It was a busy day for Mr. Julius. Business was booming in his bar which he opened newly as an attachment to his shop. Many people were there drinking and eating pepper soup. He was trying to take stock of the day’s business when one of his friends stopped by.

“Mr. talk and do” his friend hailed him.

“Ogbuefi 1, I salute you.” He got up to go and shake hands with him.

“How is business?”

“My oga business is top notch. What do I offer you? Nkwobi, pepper soup, isi ewu, anything you want?”

“My brother, I will take nkwobi and chilled beer?”

“Where is this girl. Adankwobi, please prepare nkwobi for my boss,” Julius called out to one of his sales persons.

“Julius you will not cease to amaze me. Which one is adankwobi. Do people bear such name?”

“That is what we call her here. Her name is Ada but we added nkwobi to it because of how delicious her nkwobi is. If she prepares nkwobi for you, you might mistakenly bite your finger while eating it. That is why I specifically asked her to prepare it for you.”

“I am here. They say that ‘seeing is believing’,” Julius’s friend told him.

“Don’t worry. A trial will convince you,” Julius assured him.

“I must confess that the growth of your business is amazing. See the number sales persons you have” his friend said.

“My boss, all thanks to you. The advice you gave me was the saving grace. Everything turned around for good since I added this bar to my business. Remember when I told you that my pastor was kicking against my selling alcoholic drink. But you advised me to continue the business and even add bar to it so that people can stay behind and take their chilled beer accompanied with isi ewu, nkwobi or ugba. Immediately you said that something whispered to me that I have gotten solution to my breakthrough.”

“You mean, I told you this. I can’t even remember that I said so.”

“You did. It was after that I went in search of who knows how to prepare nkwobi and other delicacies. Somebody recommended this Ada nkwobi so I employed her. Since then, my business has tripled.”

“Wow! This is good news. So what is your pastor saying now?”

“He is not my problem for now. Though, he has been transferred to another church. There was even a time I took a gift to him.”

“Ha! Why will you give him a gift? He doesn’t deserve it.”

“You didn’t even allow me to finish what I was saying. He refused to collect it. He said that it was a proceed from evil business.”

“What! A pastor in this country rejected money. Then he is a real man of God.”

“That is not my business. What concerns me is how to make money and take care of my family. Anyway, he is no longer our pastor. We conspired against him and ensured that he was transferred from our church. A child that said that his mother should not sleep, he too should not sleep.”

“You should not have done that. The best you should have done is to leave the church. Listen to me, I honour my pastor, I cannot work against him. If my pastor offends me, I will search for means to reconcile with him. Afterwards, I can leave the church, if I wish. But to plot against a man of God, far be it from me. Let me tell you, I don’t trust my pastor. Sometimes I wonder if he is a real man of God. It’s just that I love his vibes. If I enter into an alcohol drinking competition with my pastor, he will beat me hands down. I even suspect that he has a side chick.”

“What did you just said?”

“You heard me well. That notwithstanding, he is my pastor. I honour him. Any day I feel uncomfortable with his style of pastoring, I will not fight him. Rather, I will leave the church. Not to talk of when I have a pastor who is a real man of God. I will advise that you should go and apologize to your pastor. Go with a worthy gift and apologize to him.”

“He will not agree to collect any gift from me. I am a sinner.”

“But at least, he will accept apology. Go and apologize to him for your own good.”

“Boss, this man is no longer in our church. I don’t even know where he is. How do I start the search? Even if I succeed, will he not start advising me to stop selling alcoholic drinks?”

“Even if he does, what is wrong with that? All the rich men in this country, is it alcoholic drink that they are selling? After all what is making your business to boom is nkwobi and isiewu. Introduce it to your Christian brothers and sisters. They will wash it down with non alcoholic drinks. You can call this place ‘Julius rebranded Christian bar’. Think about it. Let the Nkwobi have godly vibes. With that, your peace will be guaranteed. No one will come here and start misbehaving after taking alcoholic drink.”

“Boss, I don’t think that I can do that.”

“Mine is to advise you. Yours is to either take it or trash it. I have done my bit.”

“Thanks so much for the advice but be assured that it is not accepted.”

“I will like to take my leave now.”

“What of the nkwobi that she is preparing for you?”

“I can’t stay with you anymore especially that you have blatantly refused to go and apologize to that man of God. You are a time bomb, that may explode at any time.”

“It is you and your generation that will explode. Get out of my bar,” Julius barked like an angry dog.

“Sure I’m already out,” his friend told him.

“I don’t blame you. Let me see you anywhere around my bar again.” Julius threatened

************

Few days later, a quarrel occurred between two young men that came to have a drink at Julius bar. One of the young men came with his lover, after spending time, taking alcoholic drinks and eating nkwobi, he decided to go and ease himself. When he came out, he met another person discussing with his lover.

“What are you doing with my woman?” he thundered.

“I know you don’t expect me to answer that question,” the other man fired back at him.

“It’s either you respect yourself and answer me or I will force you to answer me I ask again, what are you doing with my woman?”

“Who are you referring to your woman? Is she your wife?”

At that point Julius tried to approach them to make peace but none of them was ready to listen to him.

“Now answer me for the last time, what were you discussing with a woman I brought here, who I have been buying drinks for. What exactly were you telling her?”

“I don’t have time for you. You are a drunk.”

You call me a drunk? I will show you how a drunk behaves”

He ran to the table, picked a bottle and broke it. When he turned he jammed Julius. The state of his drunkenness could not allow him to differentiate between Julius and the man he was quarrelling with. They were both putting on red T shirt. So, he drove the bottle into Julius stomach and his intestine gushed out. That was another casualty for the church.