sixty-four years old, medium-built, with a broad shoulder crammed into an excellent grey suit and white shirt. His tie is a grey luxurious and expensive strip with dots that match his suit to perfection. He is standing on a raised platform, the background wall decorated with still images which depict Jesus Christ's ascension to heaven.

There are beautiful deep sofas behind him which are occupied by some elders of his church and his wife, Mrs. Lois Bawa.

In the congregation are Effe Kedem, her parents and Junior. Steve Hollison is present, and so is Elaine Boateng and her husband, Jonathan Afful, who is a Director at FINE GOJU, the current best GojuFist company in the country. They are all long time members of the church.

Also present are Reverend Brand Bawa's two older children, Diana and Stan, both of them married. Sitting behind Effe is Ira Kedem, Effe's twin sister who is a medical doctor.

The congregation looks on with bated breath as Reverend Bawa nears the climax of his sermon. By the most stupendous of all coincidences, he is preaching about one of Jesus' parables, The Prodigal Son, and he is telling them about the power of loving one another in a pure way that enabled the heart to forgive wrongs totally. His choice of message is surprising Effe, but then she reasons that maybe Chris has gone home to his parents, and by some twist in divine intervention, father and son have made up the bad blood that has for a long time characterized their relationship.

All around the auditorium, hands are raised to the expensive ceiling, and hands are clutching hearts in total obeisance to God as the congregation soaked up the message with total dedication, and some even have tears in their eyes. The cries of 'amen' and 'hallelujah' are paramount as the reverend delivers his sermon.

And then, the huge glass doors at the entrance of the auditorium slide open, and a tall, muscled, handsome, mean-faced man casually walks through them and comes to a halt. He is still wearing the pair of black jeans, checked shirt and loafers he came out of prison with. And then, casually, he begins to walk down the aisle towards the glass pulpit where his father is preaching.

The man of God, holding a microphone, has raised a Bible and screaming out the divine blessings of forgiveness when he sees his youngest son walking toward him. He chokes on the last word, and remains frozen, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets with total shock and disbelief.

For a twinkling, a collective murmur of concern ripples around the huge dome as the members look at him, sure that the man is having some sort of attack. His fixed stare, however, finally sends the message, and slowly heads begin to turn as it becomes evident that the man of God is rather being affected by the entrance of the new man.

Most of the people on the upper terraces facing the doors are standing up, some craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the man whose appearance has evidently disturbed their revered pastor so much.

The murmuring and gasps intensify as Chris Bawa is recognized, and the information relayed quickly around the auditorium that this is indeed the pastor's own prodigal version of sons, the one who has been in prison, the jailbird who brought so much disgrace to his family.

Effe, who has been whispering to a sleepy and tired Junior that service will be over soon for them to head home, is the last to experience the intense and charged atmosphere in the room. She hears Ira's quick intake of breath behind her, and a second later, Ira speaks in a shocked voice.

"Good grief! Is that Chris? Goodness me!"

Effe looks round instantly and sees Chris halfway to the pulpit.

Jonathan Afful, a powerful compact man with close-cropped hair, has been rubbing Elaine's inner thigh as she glares at him fiercely to stop. When he hears Ira's voice, he also turns in his seat and quickly drops his hand from Elaine's thigh.

"Hey look, a live depiction of the prodigal bastard parable! This is gonna be damn interesting, what the fuck! Gaddemn!" he mutters with a mischievous drawl.

"Jon! You're in church! Stop spewing your profane drivel!" Elaine says sharply.

Steve's face instantly flares into lines of stunned incredulity and intense dislike.

"This guy never learns, does he?" he grates out angrily.

Junior, intrigued by the turning of heads, stands up, cranes his neck, sees his father, and shouts in an excited and happy voice.

"Daddyyyyyyyy! Mom, it's Daddy! Daddyyyyyyyy!"

He tries to go around Effe and meet his father but Effe, suddenly uncomfortable with the quick stares, holds him back tightly.

Up on the platform, Mrs. Lois Bawa stands up and her trembling fingers touch her lips as she stares numbly at her last child and her whole body visibly shakes. Her throat dries up instantly.

"Chris? Oh, dear Lord!" she whispers quaveringly.

Stan Bawa, sitting with his wife and daughter in the first row, turns first and then with a little he gets to his feet. His wife tries to hold him back, but he shrugs free and moves to intercept his younger brother's progress toward the pulpit, but Reverend Bawa quickly puts down his Bible, overcoming his shock, and speaks sharply.

"Stan!"

Stan Bawa pauses and turns toward his father. Compact, short and powerfully-built, just like his father, quite different from his younger brother, the tall and extremely handsome Chris Bawa. Chris is the only one who took their mother's graceful height and her elegant, beautiful features. He was the only one who took after their mother.

"Yes, Dad?" Stan says in a voice choked with anger.

"Sit down, son," Reverend Bawa says calmly. "Let him come."

Stan glowers at his brother hotly, and then he reluctantly sits down again.

Chris' expression does not change in the face of so much animosity, especially from his older brother. He continues walking calmly, reaches the platform, and then mounts the short steps toward his father, who turns sideways to face his prodigal son fully. His mother walks slowly to stand by her husband. Her eyes, filled with shock and disbelief a moment ago, are now furious as she glares at her son.

"Chris, Chris, Chris!" she says in an acidic voice. "Always a rotten apple! How can you do this to your father, Chris? Couldn't you have waited? When I heard from Mrs. Bediako that you went to their house I was sure you would come over to the Mission Manse. Did you have to do it like this, at service, with the whole congregation present?"

Chris looks at his mother with sad eyes.

"Yes, mother. Right here!" he says bitterly. "I was pretty sure that you would take your husband's side, as usual, and support him for selling my house."

That statement hurt the woman, and suddenly the angry glint in her eyes dulls. Unfortunately, the man of God's microphone is still turned on, and the words of mother and son are heard by the whole congregation, rendering the auditorium silent. The man of God looks at his son with a calculated expression, and suddenly he holds out his arms towards Chris, and when he speaks his voice is tender and forgiving.

"I was informed that you were released from prison on a presidential pardon. Come into my arms, son! Embrace your father who has missed you so!"

Chris does not move. Instead, a steely look comes into his eyes as he appraises his father.

"Cut the bullshit, father," he says icily.

There is a collective gasp of shock and horror in the auditorium.

"Chris! Are you out of your mind?" Lois Bawa almost screams, alarmed by the aggression on Chris' voice. He looks at his mother and fixes her with the coldest stare from his soul.

"You really think if I had come to your house, your husband would've welcomed me back with open arms?" he asks, and his voice has dropped several tones lower past ice. His mother trembles, and her hands are tight angry fists at her sides, but she does not reply.

She is horrified inside at the sight of her son. He had been fleshy before going to prison, but he has changed so completely. He is all brawn and sheer muscle now, a perfect image of a man, more handsome than ever. But an alien emotion roars within her, a mother's love that never completely dies, and her heart bleeds at the kind of hard life this boy had in prison to turn him into what he is now.

"If that is the way it is, Chris, then there's nothing to say," the reverend says in a calm voice. "Why are you here? Is this visit about your house?"

"Yes, sir. My house. You sold it and I want to know why?" Chris says coldly.

The silence is so thick around the auditorium that a dropping pin would have sounded like a bomb. The man of God looks at his son and shakes his head sadly.

"Well, you hurt that poor little girl when your car crashed into her, because you were high on drugs, my son," he says calmly, as if addressing a sulking child. "Secondly, you beat up your uncle very badly, and he was also on admission at the hospital!"

There is a loud murmuring of approval. Accusing and angry fingers are pointed at this sinful prodigal son who has come to church to mess up the life of their revered Pastor. Cruel tongues wag rather viciously all around, and as Effe listens, her heart bleeds with a mixture of humiliation and anger at Chris.