SOLOMON'S BRIDGE {Part I}

THE WAR FRONT *4*

Four people.
I suppose I should be glad anyone showed up at all. The rain outside my future mega games complex thunders, its noisy pitter patter hitting my roof should not be so loud, but then, this is a large and rather empty building, so, its
raging downpour echoes all around our heads, as I smile at my very first members... nervously.

Four people.
A hooded figure sitting alone at the back row. Two eerily familiar looking men, both wearing bright blue brocade caftans, sit with their backs ramrod straight in the center of the middle row. One tall, unexpectedly 'white,' man, in the front, sitting directly opposite my marble podium. That throws me off focus for a few seconds.

"Good afternoon! Welcome."

The microphone works fine, their corresponding silence prompts me to clear my throat, "I really appreciate all of you for being here, on time, in spite of such wet weather. This is the Holiness Revival Bible Class, and we meet here, in this lecture hall, every Wednesday, at 5 p.m sharp. I'm Miss Edima, your host Speaker. Before we start I'll like each of you to kindly introduce yourselves, tell us how you heard about HRBC, and why you decided to try check it out. Beginning from the woman at the back. Your microphone is hooked to the side arm of your chair, you may use it, please."

The hooded figure unhooks a microphone. Holding it firmly, she murmurs...

"Please can you speak a little louder? I'm unable to hear you," I say, anxious to conclude this class before it gets dark. The electricity company can't be trusted, I haven't bought a generator set yet, and this neck of the woods is famous for what I want to discuss in the next few minutes.

Her voice is husky, almost raspy, way too low for me to understand what she says. I decide to tackle her after the class, "Well, I'm glad you are here!" I smile at her, all my attention moving to the two men sitting in the middle row. The big, burly one grins at me, "Hey, Miss Eddie," he laughs as my eyes widen in recognition,

"Eghosa Oseremon?" I blink at the much smaller man next to him, "Bobby Essien!" These men are my upstairs neighbors, and my tenants, though they don't know that last part yet. Bobby nods his head, pointing to Eghosa,

"He saw your flyer on the corridor walls, called me at work to ask for a ride. We came to give moral support!"

These two! From what I have observed about them in two years, they are full of good deeds. I've prayed for them to get good wives. They are real gentlemen, as they say in Canaan; the type of men whose mothers gave birth to them very well, "That's great! I think you're going to be so happy that you came."

The white man's name, is Dr. Jay Hall; he is on secondment from the British Home Office, and has been in the country for a week now, "I saw your billboard at Duke Town Drive. First I've ever seen of it's kind," he says, in a very deep but pleasant baritone. I'm half white myself, you'd think I'd be quite used to the sight of a caucasian, actually, the novelty of him is yet to fade out. Not his good looks, or his seeming affluence but, the sheer incongruity of his being is so shocking to me. He is almost too colourful to be real, with his yellow hair, and sky blue eyes, and pasty white skin, and... I force my mind back to his reason for coming, he is saying, "-no picture of the preacher, no big names, just a simple let's eat The Word."

Let's eat The Word, at HRBC lecture hall every Wednesday, 5 p.m, McFoy House, in Old Town, WaterTown. No image of myself is on any billboard, poster, or handbill, because it isn't about me, everything I do must point to The Christ. I often see how most church General Overseers do their adverts, making it all about them, their pride, vanity and mayhem. It's so extortionist.

"Well, Dr. Hall, I'm glad that you decided to come today," I press a red button on my hand held remote control. Instantly, the white wall split apart behind me, inching open on either side like thick curtains, to reveal a big tv screen. The screen comes on at my control prompt, setting the view on a king James version of the Holy Bible,