Children of Shepherds

Love was an abomination. No one ever mentioned it in the Shola Family. The parents had made sure that all their children had passed out from school without a boyfriend or girlfriend to show for it. The Sholas were a family of great relevance. Mr Shola was the general overseer of a fast rising pentecostal church, The Archangel and his wife, Mrs Shola ran a christian organisation for girls.

Now their last daughter, Deborah, seemed to be going far away from her sense of reasoning. She found everything wrong in wearing the "abada" skirts which swept the ground or the shirts which seemed twice her size, making her look a deformed human being. Her parents' ways had brought her shame in the school and the presence of her peers. 

Deborah envied the dangling gold earrings on her peers' ears while hers wasn't even pierced at all! To her, all of these looks crude and weren't meant for her. 

She had confided in her elder sister, Aunty Titi who had just recently got married to her "dream pastor" husband. Titi had totally shunned her and promised to pray over her new strange character. 

"Do not allow yourself to be an instrument in the hands of the enemy. Remember to love the Lord your God in days of your youth". 

Aunty Titi had said. 

It was a confusing stage in her life, and she wished her parents tried to understand her situation. Deborah stared at the long scar which ran across her arm. Her father had placed a hot iron there after catching her on her first attempt at applying rogue to her lips. He had beaten her to the extent that she saw heaven. That was one ugly experience she doesn't want to think about. But each time she sees the scar that runs through her arm, she fights the fury she had developed against her father. 

Her mother had also lashed her seriously when she had introduced her friends to her. Mrs Shola had labelled them indecent girls who were the descendants of the Jezebel and hell, in her words would be their lot. They both wanted the best for her, they would say after the deed of causing her pain had been done. None of their words stuck to her because it never made any reasonable sense to her. 

But everything changed when she met Tony.

Tony was a new student in the SS3 Science department and had immediately caught her fancy. Although he happened to be every girl's dream, it showed in his ways that he had his eye on Deborah. 

They became friends to the heartbreak of many although she never introduced him to her family. Deborah knew the extent of beating she would receive if she ever tried that. 

She didn't hide anything from him about her family and well enough he understood her pain for his parents were also church dignitaries. Soon they transformed into friends with benefits. Deborah, through Tony's influence, didn't find company in her parents.

Although she was still her obedient respectful self, she had managed to seclude herself from anything concerning the family. She even stopped attending church service and literally became a "child of the world". 

Deborah started visiting Tony whose parents were also on the mission field. In their final year in school Deborah became pregnant without knowing. 

Image source

She didn't have the usual morning sickness that women would have when they get pregnant. After their final exams, and Deborah getting to know that she had taken in eloped from home with Tony where they started a new life. 

Tony being a huge guy looked older than his age, he got a job in a company as a personal assistant to the managing director and was able to fend for Deborah and their son, Zaddor. 

Meanwhile, when they both left home, their parents searched everywhere for them until they gave up. No one ever that they would be together. 

Six year later, Tony and Deborah decided to return home. They were ready to receive all the lashing of words their parents would give them. 

Pastor and Mrs Shola accepted their daughter back home with their grandson and daughter. They were blessed and lived together as husband and wife. 

Lead image

First Published Here