Dial episode 11 – 12

DIAL

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Sequence 11

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I looked at Apostle Williams with utter consternation on my face.

“I can’t be here, Pastor,” I said as calmly as I could.

“Please address me properly, young man. Apostle, my son, Apostle, not Pastor!” he said with a tight smile. “Well, why can’t you be here?”

“I was here some weeks ago, and…let’s just say something unpleasant happened and I was chased out. They wouldn’t want to see me around here.”

He smiled and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Oh, the Mrs. Kaklo issue, hm?” he said and chuckled.

I scowled.

“You know about that?”

“Oh, yes, yes, Light Duke Greyhem told me all about your sinful joust in there when I told him you needed help,” he said and laughed again. “These are God’s own people, and they believe in forgiveness. All you need to do is take a bath in the Atoning Pond, and your sins would be washed clean. Don’t worry your head about it.”

But I still had a lot of misgivings as I followed him through the grounds of BLIC.

I still remembered how mean those people had been, and how murderously vengeful Mr. Kaklo had been.

Worst, I remembered how Bajoe had looked at me.

 

We were eventually ushered into the huge office of His Eminent Light Duke Greyhem who was dressed in heavy and long white priestly gowns. He embraced Apostle Williams warmly, shared a few private laughs with him, and then he looked up at me, and his face became grave.

“Ah, you again,” he said, and his face was cold. “You caused a great deal of pain and misery in the house of the Supreme Light the last time you were here, young man. Because of your reprehensible behaviour, Mrs. Kaklo divorced her husband! Now he has become a drunk and we’re trying to bring him back to the light, you foolish boy!”

“Cool it, cool it, Light, my mentor,” Apostle Williams said. “Mr. Biko has learnt a great lesson, and being back here in his hour of need shows just how wonderful the ways of the Supreme Light is, doesn’t it?”

Light Greyhem moved slowly toward me and stood facing me.

“You’ve followed the same lustful and sinful desires of your p*n*s, and it has brought you this trouble! You know very well you’re the direct cause of the girl’s death, because you promised her marriage, and used foul means to sleep with her! Akos, her name was, of Wowo!”

I stared at him, totally flummoxed.

He had hit it right on its head, and strangely, I had not expected that from him.

I had not told Apostle Williams the name of the girl, and I had not even mentioned that I promised Akos marriage, and that I drugged her with the aphrodisiac before making love to her.

It seemed there was more to the Lighter than I had first given him credit for.

“Two things, Mr. Biko,” he continued levelly. “First, you will have a bath in the Atoning Pond to wash your sins away, and then you will be present at a small union ceremony I’m holding in about an hour’s time. If your body responds as it did the last time, I would know that your bath in the Atoning Pond didn’t achieve anything, and I’ll drive you out. However, if you kill your body to the sinful lust in your soul, then I’ll help take this demonic curse off you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir, I do understand,” I said, and I was humbled.

Fifteen minutes later I found myself unclad in a huge room with three pools of water. The first pool was very muddy and filled with repugnant dirt, stinking to high kingdom.

It was sizzling, as if it were being heated. An elderly man guided me to the stairs and watched as I stepped into that stinking, disgusting mess in the first pool! I almost threw up as I moved my hands in the thick sludge.

“What are you doing?” the old man asked calmly. “You must atone! You must go in deep so that it covers your head!”

“Oh, d–n!” I muttered, unable to stand the nauseating stench any second longer. “No, please, I can’t dive into this! Oh, Lord, no!”

He nodded and crossed his arms across his bony chest.

“Aha!” he said calmly. “No immersion, no atonement! I’ll let the Light know you refused to atone.”

He turned to leave, and I called out then.

“Hey, wait up, I’ll go under, I’ll go under!” I said miserably.

I knew I couldn’t take the horror of Nana Bosomba’s disappearing and appearing white pot any longer, and if this would stop it, then there was only one thing to do.

So I took a deep breath, held it, and dove beneath that absolutely heinous sludge!

And when I emerged and gagged for air, I began to vomit terribly!

All that stink, all that filthiness. I had never been close to such tardiness, such sublime ugliness! My stomach heaved again and again as I vomited, and my sides began to pain me.

The old man smiled and nodded approvingly.

“Congratulations, you have now earned the title of Embers, because you’re atoned now,” he said gently with a smile. “Come out now, Embers Yao Biko!”

The moment he said that many lights came on in,side the pool area, and a slow victorious music began to play as I trudged up the stairs, still covered by that thick stinking sludge.

The old man indicated the second pool, which was foamy now with soap.

“Cleanse your atoned body, Embers Biko!” he said rather proudly.

I needed no second invitation.

I dove into the soapy water, and began to clean that mess from my body and hair!

The old man used a long-handled brush to scrub that disgusting stuff off my back.

“And now, Embers Biko, take the plunge of Attained Atonement!” he said in a flourish, indicating the third pool of water.

This one had a slightly bluish look.

I slid into it gracefully.

This water was cool, perfumed and so silky that I almost fell asleep in it. It sed-ced my senses with its smoothness and incredibly pleasant perfume.

After soaking in it for some time, the old man told me to come out, and then he handed me some fluffy towels.

“I’ll let the Light know you’re atoned!” he croaked with a smile and patted my shoulder.

When I was dry he disappeared into a cubicle, and when he came out a white, silky bit of linen cloth was tied around his wa-ist, knotted on the side. He was holding another piece of white linen, and he handed it to me.

“Tie it around your wa-ist and let’s go!” he cried urgently. “The Union Ceremony is about to start! I don’t want to miss any of it!”

“Union Ceremony?” I asked as I took the piece of white linen.

“What you unlightened pagans call a Wedding Ceremony,” he said impatiently. “Hurry up, hurry up and let’s go. Here, let me show you how to do it.”

“You wear pieces of cloths to your Union Ceremonies?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “You don’t do it bare?”

“The couple will be bare to show they come in innocence,” he said, again his voice impatient. “The rest of us cover our loins to show that we respect their bare nature in their union.”

It didn’t make sense to me, though. There was really a lot of stuff I would never understand about this Bare Light International Church.

He took the linen from me and tied it around my wa-ist, knotting it on my right h¡p, and then he turned and bid me to follow him.

I found Apostle Williams waiting outside the door for me, and he was also wearing a piece of white linen around his wa-ist. He looked at me gravelly, and spoke in a serious voice.

“You remember what Light Greyhem said, don’t you, Mr. Biko?”

“What are you referring to specifically?” I asked, already filling absolutely disoriented and lost in this myriad of practices and norms.

“After your atonement bath, you’re supposed to be purged of your imperfections and sins, so you’re not supposed to get an er-ction in there!” he said, his voice very anxious. “He can help you deal with this spiritual attack from the fetish priest, Mr. Biko. But if you get an er-ction in there, you’ll be thrown out, and there’ll be no help for you.”

I sighed deeply.

“Well, at least we’re covered with the linen,” I said miserably. “Even if I do get an er-ction, it will hide it.”

“No, it wouldn’t!” he said sharply. “That’s just a piece of short cloth! If you get an er-ction it will stand up in that linen cloth! Whatever you do, please, keep your mind off any s€×ual thoughts! Don’t get er-cted! Don’t get an er-ction in there, Mr. Biko! This is a serious occasion. If you get an er-ction in there, during the Union Ceremony, it will be an abomination, and they will beat you up too, trust me!”

And so we entered the Union Ceremony Abode.

It was a huge room, another glass dome of some sort with huge white curtains from ceiling to floor, but they were tied back with silky ropes to reveal the glass walls.

At the far end of the auditorium was a raised podium.

Again, there was no chair in the auditorium, but there were artificial plants and flowers, giving it a very beautiful and ethereal look. There were even statues designed to look like real animals: lions, snakes, elephants and even bats!

The glass walls were aquariums filled with almost ceiling-high water, and filled with real fishes that swam majestically around, giving the impressions that we were underwater!

It was all so incredibly beautiful and surreal.

And that was when my problems began.

The girls were also wearing white linen cloths around their waits, and tiny white patches were fixed on their n-pples.

It would have been better, far better, if they had been totally nude!

The white pieces of linen tied around their wa-ists barely covered their buttocks! Instead, they gave them shape, the cloth parting and rolling sed-ctively with every movement they made!

If the women bent low the cloth rode nicely up, revealing those creamy buttocks and the amazing slits beneath them! If the women turned in any direction the knot of the cloth would part, revealing a smooth curved h¡p and loins!

It was the s€×iest sight I had ever seen!

All those women, all those shapes, all those buttocks, all those br-asts…all those madness!

I looked up and swallowed hærd when I saw Light Duke Greyhem standing on the podium and looking at me. No, he wasn’t actually looking at me; his eyes were fixed on my g—n, waiting for the cloth to rise up with my er-ction.

Already I could feel the throbbing in my loins when a very curvaceous woman bent right in front of me to pick up a piece of petal from the ground.

Oh, Lord!

The woman was a white woman, but she had the big and rounded m—-s of an African goddess, so fair and huge as something crazy! And nestled down there, between those thighs, was the hairless slit, and a pink little head sticking out!

My rod just began growing and growing!

Oh, dear!

The woman looked over her shoulder at me with a smile and a coy look in her eyes, and then I knew that it was a trap, sure that Light Duke Greyhem had purposefully set her up to strike that pose to drive me crazy!

I swear that all I wanted to do was grab that wa-ist and ram home without caring!

There was sweat on my face as I swallowed hærd with desire!

I turned away from her, trembling, and approached the far glass and pressed my face against it, watching the fishes. With trembling hands I pulled at a silk cord tying one of the white curtains.

The cord came free.

It was a long, strong piece of silky rope.

My er-ction was now complete, sticking into the glass wall.

I shut my eyes tightly.

Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear!

Luckily there was an artificial plant to my left, blocking the view of Light Duke Greyhem. I quickly lifted the hem of the white linen, pushed my enraged org-n against my left th-gh, and then I used the silk cord I had removed from the curtain to tie my male org-n against my th-gh so that it wasn’t standing up but trapped against my inner th-gh!

I tied it securely, root, middle and tip, and tied a knot just as I felt a touch on my shoulder.

“Please turn around, Mr. Biko,” said the tight voice of Light Duke Greyhem.

Quickly I pushed the hem of the linen cloth down and turned slowly to face him.

That was when I saw that everybody was looking at me, and that in fact all their eyes were fixed on my g—n, expecting my er-ction to be pushing up the piece of linen.

But my turgid member was tied down, oh yeah, and although the pain of the cord cutting into my er-cted appendage was terrible, it did the work nicely, and nothing was showing in,side the piece of linen.

Light Greyhem’s eyes opened wide with surprise.

And that confirmed my suspicions; the bastard had sent that bending delight to tempt me!

He scratched his eyebrow with disappointment, and then he looked into my strained eyes.

“That’s some good control, Mr. Biko,” he said appreciatively. “That is good atonement!”

He turned and walked away.

The hugely-endowed white woman who had tempted me was standing just behind him with a look of great disappointment on her face. She pouted and looked at me crossly, then she turned away.

Across the room Apostle Williams sighed with relief and gave me a thumbs-up sign.

I nodded and swallowed painfully.

Very soon the union ceremony began.

The couple appeared…absolutely bare!

Both of them had shaved crotches.

The groom’s p*n*s was dangling flaccidly. It was long with a bump head, the type that could enter a woman with a ‘plopping’ sound.

And the woman was Bajoe, the girl I had wanted to fill Number 44 on the Dial List!

She had found herself a husband at last, a real Lighter with a bump-head d–k.

She had a garland of flowers around her head, but that was all.

The ceremony began, and I just couldn’t take my eyes off Bajoe.

Goodness me, what a figure!

I looked at those incredible br-asts of hers, her curved h¡ps, those delightful legs, that protruding behind, and my powerbase increased, and my appendage reared so furiously that I was alarmed it would rip off the cord and stand tall again.

I screwed up my face with pain as the cord tying my rod cut into the tender skin.

Oh, dear!

When it was time to exchange the vows, the couple faced each other.

Bajoe suddenly opened her legs slightly, and the man placed his right hand on her h0le of delight, and slowly rubbed her slit as he repeated the Vows. Bajoe’s face was straight and serene, and I wondered what the hell was going on! How could he rub her intimately like that and she remained still?

This was the most silly wedding I had ever seen, and the most crazy exchange of Vows I had ever witnessed!

Soon the man’s vows were done.

And then it was Bajoe’s turn.

She took hold of his dangling bump-head d*cky and began to repeat her Vows as she rubbed her hand up and down his s—t, car-ssing the bump sensuously.

The man remained still with a loving look on his face, but I noticed that his eyes were shiny and big as he fought his er-ction, and for a moment I almost burst into laughter.

I was waiting impatiently. Surely, no man could receive a hand-job like that and remain unaffected.

Even me, standing far away and watching, could not bear the pain of my er-ction held tightly down by the cord!

But, surprisingly, the bump-head didn’t er-ct.

But the groom was suffering. I saw him bucking his buttocks back slightly as Bajoe rubbed him h-rder, as if he wanted to pull his bump-head from her hand.

And then her vows were done, and she released his bump-head p*n*s which I could swear was just a little bit rooted…kwasea like that!

And the congregation of enlightened Lighters began to clap and whoop when Light Duke slipped the wedding bands on the fingers of the Union couple and pronounced them Unionted.

I breathed hollowly as they all broke into spontaneous singing and dancing, the ladies wriggling things enticingly, bending this way and that, gyrating h¡ps and buttocks.

I leaned weakly against the glass wall…

It would have been better to die than to be subjected to this torture!

My thing was bursting! I could even feel sticky pre-c-m drops crawling down my left leg, piling up against my knee. The pain of the cord cutting into my er-ction was terrifying.

It finally dawned on me that I could never be a member of the Bare Light International Church, BLIC.

DIAL

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Sequence 12

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The arrangement was simple:

Pastor Williams would now be working on the physical attacks and making me acceptable for God’s divine protection. And Light Duke Greyhem would also work on breaking the evil spiritual bond that Nana Bosomba had placed on me.

It cost me an extra ten thousand cedis, which I paid to Light Greyhem.

They told me I would have to stay on the premises of the Bare Light International Church till Sunday morning and they asked me if that would be okay with me.

Sure, it was, since I was beginning to have the jitters from Nana Bosomba.

I was taken to the top floor of the BLIC building where there were executive rooms. The bedroom they gave me was huge, and wonderfully-furnished.

“You would have to be praying too, Mr. Biko,” Light Duke Greyhem told me as he stared at me gravely. “The spiritual attacks are deadly, and unless you manage to find a level of holiness, it would be difficult to combat this. As a result we’ll have to take your phone, and cut you off completely from communications.”

“Thank you,” I said softly. “Does this mean I wouldn’t be seeing that white pot and the envelope again?”

“Believe me, Mr. Biko,” Duke Greyhem said with a confident smile. “You’re in the house of the Lord, and no fetish pots have dominion here. We’re going to revoke that curse forever.”

I was very relieved to hear that, to say the least.

And so I called my secretary and assistants and scheduled things I wanted done for the rest of the week, and gave them Duke Greyhem’s number in case something urgent came up that required my attention.

There was a reading area in the room, which had a desk and a small library. There was a beautiful white phone on the desk, in,side a metal case.

To show that he meant business, Duke Greyhem locked the desk phone by flipping the metal cover over the phone and locking it with a small golden padlock. Next he unplugged the cable that connected the phone to the wall outlet.

They showed me a cubicle where my breakfast, lunch and supper would be served, and a small button by the side of the bed I was supposed to press in extreme emergencies, and then they went outside, and locked me in,side the room.

They told me my clothes would be returned to me on Sunday morning, and so I had to do with the robes in,side the wardrobe.

I wasn’t overly bothered because in actual fact I was a loner, and pretty used to being on my lonesome self. Recently, though, especially since this wh0le unfortunate incident involving Akos of Wowo and her father, I had come to realize that my life was empty, and that I needed at least someone I could call a friend.

I read some of the books and magazines in the reading area. They covered mostly religion, but there were other reads too, autobiographies, geographical wonders and other books on astrology, history, wild life and a myriad of subjects.

I loved reading, and so I wasn’t bored.

The television had some cable stations, and so I watched programmes in-between.

The food was good and regular, and so I was pretty much entertained. It also gave me some good moments to reflect on my life, especially on the Dial List. The question was, what was the way forward? Was I going to continue with updating that Dial List once this horror was over?

I needed to accept responsibility for being a major part in Akos’ death. She had been innocent, in a way, and had not developed the peculiar hærd stance of some of the girls on the Dial List who had just seen me as a fake after I slept with them, and decided to move on with their lives.

Akos had been principled, and had set values. The fact that I had used her – much against her will, I admitted, even with aphrodisiacs – had really shattered her. And then I had abandoned her, and cut her off completely.

Her fragile mind had not been able to deal with that, and eventually it had led to her death.

And for that I accepted the fact that I was guilty.

So what was going to happen to the Dial List?

What was going to happen with my resolve to fill up that list?

It had become a sort of an integral part of me, something I loved doing. Now I couldn’t even make the distinction between filling up the Dial List, and the joys of making love to fill it up. Did I get joy in sitting down to type a new name on the list? Or making love to a new girl gave me more joy?

Frankly, it seemed to me that having s€× with someone new was not as exciting as sitting down and adding their name to my list…and that was very scary indeed! Suddenly, the act of typing a girl’s name and giving her a number on my Dial List was beginning to supersede the joy of making love to that girl.

In a nutshell, the girls had become almost invisible. I didn’t see them. They were just names to be added to my list.

It struck me on the third day in,side that upstairs room in BLIC that I was beginning to turn into a beast.

The question was: would I stop?

No, I didn’t want to.

I just wanted the threat of Nana Bosomba to be eliminated, and then life would go on. My only resolve was that I would no longer prey on innocent girls like Akos of Wowo, no. I would shy away from them, yes.

But the Dial List would continue. I wanted to find out how many I could get on it, eventually.

With that decision made, I found a little peace.

And then, on the fifth day, a Friday, it happened.

I had just taken a great dinner, taken a shower, and was feeling just a wee bit bored and so I stretched out on the settee and looked around for the remote to t-rn on the television and watch something to while away the time.

The next day would be the Saturday Akos would be buried, the Saturday that Nana Bosomba was expecting me to arrive and marry his dead daughter. I was a little bit keyed up about that, but since the strange white pot and its strange envelope had not appeared again, I was beginning to feel a little better about myself, and the life ahead of me.

I didn’t know where I had put the television remote the last time I had used it, and so I looked around for it, and eventually located it under the settee.

With a little curse, I took it out, pointed it at the television, and then pressed the power button.

Nothing happened, and then I realized I had switched off the power outlet in the afternoon because the electricity feed had spiked alarmingly, and I had been scared it would affect the television. I had simply switched off the wall socket.

With the remote in my hand, I stood up, ready to walk to the wall and switch on the power…and that was when the television screen lit up.

I stopped dead and stared at the blue screen of the television, and then at the wall socket.

And that was when the sickening blow hit me hærd in the guts!

The cable of the television that linked it to the wall power socket was out!

Yes, I remembered now…I had pulled out the cable plug from the socket after I had switched the power off, and then I had gone to bed.

So, in effect, the television was not connected to any power source.

But the blue screen was on now!

I walked silently to the wall and stared at the socket.

Yes, the television cable was dangling free; it wasn’t connected.

I breathed slowly and took hasty steps back to look at the screen, thinking that perhaps my mind was playing tricks with me.

When the television screen came back into view, I saw that it was no longer blank, no longer a blue screen, but there were words on the television.

Words that chilled me to the bone…words that made me open my mouth wide with horror.

They were simple words, of course, and they said:

Tomorrow is your wedding to Akos.

Just a reminder.

Thanks.

I stared at the words, and I couldn’t breathe.

I felt the air s—-d right out of my body, and I dropped the remote as I backpedalled toward the bed, my breath coming in wheezes. Then, I stumbled and fell, and as I gained my hands and knees I looked back, expecting the words to have disappeared…but instead there were more words!

Tomorrow is your wedding to Akos.

Just a reminder.

Thanks.

PS: You’re on my redial list, remember that.

I gagged.

Frantically, wheezing with horror, I crawled to the bed, reached out for the switch I was supposed to press in an emergency, and I jabbed at it repeatedly with a finger that shook to high kingdom!

I sat on the floor with my eyes on the ominous words on the television and jabbed that panic switch jab jab jab jab jab jab!!

Eventually, I heard the lock turning, and a moment later the door opened and Light Duke Greyhem rushed in, his florid face red with apparent worry. He saw me on the floor and came toward me, his face concerned.

“Mr. Biko!” he said, sounding concerned. “What’s the matter, Mr. Biko! Are you not feeling well?”

Frantically, I pointed at the television…but of course the screen was now black, as if nothing had happened.

Black and blank.

The words were gone, and it was just a television which had been switched off.

My wh0le body ran cold.

“Th-there were wor-words on th-the telly!” I said, stuttering, my horror complete.

He put a cool hand on my arm.

“Take it easy, take it easy, Mr. Biko!” he said carefully, soothingly. “It is okay, everything is okay. Tell me what happened.”

He was able to calm me down, yes.

He didn’t even let me sit on the floor, but took my arm and led me to the settee, sat down with me, and asked me to tell him what happened.

And so I narrated it all to him.

He listened without interrupting, and then he stood up and went to the television, made sure that the power cable was indeed out, and then he turned and came to sit back down with me.

“I’m not going to say you didn’t see what you said you saw, Mr. Biko,” he said gently. “The human mind is the most complex network God ever created, more complex than ten thousand super computers mankind has been able to produce, and so yes, I believe you.”

“You do?” I asked hoarsely.

“Yes, I do,” he said with a gentle smile. “But it wasn’t evil, Mr. Biko. It didn’t come from this fetish priest as you’re thinking. It was a mental projection of your fevered mind, because you’re so stressed up about what is happening, about the deadline given to you tomorrow.

Since tomorrow is almost here, your mind is going overdrive, projecting danger signals, and it is perfectly normal. Don’t be afraid, Mr. Biko. It was just a figment of your mental capabilities taking over in reaction to your anxieties. Everything is done, and you’re okay. By Sunday, you’ll see how silly it has all been.”

I clung to his words and received them, digesting them. It was all possible of course. How could I have thought a television without a plugged power source could operate?

I accepted his words, because I had to accept them to remain sane! That was the only sensible explanation.

“Just to make sure it doesn’t happen to you, and freak you out again, I’ll have the television taken out, Mr. Biko,” he said gently. “I’m sure you can cope without television for this evening and tomorrow.”

I nodded appreciatively.

“Yes, yes, I guess so,” I said with a sheepish grin.

And so a few minutes later two men came into the room, and carefully removed the television from the wall.

Duke Greyhem stayed for a while to speak to me, reassuring me over and again, and I was grateful for that. When he left I finally managed to tell myself that I was just being silly, and eventually slept.

I left the lights on, though, for the very first time in years.

I slept with all the lights on.

No incidents of import happened again, even on Saturday when I was dreading that something horrible would happen. I slept soundly that night, and by Sunday morning I woke up with a fresh step in my step, convinced that everything was alright.

Shortly after my bath and a hefty breakfast, an attendant brought my clothes, washed and ironed, and I dressed quickly. I surveyed myself in the mirror, and I liked my reflection. I was cool and relaxed, calm and ready to face the world again.

Shortly afterwards a knock came on the door, and then Light Duke Greyhem and a beaming Apostle Williams entered.

“It is done, my friend,” Apostle Williams said as he shook my hand. “You’re a conqueror! You’re safe now! That fetish priest has been defeated!”

“The devil has no dominion over your life, Mr. Biko!” Duke Greyhem said and patted my shoulder. “With God, nothing is impossible. Go out there and enjoy your life, and remember this, keep away from your sinful ways and turn to God.”

I nodded with profound gratitude.

“Can I leave now?” I asked.

“Of course, of course!” Duke Greyhem said with a broad smile. “Unless you want to remain for Sunday’s special service.”

As tempting as that was, as much as I wanted to see those beautiful thighs, h¡ps, br-asts and different pudenda again, I refused to go in to Sunday Service. I wanted to be away, in my own environment, back to the life I knew.

We were heading toward the front door, and when we reached the desk where the locked telephone was, it happened.

First the golden padlock Light Duke Greyhem had used to lock the telephone dropped and fell on the leather-topped desk with a little soft thud.

The three of us stopped and looked at it, and I felt a small ache deep down in the pit of my stomach.

“Seems you didn’t lock the telephone well,” Apostle Williams said with a chuckle.

I looked at him.

“The padlock is still locked,” I said quietly.

“Oh, I see,” Apostle Williams said with another tight smile. “Maybe, Duke, my friend, you didn’t put it through the space for locking.”

Light Duke Greyhem didn’t say anything; he just stared at the telephone, his face still.

And just as he took a step forward toward the desk, the metal case covering the telephone flew up, and fell on its side, revealing the beautiful telephone.

And then the telephone rang.

“Abosho!” Apostle Williams uttered, and jumped with alarm.

I looked at Light Duke Greyhem.

He was from Europe, and so his face was looking as white as a sheet of paper, all the blood draining from his face with absolute shock.

He had removed the chord that connected the telephone to its connection feed in the wall, and so the telephone was just a machine, a piece of plastic and metal thing on the desk that shouldn’t be able to ring!

But it kept ringing, and then there was the sound that indicated the call had been picked.

A moment later, the speaker-phone was activated, and then Nana Bosomba spoke.

“This is Nana Bosomba, Mr. Biko. As you already know, Akos was buried yesterday, Mr. Biko,” came the calm voice of the fetish priest, without malice, pleasant even. “You didn’t show up to honour my daughter, and you let her die in shame. That’s the choice you made, Mr. Biko. I have also made mine. You’ll definitely grow old with more experience, Mr. Biko. Byebye.”

And the phone went dead.

I looked at Apostle Willliams, but he had already ran from the room.

I looked at Light Duke Greyhem.

He was still staring at the phone, and he was still as white and as still as a statue.

“What is happening, Light Duke?” I asked in a small lost voice.

He didn’t look at me, but he spoke quietly, and his voice wasn’t steady, and he was still staring at the telephone.

“Come with me, Mr. Biko. I’ll refund all the money you paid, and then I want you to leave my church, Mr. Biko, and never come back here.”

Suddenly, he was in motion, almost running from the room.

I stared at the telephone, and I knew…

Yes, I knew.

I was in trouble.

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