Night Runs – chapter 5 – Adultery

Chapter 5

Adultery

Adio eyes darted between his fuel gauge and the street. The perennial scarcity of petrol, the most important resource for his business, had turned into a quarterly reoccurrence. Long queues for vehicles hustling to gain entry into fuel stations meant that the traffic along most transport road corridors was a nightmare.

He could not imagine burning whatever was left of his fuel sitting in traffic caused by needless scarcity-induced road blockade. His mobile map’s algorithm could no longer discern traffic conditions from roadblocks. It confused free routes with bad impassable roads. The color overlay on the map was the thickest red on every alternative route.

Even the darkness of the moonless night did nothing to assuage the long queues, the teeming and angry crowd nor the traffic delays it caused. In fact, the cover it offered made the situation worse.

Adio had spent four hours on one of those meandering queues that afternoon and the relief he enjoyed as he drove out of the fuel station could only be compared with the one he felt after a well deserved orgasm. Not that he had a fair recollection of the last time he wallowed in the bliss of post-coitus embrace.

While in the long queue for fuel, he spent an awful lot of time on social media applications. Facebook, in particular, lured him in with lengthy prank videos that amused him greatly until he eventually drained his mobile phone battery after listening to Pastor Abidopella’s spirit-filled sermon on Prosperity.

It felt as though the eloquent, well-dressed and incredibly handsome pastor spoke directly to him. Urging him to change his ways and to allow the Holy Spirit to take control of his life. He admired the pastor for all he stood for. He was one of the very few in Christendom that had stayed the course and remained scandal-free in a world dominated by social media influencers who served gleefully a feast of shameful stories on the unfortunate lot of fallen pastors.

Where is Don you ask?

Adio had turned his back on his only demon, setting him straight and keeping him quiet in the deepest doldrum of his mind. For once he felt alone.

It was raining again, and it poured generously on the blacktop road bringing memories of hydroplaning and the need for safe driving. Adio maneuvered the car slowly into a quiet neighborhood where opulence was unabashedly displayed on every turn; from the streetlights, road curbs, property fences, flashy cars to the magnificent houses that looked like they were planted from heaven. The streets absorbed his emotions, presenting amazing views of mansions that were reserved only for the pages of fancy magazines as he turned from street to street.

“Wow!” As the words escaped the confinement of his mouth, Adio was dazzled with the affluence that each building oozed.

“For this world, I must be rich o. See money!”

Just then his phone rang out, snapping him out of his daydream. He heaved deeply, letting out a staggered breath before answering the call.

“Please, you just drove past the house. I am standing right outside the gate.” It was the kind of deep voice that felt like auditory caramel, with a subtle vibration that almost tingled in his ear canals. But it was also oddly familiar.

Adio pushed the gear stick into reverse, looking intently into his rear view mirror. He had missed the directions from his ride-hailing application as he admired the opulence on display.

The man was smartly dressed in a sport gear with the hood draped over a baseball cap that concealed almost all his face. On his feet was a brilliant white sneakers that glowed in the dark despite the pattering rain drive.

“Hello, how are you?” The man said. The question sounded rhetorical to Adio as he struggled to reconcile the voice with the exquisite woody perfume scent that wafted into the cabin the moment he eased himself into the back seat.

“We will pick someone just right at the corner of the road.” The gentle expression of his voice hit multiple notes in his memories again. Still the voice sounded oddly familiar.   

When Adio wheeled his car “around the corner”, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

The holy grail of beauty was crafted in this beautiful slim young girl that emerged from the dark, under an umbrella, into the road kerb as she waited eagerly for him with outstretched arm. The lights from the streetlamps danced around the softness of her curves, the color of her skin and her flowing hair, leaving Adio mesmerized. His heartbeat raced faster leaving his ear canals drowned in white noise relentlessly.

“How on earth can a human face and body look this beautiful beyond belief.”

“Please unlock the door.” The polite gentleman’s voice beclouded whatever was left of his reasoning.

Adio instinctively looked at his fuel gauge – this brought him first back to earth, before catching a glimpse of the young lady’s open deep neckline that left only a teasing small island of areola to imagination.

“Gaddamn!” That was the unmistakable voice of Don.

“Was that all it took for you to start speaking again?” Adio scoffed.

“That is some fine shortie!”

He peered into his rearview mirror just in time to catch the lovebirds share a warm embrace and a deeply passionate kiss.

Then they started to whisper softly.

“Why did it take you so long?” the girl asked playfully, but Adio couldn’t make out the gentleman’s response.

“Why did he still have his face cap on?” Adio wondered. “Afterall, only those involved in clandestine activities would wear a face cap all the way to their nose. How could he even see?”

“Please let’s go.” That voice again. There was something about the voice.

As Adio turned his car into the streets that still held him in awe, then it hit him!

“Is it okay if I keep the air-condition on sir?” He looked back at the angel that held him in awe, as though expecting her response, but it was the gentleman’s voice he wanted to hear again.

“Yes, please.” The gentleman replied.

It was Pastor Abidopella! The same pastor he had spent the whole afternoon listening to about Prosperity. No wonder the voice sounded familiar.

“Wait o, isn’t he happily married with three children and a house full of cats?” Don squirms.

“Calm down.” Adio cautions his inner voice. He was glad to hear from Don. He missed him.

The chatter continued at the backseat, but he could not make anything out of the words. They spoke in hush tones and hugged intermittently. Adio’s eyes darted from the rearview mirror to the street ahead, where impatient drivers left a cross junction in utter chaos.

Adio didn’t mind the wait. It would present him with enough time to execute the plan that was building in his head.

He was carrying the pastor of the Life-givers ministry. A church of over 100,000 followers around the country. There he was, seated in his historic and infamous backseat, that had once comforted criminals, gossips, raunchy lovebirds and even a weird looking medusa who spewed undigested chicken soup all over the place.

Adio turned to his phone, swiping up and down in Facebook until he found the pastor’s sermon on adultery.

“Make sure to turn the volume up to the maximum Adio, for maximum impact.”

“The Bluetooth device is connected.” The automated Chinese accent acknowledged Adio’s effort at projecting the audio from his phone to his car stereo.

And then soon enough the voice of Pastor Abidopella filled the air-conditioned cabin.

“Everybody shout Hallelujah!” Then a slight pause before the voice rings out again. “I continue to say that every man who willfully sows in adultery would reap in sorrow. Your bodies are vessels of honor and you must desist from coveting other men’s properties. Read the book of Hebrew 13 verse 4: God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. God has not given you the…….”

“What is the meaning of this?” The voice was no longer gentle and soft. It had a menacing and gravy edge to it.

“I say what is the meaning of this?”

“If he isn’t Pastor Abidopella, why is he upset?” Don sneered.

“You are very stupid. “That was the first time Adio heard the lady’s voice. In his books, she could cause no harm. With the beauty God gifted her, she was forgiven even before she offended him. How could he hold a grudge against such a dazzling beauty.

“Poor ashawo!” Don was in his element.

“My friend, turn the radio off.” That was an order.

Adio played deaf.

“….Adultery is the worst sin against God, and it is the worst sin against your partner. When God punished……” The voice from the stereo was unrelenting, knifing the silence in the car awkwardly.

“So, pastor Abidopella, it is you!” Adio finally spoke up, turning to look at the adulterers in his car.

The last he remembered was a sharp pain in his nose, as the stiletto heel landed twice on his face, wielded by the angel who could do no wrong, leaving him with a broken nose and blood spluttering all over his shirt.

They immediately alighted from the car tossing several mints of 500 naira notes into his back seat as they blended into the darkness and the rain, away from the chaos at the junction and in his car.

“How could an angel break my heart?” Adio cried.

“Paitor!” Don mocked.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Let’s get into the next rider-experience with Adio, here.