“Judy my daughter,” she called out with smiles. All the bitterness in me disappeared. As I was moving closer to greet her, I wondered why such a woman that looks so innocent outwardly would allow the devil to use her to destroy someone’s life.

“I’m here to see someone but she is still held up on traffic I decided to wait for her. I told their security personnel to allow me into their compound but he was speaking gibberish. That was why I’m outside. Thank God I have seen you, let me stay in your house till when she comes,” Mrs. Don informed me.

“You want to stay in my house?” I asked. Sudden fear gripped me and I was thinking of how best to dismiss her.

“Are you going out again,” she asked me as she noticed my reluctance to allow her go with me.

“Yes Mum,” I quickly answered but I realized that it was dangerous telling lies.

“I mean no Mum. I am not going out. Let’s go.” I felt it was better to be on the Lord’s side by saying the truth. After all if the Lord does not protect me, even distance would not be a barrier for her to harm me.

“Father, unto your hands, I commit my spirit,” I prayed silently.

Already at home, I prepared food for her to eat.

“Judy, oremi really trained you well in kitchen affairs. This food is very delicious,” she complimented me.

I wondered how she could still be referring to my mother as her friend after all the evil she committed against her. She continued eating her food but I could not help it, but to pity her. Mrs. Don was a shadow of her old self. Her beauty had gone.

“What is wrong with this woman,” I kept asking myself. It was hard for me to figure out what the problem was.

“Mummy are you sick? You don’t look well,” I asked out of pity and curiosity.

“My daughter, life has not been fair to me. I hardly eat food because of the burden in my heart. I don’t know who I have offended that decided to make my life miserable,” she answered amidst sob.

“What exactly is the problem ma? Please stop crying.”

“Lucia is sick. I have done everything humanly possible but her condition keeps getting worse. I don’t know what next to do.”

“When did the sickness start? I thought that she is studying outside the country.”

“Yes o. I struggled, did lots of things both legitimate and illegitimate in other to raise money and send my child abroad. I never knew that I was sending her to an early grave. My very close friend, who I trusted so much, rendered me bankrupt in the guise that my daughter was going abroad for studies but behold the abroad turned to a brothel….” She broke down in tears.

“Mummy please stop crying and tell me exactly what happened.”

“My friend took my only child abroad and forced her into prostitution.”

“What!”

“Yes. I was busy broadcasting myself, boasting to people that my daughter was studying medicine abroad. Ah! My enemies have finally triumphed over me. Now the news is everywhere that my daughter contacted diseases while prostituting abroad. I hardly move around in my street without people sneering at me. I have done everything within my powers to ensure that my daughter regains her health. There is no native doctor in this city that I have not visited.”

“Mummy, are you still visiting native doctors? It is well o. Anyway, you have to take it easy. Don’t lose hope. You might have tried native doctors and they fail you, you have not tried Jesus Christ. Jesus can heal her. It’s pity that she is suffering for sin that another person committed. Can you give me her phone number? I want to call her on phone and pray for her.”

When I completed my statement, Mrs. Don smiled bitterly.
“My daughter you don’t understand. You are talking like a child, that you are. At this point, I have already lost hope. Nothing is remaining. Could you believe that a close friend can do such a thing to me?”

“Hmm, Nothing is impossible these days; human beings are desperately wicked,” I responded.

“My daughter, you just hit the hammer on the nail. This is the highest level of wickedness. But I have decreed that it will never be well with her. She will surely shed all the tears that I have shed.” She was forcefully heating her chest continuously as she talked.

“Mummy take it easy so that you don’t hurt yourself. I will advise that you forgive her.”

“Did you say I should forgive her? It’s like you don’t understand the gravity of the offence she committed. Alright give me one reason, why I should forgive her.”

“You should forgive her because I forgave you.”

“I don’t understand.” She said and looked at me for explanation.

“I don’t think that what she did to you is grievous than what you did to me or even my mother who you refer to as your friend. You claimed that you loved me yet you made me to be stealing. You turned my parents to your bank account in the name of finding solution to my problem. As if that was not enough, you nearly turned my father to a murderer. How would it have been if I had died on the day you made my father to flog me? It is now clear to me that you purposely acted the drama on that day. If I could forgive you, then you have no choice than to forgive your friend. Don’t forget that what goes round comes round.”

Mrs. Don gazed at me in stupefied astonishment for few minutes. Then she pointed her finger at me.

“You are aware of what I did to you? Yet you brought me here and served me food.” she asked in a shaky voice.

Suddenly, she rose up place her two hands on her head and was wailing.

“I’m finished. I have walked into my death today. Wait! Did I really eat food here?” she asked me.

“Yes Mummy, you just consumed a plate of semovita and vegetable soup.”

“Hei! no wonder that food was extraordinarily delicious; I didn’t know that you poisoned it. If someone had informed me that today is my last day on earth, I wouldn’t have believed it. ”

She started attempting to vomit the food she ate.

“Mummy what is the meaning of that? Why would I poison you?”

“Somebody help me with palm oil, palm oil please………” She continued shouting and ran outside.

I stood in my sitting room confused. The confusion was suddenly replaced with fear.
“What have I gotten myself into?” I cried.

“Mummy come and take your hand bag.”

I carried the bag and ran after her.

Few months later, I went to the hospital one morning to visit one of our church members who gave birth. On my way out I saw a scene that made goose pimples to rise all over my body. I saw her from a distance sweeping the hospital compound. I was not very sure at first but at a closer look, I confirmed that she was the one.

“What is Mrs. Don doing here?” I asked myself in wonder.

I decided to take another route out of the hospital. Just at the gate, I met an old friend named Peace.

“Judy, is this you?” she shouted in excitement and ran to hug me.

“Wait! Did you just hug me?” I asked

“Why not?” do you forbid hugging?”

“No. But my head forbid pressing iron.”

We both busted out laughing

Peace was a very good friend of mine. We had lots of things in common. Apart from the fact that both parent s were medical doctors just like my parents, we were also given birth to, the same day and in the same hospital. Both her parents and mine approved and encouraged our friendship. Everything was moving smoothly until when I started stealing.

My dismissal from school really affected our relationship. She kept on calling me on phone and encouraging me. After a while, she stopped contacting me. My effort to contact her on phone proved abortive. Initially I was scared that of her wellbeing and I decided to visit her parents to inquire about her. On getting to their compound, the security personnel informed me that she was still in school.

By the time that schools vacated, I paid her an unscheduled visit. Luckily, I met her at home. On seeing me she ran to hug me. However, I noticed that she was somehow unsettled. She suggested that we should have a stroll but I insisted on staying home with her. Few minutes later, her mum came back. On sighting me, her countenance changed. Almost immediately, Peace started shaking in fear like someone who has committed a heinous crime. I stood and was watching her helplessly.

“Young woman, what are you doing in my house?”

“Welcome Mummy. It’s me; Judy.”

“I am not blind. I know that it is you; Judy the armed robber. My question is: what are you doing in my house?

“Mummy this is not fair,” Peace intervened. Little did she know that she had chewed more than she could swallow. Her mummy lifted a pressing iron by the corner and landed it on her head. Blood filled everywhere. I had to run for my dear life. I never knew that the woman had warned her daughter never to have anything do with me again. That was why she wanted us to stroll out when I came. Since that day, we avoided each other like plague in other to prevent a repetition of that ugly drama.

“Judy it’s been a while. What are you doing in my office?”

“I came to see someone. Does it mean that you work here?”

“Yes. I am a medical doctor”

“That’s good to hear. Congratulations!”

“Thank you. Judy, do you know that your mother’s friend Mrs. Don has been in this hospital?”

“What is she doing here?” I inquired.

“The death of Lucia dealt her a heavy blow which landed her in hospital. Her treatment cost a fortune; it is in few millions of naira. Unfortunately she does not have money to pay. So the hospital turned her to a cleaner. She has to live here and clean the hospital until when she is able to pay the money or when God will raise her Good Samaritan to settle the bill. Who knows whether that is why God brought you here today. Will you love to go and see her?

“Not today…. May be next time,” I told Peace and quickly disappeared from the scene. But after that incidence, I lost my peace.

Watch out for the next episode!