~THE DEVIL ON THE ALTAR~
CHAPTER Six
Patricia decided to take a walk after staying in the hospital through the night and was not allowed to see her mum and neither did she see the traces of her father anywhere. She had not walked up to two blocks away from the hospital when she heard her name, she turned to look at who was calling her and lo and behold it was her dad. She ran all the way to greet him, she gave him a big hug and burst into tears, he patted her back, comforted her and assured her that all will be well.
“I have been in the hospital since last night but I didn’t see you around.”
“Yeah, I left the hospital when the doctor told me what was at hand. I went to some friends and even the cooperative society but they all said they had no money at the moment. I have emptied all my accounts and it is not even up to quarter of the amount required.”
Patricia could not hold back her tears; she could not believe that it was their poverty that would lead to the death of her mother. Her father tried to console her but she refused to be consoled, she cried her eyes out.
“Patricia you are a Christian, you believe in God, you believe in miracles, your mom will not die but live to declare the works of God in the land of the living, you will overcome this, it is just a phase and it will pass and you will come out shining.” Those were the words that kept on dropping into Patricia’s mind and suddenly she felt strengthened and went to the church to pray.
Patricia stayed in the church all through the night praying and pouring her heart out to God. She felt so relieved and optimistic after praying that she could bet that her mother would be hundred percent alright by the time she would get back to the hospital.
She got to the hospital right after her mom was rushed into the intensive care unit after she developed serious complications over the night. Patricia was so shocked to discover the recent development and was more shocked to learn that the doctors were threatening to send her mom out because of the unpaid bills which kept on increasing.
Patricia saw her dad sitting in the corner with his head lowered and tears ran down her cheeks. She could not figure out what they had done to deserve all those kinds of suffering.
She decided to also run around and see how she can be of help to raise the money for her mother’s treatment. She went around to her pastor’s place then to some elders in the church and also her former colleagues in the church but they all had one story or the other to tell her.
Having moved around from place to place without getting the help she needed, she decided to start looking for what to do to fetch her money. She looked around for little jobs she could do and get paid after the day. She saw quite a number of them and even though she would be receiving a meager pay she didn’t mind as long as she could be depositing the money for her mom’s surgery. Jumping from one construction site to another was not an easy task for Patricia. She was always worn out with pains all over her body after each day’s work.
To be continued…
© Grace Olayemi
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