Whispers from Nakba

Chapter Two

COMMUNAL COMMINGLING CONTINUES

When my father saw me, he was quite bewildered, he thought the flood should have hindered me from coming, he obviously wasn't expecting me; he became more mystified after I narrated my experience on my way coming to him. Father cautioned me, "Still you tongue, a child should not always give voice to everything he sees".

My heart very pleased when i met maize on my arrival, i ate to an extent that one could find a few seed of maize dropping with my droppings. Iwas back home at dusk, i went to an elderly man, a son of my father's mother; i implored him to help me set up a snare, he granted my request, he handed me the trap which i immediately took to the maize section of our farm so as to prey on the squirrels that had become pests; I needed to make a meal out of them.

By morning, the trap was still empty, on the third day i observed that the trap had caught and cut off the arm of a rodent but it managed to escape.

On the fourth day, as i got to the farm, it came to my obvious notice that a hunter had killed an antelope in my father's farm, they had brought the hunted game into our farmhouse, to split and distribute the trophy meat, my father had the lion share of the antelope because he was the leader of the hunters and the owner of the farm where the antelope was hunted down. It was yet another day to feast.

Times went by and series of events took place, but i just couldn't stop thinking about the encounter i had with that strange man with the diamond rod, i haven't met him since then, although i often see him in my dreams. The first time i saw him in my dreams, he wasn't holding the rod, but he had wings flapping over his shoulders. He carried me and we journeyed into the sky, after a while in flight, he sat me on a cloud; he asked me, "Look down upon the face of the earth; what do you see?" "Nothing special.." I replied "As soon as i replied, his hand was promptly dipped into his pocket, bringing forth a glass mirror across my face, then he said to me, "Look again.." I looked down and this time i saw it all; with a crystal clear view i saw the whole world as clear as a crystal ball. "I can see the whole world!" I exclaimed with puzzling excitement. "Child, can something be this great as to have no overseer?" He asked me afterwards. "No, something wouldn't be this great as not to have the Almighty God as the overseer." He smiled at my reply, then he told me it was time for me to return, urging me to hide my reply to his questions in the bottom of my heart all the days of my life. After he told me all these things, i woke up.

Three years later was when i saw him again, it was in another dream of mine, and just as he did to me the last time, he carried me into the sky, but this time we didn't alight at the previous vocal point of revelation, where he showed me a perfect picture of the whole world down below from a cloud high above. This time, we flew above and beyond that very cloud, we got to a height: the dwelling place of light; gloriously bright, and as we approach further, that bright light conformed into a supernal edifice; under close observation, i saw that it was an exalted mansion exquisitely stunning, standing as a perfection of beauty. When we gained entrance into this building, i was floored beyond measure as i saw the floor of this mansion; it was made of gold in its purest form; it was so pure i could clearly see my mirror image on the ground. I was flabbergasted to the point of fright, the beauty of that place was awe-inspiring, my feet was glued to the ground, i was scared to walk on that golden floor... "Walk freely child" he said and i did as he said, i began to walk freely. He took me into a room in that house, opened the window and told me to keep looking out the window. He said to me, "Keep looking outside and see with your own eyes." I did as he said, and as i did, i saw a river, it wasn't far and away... "Where is that river located?" I asked... "That river is located somewhere in the world." I was surprised i could see the world this close, judging by the distance we covered in height when we took flight from the world to this place... "Keep your eyes on that river and pay rapt attention." Those were his words to me before he left me alone in that room.

Not long afterwards, i saw an old man came around to take his bath in that river; even as i was looking out the windows of heaven; staring down to see this old man by the riverbank with a money bag. That man took his bath and took his leave but left his money bag behind by the riverbank. "O! How could he have forgotten that?" I heard myself thinking out loud. I was still wandering in my wild thoughts when a silverback gorilla came around and flung the heavy bag of money in thin air; some of the money in the bag met with the whirlwind blowing them into the river flowing far away. Some of the money in the bag still remained on the ground of the riverbank left behind by the silverback gorilla as he went away.

It wasn't long after all these things that another man came looking fortunate enough to find the remnant of money in the bag that the silverback gorilla left behind on the ground by the riverbank and carried it away. Then another man came and dived into the river for a bath oblivious to the previous: he just kept on swimming in the river up until the old man who left the money bag behind by the riverbank in the first place came back again with a shot g*n aimed at him yelling, "Hey! Where is the money bag I left behind by this riverbank?" "I saw no money bag on the ground on this riverbank when i came around!" The man in the river explained and exclaimed as he begged for his life all the same. The man with the fire arm didn't believe him, so he squeezed the trigger with the finger just to take his life away; the old man left him for dead and left right away: leaving behind a man who just fell down dead in the water all because his earnest plea had fallen into two deaf ears; shut by the blast of gunshot from a shotgun.

This were the things i saw, before he returned; he said to me, "That which you have seen, judge in between and tell me who is guilty?". I tried but i couldn't, i couldn't answer his question, i couldn't judge the situation... "Child, justice and judgement belong to the MOST HIGH, he upholds the secret things in the hollow of His hand; the works of God are are above and beyond findings: the clay is the source of the Potter's vessel, the source of the vessel is known to the Potter, but it is obvious that vessel is oblivious to the Potter's source. Such is the life of man; he can never know beyond what has been revealed to him by his Creator; for he himself is just another creature of the Creator that was never created. The children of men will always see from a blind spot except God shed the light of His truth to reveal the hidden secrets.

Child as you've seen through this window, the situation on ground by the river, i affirm to you of a truth that none of them is guilty. The old man with the money bag by the riverbank had inherited it from his forefather who had stolen it, and after he forgot it a silverback gorilla came and scattered it; the amount of money blown away by the whirlwind into the river flowing far away was the unrighteous gain the money had accumulated over the years: the money that the silverback gorilla left behind in the bag by the river was exact same amount that his forefather stole from the father of the man who found the money bag on the river bank and carried it away.

The father of the man shot dead in the river, was the one who killed the father of the man who shot him dead, all because of the money bag on the river bank.

Justice preserved! Judgement deserved! Can you observe? The evil seed an elder sows below the soles of his feet had become the fruitful harvest on the forehead of their offspring.

Child, you have been made to understand that which you have seen; this is a lesson and a platform for you to built up in the wisdom of God".

As soon as he finished speaking, he carried me on his shoulder as he usually does, and we flew, up until we descended upon the face of the earth.

Afterwards he brought me down from his shoulder, patted me on my head; bidding me farewell. But i didn't want him to leave, i had become so fond of him, yet he had to leave all the same, it doesn't really matter whether i liked it or lumped it.

Fortunately for me, within this motion depiction of emotional diminution, his words reclined my heart to lean on relief; my heart was at ease after i paid attention to the words he said to me before he left. In his words, he assured me that i would see him again, and as he began to fly away he said, "Farewell child, extend my greetings to your father, your mother and your beloved siblings..." I kept on responding to his greetings, exposing deep expression of affection rooted in communal commingling with this strange creature.