Chapter 24

HONEY IN THE CITY: CHP 23 – To be blessed

When they got back home, Nancy explained everything to Daisy. She went to details of how the police officers tried to rape her and even one wore a condom before a female officer came to her rescue.

“My goodness!” Daisy said, “You should go to church now and give thanks to God. This is God saving you.”

“For now, let me just sleep. This is too much to one person.” Nancy said.

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Nancy did manage to wake up and prepare her daughter to go to school. She then continued to sleep. At around 11 am, Nancy woke up and prepared lunch for herself. She made Ugali and ate it with some milk that was in the fridge.

Past midday, Daisy went to see how her friend was fairing.

“At least you can smile now.” Daisy told Nancy.

“Yes, eh! I have been through a lot. But that is life, part of this game of survival.” Nancy said.

“It is why I carry a knife in my handbag so that if I meet a man pretending like he is tough; I can as well cut off his balls.” Daisy said.

“I will stop going out now.” Nancy said.

Daisy laughed and told her, “I know you, just a few days and you will be back going out and about.”

Nancy laughed too and said, “I will get saved.”

“We are all saved.” Daisy said.

“How?” Nancy asked.

“Jesus died for all of us, whether we are sinners or saints, but mostly he died for sinners. Just go to church, give thanks to God and you are good to go. Pray for these misfortunes to go away.” Daisy told Nancy.

“I will, this coming Sunday, it is me and my Sunday best. I will be the first to get to church.” Nancy said.

===

True to her word, that following Sunday, Nancy woke up early enough. She prepared Lydia before also getting ready.

“Today we are going to church, to give thanks to God for this life.” Nancy told her daughter as she prepared her. The two were to wear similarly.

“Mum, why do people thank God, what has he done to be thanked for?” Lydia asked.

“He has given us life, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and many things.” Nancy said.

“Does God give people food?” Lydia asked innocently.

“Yes.” Nancy said.

“But I usually see you going to buy the food…” Lydia said.

“It is God who gives me the money to buy the food.” Nancy said.

“Then God is not fair.” Lydia said.

“Why?” Nancy asked her.

“Some children I hear they sleep hungry.” Lydia said.

“When you pray in faith, God gives you what you want.” Nancy told Lydia.

“Oh! ok.” The little girl said feeling satisfied with the answer her mother gave to her.

By 10 am, the two left and took a tuktuk. The tuktuk took them to the church. Other people had arrived. Nancy and Lydia walked to the front rows and sat there. She meditated for a while.

It was a praise and worship session that was going on. Nancy joined them into singing.

“Halleluyah!” the pastor suddenly said.

People replied, “Amen!”

It was pastor Nickson.

“God has granted us this nice new day to give him glory, we magnify his name, he is king of kings and lord of lords. He is the giver of life; praise be to Jesus…” pastor Nickson went on.

“Amen!” the people replied.

The choir would respond with nice melodic tune every time people said Amen.

“With you people, so beautiful, and men so handsome, it is not you but the holy spirit in you making you that way. Give thanks to God every time whenever you look at yourself in the mirror. You are created in the image of God, Halleluyah!” the pastor went on.

The pastor continued preaching. He was moving up and down while preaching when he suddenly saw Nancy. He had not seen her.

Pastor Nickson began to stammer the moment he saw Nancy. Nancy wore a very decent pale green long dress same as her daughter. She had a white scarf around her neck.

“Choir, lead us with one song, lead us with one song!” Pastor Nickson said so as to get a few minutes to relax. He suddenly remembered what happened between him and Nancy and lacked words to say.

People stood up and began to sing alongside the choir. Nancy too began to sing and dance with them. Some men could not hide the fact that they were ogling at Nancy as she danced to the tune of the songs. He daughter danced too. She was dancing alongside her mother imitating her mother’s moves.

When the songs ended, the pastor only came to tell people, “I prophecy greatness and prosperity amongst all of you, when I sat down there, God has shown me that all of you will be great. God will give you blessings, he will bless the work of your hands abundantly until you will wish to give him more and more….”

And with that, the service ended.

Nancy did not waste any time with anyone in the church. As soon as people began going out, she carried Lydia and walked with her away.

They walked into a restaurant. Nancy and Lydia sat down and began reading the menu together when the waiter approached them.

“I want some fried chicken, Ugali and also bring me some mango juice for me to drink before you bring for me the food. Serve for two, the two of us.” Nancy said and pointed at Lydia.

“Mum, I do not want chicken.” Lydia said.

“What do you want?” Nancy asked her.

“Matoke and meat stew.” The little girl said.

“As you wish.” Nancy told her.

“Bring her what she wants.” Nancy said.

The waiter brought them their food.

“I feel blessed, do you?” Nancy asked her daughter.

“Yes,” Lydia said, “I feel hungry…”

“I never said hungry, I said blessed.” Nancy said almost laughing.

“I don’t know what it is to feel blessed.” The little girl said.

“You will know when you grow up.” Nancy told her daughter.

“Mum, did you say when people pray in faith, they get their prayers answered?” Lydia asked.

“Yes, what do you want me to pray for?” Nancy asked her daughter feeling glad that her daughter was recognizing the power of prayer.

“I want you to pray for me to get a daddy, other kids in my school have daddies but me I don’t have a daddy…” Lydia said.

Nancy felt like a balloon that had suddenly began to lose its pressure. She felt deflated. She even felt her appetite suddenly gone. She stared at the food in front of her and felt her mouth turn stale.

r her pregnancy and even made them believe he was only denying it. She even took to social media for sympathy where she got women talking about how irresponsible men of late have been such that they deny their own children even after seeing them.

Nancy even took the young man’s photo and paraded him on a group where deadbeat dads were being ashamed. Girls even began calling him to insult him. It got to a level where the young man had to delete his Facebook account and change his phone number!

When he could not take it anymore, the man went to Nancy and told her, “I will order for a DNA test for this child, if at all you think I am going to simply accept to taken for a fool.”

Nancy however cried a lot telling him, “It seems you do not trust me, if you so much believe that this is not your child, then no need for DNA, just go and don’t even come back for me, never come back for us.”

For a while, the young man almost got convinced that he indeed was the father of the child but his instincts kept on telling him that he was not. Eventually, without even confirming with DNA, he told Nancy, “I know that is not my child, and there is no way I am going to accept you to lie to me that she is my daughter. I do not want anything to do with the two of you, you can parade my name even in wall street journal in New York and you will never convince me that bastard is my child!”

Nancy just cried and told him, “God shall punish you for abandoning your own child, go in peace.” But deep down she knew she was lying.

When Nancy gave that story to some of her close friends who had gotten children during their sex parties sprees, some told her, “Your timing was wrong, immediately you got pregnant you could have gotten a man, drive him crazy with love and make him believe he sired your child.”

Some even told her, “I have two children and the man they call their dad is not even the dad, I got them from sex parties and I do not even know who is the father…”

“Me too,” Another girl told Nancy, “I got the man who seemed easy going and likely to accept the child. I convinced him he made me pregnant. He accepted. Right now, as we speak, I am expecting his real child, second born. You just need to be smart. No man can escape our charms, we are the owners of this pussy and we are the only ones who knows how we use it to trap men…”

Another told Nancy, “In fact, most single mothers actually do not even know who fathered their children but they just get one fool and convince him that he is the father. If you are lucky, he will be supporting you and your child.”

“Even there is this lady who lives in Bamburi a friend of mine, 3 men think they are the father of her son, they all support her. One is even a very rich guy who works as an accountant in Bamburi Cement. You just need to be smart.” The lady said.

“I guess I will just be like her.” Nancy finally said after listening to the girls, “I will not care how I will be doing it but men will bring up this child. They made me pregnant, they must now take care of her…”

“Mum!” Lydia called out her mother and even threw a pillow to her. Nancy suddenly came back to present world.

“What is it daughter?” Nancy asked her.

“Someone is calling your phone and you are just holding it, staring at it…” Lydia told her mother. Nancy looked at the phone, it was no longer ringing. She however checked the last number that called. It was a Tanzanian Number.

“Who might be calling me from Tanzania?” Nancy wondered out loudly.

Lydia smiled, a simple innocent smile and said jokingly, “Maybe it is daddy…”