Laja whistled excitedly as he walked the thirty-minute distance from church to his house. To say he was excited was an understatement; he was beyond excited as he thought of what he was about to do.
The words of Evangelist Gbotemi’s sermon floated back to him: “Listen, the scriptures say God has not given us the spirit of fear but the spirit of boldness. Our Lord Jesus stated expressly that the works that he did, we shall do more.” He had paused for dramatic effect and to allow the congregation shout “Oh yes!”, “Ride on pastor!”
"Go back home today with that realization. Whatever has been scaring you in the past, go home and confront it. That witch, that wizard in your street whose look has been giving you chills in time past, go home, look her straight in the eyes and say: 'You can't do nothing. I'm a child of the king.' Think of whatever you have been scared of doing and just do it. Go home and confront your demons."
The congregation had given the pastor a standing ovation, screaming at the top of their voice as he left the pulpit. They were all buoyed to confront their demons.
As Laja walked home, he thought of what demon to confront. There were so many things that scared him in the past, which one should he confront first?
He thought of the military men that set up a checkpoint around his house and made passersby do frog jump for the simplest of offences. He thought of going over to them and showing them his middle finger. But he quickly changed his mind. The first reason was that it was not christlike. The second reason was that he had heard of four people that had had altercations with military men and it didn’t end well for them.
The first was Jesus Christ. He had gone around declaring woes on scribes and pharisees day and night. But when they were ready for him and he was handed over to soldiers, they didn’t just kill him, they nailed him to a tree. The second was Apostle Peter. They nailed the brother to a cross that looked like the multiplication sign. The third was Apostle John. According to eyewitness account, they dumped him into a large pot of hot palm oil. And the last one was Uncle Waidi that showed a military man the middle finger, jumped on his lagata bike and watched in shock as the bike refused to start. The kind of beating he got, well, let’s just say he is still recovering from it at Aro Psychiatric Hospital after ten years.
Suddenly, his brain happened on a bright idea. Since his father died four months ago, strange things had been happening in his house. Their dog Bingo that had been gentle all its life had suddenly become a regular ‘barker.’
Bingo was an easy-going dog. Before Laja’s father died, Bingo had barked just once, and that was when he saw another dog mounting a female dog that had spent one or two nights in their compound. He had barked once and gone after the dog, the hair on his back rising and his tail tucked between his legs as he attacked. Since then, he hadn’t barked again.
But since Laja’s father died, Bingo barked every night till shortly before dawn. He would start with a growl, then sounds like he was being chased but was standing his ground would follow before he launched into full barking till daybreak.
His mother had gone to a dibia’s home to complain. After collecting a mature goat, a keg of palm oil and ten thousand naira, the dibia had told her that it was her late husband’s ghost that was still visiting. According to the dibia, his father had died before his time and as such had to roam about till his time to die came before he could leave finally.
Laja had laughed at what he called nonsense. Why was his mother faithless? He had asked. Had she not seen the part of scripture that said: “It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgement”? Why then was she believing talks about his father still roaming? He had chided her for allowing herself to be deceived by people practising false religion.
But Bingo’s barking had increased and he was running out of reasons for Bingo’s unusual behaviour.
He remembered his childhood friends telling him about three ways to see a ghost. They said if he used the sponge used to wash a corpse to wash his face, he would see if a ghost passed. Another said if he removed the rheum in a dog’s eyes and put it in his, he would see whatever it is that dogs see. And the last one said if he bent his head, placed it between his knees and looked from that angle, he would see if a ghost passed.
He had dismissed those things as superstitions and acts of unbelievers and insisted that he would not engage himself in any pagan nonsense. But within him, he knew it was more out of fear than because of his loyalty to any religious doctrine. But with Pastor Gbotemi’s preaching, maybe it was time to lay this superstitious belief to earth once and for all, to the glory of God and to the eternal shame of the devil.
As he entered his fenced apartment, he called Bingo and watched him run to meet him. He went inside, brought out a plate and poured remnants of the rice he ate before leaving for church on the floor and watched Bingo gobble it up.
He quickly went back in, changed his clothes and came back out. Bingo had finished eating the food and was now wagging his tail in thanks and in anticipation of anything else.
He dragged him close, started with petting his head before he slipped his hand under and started massaging his stomach. Bingo hurriedly laid on the floor, purring contentedly as Laja massaged his stomach.
Suddenly Laja dipped his hand into the corner of Bingo’s eyes and pulled out some sticky rheum. Bingo whined, jumped up, and backed away from Laja.
Laja stood up, went inside his room, got a mirror, pled the blood of Jesus on the rheum and spread it into the corner of his eyes. He then got on his bed to sleep a bit.
When he woke up, it was seven PM. He entered the kitchen, met his mother cooking and greeted her.
“Today, I am going to prove that dibia wrong and show you that father is neither roaming nor visiting.” He told her.
His mother dropped the turning stick she was using to turn eba. “Laja, emi lo se? Laja, what did you do?”
He smiled. “Tonight you would acknowledge Jesus as the Lord.”
After eating that night, he went to bed. At exactly twelve AM, Bingo began to bark.
Laja sat up on the bed, his heart beating violently against his chest. He made a sign of the cross and stood up. He carried his Bible, closed his eyes and repeated thrice: “God has not given us a spirit of fear but that of boldness.”
As he stepped out, he kept his eyes down as he walked cautiously to where Bingo was. He suddenly looked up, his eyes scanning the direction Bingo faced.
He saw nothing.
He sighed in relief and laughed.
Did he not tell them? All these faithless people need Jesus. He had not only proved that putting a dog's rheum in your eyes cannot make you see ghosts; he had also proved that his father wasn't wandering around as the dibia said.
As he turned to go back inside, Bingo suddenly ran back, his barking louder and angrier. Laja froze in his tracks, his hands shaking and his legs threatening to give way.
The wind began to blow. He saw the clothes spread on a twine in front of his house begin to blow like a fan was turned on. A shudder suddenly rippled through him and he felt his body jerk the way the white garment prophets’ bodies jerked whenever the spirit gripped them.
He turned back, and right behind him was his father, staring at him strangely.
He staggered back. His eyes grew wide, he opened his mouth to shout but no sound came. He lifted his legs to run, but couldn’t. His Bible that he had brought as protection fell out of his hands in the commotion.
In that short time, he wished he had chosen another demon to face. Giving the soldiers the middle finger suddenly looked easy compared to what was happening to him.
The wind stopped blowing abruptly, his body jerked one more time as another shudder rippled through him.
Silence.
Bingo stopped barking. Laja opened his eyes to see his father gone. He sprang up, picked up his Bible, flung off his slippers and ran.