The Burial

Episode 5

It was a beautiful morning,I slept well but didn’t know what would happen that day,the atmosphere was so unpredictable. The day mama’s children acted and were fully watched by all in their neighbourhood,the day they exposed their bodies to both young and old,embarrassed themselves as if they were not related by blood.

The weather was suiting,all activities was going well. I had gone to the market to get some food stuff for the house,the females of the house were spoilt,they never had to do anything,none of them could cook,my grandpa had been the cook and it ran in the blood,his father,grandfather and great grandfather had done the cooking in their days,they never depended on any woman to do it,more because,it is either food were not cooked to their satisfaction or woman ceremony are too much cooking.

Truly grandpa was right,with the little experience i had with females cooking,I can say females do not know how to cook,it takes them long to go to the market,get back and cook,they would have cooked all the ingredients in the food out just claiming to make the food done,they taste food almost every seconds on the fire,why?. They are not sure of their cooking skills. Grandpa had never tasted his food on the fire before,he knew the exact amount of salt to do,he knew when the pepper was boiled enough and when to add little or no water,he knew how to resolve any deficiency in cooking and that was passed on to his children and grandchildren,these too are things I plan passing on to his great grandchildren.

It was just simple,grandpa spoiled his female children and to him it was fun. Females are not meant for the kitchen in his sense and need not go near cooking because they are no great cook.,……..Lol.

I got back from the market,prepared all I needed for the meal and was cooking in the kitchen which was very close to grandpa’s office when I heard him saying on phone,

“I am highly disappointed in you people,that Sigismund is always proving dominance as if he were the first born.;Ehn!!!. Sister Mary? Slap who?. ‘Funmilayo!!!. What nonsense!. It shouldn’t be her,she is a Rev. Sister and her composure should be absolutely glaring.”

So these could happen?. I asked myself,a whole Rev. Sister slap someone!. That is so impossible,it can’t be,No! No! No!. They are lying to Papa was my thought. But it was true,she actually raised her hand to slap her elder sister. How could that happen?.

It truly did happen,she is a Rev. Sister and was supposed to control her anger,kept herself blameless and not reacted to the extent of dashing her sister a slap,the way a layman shouldn’t even behave. Those were what I was thinking when my mind drew me to her early life.

Her life began a very long time ago,presumably when she was in the secondary school. She attended the St. Mary’s convent Ajele Broad Street,Lagos.
She was a very bright student and got a call to serve the lord the way any other men of God could have got theirs. But hers was a bit close to our lady’s,the Queen of peace,seat of wisdom,virgin most renowned,mirror of justice,virgin most faithful,virgin most admirable and virgin most prudent might have gotten the message from Arc Angel Gabriel about the birth of the baby Jesus. The deliverer of mankind,saviour of the world and the lamb of God,who takes away the sins of the world.

Her own message wasn’t of giving birth to the Jesus of her time but to conceive the word of God,which is the fruit of truth,to be married to the church all her life till she gains the inheritance of where christ had gone to prepare. She was later made a Revered Sister due to whatever good behaviour or call she might have gotten from God.

With the display of slapping her elder sister,I had a thought she maneuvered her way to her ordination but she didn’t,human beings are not perfect and she just displayed the human part of her. The pope himself ain’t perfect so who was her to be spotless as snow.

Even christ when he took the form of God and of man to come die for our sins displayed his human character by driving out the people that turned the temple of worship into,Idumota market,Yaba market,Bodija market,Kano market,Aba market and even Onitsha market.
Though christ display of anger is quite understandable because he was fighting for the right course but was Rev. Sister Mary fighting for a right course?. Didn’t the bible also say we should respect those above us and give honour to whom it is due?. I wondered what bible she might be reading or wasn’t she reading any?.
I was asking myself this when I remembered the funny people christ drove out of the temple,what on earth might even prompt people to turn a whole temple of worship into a market place?. Lust for material wealth? Blind nature of man?. The question kept coming with no answers to them.

I foreshadowed Rev. Sister Mary on my mind going to the confessional board on saturday saying ‘bless me father for I have sinned,I slapped my elder sister”. But I quickly composed myself,that was her business with God,who was I to interfere?. When I heard grandpa exclaimed.

“Tear each others clothes and expose their body to the public?.”

Mehn,things were just starting to hit-up!