It was dark. The moon struggled to part the curtain of the stubborn clouds. At the end, it managed to form a crescent. Satisfied, the moon relaxed. Suddenly, the clouds began to gather so that the stars ceased twinkling. Frightened, the moon glided into the already dark clouds.

The incredible storm was unprecedented. It erupted blinding whirlwind all over the town. Head-ties and wrappers were untied and flung into the air. Hence, people ran helter-skelter seeking for nearest shelters.

Adio could not believe it. But there was no sign that it was going to rain, he thought as he folded his arms across his chest, running. Drenched, he noticed a shop ahead of him. In excitement, he hurried towards the shop but he slipped. He stood up in sheer disgust. He cleaned the stained trousers and began to tread carefully. The shop was a variety store which bore the name "EL-SHADDAI STORES." A lady was washing a cup under the droplets from the roof. She was fairly tall and dark, exuding a pious countenance: no earring, no make-up. Her long gown, her well-fitted turban, and the titillating Christian song from a radio inside the shop, suggested that she was a Christian. She would be nice, Adio thought, climbing the stairs that led to the shop. The lady looked ahead of her and noticed the unkempt Adio.

"What are you coming to do here?" She asked.

“Good evening." Adio greeted. "Please I need some shelter from the rain." He begged, shivering, quaking with cold.

“I am sorry you can't stay here," the lady replied, "This is not a public shelter."

"But please there is no place I can hide," begged Adio, "Just allow me to ...to...to…”

"Hopeless pretender!" The woman cut in.

"Go away." The lady thundered like the groans behind the swarthy sky. "Leave this place, you are a thief." The cantankerous lady screamed, walked into her shop and closed the sliding-door.

Adio's head drooped sadly as he walked away under the downpour of the weeping sky. What a Christian, he thought. He looked back and saw the lady visible behind the sliding- door.

He shivered as he walked away gently on the mud with his hands clasped on his chest. And then he laughed- the type of laughter he usually shares with his co-angels, the Seraphim.

Having unfolded his arms from his chest, he looked into the sky and shimmered quickly into immortality. His angelic elegance and brilliance scattered dazzling light as he ascended into the firmament.

 

From Sola Ogunbayo: Sola Ogunbayo is a Christian poet, a literary critic, an author of two books namely, The Wheel of God and other Stories and The Lion and Joel. The Nigerian writer has a heavenly forte to war with words.