Fact of Fiction

Hmm, wonders shall never cease like my late mum would say. After my last domestic staff stole me silly, I decided to stay without any for some time.

It was uncomfortable having to do some of the things that I always had someone help me do; I knew I couldn’t cope for too long and everyone around me knew that I needed a replacement urgently.

After a few months, a young chap from my church approached me to say that a relation of his was ready to work for me. You would think that I’d jump in excitement over the offer, no agency fee and a well known guarantor, but I was completely unmoved, I even surprised myself.

This young guy pestered me for a while, he really needed this sister of his to get a job and to start earning a living, but I was adamant, I never even wanted to see her and my young friend had to ask if I knew her or had an ugly experience with her. He could not understand why I showed resentment towards a girl I had never seen. I couldn’t explain it myself but I was comfortable with the decision I took never to see her in case I was tempted to employ her.

A few months later, I saw this young friend of mine, Sammy (real name withheld) he looked so harassed and I asked him what he had been up to. He said to me, “Mummy was there any reason why you refused to see that girl?” “Which girl?” I responded and he reminded me, mscheew, a girl I did not know and had even forgotten about? Of course there was no reason.

Then he started to narrate the strangest story ever;

The girl in question did not have anywhere to go to after I turned down her job offer, so Sammy kept her in his house to help his wife with the house chores. One very nice Saturday afternoon as Sammy sat down in front of the television to watch a pragramme, this young relative of his came to kneel down in front of him, begging him to let her confess. Sammy said that he was a bit thrown back by this mild drama but had to put up an act of fearlessness.

She confessed that she was not an ordinary human being. (Hey!) She said that she had a husband in the water who was a fish and that her two children were a fish and a snake, (hahahahaahaaa, very funny) she talked about how she was sent to destroy her host’s family and how she pleaded with them to spare the family because they had been nice to her. “THEY” are her fellow witches’

Sammy’s wife had narrowly escaped a very serious domestic accident at home and just like Boko Haram, this girl claimed to have been responsible for that incident as well. A young boy who had lived with Sammy’s family for years suddenly begged to be sent back home, he said he couldn’t explain why he got restless in their home but that it was better for him to be a farmer back home, it was later attributed to the “witch” who made the environment uncomfortable for him.

After all the confessions, Sammy took his “sister” back to their hometown which is that part of this country where they say that the witches also fly at noonday. Lol. He prayed all the way that the girl beside him wouldn’t cause the vehicle to somersault. Hahahaha. He made some calls before his trip and was directed to a small church which could be referred to as a mushroom church in a remote part of the town, as Sammy told me this story, he had goose bumps on his arms and a few drops of tears fell from his eyes, (serious matter) he shed tears because he was still terrified of the experience.

As soon as the pastor of the small church saw the girl, he asked her a few questions and she claimed that she was not alone but in the company of six legions who were stationed outside as the church was too "hot" for them. Sammy watched while the pastor prayed for the girl and she began to manifest in all kinds of ways, she barked like a dog, purred like a cat and changed voices severally, it looked like a scene from the exorcist and Sammy was flabbergasted.

He thought this only happened in Nigerian movies, at some point, the pastor sent for reinforcement, his wife. It had been him and the young assistant pastor holding the delivery session all the while; his wife arrived the scene and the prayer took on another dimension. To the full view of the five people present, the young girl turned into a very big fish, (I asked if it was a catfish and he said that it looked more like tilapia fish.lol).

However, Sammy did not stay to find out the real specie of the fish, he took off and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, right in front of him leading the way was the assistant pastor and behind him a faithful who had spent seven days of spiritual cleansing in the church; the trio ran till they could run no more, there in the bush where they ran to, while they contemplated whether to return to the church or not, the young pastor denounced his vocation.(why?!)

They eventually made it back to the church premises but lacked the faith to go into the church; it was through the window that they saw the young girl who had turned back into a human being. Sammy said that her clothes were so tattered and muddy that she looked like she wrestled with the pigs. When the girl called him “uncle” and said she wanted to return to Lagos with him, he took off a second time, this time he ran all the way to Lagos. (lol)

This tale still sounds strange to me, sometimes I wonder if it is fact or fiction; I believe it though and I am grateful that she never stepped into my home.

Part two of this tale is that the girl found her way back to Lagos and works in a day care now, I will pay the day-care a visit tomorrow but I am not sure if it is the right thing to do.