Your Change is Coming

other."

  Five

  A dark blue Nissan X-Trailer pulled up in front of the old crumbled down church building. The couple refrained from their battle. The woman was panting for air. The man straightened his coat collar and the woman adjusted her clothing. They composed themselves before rushing towards the car.

  "Take your eyes off me. That's all you are interested in, Rupert."

  "You're not young anymore, Sally."

  "Speak for yourself, Rupert and you're no Prince Charming."

  They walked over to car to greet the pastor. The pastor sat in the passenger seat yawning from last night prayer meeting. It was his wife, Bev who drove the car. She was still wearing her long white dressing gown having been suddenly awakened from her bed. A red spotted linen scarf was wrapped several times around her head covering up the plastic hair curlers. The car was now in a parked position. The engine was turned off but the headlights were beaming brightly at Rupert and Sally. A nervous looking Pastor Nelson wound down the passenger car window with all of the other windows and doors remaining close.

  The pastor recognised the couple. He remembered them distinctively as the couple who had shouted hallelujah the loudest. It was so loud that sleeping babies inside of the church woke up crying hysterically. They were new in the area and had visited the church over the past six months.

  "Hello Pastor Nelson, we need your help."

  "What's wrong, man?"

  "The baby is sick, pastor."

  "Is the baby experiencing pain?"

  "The baby is sick, man."

  "Yes, you've told me that already. Tell me what's wrong with your baby?"

  "It's not my baby, pastor. It's her."

  "Oh, it doesn't matter who the baby belongs to. I can see the baby is clearly in some form of distress."

  "I've told you woman that the pastor can't help you."

  "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong with the baby?"

  "Has the baby got a cold?" said the pastor wife.

  "No ma."

  "Is this your first baby?"

  "No ma."

  "Do not worry there are lot of viruses floating in the air. Has the baby got a high temperature?"

  "No mama, the baby has low temperature. The baby is well sick."

  "Is the baby teething?"

  "No Pastor Nelson."

  "Let me take a closer look at the baby."

  "No pastor. The baby is sick, pastor."

  "Then take the baby to a doctor. You don't need us."

  "We need you, pastor."

  "What do you need me for?"

  "We need you to perform a miracle on the baby."

  "Look man, I am not performing any miracle for you. This is not a game. If the baby is sick, take the baby to the hospital."

  "No pastor, the baby needs spiritual healing not physical healing."

  "Who told you the baby needs spiritual healing?"

  Rupert was astonished by the pastor unwillingness to cooperate with their request and he made reference to a higher authority.

  "The spirits told me. The voices warned me that the baby has evil spirits within him and only a servant of the almighty God can deliver him from the evil one."

  "Let me take a closer look at your baby, suggested the pastor."

  "No pastor."

  "I can't help you then."

  "Okay man."

  "What's the baby's name?"

  "George."

  The pastor stepped out of the car. He gently pulled back the blanket away from the baby face and he closely examined the baby. The baby's bulging eyes were widely opened showing signs of distress. His body was motionless within the pastor's arms and he was screaming in response to excruciating pain.

  "Is the baby teething?" asked the pastor.

  "Does the baby need bonjela gel?" said Bev.

  "No, pastor"

  The screaming had stopped and the baby was lethargic. The pastor felt physically sick without vomiting. The pastor whispered to her wife, Bev, "Why has God allowed this woman to give birth to this vulnerable baby when there are numerous childless couples desperately wanting to become parents?"

  "My god what have they done?" whispered the pastor to his wife."

  "What's wrong, darling?"

  "Just take a look at the baby."

  "Tell me what's wrong."

  "Just take a look at the baby, Bev."

  She stepped out of the driver's seat and held the baby in her arms.

  "Jesus in heaven grants us mercy, we pray."

  The couple had committed the most grotesque acts of violence against the newly born baby. His wife looked at the woman with sheer disgust. She thought to herself, how could a mother allow her baby to be so brutally battered? It was beyond her intellect. The mother role is supposed to be a caring one. The pastor knew instinctively what his wife, Bev was thinking when she stared sternly at Sally.

  "Why do you look at me like I am a piece of rubbish?" argued Sally.

  "I feel sorry for you," said Bev.

  "I don't need your pity. I need your husband to heal my baby."

  "It is God who heals not my husband."

  "Is not your husband an instrument of God?"

  "Yes."

  "Then God can carry out his work through the pastor."

  "You cannot test God through acts of wrongdoings."

  "I have done nothing wrong."

  "Your baby needs medical treatment straightway and the pastor will definitely pray for your baby."

  "Thank you, pastor."

  "We're taking the baby back home, pastor," demanded Sally.

  "Your baby is in need of a doctor."

  "You are not a real pastor but an imposter."

  "I told you before; he wouldn't help you, Sally. He is not a true man of God."

  "How dare you call my husband an imposter? My husband has been a minister for more years than I can remember."

  "It's okay, Bev. It's not about me. It's about the baby."

  "I'm not allowing anyone to say a bad word against you, Nelson. You're a good man."

  "I think you need to take the baby to the hospital immediately. I'll pray for the baby if you allow us to take the baby to the hospital," said the pastor.

  The woman agreed for them to take the baby to the hospital. The pastor was their last ray of hope for the baby's survival. The spirits had told her that the baby had evil spirits within him and as a consequence of this; the man had beaten the devil out of the baby. They couldn't go to the authorities for help. The authorities were the agents of Satan. A tearful pastor held the wrapped up baby in his arms and kept the baby away from Sally and Rupert as he headed back inside the car.

  There was no time to call for an ambulance. The couple sat in the passenger seats behind the pastor and his wife and began calling him every swear words known to mankind. He ignored the verbal abuse being hurled at him.

  The baby was crying and screaming in pain. The pastor and his wife became increasing anxious and annoyed with the couple. "If I hear one more rude word in this car I will stop the car," said a shaking Bev.

  "Don't Bev. We need to get to the hospital quickly. I'm asking you to stay calm."

  "I told you, Sally, the pastor is useless."

  "That's it. You were warned."

  "Please Bev drive the car."

  "If only you had listened to me, Sally. This pastor is no good. He cannot heal the baby."

  "Why don't you shut up, Rupert?"

  "No woman, make me."

  "Can you make haste, Bev," said the pastor.

  "I am going as fast as I can."

  The couple in the passenger seats was arguing amongst themselves. They were spitting at each other. It was foul and disgusting. The pastor and his wife were not amused with their behaviour. They were extremely stressed.

  "The voices made me do it. I should have never listened to the voices, woman."

  "Don't you dare blame the voices, Rupert? The voices are always right."

  "What if the bab
y dies, Sally?" and "We both will end up in prison."

  "He is not going to die, Rupert. He needs spiritual healing. Have faith in the man of God."

  "Stop listening to those voices. They are not from God. God is love. He wouldn't have told you to hurt your own child," said the pastor's wife.

  "You don't know what you are talking about, bitch. The voices told me what I should do and where I should go. I obey the voices."

  "Don't you dare call my wife a bitch? Those voices are not in line with God words" and "We are responsible for our own actions."

  "You think you are better than us, don't you, pastor?"

  "I am not saying that."

  "Well, what are you saying then?"

  "Let us get to the hospital safely, man," said the pastor.

  "The pastor wife thinks God can only speak to people like herself."

  "I am not saying that."

  "What are you saying then?"

  "God speaks to us through our own experiences, emotions and the reading of the bible," stressed Pastor Nelson.

  "Yes pastor and the voices speak to me too."

  "It is those voices that instructed me to beat the baby, Sally."

  "Shut your mouth, Rupert, we have the gift of hearing voices. We must obey the voices of our god."

  "Your mum had the same gift of hearing voices like us and she ended up inside the asylum hospital."

  The mere mention of Sally's mother residing inside a mental institution infuriated her. She became a possessed woman filled with venom and hatred. Sally's nostrils widened to inhale and push out at an alarmingly fast pace. Her red blood vessels of her eyes became much more pronounced. Sally's forehead was etched with numerous parallel lines as she because increasingly angrier with Rupert. He was now afraid of her.

  "I swear to God from this day, Rupert and on my mother life, we are finished as a couple."

  "I am so sorry Sally" and "You know I had never meant to offend you or your mother."

  "Good. The voices told us that the baby is Satan beloved son and he is pleased with him."

  The woman kept on shouting the baby has an evil spirit within him and the man nodded in