Chapter Three

It was half past 2 PM when Thelma arrived home at Water Affairs Compound of Ibenga. The compound lay one and a half kilometers north of the church and across the Ibenga stream.

One walked down the road past many houses on both sides of the road before reaching the residential area. It was a light populated compound with both big and small houses.

Thelma and her mother lived in a small two room house, one serving as a bedroom and the other, sitting room. The walls of the house were not painted though it was built of burnt bricks and cement. Thelma’s father had invested in the little building before he died of tuberculosis. He was survived by his only daughter and wife. Three meters in front of the house was a hut that served as a kitchen. It was made of six poles supporting a thatched roof which had lost most of the grass to gluttonous termites and decay. The hut had no walls, but only poles with some raised soil around the bottom.

On that Sunday afternoon, the anxious widow frequently glanced at the road until her daughter arrived two and a half hours after the church service. The woman observed the dejected girl walk into the house after passing the kitchen in which her mother was. Then Monica followed the girl into the house.

The door was made of soft wood planks which had been nailed together, with a ‘z’ shaped line of end-to-end planks inside. From inside, people could see who were passing outside through the spaces between the planks.

There was a plate rack near the door, two cushioned chairs and a sofa. In the middle lay a coffee table on which Monica had put two white plates covered by similar ones that afternoon. The floor had a pot hole near the door and another at the entrance of the bedroom. The house had a corrugated iron roof with a few holes that allowed sunlight where roofing nails had been driven through.

When Monica entered the house, she found Thelma sitting on the chair nearest the door. Anxious to know how the exorcising her of the spiritual husband had gone, the woman did not waste time before asking.

“Has he freed you of the spirit? I know he is a powerful man of God. His God is living. Nothing is impossible to him,” the woman said confidently before her daughter nodded.

“Mother, he asked me to see him for prayers again on Saturday. He says the spirit needs more attention and that spiritual husbands usually return if there is a break in prayers. He also said I should fast frequently”, Thelma replied sadly.

“Do not worry my daughter, he will do it. Just follow his instructions. I have seen the man of God heal so many people with his miracles. Even you have seen so many people with various problems get healed in that church after being prayed for by the pastor, haven’t you? It is just a matter of time and you will be fine”, she assured her daughter before the widow went outside.

Thelma still did not understand what a spiritual husband was. Would there be a wedding in the spiritual world between her and that particular spirit? What was the role of that particular spirit in her life? How did it choose her?

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by her mother who brought a jar of water and small red plastic basin for the distraught girl to wash her hands before eating the nshima with beans that was before her on the coffee table.

However, as soon Thelma put her first lump of nshima with beans into her mouth, Grace knocked at the door and burst in excitedly. There was no time to usher her in. A moment later, she was sitting on the chair opposite Thelma.

“I am anxious to hear what happened. It seems you had a long prayer. How many people were there when he prayed for you?” Graced asked smilingly.

“We were just the two of us”, replied Thelma.

“How did it go?” Grace asked again curiously.

Thelma stopped chewing for a few moments before answering. Then she invited Grace to eat the nshima with beans also. However, Grace granted and shook her head before a swallowing a part of the accumulating saliva. She also stared uncomfortably at her friend.

“It is hard to understand my friend. I do not understand that pastor even if I have a so called spiritual husband. I do not understand,” Thelma insisted.

“What do you not understand? Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. You will not understand. Some mysteries are better understood by the man of God alone,” Grace said faithfully.

“However, others perplex me. Is a man of God unable just to pray without touching the person he is interceding for? What is the meaning of touching like what you yourself witnessed in church? Let me tell you that he did more than what you saw in church…much more,” Thelma said while avoiding eye contact with her friend as the beautiful lady’s eyes welled up.

“But what do you mean? Even in the Bible prayers were held like that. Men of God touched people on …”

“On their breasts?” interrupted Thelma.

“I do not know. Anyway, what happened there? Are you free of the spirit now?”Grace asked again.

“I do not know because his prayers were said in hi…hi…his bed…I do not understand his prayers anymore,” Thelma complained.

“Thelma what? You mean…he…he…No, that is a man of God. Do not start to say things he cannot do. You will be cursed. Something evil will happen to you. The spirit is listening,” Grace threatened.

While Grace was talking, Monica burst in and sat on the sofa. The two ladies suddenly stopped talking. They just looked at the food on the table and elsewhere in the house before Monica started another topic.

“Grace how is your mother? I did not see her at church this morning. Is she okay?

“She has a bolt of malaria. I left her in bed now under the care of my sister, Ethel. She has even taken some medication,” Grace answered.

“Sad. I will see her tomorrow,” said Monica sympathetically.

Sala, Grace’s mother, lived in Matobwe village east of the shops.Monica and Sala, had been friends and classmates at St Maria Primary school of Ibenga. The age mates had been very good friends from 1st to 7th grades until they got separated by child marriage. Each one of them married a 9th grade drop out at the tender age of thirteen. Monica’s and Sala’s husbands were fifteen and sixteen respectively at the time of marriage. Their friendship thrived even when they were married. Both of the women became vegetable sellers at the Ibenga market before their husbands died. Sala’s husband, Greg, died after a series of long illnesses, which local people concluded as AIDS. Monica’s husband Sinjini died of tuberculosis a year after the demise of her friend’s hubby. The sentry at Ibenga hospital had been admitted there for six months before he died. He had lost most of this weight by the time he was dying. Therefore, some people even joked that only a skeleton had been buried.

Meanwhile, just before sunset, Grace left. Thelma saw her friend off for a short distance, so their discussion resumed when they were alone again.

“The spiritual husband thing is difficult to understand indeed. I do not understand that. Tell me Thelma, do you dream of a spiritual wedding or what?” Grace asked.

“No, I have never dreamt of anything like that in my life. I just dream of ordinary things you and I do together. For example, I remember dreaming of going to Lusaka with you by bus…”

“What?” Grace interrupted. “You and I have never been to the capital, Lusaka. We surely would be lost for good there in the big city. It is not Ibenga. How do you dream of a place we have never been to?”

“I am just telling you about what I dream of, in response to your question. Furthermore, I do not see any being even at night that claims to be my husband. The whole spiritual husband drama is confusing, especially the way the pastor conducts his so called prayers. I do not understand,” Thelma complained.

“What do you mean the way he conducts the prayers. He does things according to the way the spirit guides him. In church the spirit guided him to you and he saw the spiritual husband. Then he was guided by the spirit again to get rid of that thing. Did you want him to avoid telling you that you have a problem? That is his job of a man of God. He should look after the flock. If there is an evil spirit, he will detect it with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We should thank God for that,” argued Grace.

“Grace, how come I do not see the husband myself? Remember that earlier in church you asked me to be careful because of his seemingly outrageous touches. I do not feel anything on my body as being done to me by the so called husband. I do not hear anything about the so called spiritual husband either. By the way, who is supposed to detect the pain? Is it a patient or doctor? How can a doctor detect a disease his patient feels nothing about?” Thelma wondered.

“Thelma if a person has just been infected by HIV, can he feel anything? That is how spiritual husbands are I think. It is prophets who detect them with the power of God. Ordinary people, including victims themselves cannot feel anything. That is the badness of this mystery,” Grace said thoughtfully.

Nonetheless, on her way back home, Grace had innumerable unanswered questions. What was a spiritual husband? What did Thelma mean by saying praying in bed with the pastor? How could a man and woman pray in bed alone? If the pastor could touch Thelma on the breasts in church, what else did he feel when they were alone? How would one tell that the spiritual husband had been chased? What wrong had Thelma committed to be subjected to such an experience as bad as being a victim of a spiritual husband? How can a husband, though spiritual not be noticed by Thelma? Had that spiritual husband been sleeping with her friend? If so could Thelma become pregnant?

If Thelma became pregnant would she give birth to a ghost or human being, or a half ghost, half human creature? Why would the pastor not exorcise her of the spirit instantly right there in the congregation? Was it so difficult to chase from the victim that the pastor and woman had to pray together in his bed.

Grace had forgotten to ask Thelma whether the door had been closed, locked or ajar while they were deep in that prayer. If closed, what could be the reason? Did the pastor need privacy to exorcise someone of a spiritual husband? What was so special about that very husband?

While she was pondering the last question, she reached her mother’s house in Matobwe village. The village lay east of the shopping area. The house, one room, was separated by a curtain as bedroom and sitting room. Three 20 liter plastic containers served as chairs on the colored floor. The door was made of old planks that had roughly been nailed together. The long nails stood out on the inside part of the door where they were hammered to bend in various directions after being driven through the planks.

“Hallow. Is this your return? How is Thelma? ” asked Ethel, her twelve year old young sister.

The girl was short and stout with a structure that was increasingly attracting the attention of men. Her face was brown with an innocent beautiful smile. Her hair was long and always meticulously combed. Her beauty was an exact opposite of her sister’s ugliness. People wondered if Grace and Ethel had one father.

“She is fine,” Grace replied while walking into the house.

Meanwhile that night was long for Thelma. She could not sleep a wink. The idea of a spirit coming as a husband was dreadful. Why out of all the people did the so called spiritual husband choose her? Was she a horrible sinner? If so what had she done as a sin? How many times would she need to see the pastor to have the spirit banished?

If removed, would it return? If at all the spirit did not get chased, would she really not marry? If she married someone, what would the evil spirit do to that man? Would her marriage really be successful? Would she not be a widow after the jealous spirit killed her husband?

Thelma sleeplessly kicked, tossed and rolled from side to side in bed that night. Whenever an owl landed on the roof, she shuddered, thinking it was the arrival of her spiritual husband at last. She thought he might have come to kill her as the evil spirit had certainly discerned Pastor Chance’s intercession.

Meanwhile, next to her on that single bed, Monica was snoring like an uphill- moving cement-overloaded truck .There was a thin mattress on the wooden bed. The mattress had been covered by a thin blanket and the ladies had covered themselves with two thicker ones.

That night, Thelma heard all the dogs that barked as her eyes were completely dry of sleep. No matter how tightly she closed the eyes, memories of that shocking church service tortured her. She remembered how the pastor had first touched her breasts and prayed. She vividly remembered how she had nervously walked to the pastor’s room and entered. Thelma also reflected on whatever the pastor had done to her in that bedsat last just before dawn, she was tired enough to sleep.