CHAPTER 4

"Brothers and sisters, let us, today, re-dedicate ourselves to the service of God and humanity. The Bible tells us that the greatest law is love, and in 1 John 4:20, we are reminded that we cannot claim to love God if we do not love our neighbor. Therefore, let us strive to love one another. Let us see God in that person next to us. Let us correct them in love, and we must eschew words or actions that hurt or destroy another person. Remember, nobody is perfect, and no man is without sin. Therefore, be less critical, be less judgmental of others and first imagine yourself in their shoes. Remember the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene; remember the story of Daniel and Susanne. Forgive so that you may be forgiven".

"Why is Fr. Jude preaching like this today?" Madam Theresa wondered.

"Was he aware already? Who must have told him that the daughter of Mrs. Eunice is pregnant? And he was already trying to protect her? No way! But come to think of it….., it was beginning to make sense," she nearly whistled. She had always suspected the Parish Priest valued and appreciated the secretary more. He was always more polite and chivalrous to the secretary. This sermon had proven it, she concluded. She was going to make sure she suffered the full punishment for bringing such disgrace to the church, she promised herself. The church should not be condoning bad parenting. She could count on the support of the Catechist, she knew. Two of them, combined, would be a formidable force.

This was a great opportunity for the Catechist, too. She knew he resented the challenge the once again rising profile of Mazi Egbelu presented. This was an opportunity to knock him down the ladder once more. Meanwhile, it was time he started paying for all the romance she had been giving him. That was not to say he had not been useful to her; after all, he was instrumental to her retaining her position as the president of CWO, a hotly contested position in which Eunice also showed interest.

"Aaahh, Eunice! After this, I promise you won't have any say again in this Parish". She muttered silently.

She scanned the worshippers; none of the duo was in attendance; she smiled. It was already working; the shame had already chased Mazi Egbelu and Eunice into their house. With so much glee, she broke the news to the Catechist at the end of the Mass.

"Are you sure of this?" He queried.

"Yes, of course. Did you see any of them in church today? You know, when the chicken soils the ground with its excrement, it chases it up the tree. They are already hiding in shame."

"This is good news, Sister Theresa."

"Praise the Lord," she exclaimed rather loudly.

"Hallelujah," responded two fellow parishioners who had strayed within earshot.

"What is the good news, nwunye dim?" asked one, Mrs. Agnes, who happened to come from Madam Theresa's kindred.

"My sister, reports from Government Secondary school in neighboring Isielu say that our children from this Umunze are doing well. That is something to Thank God for. We don't want our children being wayward like those of Umuopara, do we?"

"Mbanu" May our God forbid such," they chorused.

The Catechist smiled in admiration. The cunning heart and smartness of this woman was something else, he marveled. With the crowd dispersed, they approached the Parish Priest with the news.

"Father," the Catechist began. "We are regressing in faith in this Parish and failing in our duties as the Bible commanded. And I believe this is because we are not being strict in obedience to the Words of God nor in meting out severe punishment to anyone who chooses to disobey the Bible and the Church".

Fr. Jude was taken aback. He looked at the catechist enquiringly.

"Father," Madam Theresa cut in. "What the catechist is trying to say is that we, the parents, should be setting good examples for our children. Our people say that when the mother goat eats leaves, the kid watches and learns. The increasing bad behavior from children these days proves that their parents are failing in raising them well. We should not condone unfit parents in our midst, lest they become sources of bad influence to others."

The parish priest was silent. He beckoned them into his office and bade them sit down.

"Now, can somebody please tell me exactly what happened?"

"Father, Mazi Egbelu's daughter is pregnant. This is her second daughter to become pregnant in his house without marriage. Father, we cannot allow such an abomination and a bad influence to keep happening within us. Their sinful ways are affecting other children in this parish. Remember the girl from Ndiokoro who nearly died recently? Rumour had it that it was because of an abortion. Can you imagine that, Father? Where would they be learning such sinful ways from? Is it not from the likes of Mazi Egbelu and family?"

Father Jude was silent, thinking. Finally, he spoke, "And which man did they say was responsible for this act?"

"We do not know yet, Father," interjected Madam Theresa. "I am sure her mother would, promiscuous people. Can you imagine the type of people we have as leaders in CWO of a whole St. Pius Parish?"

The priest ignored her, almost oblivious she had spoken. After what seemed an eternity, he said to the Catechist, "Please, inform Mazi Egbelu and his wife that I would like to see them tomorrow morning after Mass. Please, I also want the two of you to be in attendance."

"Ok, Father," they chorused, bade him goodbye, and left in excitement. Mazi Egbelu and Eunice had finally fallen into their trap. This time around, there's no escaping from it; they were almost certain.

Fr. Jude sat, lost in deep thought for a long time after they left. He was a worried man. He knew Mazi Egbelu and his wife were good and committed Christians, but, indeed, immorality was on the increase in Umunze, and it was a cruel fate that they should become a reference point. It was indeed unfair and disturbing, to a degree, that majority of the time, results do not match nor represent effort.

What could have been responsible for this surge in immorality amongst his flock? Was it a failure on his part? Could it be assumed his sermons no longer struck chords in the people's conscience? Maybe he no longer preached well enough. No! He could still rate himself high in that regard.

Civilization was creeping in, he acknowledged. More people now travel far and relate with more civilized climes. With schools closer, more children were now literate, and more literature was becoming increasingly available to those who could read. Young school children are inquisitive by nature and have fertile minds. They assimilate every literature with eagerness, and without adult supervision to guide them to the right ones, disaster may strike. He had not forgotten one particular incident where a group of school youngsters was seen with a copy of a soft sell magazine with pictures of semi-nude women. It was a big scandal that saw the students suspended from the school and their parents fined by the church. Was Teacher John Bosco right? Was civilization catching up with the people, and instead of living in denial and hiding the facts, the youngsters should be taught proper sex education to enable them to make the right choices and protect themselves? According to the teacher, making sex discussion a forbidden topic would only raise the curiosity of young minds, and alternative sources of information on the matter were becoming available.

"Was he right?" he asked aloud.

Even the adults were not left out in the increasing wave of sexual infractions and scandals. He could remember that just recently, Mazi Ubaka and Mazi Igbeke almost fought themselves to death and ended up reporting each other to the police for a threat to life. After the whole back and forth, the police could not establish any cogent reason for the guilty verdict on either party, nor did they manage to establish the reason for the heated animosity between the two. They, therefore, referred them to the community for amicable settlement. But as much as the community and the Church tried, the only tangible thing they came out with was that Mazi Ubaka remained very angry because, according to him, Mazi Igbeke had the effrontery to ask him; "Who are you?" In his funny expression of Igbo and smattering English:  "Can you imagine ordinary Igbeke asking me; 'Who are me?'. A whole me? What insult" he fumed to the amusement of the elders.

It was only after the whole hullabaloo had died down that the real reason for their fight started seeping out. The duo had nocturnally clashed at Nwanneka's house one fateful night. Nwanneka was the young widow of Obinka, who had suddenly given up the ghost barely a year earlier. The two elders had embarked on the quest to occupy the "vacant plot of land," as the men coined it. As the men were fond of saying, "It is not good that land should lay fallow for long. It may develop unhealthy shrubs that tend to damage soil nutrients as well as offer refuge to dangerous animals, reptiles and insects."

In the hunt for the 'Treasure Island', they ran into each other that night – usually the time of day when such quests were embarked upon. Being the elder and more affluent of the two, not also disregarding the important fact that he was more related to Obinka, Mazi Ubaka felt more entitled to the widow. He viewed the interest of Igbeke as effrontery and was riled in no small measure when the younger man refused to withdraw and sling back into the darkness despite the entreaties of Nwanneka. Thus, the battle line was drawn.

As Father Jude continued his thought, he sighed in distress when he remembered he still had two serious cases at hand that were threatening to tear two families apart.

A young parishioner named James was insisting on sending his wife back to her parent's house; why? He said she was seen in the bush, engaging in an intercourse with another man. Interestingly, he was not the witness himself but was relying on another man's account, whom he refused to reveal. Meanwhile, the visibly distraught wife denied the allegation and had been swearing on anything she could think of.

The other case seemed more bizarre.

Mr. Alphonsus had been married for several years without a child. Probably doubting his fertility and fearing aging, he instructed his wife to secretly approach his good friend, Emenike, so that she could get pregnant. However, the wife did not fancy Emenike and so skipped him for a younger man, Ambrose – a jovial handsome butcher whom she regularly patronized. Unfortunately for the wife, her husband, Alphonsus, discovered this and went gaga. How dared she disobey him and invite Ambrose, whom he disliked, by the way, to eat from his pot of soup? He then accused her of cheating all these while with Ambrose and insisted on divorce. Meanwhile, the envisaged pregnancy at the root of the problem was yet to occur.

Father Jude sighed heavily, got up, and made for the Chapel. There was no time to waste; he must intercede for his flock and seek God's help and forgiveness.