Too precious episode 48
TITLE: TOO PRECIOUS
WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI
CHAPTER 48
It started with a cold that refused to go. Then complete body weakness. He couldn’t get out of bed anymore. The doctors did all the tests they could imagine but he still wasn’t getting better, instead, he was getting worse.
PB decided to fly him abroad. It was a struggle. They couldn’t diagnose what was wrong with him. He had symptoms of different ailments in one. He could worse by the day. Before long, he looked like a skeleton.
PB refused to shed tears when others couldn’t hide their emotions. She prayed every day for her husband to be saved but he got worse instead. His mother tried to wear boldface but her eyes gave her away. Everyone was worried.
Collins came in from the village. He saw the condition his son was in and wept bitterly. He wondered if he would lose two children while he remained alive. He prayed for death to take him before it takes his son.
Everyone stayed in their home. Their room was a mecca for direct family members. Allen had been brought home to be tendered to. His mother attended to him until she broke down. Two nurses were hired to help out. Titi supervised them.
When they were alone, Titi and Allen, he asked her if his current condition was the reason she refused to die when she was critically ill. “Yes, I knew it was coming and Precious needs all the help she can get.”
“Will I ever recover?” He asked.
“It is in the hands of God. I don’t want to give you false hope. What I saw was a glimpse; I didn’t see the end.”
“Grandma, I don’t want to die. Precious won’t be able to cope without me here with her. How will she manage to raise the children all by herself? How will she cope with the running of the home and the business? Who will take good care of you? No, I am not ready to go. I want to negotiate an additional fifteen years so the children would be of age and we will prepare for it.”
“It is not in my hands dear son, if it was, I would have exchanged your life for mine. We are praying and trusting God for a miracle.”
Suggestions from different angles asked that he be taken to different prayer grounds for deliverance. Initially, PB refused but because it had become very persistent, she had no choice but to agree.
In one of the places they went to, PB was accused of being responsible for her husband’s condition. It was Collins’ sister that took them to the prayer mountain. Immediately the prophet said his wife was responsible, Allen asked them to take him away from there.
His auntie was upset with Allen. She shouted at him, “He is telling you the cause of your problem and you are threatening to leave. You are stupidly blinded by love. This man knows what he is saying. Listen to him.”
Hope sensing Allen was going to blow up soon told him to relax and listen to him. She told him in a whisper he didn’t need to believe or do whatever the man said. Allen stayed to listen to the prophet.
“This sister likes you that is why she wants to help you. I don’t attend to people that have unbelief. More will be revealed to you before you go. Let us pray.”
They prayed for about thirty minutes before the prophet, in a trance, said “She buried her powers in her father’s compound under an ugba (oil bean) tree.”
“Ugba tree?” Hope asked confused.
“Yes, ugba tree. She wants her husband to die so she can take over everything he worked for,” the prophet added.
Hope found this very funny. She asked, “how do we uproot what she has buried?”
“It is by prayers. We will have to travel to her village to remove what has been buried there. We will destroy her powers. The illness she has placed upon you shall be transferred to her” the prophet continued.
“When can we go?” Hope asked.
“We need to prepare for warfare. For us to undertake this trip will cost N250,000. This will cover the cost of transportation for my prayer warriors and me, accommodation, and feeding.”
“N250,000 to travel to Ogun state here? We can drive you there, accommodate you, feed you and whatever more you need.”
“Ogun state? I am seeing Anambra here,” the prophet added.
“Well, you got it wrong. His wife isn’t Igbo, she is Yoruba. But, his first wife who he has divorced is Igbo. She has a female child for him. The Yoruba wife is the one that has his heir. I don’t know the vision you are seeing but it is in the wrong place. Also, in her father’s compound, there is no ugba tree. Neither is there one in Adaeze’s compound. Please, allow my son to go home to rest. You can do your prayers without him. Nwanne di m, we are leaving.”
When PB was informed about this meeting, she cried her eyes out. Allen was too weak to console her. Hope told her not to bother herself, if she had resisted her sister-in-law, she would have claimed she didn’t want her to help heal Allen.
PB didn’t know what to do. She cried most nights when no one could hear her. She could feel Allen slipping away. Her father was gone and now the love of her life? She rejected the idea. She needed to talk to someone before she ran mad. There was only one place she could find solace. She went to her house at Adeniyi Jones Avenue. Her uncles were shocked to see her there. Without talking to them, she opened her father’s room and spent the entire night there. She poured out her heart there as though she was talking to her father. She cried and prayed. She then begged him to intercede for her. She repeatedly said, “take me instead of him. It will break his mother’s heart. He takes good care of the children, even better than me. He is more org-nized and can withstand whatever pressures may come. I don’t want him to die.”
That was the first night she was sleeping away from home. Titi was informed she was there and it calmed everyone’s nerves. Allen understood why she went away. She was heartbroken and confused. He wished he could ease her pain but it was difficult.
PB came back the next morning, she had a bath and prepared to sleep as she hadn’t slept all night. As she slept off, about an hour later, she was awoken by Titi. Allen had asked them not to disturb her but she was insistent. He knew it had to be important.
PB followed Titi out as she was acting strangely. When they stepped outside she told her “Guess who is downstairs? Biodun! He came here with your mother. He said he has an urgent message for you. He insisted you have to see him right away.”
“Biodun? What does he have to say to me? I haven’t spoken with him for years.”
“He is with your mother downstairs and seems agitated. Biodun in your house? This is amazing. You need to see the way he was looking around your house. This life sha. Let’s go down quickly.”
Biodun was there, he was sitting on the couch in the sitting room with her mother. Seun stood up when she saw PB. She hugged her closely before she explained what happened. “Biodun called me very early this morning at about six am asking to see you as he has a very important message for you. He met me in Victoria Island for us to come here together. Now we are here. Biodun, over to you.”
“Please Precious, I will like to talk to you alone. I don’t know what is happening but I was asked to talk to you immediately. Where can we talk privately?” Biodun asked.
Titi offered her living area for them to have the privacy they needed as some extended family members were visiting.
When they settled in, Biodun spoke first. “I don’t know what is happening but I had a dream last night with a message for you. I don’t usually dream and remember the dreams but this was as clear as I was there personally. I saw your grandfather, Chief Adeoye in the dream. He said he had an agreement with you for your family to remain in his home but you violated his order and now you wouldn’t allow him rest.”
PB jumped up from her seat frightened, she held Biodun on the neck of his shirt and asked him. “Biodun, what are you saying?”
“I saw your grandfather. He complained bitterly about the agreements he made with you and how you violated the most important one. He said you didn’t fight for what you both agreed to. He is disappointed you left him alone. Now you are crying and complaining to him. He asked when last you visited him. You only come to him when there is a problem. If you were close, he would have protected you. Precious, what is going on?”
PB was in tears. It flowed freely for she realized Biodun was speaking the truth, there was no way he would have known. Truly for some time she had neglected him. She had adjusted to living in this beautiful place they called home now. She had truly forgotten her father until yesterday when she went there with a sorrowful heart. What was wrong with her?
“He concluded by saying he loves you and because of that he will attend to you this time. He said you should take the problem to his domain immediately and let it remain there until all is well. He asked me to deliver the message first thing in the morning in person, not over the phone. That’s why I came here” Biodun rounded up. Then he said, “I can see you are going through something tough but I am glad your grandfather found me worthy to use as a medium to give you the solution. Please, do what he said immediately; it sounded very urgent.”
PB hugged Biodun and said a big thank you to him. She led him out of her grandmother’s living area and directed him downstairs. She called Hope and requested an ambulance to her residence urgently. She went to Allen’s room and asked the nurse to get him ready. Titi came to meet her in the room. She told her she would explain everything to her when it was over. She packed her effect and those of Allen. She asked the nurses to also pack their things.
Biodun left when PB came downstairs to thank him again. He told her she would be in his prayers and they exchanged numbers. Seun couldn’t understand what Biodun came for and she was worried PB had gone mute about it.
Tbc