Dear Jesus,

"John, I need your help," I said.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, like right now. Can you come pick me up? I have to get somewhere."

"Where?"

"Arrows Children Orphanage."

"Roger that miss." I could almost visualize him saluting on the other side of the line. I smiled.

This is it. My chance to make things right.
~~~~~~~~~~

Skrr. Clang. Scratch.

Uh?

Scratch. Thud. Screech.

Ok, what for crying out loud is that nagging noise doing to interrupt my beauty sleep?

It came. Again and again, unrelenting.

I was forced to leave the cozy comfort zone of my new, absolutely soft, purple themed bed. Hirena laid on the other side of the bed, snoring lightly. Her full brown straight hair was sprawled all over the pillow.

My eyes were still groggy with sleep as I zombie-dragged my feet over to the source of that grating sound.

I traced it to the balcony.
And it wasn't a ghost. It wasn't a stray animal trying to find a temporary home either.

It was Jerry. Poor Jerry who was almost frozen to death, scratching at the glass of the balcony door.

I shivered myself. Harmattan had come full force, heralding the first day, the first Sunday in the month of December. The first of the last, if you get my pun.
Rolls eyes at myself. Why do I even try to be poetic? I suck at it.

It was still very dark. I hadn't the slightest clue what the time was.

I removed Jerry's chain, picked up his whimpering form and went inside.

Armed with the confidence that Hirena had told me yesterday that Jerry was tick free and potty trained, I placed him between Hirena and I and went right back to sleep.

It was the wet licks of his tongue added to the ring ring of my digital alarm clock that awoke me later on. It was 5:30am. Dawn rays, though dim, were already visible. Hirena was no longer on the bed.

I found her kneeling by the swing in that biting cold, seemingly unaffected, praying sincerely from her heart.

I smiled and tiptoed back in, not wanting to disrupt her special reconciliation and fellowship moment with you.

I was so happy. Happy to the extent that I startled Jerry when I bounced on the bed.

Oh Jesus! Thank you.

And I sat back up to pray to you and read my Bible.

When Hirena came back in, she was shivering.

"Brrrr," she said through chattering teeth in mock shiver. She held her hands over her chest in a bid to provide warmth.

"This is almost like winter, only harsher. I feel as if my blood is curdling," she said.

I laughed at her. She wasn't finding anything funny.

We proceeded to have our bath. Hirena and I ditched our lotion and opted for the good old vaseline therapy.

After hurriedly dressing up in the usual fancy church clothes, we went downstairs and met Mom and Dad hovering about, trying to get set for church.

Apparently Aunt June was still taking her bath, for Mom, as we ate breakfast, wouldn't stop reminiscing about how Aunt June, back in those day, would comfortably spend hours in the bathroom all in the name of bathing.
One would think she was carefully peeling off her skin, removing all the dirt and germs underneath it and then carefully replacing layer by layer of her precious skin, Mom said.

I laughed. So did Hirena, who was glad that she now had a flaw to nail her mother to the cross. Just kidding. Hirena would do no such thing... I hope.

We got to church in record time. Jerry followed, but we had to chain him outside. He's a good dog and he behaved himself. Some brave kids even went ahead to touch him.

Pastor Henry led the opening prayer and exhortation. Dad preached a sermon titled "Our Redeemer is Strong!" I enjoyed and was blessed by every bit of it. The Choir gave a powerful rendition. Your Spirit flowed in our midst in a new dimension today. I expressed myself in the Holy Ghost.

Hirena sat beside me in the second row to the front. I could see that she really enjoyed the service too. During the worship, I heard her beautiful voice worshipping from a heart of rededication. Tears flowed too. It was heaven and bliss.

Lord, please help your daughter, Hirena, to be real with you this time around. Help her to build an intimate relationship with you. Amen.

After the whole service, I was duely intercepted as usual by the colony of chattering, exhuberant children. They wanted to know why I wasn't the one who taught them Sunday School today. I told them I couldn't always be the one teaching them, that soon enough they'd get tired of me.

"We like your teaching better. We would never be bored or tired of you," Cat, the boldest and most outspoken girl of the lot, said to me.

I smiled. I could feel vestiges of pride creeping up my heart. Oh no! I'm not falling for that trap anymore. Holy Spirit promptly burst that swelling head of mine. I shook my head and tapped the tip of Cat's cute nose.

"It isn't me. It's Jesus you won't be tired of. Understood?"

"Yes Ray!" Cat said, giggling, with the rest of the kids echoing her affirmation.

They were tugging at me. This one would want me to carry her and the other would want me to see his latest airplane toy collection. This little one would cling to me, hugging me, while this other one would come whining about his friend that hit him. It was fun, but exhausting, I must say.

Now I understand why your disciples were irritated and wanted to shoo off the children that came to you. But, I chose to be like you: Suffer the little children to come to me.

Hirena came along.
Some of the kids who had been in our church for a long time remembered her, while those who were new had to be introduced to my witty headed cousin. She swiftly distracted them with good old Jerry. I could breathe, for now.

But instead of Cat running along with the others to smother and coo and aww... over Jerry, she stayed with me.
I'm laughing at this metaphor right now. Cat versus Dog. Tom and Jerry, depicted in that hilarious cartoon as sworn enemies. Ha ha.

"I have something for you," she said in her tiny voice as her hand searched her dress's pockets.

"Aha!" she called in triumph as she brought out a normal looking folded sheet of paper.

"What's that?" I asked, curious. I leaned forward.

"Lydia asked me to give you." She stretched it to me.

"Which Lydia?" I asked as I collected the paper. Don't blame me. I know at least three girls named Lydia. And except for one brown-eyed girl I will never forget, the others are just distant acquaintances.

"Lydia Tyson. She said you know her. She goes to my school."

I was pleasantly surprised.

"She does?"

"Yes. Since Mangrone Basic School is a government owned school, their orphanage is able to afford to send them to the school and I guess with the help of sponsors too."

I recalled Frederick saying he was on a scholarship. That's very thoughtful of the orphanage.

"Ok... Let me see what I have here!"

I unfurled the creased paper and stared at words scrawled across it in blue.

Dear Radiance,
How are you? I've missed seeing you. I still pray for you.
There is something I want to tell you. Jesus told me to tell you that you must not allow fear. There is more to come, he said.
PS: I hope this letter reaches you in time. I was sick two days ago, that was when he told me. I'm still a bit ill. Please pray for me.

I read it again. As I did, a sense of urgency came upon me. I felt suddenly in my spirit that I had to go and see her or else something not too nice would happen.

Oh Lord... I muttered under my breath.

"Go!" You said. I recognized that voice and that command too well. No time for hesitation.

I looked up to ask Cat more questions, you know maybe she'd have a clue about what prompted this message, but she was not in the seat opposite me anymore.

I got up and scanned the hall. She wasn't there. Only empty chairs and few people in groups were in the hall.

I walked towards the door and looked out into the parking lot and lawn in front of the Church.

She was amidst the clutter of kids playing hide and seek, being effortlessly sniffed out by Jerry. Hirena was playing with them.

It was foul play on Hirena's part, but the excited squeals of the kids when their hideout was discovered showed that they didn't mind at all. Kids. What carefree nature.

I turned back in and went to look for Mom and Dad. Mrs Carey said they were in a meeting with the other ministers as regard our upcoming vigil. I understood.

I told her to please leave a message that I'll meet them at home, that I'm off to Arrows Orphanage for something very urgent. She acquiesced.

I dialled Genevie's number. I wanted her to drive me to the Orphanage. There was no fare with me and my parents weren't currently available.

Once. Twice. Thrice. It rang but she didn't pick it. Maybe she was still in service; that was unlikely cos the time was past two but who knows? Or it could be that she simply wasn't where her phone was.

Sigh... What other option did I have? I called John. The wings rider. Ahem! I meant Powerbike.

"John, I need your help," I said the moment he picked the call.

"Oh really?" He sounded incredulous.

"Yes please, like right now. Can you come pick me up? I have to get somewhere," I said in the most convincing tone I could muster. I said it softly.

He sighed. I could here his family's voice in the background.

"If I'm bothering you, there's no need. I'll find another way," I said quickly. But oh! I wasn't serious about that. I was praying that he should be convinced. And I was applying something I read in a book sometime back: the psychology of persuasion.

"Where?" he asked almost resignedly.

"Arrows Children Orphanage."

"Roger that, miss." I could almost visualize him saluting on the other side of the line. "I'll be with you in five. You're still at your church, right?"

I smiled. He guessed right.

"Yep. It's the heritage of all pastor's children," I said laughing.

"Wait for me."

"I will. Thank you."

The call got disconnected.

This is it. My chance to make things right.

**********
A/N: Whew! The fortieth chapter has finally wiggled itself out of my brain.☺️

Thank you for reading. I hope you loved it. ❤️❤️❤️

Was that letter cryptic? Was it too normal? Find out in the next chapter which comes up soon, I hope.

Jerry is a sweet cutie.🤩 Who else loves him? The very first dog I owned was named Jerry but he died of Scorpion sting. We discovered too late. I dedicate this chapter to his memory.

*Sniffs and wipes tears*🥺

I was quite young when we had him and had no phone to snap his pic. 😭

I'm gonna console myself by posting this picture of our present doggie named Maximus. This was how cute he looked like as a puppy:

Don't mind my emotionalism. Please enjoy your day and life. ⭐✨
And you could also cheer me up by leaving votes, comments and sharing word about this story...😉