If I told you that time was a temporal space, would you believe? How real is the supernatural? Is it merely fiction or there is more to what meets the eye, and perhaps the mind? 2 months ago, although I would have said “yes I believed”, I would not have answered with enough conviction. Yes, conviction. That is the difference now. Hmph! something happened and my unphysical world became more real to me than what I could see.
“Sweetie” is what my father usually calls me by which became even more known than my real name. He pastored a small church in Lashibi, a small town in Ghana which is a couple of minutes’ drive from the capital. My dad was rarely home but I loved him and although I vowed not to marry a pastor, I ended up married to his young friend who was a very calm and quiet preacher. He barely spoke about anything and will usually only smile especially when he seemed triggered. He was a very sensitive man and as such my father always warned me to try as much as possible to stay away from him when his body language requested it. Imagine! My own husband oo. Well I obeyed, being the understanding wife and partner I am. I never disturbed him, okay maybe a few times, I must confess.
Being raised by a pastor and being married to a pastor are two separate experiences and with time I eventually learnt the difference.
My husband was fond of something peculiar; every hour or two to midnight, He would usually kiss me on my forehead and whisper “going out… will be right back”. Perhaps he perceived that I was fast asleep but I wasn’t. I always heard him, even anticipated it each night. I never followed up, I just trusted that he will be fine and then waited till he returned a few minutes after midnight. One of those nights I decided to get a glass of water after my husband had kissed me goodbye and I realized something peculiar. He was not really gone. I heard him in the guestroom. I began to wonder if he always spent those hours there because all along I had believed that he left the compound. I sat in the corridor leading to our bedroom waiting for him to come out and after 2 hours he did.
There was something about him when I saw him. He looked pure, his skin felt like… something that doesn’t have a word to describe it, his eyes looked like fresh water and when I hugged him, his pulse felt like a calculated and precise rhythm. I didn’t have to ask him what happened there, I just knew it and that was enough an answer for me. I thought I would have questions but when he walked towards me, I just felt content.
Two months later my husband comes home and tells me about a trip he needs to make to Nairobi, Kenya. He was honouring an invitation to minister at a crusade and so I decided to go with him. For what reason? I just did not want to be home alone. He did not seem to agree with me coming yet he didn’t argue about it. He only asked me if I was sure about the decision I was making and for some funny reason my heart skipped a beat. I became unsure all of a sudden but I just very much wanted to go with him, considering that we had never travelled together even after we got married. The Kenyan church had arranged a chattered flight for us, all we needed to do was to get on board and enjoy the flight. It was my first time on a private aircraft and the feeling felt good especially the aura of importance that hang around us in the airport.
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Short StoryWhen a preacher's wife embarks on a trip with her husband to Nairobi Kenya, the flight experience changes her perception of the supernatural.