The Paddler

The very first time he cheated on
his wife
He met the girl at a market
She was a tailor
His office needed some curtain
materials and he was the one who
was sent to the market to get the
materials because the facility
manager was on leave and he
was the one standing in for the
facility manager
As soon as he picked the materials
he deemed appropriate, the
curtain sellers told him they had
tailors who could cut the materials
and sew the curtains for him
He told them to get one of the tailors
The curtain seller made a phone call
A few minutes later, the
lady arrived
He paid for the material and moved
with the materials to the shop of
the lady
While the lady sewed the curtains
they got talking
Just a chat here and a chat there
They somehow exchanged numbers
By the time the lady was done, they
had become friends of a sort
The lady
was not in a relationship
He discovered that in the course of
their chit chat
She was twenty-six and she was
willing
When he got home later that night,
he let it slip while catching up with
his wife that he met a girl
Perhaps there was a pitch in his
voice or a tone he used when
he talked about the lady that
alarmed his wife
His wife turned to him and said “Be
careful, please, keep away from
that girl”
He laughed and quickly masked his
intention with a dismissal
“Oh, I am not going to the market
anymore…
This was a once-in-a-lifetime
occurrence!”
His wife shrugged and left it be
He got to the office, the lady sent
him a message saying “Thank you”
for yesterday
He knew she was poking the bear
to see if anything will come out of it
Their previous discussion was
bordering on
“I like you and I want to do you”
It was a light discussion but that
was basically the summary
He replied warmly and told her he
would come to the market later
that day to take her to lunch
After making the commitment, he
began to ruminate upon the
possibilities
He had noticed a hotel close to the
market but the lady might
consider that too close
He thought about it over and over
again
He had been married for six years
and he had two children
He had never strayed or cheated
before but that was basically
because the opportunity never
presented itself
Sex with his wife was very good
but it had fallen
into a boring pattern
The thought of sleeping with
someone else was already exciting
and moving his body parts
He had enough money to get it done
He didn’t see any reason he should
pass up the opportunity
After about two hours, he got a call
that the product they were waiting
for at Mushin was ready
The driver had gone out with one
of their staff members
He quickly grabbed his car keys and
told the receptionist to tell whoever
asked that he had gone to get the
goods from the depot
His reaction was instinctive
It was the opening he was hoping for
The opportunity to make
good his promise to the lady
As soon as he drove out of the office
premises, he called the lady and
asked her to wait for him on the main
road as he didn’t want to drive into
the market so as to avoid traffic
The lady said okay
Twenty minutes later, he picked her up
When they
got to Mushin, he was told that he
had to wait an hour or two while the
goods for his office was sorted out
It was exactly as he anticipated
He took the lady to the nearest hotel
under the pretense of waiting for
the supply to be sorted out
When they got to the hotel, they went
to the restaurant
As soon as they made their orders,
he told the lady he would prefer that
they got a room and spend the time
in private
He told her the hotel was close to
the depot and he wouldn’t want
tongues to start wagging because
he was technically still at work
The lady said okay
They got a room, the orders arrived
and he made his move
They kissed and talked and kissed
again
After about an hour, the lady went
to the restroom to ease herself
When she emerged, she was technically
naked
He took that as his cue
He put his canoe in the river and he
began to row ferociously
The first thing he noticed was his paddles
They seem to be firmer and to cut deeper
into the water as the canoe responded to
the current of the river
Because they were still a bit unfamiliar
with each other, the first few thrusts was
somehow but rowing a
boat is quite mechanical and really needs
no feeling
In all. they spent four hours in that hotel
room
After every hour, the intercom would
buzz reminding them that their short rest
time was up and he would book another
hour
They were both spent by the time he got
his canoe to the other side the third or
fourth time
He called the depot
His supply was ready
He left her in the hotel to freshen up and
drove to the depot to pick up the supply
He drove back to the hotel to pick her up
and they drove back to the market
He dropped her off and got to the office
around 4 pm
He expected some sort of query or trouble
because of the time he spent away from
his desk
Somehow, it went unnoticed
His boss was still out and the other staff
members were caught in traffic on the
airport road
He sat at his desk reliving his canoe
rowing prowess
He felt so light-headed
He closed at six pm and found his way
home
When he got home he took a long shower
and dumped his clothes in the washing
machine
His wife had a James Bond nose and a
suspicious nature
He didn’t want to answer questions
His wife got home at about 8pm
They saw
a movie and put the children to bed
Then they began to prepare the canoe
for another lunch into the deep
He noticed that his paddles were quite
urgent, throbbing, rearing to go unlike
before when they usually got a slow
start due to familiarity
He told himself, “Wow, it seemed what
I did was quite healthy for our marriage”
The launch was very good too
The river was happy and so was the canoe
He got to the office the next day at about
9 am
The receptionist told him he had a guest
at about 11 AM
He went to the reception to check who
it was
He saw the tailor lady
He immediately walked her down the
stairs towards the main gate
“What are you doing here?”
“How do you know this place” He asked
She said she saw his details and that of
the company on his ID card the previous
day and decided to check him out
He told her she should have
called ahead
She told him it was just a familiarity visit,
she meant no harm
He thanked her and told her to wait
for his call
She said “I forgot to inform you
yesterday that I am a priestess where
I came from and once you sleep
with me you cannot be intimate with
another woman for at least seven days
If you sleep with another woman she
could be sick and she might die
I assumed you know this by the bead
on my left hand
He shook his head
He really didn’t understand what she
was saying
He just wanted her to leave his office
before somebody started asking
questions
At about 2 PM, he got a call that his
wife had fainted at work and had
been rushed to the hospital
When he got to the hospital, he was
told that his wife was short of blood
In fact, he found her being transfused
when he got to the hospital
He called his wife’s mother
He called his younger sister too
He needed someone at home to take
delivery of the children when the
school bus brings them home
He rushed to the bank and emptied
his bank account
The hospital had given him a list of
drugs to buy
He ran around till 10 pm
When he got home, his
phone rang
It was the tailor lady
He ignored her call totally
He was not in the mood to talk to
her plus he didn’t have any money
to spend on her entertainment
When he got to the hospital the
next day, his wife looked worse
The doctor said they had to transfer
to another hospital
because she was not responding to
treatment
The ambulance picked her up at noon,
he drove in his own car
They were transferred to the general
hospital, Gbagada
When they got to the hospital, his direct
boss came to the hospital to check up
on them
One look at his wife, his direct
boss said “This is not ordinary!
How can somebody be sick for only
two days and look this way?”
It was shocking, really!
His wife looked like life was being
drained out of her by extra-mundane
forces
His boss told him to call the brother in
Jeans and T-shirt
He did so immediately
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt asked
him why he was pretending to care
when he was the one afflicting his wife
He denied afflicting his wife
He told the brother in Jeans and T-shirt
that he didn’t do anything to hurt or
jeopardize his wife’s health in any way
They met the next
day at the hospital
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt prayed
for his wife and asked the doctors to
stop all treatment for some time until
they know what exactly was wrong
with her
A saline line was the only thing set up
for her
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt took
him aside and
asked him if he was dating anybody
apart from his wife
He confessed
He said he didn’t know it had anything
to do with his wife’s health challenge
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt told
him to go and bring the lady
Two hours later he arrived with her
When the brother in Jeans and
T-shirt saw her, he held her left hand
and smiled
She became uncomfortable
She said “Sorry sir, I don’t feel
comfortable when my bead is
touched.
I am a shrine priestess”
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
said “Not anymore”
Your status as a priestess has been
revoked
She started laughing
She found it funny that someone
that is not from her village or tribe was
talking to her like he knew who she was
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt told
him he was sone with her
He took her back to her shop
By the time he returned to the office,
his wife was looking better
The doctors said she was merely
exhausted and was misdiagnosed by
the previous clinic where she was
referred from
There was no evidence of a shortage
of blood or anything serious
His wife was placed on a bed rest
She recovered within three days and
was discharged
One month later Priestess C
(Her initials) arrived at the office of
the brother in Jeans and T-shirt in
tears
The brother in Jeans and T-shirt had
received a call earlier from her
“boyfriend” that she had been calling
persistently and he didn’t know what
to do
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt
told him to bring her
When she arrived, she came with a
black bag in which there was a white
wrapper and ten cowries
She said it was sent to her by her mother
She had been expelled from their order
of priestesses
She didn’t know what she did wrong and
there was no explanation
again she had started having nightmares
and could barely sleep all night
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt told her
she needed to be expelled so that she
can fulfill her destiny
He led her to Christ and got her filled
with the Holy Spirit
She became his student and an
evangelist

PS: This event happened in Lagos, Nigeria
Cheating is very costly
It costs so much that many do not finish
paying for it in one lifetime
I have so much to say and so little space
Learn to be prayerful and watchful as couples
There is no easy lay
There is cause and there is consequences
In Christ, we rule and reign