When light comes

Part 11

Reports were coming in by the day from sentinels stationed around the three towns by Jerub. There was a War coming . And this time , it was happening within the kingdom of darkness.

The angels were disappointed. They had been looking forward to a good fight . Their weapons, thirsty to slash through demonic sulphuric membranes.

The FATHER had summoned Hareb, chief angel of the old community church, to HIS throne room. Celeb was left in- charge of the colony of angels that guarded the three towns and the mountains that surrounded them, leaving Yuri to guard Pastor Jacob to the train station a few kilometers away from the church.

Jacob wasn't sure what or who he was looking for but had listened and obeyed the voice of The Spirit .

He had been led to the train station to see something.

The pastor sat down quietly on a new green bench placed outside the ticketing office, bought an ice tea lollipop from Tim Tim, the ice cream vendor and opened the newspaper he had brought with him to while away the time.

Occasionally, a train would make a stop at the station, allowing people to get off, but the old man felt no nudging in his Spirit about any of them or anything out of the ordinary for that matter.

An hour passed by and Jacob was already feeling the urge to use the bathroom. He hated public restrooms but knew he had no choice but to use the station's.

After a few minutes,the Pastor came out of the bathroom , walked back to retrieve his newspaper from the bench and found three women sitting down. His paper had been neatly folded and placed at the very edge of the long seat.

One of the ladies glanced up at him, with a beautiful smile plastered on her very round face.
Pastor Jacob couldn't help but stare at the woman. 'He knew this face!' thought the Pastor to himself.

Suddenly, his face erupted with laughter and without saying a word, he pulled Amari up, giving her a bear hug.
"Amari!,..it's been so long , but your face hasn't changed one bit," Jacob said , releasing her from his embrace so he could take a good look at her.

The last time he had set eyes on her was at the missionary school in Ivory Coast.

Occasionally, he had driven down to visit her, to know how she was faring without her parents. He had forged a close bond with the quiet child until she had finally started opening up to him and others around her at the mission school.

    Age had not permitted him to drive so far after some years. He and Joyce had however, communicated with her through letters and postcards.
Eventually, they had lost communication with her when she started her Senior secondary school education in Cotonou.
And the years had simply piled on,..no one hearing a word from her for so long,

But here she was, all grown up!.

"Papa JJ!," Amari Shouted in excitement, gazing deep into the old man's eyes, "How did you know it was me?".

"Ehh, with your moon face?,the Pastor teased, "I would have recognized you a mile away. Or have you forgotten your nickname?".

Amari smiled absently, her thoughts taking her back to Papa J and Mama Joyce's home. One of the orphans,Solomon, who lived with the couple, had nicknamed her yemiri, which meant, the face of the moon.

Herself and her twin sister, Adai, had been born with a perfectly round face, and although she had aged more than she would have liked, many people still recognized her because of this particular feature.

Amari fought off a tear and re-focused her attention back on Papa J, not wanting to remember her past with her hometown .
She glanced around at her now standing companions and introduced them to the Pastor as members of her prayer band , with another male member on his way .