An Egg from Cuba

Chapter 1

Reverend Father Jioka Mikel was a heavyset priest in his late thirties, not known for punctuality as a minister, but his positives cancelled out his negatives. Moreover, he was not alone in the practice of ‘African time’; a principle whereby one presents oneself thirty minutes to an hour later than the time of a scheduled appointment. In Nigeria, people are very generous with time and no one raises an eye-brow. It has become the norm. It had come to the point at which anyone planning an event was obliged to make an allowance for about two hours delay before the opening prayers could be said.

On this particular Saturday, the 23rd of April 1982, Fr. Mikel could be seen to have shelved this principles, or rather practice, as he was already up and getting ready for ten o’clock mass at just eight thirty. He pensively inspected the various rooms and cubicles in his big mansion of a parish house. He was singing a Latin tune, familiar to him and other young priests. It was a special day for him, a state of affairs not unrelated to the fact that he would get the chance to impress some of the prolific sons of the soil. At the very least, he aimed to put a stop to the then common practice of indigenes of Orba choosing to have wedding rites performed in big cities instead of coming home to their birth parishes.

It is the joy of every parish priest to preside over a large congregation of influential individuals from time to time. Weddings offer an opportunity to remind people from all walks of life that God still loves them. This is because many parishioners especially men, only went to church on such special occasions as weddings, funerals, anniversaries, and so on. This particular wedding was special because the bridegroom was very influential and rich. As a youth, he had a place in everyone’s heart. His presence was persuasive and indeed nature had equipped him well and thus he did not have to make much effort to extract an affirmative response from his audience. In fact, people always seemed to be looking for the opportunity to agree with him. This trait was well illustrated in times of elections. Many youth leaders would go to him to either receive a blessing or to ask him who he was supporting. He often tried to put his weight behind the most viable and marketable candidates. Therefore, his candidates won all the elections and, as such, he became a king maker. He understood the delicate nature of politics; and therefore nurtured his success and denied opponents points of attack. He did not take credits that were out of proportion to his effort. Rather, he adopted a humble approach; showing respect to his opponent, and then making him do what he wanted. He readily added the prefix ‘sir’ when addressing a subordinate; Sir, I understand your point of view, but could you leave the decision for Leo, who is yet to make a mistake. His name was Leo, and he was a Leo. He was known to believe that ‘Leo’ stood for quality leadership.

When a the average man goes to bed, he thinks of tomorrow and how to survive it, but even before Leo went to bed he was already thinking of how things would be in the next five to ten years. Like a man at the chess board, he was always seen to be making adjustments towards future gains. Therefore, when he chose to have his wedding in the local parish church, opponents said it was a political move. They said he was trying to gain the support of members of the church and the entire town. Actually, he had that support already, he was just polishing his political weapon. In fact, every life decision he made was strategic. For instance he finally settled with marrying a nurse when he could not get a doctor to accept him. This choice was due to the nagging headache that he had that had been diagnosed as migraine, but he knew it was a greater problem than that. He had carefully interviewed people who had migraines and noted that his own condition was markedly different. He felt like someone groping in the dark, taking treatment with half conviction. None of his strategic doctor friends ever examined him in detail; none used a tendon hammer to knock on his knees. They were always sure from the very beginning; my friend you have migraine. You are a wrong candidate for those things you are thinking about.

It was after Leo had made commitments that he realised that doctors are trained and licensed to restore health, and nurses to keep the sick alive according to doctor’s order. He thus thought of nurses as three-quarter baked doctors. There was no going back on his numerous promises. He could not take back the solemn pledges made in dark corners, the love notes and promises of good behaviour, unconditional love and happily-ever-after.

One day Leo had an attack of the said migraine and told his then girl-friend, Zoba, that he was staying home on account of ill-health. Zoba was in a panic. She called her work place to say she was sick and then prepared a good meal and visited Leo with food and some analgesics. On her way, she invited a female doctor friend to see Leo at home. Unknown to her, Muna had had a brief relationship with Leo and they pathed ways due to what they termed ‘irreconcilable differences’. Later they wished they had not given their problems such a sour legal label. Leo believed that if they had tarried a little longer, the differences would have been resolved without a third party. As such, the visit turned out to be a setback to Leo’s present relationship. To Leo, it was like a distraction that required concerted effort to overcome. He needed to focus on his own family and to demonstrate that he had regrets which he was dealing with. To Zoba, what she had done was a heroic act, a sign that she was ready to be a dependable wife. Leo was further irked by the professional stance that Muna adopted throughout the visit. Leo lost hope when he noted that sending Zoba away on an errand did not have any impact on Muna. At the end of the day, Muna examined him and prescribed some medications which he did not take because he felt deep inside him that once again, the true diagnosis had been missed.

Leo acknowledged zoba’s effort, but he was just not the type of man who would squat and thrust his jaw to be shaved by another. Leo already saw illness as a weakness and being pitied only served to emphasize it. He therefore vowed to keep his discomforts secret and never to let Zoba know the true state of his health

Some people are known to wake up happy on most days, and it will only take one bad event to unsettle them or burst their bubble. Some people wake up with songs in their mouths whereas other people mostly wake up neutral. Such neutral people will then look at the attitude of their spouse, their children or the weather to determine whether it will be a good or a bad day. If such a person is greeted warmly by the first person he or she meets, then the rest of the day is likely to be bright. Zoba was the type of person who needed constant reassurance that she was equal to the task. She was not happy with her food unless someone could be seen to be enjoying it. She believed that she was shabby until someone complimented her on the ingenuity of her appearance and fashion. She took things at their face value and therefore telling her an ambiguous joke often proved to be an expensive mistake. On one occasion, someone who thought she needed more flesh told her that she was over padded and had no reason to be so. She took it to heart and starved herself for several days until the same person asked her Hey Zoba do you look this way by choice? It was difficult for Leo, who had other things on his mind to give the required reassurance. However, his presence alone and the way he looked at his fiancée, was often as reassuring as any word he could have said.

Fr. Mikel dressed up in an alb, and secured it with a white cincture, allowing the fluffy end of it to hang down by the side. His chasuble had already been placed at the sacristy by one of his numerous servants. He picked up one green stole out of many. He knew the right colour by heart as seminarians needed to know all the details of priesthood even before they were sure of their vocation. He always wanted to be a priest and now that he has been ordained, carry everyone along had become his watchword. That was the way of the great colonial missionaries who inspired him.

He put the stole in his large pocket and settled down to eat his breakfast. At the end, he barely touched the mountain of assorted food served to him for breakfast. He had to avoid the excessive lure of a western diet in order to maintain his physique, and he was particularly careful to avoid things that came out of packets and bottles.

He needed some time to be with the choir. That was to make sure that the pre-mass rehearsal was not truncated. He claimed to be a member of the choir and he always had been a chorister since his school years. At this point, his occasional presence at the choir practice served as an inspiration to some young chorister who admired him and a motivation to older ones who saw it as a sign of humility in service.

Inside the St. Jacob’s parish church, choristers were rehearsing the numerous songs that would be sung during the wedding mass of Leo and Zoba. There was a need for them to perform exceptionally well in this particular mass because it was a chance for them to showcase their talents such that anyone celebrating a wedding in the near future would no longer have to look elsewhere for bands or other choirs from neighbouring communities. Leo had really surprised everyone by putting affluence aside to do what every Tom, Dick or Harry would have done; wed in the local parish church presided over by the humble parish priest, allowing the local choir to sing for him and finally having his reception at the church hall.

By the time the choristers had scampered to the top of the church gallery to begin the entrance hymns, the church was already half filled. However the bride and bridegroom were yet to arrive. Some of the choristers were perplexed by the idea of placing galleries at the back of the church, far away from the church altar. If some goodies were to be distributed among the congregation, the choristers could easily be forgotten altogether. Secondly, some parishioners could not make sense of the sermons unless they were sitting very close to the priest. It is possible that they refuse to believe the amplified sounds of the message from the loud speakers. They wanted to hear it first-hand and, probably, to see the expression on the face of the minister. This may also have been the reason behind video projection becoming common in big churches.

Within a short while, Zoba and her bridal train marched into the church ceremoniously, accompanied by her kiths and kin. Signals were immediately dispatched such that, before she could be seated, Leo was already coming into the church. The entrance hymn started and Fr. Mikel could be seen striding majestically out of the sacristy to the altar. He had his own entourage made up of mass servers, lay readers, deacons and other priests. The priest exuded contentment and enthusiasm. One could readily see that he loved his vocation. He believed that priesthood was a form of kingship.

Zoba was seen lifting her veil a few inches to look beyond two pews. She was looking for Leo, in search of reassurance. Leo soon looked up and made a sign, which made her smile. It was a clasp of fingers and one fifth of a bow. He may have thought it a bother if not for the fact that some men love the idea of their wives looking up to them. Leo was such a men and, in his case, all and sundry looked up to him. He always tried not to fail anyone. Zoba and Leo had actually come out of the same house, which was unethical by the church’s standards but the church had to look the other way in this case. Laws are for men not men for the laws, as some people argue.

Traditionally, people in Nigeria are often forced to conduct marriage ceremonies twice, at great expense to the bridegroom. This is because non Christians do not recognise church weddings, and the churches do not recognise traditional weddings. Therefore, most people conduct traditional weddings and begin life together until such a time as they can raise money for the generally accepted, and essentially irrevocable, church weddings. As such, most people coming for weddings often come from the same compound. Articles of faith are not supposed to be forceful, therefore persuasion and a diplomatic approach were being used in this particular parish. Any priest that fails to realise this aspect of culture, is bound to be unpopular and notorious.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. said Fr Mikel with all as he raised his hands