Nancy Draws Thomas to God

12 Jun Nancy Draws Thomas to God

“They could at least have let me in to retrieve my belongings.”

“That’s when they would have arrested you.” Nancy rubbed Thomas’s tired shoulders. “How much stuff did you have in the flat?” she wondered.

“I had some clothes and some nice shoes,” he told her. “I had also bought some other things, like books and a radio. I had completely stocked the refrigerator the last time I was there, so all that food is mine.”

Three days after the failed bank robbery, Thomas had made his way back to Kenny’s block of flats. The building was sealed up and all the locks changed. A guard who kept watch of the property said Kenny’s father had done it. Thomas was not sure the old man knew what Kenny did, and he did not want to go tell stories about their life. Most of it was a criminal life, lived in the dark.

Frustrated and defeated, Thomas returned to Nancy’s loving embrace.

“What are you going to do now?” Nancy asked.

Thomas dropped his head into his hands. “I have no idea,” he muttered. “Without Kenny, I don’t know how I’m supposed to earn a good living.”

“I think you should try teaching again,” Nancy encouraged.

He reached over and stroked her hair. “I know you mean well,” he said, “but you know how the taste of some food makes you want to throw up? That is what the idea of teaching does to me right now. I spent months trolling around Lagos looking for a job, but I couldn’t get over that sour taste.”

She kissed him and caressed his cheek. “Calm down, Thomas,” she urged. “We don’t have to come up with a solution this very minute. We have a little bit of money to hold us for a few weeks. I just need you to come up with a plan. I’ll need your help if we’re going to make ends meet.”

Thomas nodded.

“Try not to worry,” she said soothingly. “I believe in you. I really do.”

Thomas pulled her into his arms. He wished he had as much faith in himself as Nancy had. Fanni’s words still resounded around his head: leave the city before it totally devours your soul. He knew that he could not. There was no way that he could leave now. Nancy had secured a good job that paid regular money and he was hooked on the city itself. Hooked, he thought, I have suckled on the teat of Lagos for so long now that I am dependent on the adrenaline that she feeds me.

He pulled himself from his thoughts long enough to make a decision. He knew it was time to lie low.

( ( ( ( (

One Saturday morning, about a month later, as soon as the sun came up, Nancy rolled out of bed, hovered over Thomas, and spoke into his ear. “I would like you to come with me today.”

Thomas stretched and groaned. “Come where?” he mumbled.

“To church. My church is holding a three-day revival programme.”

“Church? I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?” she pressed. “It might give you some inspiration.”

Thomas rolled over, blinked his blurry eyes, and looked at her bright, shining smile. “No thanks, okay?”

She kissed his forehead. “Suit yourself,” she replied. “I’ll be back in the afternoon.”

Thomas flashed the trace of a smile and rolled over. Nancy desperately hoped that he would join her for church services, but she did not want to push him too hard. She had learned for herself that one had to find his or her own way to the light. It was something that simply could not be forced.

It was not until midday that Thomas managed to pull his tired body out of bed. He did not see any point in rushing to wake up. He had no job, no responsibilities, and no sense of honour. He barely had any reason to be alive, let alone awake and alert.

He stumbled around the apartment in his underwear, not willing to summon the necessary energy to put on his street clothes. He had no plans to walk out into the street anyway. He came upon a fresh bottle of vodka that had been sitting on the counter for the past few days. He had purchased it before the fatal bank vault attack, but he had not had a chance to enjoy it. It was not his usual practice to drink before sundown, but at that moment he couldn’t remember why he had ever made that rule in the first place. He broke the seal on the cap and let the strong odour of the liquor invade his sinuses. Seeing no reason for formality, he didn’t bother fetching a glass and instead chugged a few shots directly from the bottle.

After church services were finished, Nancy socialised with some friends from her congregation and then ran a few errands. It was a little past three o’clock in the afternoon when she returned to the apartment.

“Thomas!” she screamed. “Are you all right?”

Still clad in his underwear, Thomas lay slumped over on the couch. The empty vodka bottle sat on the floor and a joint was burning in the ashtray. The smell of hemp was so overwhelming that it caused Nancy’s eyes to water. She coughed as she crushed the smouldering embers and then threw open a window in search of some clean, fresh air.

“Are you… back… already?” Thomas babbled.

Her first instinct was to scream in disgust, but something told Nancy that Thomas was in too much pain to handle her anger. She drew in a deep breath and gently approached him. “Thomas,” she said softly, “you can’t go on like this.”

When he looked up at her, Nancy saw tears in his eyes.

“Nancy, I don’t know what to do,” he cried. “I can’t get a job and we are running down my savings very fast.”

Nancy rocked him in her arms and tried to calm him down. “It’s okay,” she said soothingly. “We’ll make it through somehow. Getting wasted is not going to help you, me, or anybody else. We need to find a workable solution.”

Thomas sat up suddenly as if he had been hit by a spark. “Wait!” he shouted. “I have it! Really! I have the answer!”

He clumsily pushed his way out of Nancy’s embrace and staggered back to the bedroom. She remained on the couch, trying to keep from crying. She didn’t know what Thomas was up to, but given his inebriated state, it was not likely to be anything worthwhile.

He stumbled back over to her, clutching something in his shaking hands. “This will carry us through,” he announced.

Nancy’s eyes widened at the sight of the artfully designed ring encrusted with the shining, precious stones. “My goodness, Thomas,” she gasped. “This must be worth a fortune.”

He smiled at her response, proud of his presentation. “I was going to give it you to show how much I love and appreciate you. Now I figure, with your permission, we can sell it and have plenty of money.”

Nancy was instantly suspicious. “Did Kenny give this to you?” she wondered.

“No, I got it from…” His voice trailed off.

“You got it from where?” she demanded to know.

Thomas drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “You know, Nancy,” he began, “you said it yourself. Sometimes you’ve got to do whatever it takes to survive.”

“Thomas,” Nancy pressed, “where did you get this ring?”

Thomas stepped backward and dropped his head in surrender. “I stole it from a man Fanni and I robbed on the way home from the bank, the night of the killings,” he confessed. “I don’t know who he was. I think he might have been American. He was driving a fancy car and wearing a tailored suit. He probably has enough money in stock options to buy a thousand of these rings.”

“That’s not the point, Thomas,” Nancy stated.

As much as he knew she was right, he could not bring himself to admit it: so he didn’t. “What difference does it make?” he argued. “Someone steals from someone else every day of the week. Who knows? That guy may have stolen all the money he used to buy that damn ring in the first place. We do what we have to do to get by. This is Lagos!”

Nancy was not about to cave in to such thinking. “This may be Lagos, Thomas,” she countered, “but we are not Lagos. We are better than that.” She studied the ring in her hand. “This looks like a very special item,” she commented. “It’s probably that man’s wedding ring.”

Thomas shrugged. “He can get another one.”

Nancy worked hard to maintain her composure. “Thomas, most couples treasure their wedding rings,” she explained. “This was probably given to him on the day that his wife promised to share her life with him. You can’t just take that away from someone because you assume they have tons of money. No amount of money can probably replace this item for that man.”

Thomas paced the room. He was still incapacitated by the strong combination of hemp and vodka, but he was sharp enough to recognise that he could not legitimately argue with what she was saying.

“We need to cleanse our souls, Thomas,” she said. “I mean both of us. We have lived horrible lives and done some terrible things. We cannot let evil overtake our souls just for the sake of ‘getting by’. Our lives have more meaning that than. We need to seek forgiveness and guidance from God. Please Thomas, come to church with me next Sunday.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Thomas scoffed. “Do you really think you’re going to find God in Lagos? There’s a church on almost every block of this city, every one of them asks for your money and then promises you eternal bliss. Do any souls really get saved? Does a holy spirit come down from the sky and save the meek or feed the hungry? I sure as hell don’t see it. When I see a church in this city, I see broken promises and fractured lives. If all the people who attend church services around here actually practised what they preached, Lagos wouldn’t be a hell hole of pain, desperation, and blood!”

Nancy was not about to back down. “This is not about church; it is about your personal relationship with your Creator. Besides, there are some very good churches in this city, Thomas,” she maintained. “They worship God in truth, and also do wonderful charity work to help people who are suffering, and they provide inspiration that helps people gain control over their difficult lives. I know this because I’ve been attending church services all my life.”

“And you still wound up walking the streets as a prostitute!” Thomas snapped.

The apartment was instantly besieged by a frigid silence. Nancy stared back at Thomas, tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to scream at him, but she could not call forth the words. He had struck her in the most painful part of her soul, and after everything she had endured throughout her life, she could not recall a moment when she had ever felt so horrifically wounded. She drew in a deep breath, turned her back on him, and quietly walked to the bedroom. She closed the door softly behind her, but to Thomas’s ears, it sounded like a ferocious slam.

Would he ever be able to convince her to forgive him?