On the east side of a small village in West Africa is a beautiful view of the sun rising, illuminating every dark place in all its glory; especially on a cottage at the heart of the forest, the gentle breeze swaying the trees and grass either side as it navigates through the forest, where a hunched over lady was busy with a pestle in her hands pounding away into a mortar filled with boiled yams in her backyard.
She was an elderly lady with grey hair all through, and she was singing melodious praises to the God of creation and His Son with joy in her heart as she looked at the wonderful things that the Creator of the world has made, mentioning them one after the other to honor Him. And as she sang, a man walked up to her casually. "Greetings, Madam." He greeted smiling lightly.
"Greetings to you as well, is everything well?... I apologize but, I don't think I recognize you." she replied, stopping her singing and pounding at the presence of the foreign man who almost seemed to be glowing under the sun.
"I'm sorry for interrupting your singing, I came to ask for your help. I heard that you're in possession of a book called 'The Word of God.'" He said giving her a big dimple smile at the end of every sentence He uttered, but as suspicious as He looked, the old lady could not help but feel comfortable around Him; like He had been a very close friend or brother. "I am also a big follower of this God who created this world. I also have faith in His Son who came to die for all of mankind, but I have a friend that I wish to share the word of God with. But I don't have a Holy Book that I can use as a guide to preach to him." He elaborated.
"Hmm, I totally understand all that you have said, and I know that even the Son of God and the hosts of heaven will be glad that one soul is joined to the family believers, however... This book is all that I have, to have this one copy alone was not easy, It is the only copy in this village." she sighed.
"Please, Madam. You said it yourself, that the heart of the Son and the hosts of heaven will rejoice when a soul joins the family of the cross..." the man pleaded, smiling helplessly because He could already tell that she would consent to giving the book.
"Alright, I will do as you say, I will give you the book." she consented after taking her time to think.
"Thank you very much, Madam. God will bless you abundantly. My friend, he will be here soon to receive the book, please give it to him when he comes by." He said before turning to leave.
"Wait, are you leaving already? Let me get you some food, I'll be done pounding this yam in a minute, it's almost ready, and the soup is simmering." she hurriedly washed her hands in a bowl of water beside the mortar and was about to go into her house to get a seat for the man.
"Is that yam you're pounding? and is it Ewedu soup I smell?" He asked, walking back towards the mortar with an expression of humble excitement.
"Yes it is. I know you must've been perceiving the aroma of the ewedu soup the whole time we were talking." They both laughed.
"You know, my friend loves pounded yam and thick soup...can you pound some yam for him as well? He will be here very soon." The man said.
"No problem, let me get you a stool to sit on..." She said before going into the house. And as soon as she came out with the wooden stool the man was nowhere to be found. And then suddenly, after evaluating the features of the man and how His voice was, so sweet to her ears, and His presence, so comforting that she forgot that she was talking to a stranger in the thick forest. She dropped her stool, and her longing for the man increased because He was not a stranger, she just could not recognize Him quick enough. "My Lord! My God! My Lord! Jesus!..." she kept yelling as she ran up and down in her backyard looking for Him.
That very night...
"Ehhh, really?" The Old Woman questioned after Okanlawan explained all that had happened to him after stealing the figurine from the shrine, at least all he remembered while eating, and she watched him as he stuffed his face with doughy yam and jute leaf soup like a barbaric vagabond, whisking his hand and slurping on his fingers as he stretches his other hand over the lantern to pick another leaf-wrapped doughy yam from what looked like a plate reserved for twelve people.
"Ah, it chased me to death, I don't know what made it stop, why it didn't take my life..." he said, making slurping noises as he ate. The Old Woman couldn't help but look at him with so much disgust, but then she recalled what the man in her dream had told her about His friend's arrival and his love for the meal she was preparing. "... I swear to Ogun, when I catch that old fool, that wicked twig looking bald head...I'm going to kill him someday." he continued to murmur as he sat up on the wooden stool so he could unwrap the sixth doughy yam.
The cottage was very small, and completely made out of clay, it was divided into three very small spaces on the inside which incorporated the kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom. Each room could only contain a maximum of six people, with the kitchen being the smallest with the capacity of three people at a time since most of the cooking is done in the backyard. The roof was made entirely out of grass and palm fronds, and although it looked poorly managed and built, it could serve as a good covering for rainy days.
"Let's just be thankful to Jesus." The Old Woman sighed and held her book tight to her chest like a precious gem, and even while eating like a scavenger, Okanlawan noticed and could sense that she suddenly became worried, he also realized that the Old Woman was the only one in the house and could have been living in the house all alone for a long time. And so he felt sympathy for her.
"Are you a writer?" He said, turning to start a conversation with her out of pity, after licking the jute soup off his hand.
"No. This book is just something more valuable to me than gold. My husband wrote it after he accepted Jesus into his life. He translated the white man's copy of the book from his preacher friend, to our symbolic texts and left it behind for me before he was taken by his slave masters." she explained and set the book on the table.
"What kind of God is Jesus?" he asked.
"Jesus is the only Son of the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, with all beings in the world, both on earth and in heaven. Jesus is the King over all powers, both on earth and in heaven. You see this book, it is a very powerful book of salvation, the history of God and those He has empowered is within it." She explained and suddenly became quiet for a while as she heard strange whispering noises like the wind blowing at an irregular frequency. She then got up to look outside only to find out it was not windy at all. Meanwhile, Okanlawan was busy washing his hands and mouth when suddenly, something came over him and he suddenly wanted the 'Book of Power', so he absconded with the book before the Old Woman came back in.
He ran towards the town and into another clay house where he lived. He crept inside after looking both ways to be sure he was not followed. He then put the book on a very low stool next to a set of various kinds of drums that were hung on the wall; the talking drum and all other kinds of drums, gongs, and bells. He knelt down Infront of the book as though he was about to conjure a spirit.
"The Spirit of Jesus... Ah, no, I can't afford to be chased again tonight..." he feared, and was too tired to examine the contents of the book so he dug up a hole in the ground, enough to fit the book, and he buried it in his living room floor and drew an 'X' on the bury spot. "Deity Jesus, the Son of the gods, I apologise for burying you like this, I will bring you out once it's morning, I need to rest now, so, farewell." he said before jumping on the straw mat beside the buried book and falls asleep.
And while he slept, a little boy creaked the wooden door open and walked in. He was dressed in a white robe that covered his ankle, and he was barefoot. He started scanning the room with his eyes until he identified the spot where the book was buried and he dipped his hand into the ground without even digging a hole in it, and he brought out the book and put in on the 'X' Okanlawan marked to identify the bury spot. The boy then walked up to Okanlawan, who was laid lifelessly on the mat, and knelt down beside him to lay his hands on his head.
The boy closed his eyed and tried his absolute best to concentrate around Okanlawan's heavy snoring and unconscious turnings; when he finally gained focus, his body started glowing and out of his back sprong out two massive eagle wings that were also glowing like his body, the exact same dove-like wings that appeared when he was almost smitten by the demon with the cane. It got to the point where he did not look human anymore, he started taking the form of an angelic being as he opened his eyes that were glowed with so much brightness, and as he did that he began to invade Okanlawan's dream.
In his dream...
He was smashing nuts open with a limestone and eating them when the angelic being walked up to him in the form of the little boy again. "Okanlawan!" the boy called in anger.
"Ah-ah, what a spoilt child, is that how they greet older persons at your father's house?" he said, but the boy disregarded him and continued.
"I'm not here for the rubbish you call words, get up now and return that book immediately, understand?!" the boy commanded.
"Ehh, hold on, how did you find out, and besides, what will you do if I refuse to return it?" Okanlawan stopped what he was doing and got up to challenge the boy.
"You are testing God, anyone who tests God, will surely face His wrath..." Okanlawan became angry hearing the boy speak and was about to grab him and beat him up for being disrespectful towards him, but as soon as he stretched his hand, the boy raised his hand to the sky and started speaking mysteries causing the cloud to gather and block the sunlight; the wind began to blow terribly, causing a whirlwind that uprooted trees and destroyed huts, but nothing happened to the boy and Okanlawan.
Seeing all that was going on, Okanlawan dropped to his knees and started apologizing to the boy, and as he pleaded, the boy looked down at him with glowing irisless eyes with his hand still raised to the sky. "Ah, they found me, yeh, I'm sorry please, ah, forgive me!...Please..."
"Once you wake up from this dream, you will pick up the book from where you berried it, and return it to the owner." the boy said with a very deep and echoing voice, instilling more fear into Okanlawan before bringing down his hand to push Okanlawan away with much force.
Present Day...
".....Mummy!!!" Little Pelumi let out a terrible shout as he woke up out of his terrible nightmare.