Dial episode 12

DIAL
.
Sequence 12
.
The arrangement was simple:
Pastor Williams would now be working on the physical attacks and making me acceptable for God’s divine protection. And Light Duke Greyhem would also work on breaking the evil spiritual bond that Nana Bosomba had placed on me.
It cost me an extra ten thousand cedis, which I paid to Light Greyhem.
They told me I would have to stay on the premises of the Bare Light International Church till Sunday morning and they asked me if that would be okay with me.
Sure, it was, since I was beginning to have the jitters from Nana Bosomba.
I was taken to the top floor of the BLIC building where there were executive rooms. The bedroom they gave me was huge, and wonderfully-furnished.
“You would have to be praying too, Mr. Biko,” Light Duke Greyhem told me as he stared at me gravely. “The spiritual attacks are deadly, and unless you manage to find a level of holiness, it would be difficult to combat this. As a result we’ll have to take your phone, and cut you off completely from communications.”
“Thank you,” I said softly. “Does this mean I wouldn’t be seeing that white pot and the envelope again?”
“Believe me, Mr. Biko,” Duke Greyhem said with a confident smile. “You’re in the house of the Lord, and no fetish pots have dominion here. We’re going to revoke that curse forever.”
I was very relieved to hear that, to say the least.
And so I called my secretary and assistants and scheduled things I wanted done for the rest of the week, and gave them Duke Greyhem’s number in case something urgent came up that required my attention.
There was a reading area in the room, which had a desk and a small library. There was a beautiful white phone on the desk, inside a metal case.
To show that he meant business, Duke Greyhem locked the desk phone by flipping the metal cover over the phone and locking it with a small golden padlock. Next he unplugged the cable that connected the phone to the wall outlet.
They showed me a cubicle where my breakfast, lunch and supper would be served, and a small button by the side of the bed I was supposed to press in extreme emergencies, and then they went outside, and locked me inside the room.
They told me my clothes would be returned to me on Sunday morning, and so I had to do with the robes inside the wardrobe.
I wasn’t overly bothered because in actual fact I was a loner, and pretty used to being on my lonesome self. Recently, though, especially since this whole unfortunate incident involving Akos of Wowo and her father, I had come to realize that my life was empty, and that I needed at least someone I could call a friend.
I read some of the books and magazines in the reading area. They covered mostly religion, but there were other reads too, autobiographies, geographical wonders and other books on astrology, history, wild life and a myriad of subjects.
I loved reading, and so I wasn’t bored.
The television had some cable stations, and so I watched programmes in-between.
The food was good and regular, and so I was pretty much entertained. It also gave me some good moments to reflect on my life, especially on the Dial List. The question was, what was the way forward? Was I going to continue with updating that Dial List once this horror was over?
I needed to accept responsibility for being a major part in Akos’ death. She had been innocent, in a way, and had not developed the peculiar hard stance of some of the girls on the Dial List who had just seen me as a fake after I slept with them, and decided to move on with their lives.
Akos had been principled, and had set values. The fact that I had used her – much against her will, I admitted, even with aphrodisiacs – had really shattered her. And then I had abandoned her, and cut her off completely.
Her fragile mind had not been able to deal with that, and eventually it had led to her death.
And for that I accepted the fact that I was guilty.
So what was going to happen to the Dial List?
What was going to happen with my resolve to fill up that list?
It had become a sort of an integral part of me, something I loved doing. Now I couldn’t even make the distinction between filling up the Dial List, and the joys of making love to fill it up. Did I get joy in sitting down to type a new name on the list? Or making love to a new girl gave me more joy?
Frankly, it seemed to me that having sex with someone new was not as exciting as sitting down and adding their name to my list…and that was very scary indeed! Suddenly, the act of typing a girl’s name and giving her a number on my Dial List was beginning to supersede the joy of making love to that girl.
In a nutshell, the girls had become almost invisible. I didn’t see them. They were just names to be added to my list.
It struck me on the third day inside that upstairs room in BLIC that I was beginning to turn into a beast.
The question was: would I stop?
No, I didn’t want to.
I just wanted the threat of Nana Bosomba to be eliminated, and then life would go on. My only resolve was that I would no longer prey on innocent girls like Akos of Wowo, no. I would shy away from them, yes.
But the Dial List would continue. I wanted to find out how many I could get on it, eventually.
With that decision made, I found a little peace.
And then, on the fifth day, a Friday, it happened.
I had just taken a great dinner, taken a shower, and was feeling just a wee bit bored and so I stretched out on the settee and looked around for the remote to turn on the television and watch something to while away the time.
The next day would be the Saturday Akos would be buried, the Saturday that Nana Bosomba was expecting me to arrive and marry his dead daughter. I was a little bit keyed up about that, but since the strange white pot and its strange envelope had not appeared again, I was beginning to feel a little better about myself, and the life ahead of me.
I didn’t know where I had put the television remote the last time I had used it, and so I looked around for it, and eventually located it under the settee.
With a little curse, I took it out, pointed it at the television, and then pressed the power button.
Nothing happened, and then I realized I had switched off the power outlet in the afternoon because the electricity feed had spiked alarmingly, and I had been scared it would affect the television. I had simply switched off the wall socket.
With the remote in my hand, I stood up, ready to walk to the wall and switch on the power…and that was when the television screen lit up.
I stopped dead and stared at the blue screen of the television, and then at the wall socket.
And that was when the sickening blow hit me hard in the guts!
The cable of the television that linked it to the wall power socket was out!
Yes, I remembered now…I had pulled out the cable plug from the socket after I had switched the power off, and then I had gone to bed.
So, in effect, the television was not connected to any power source.
But the blue screen was on now!
I walked silently to the wall and stared at the socket.
Yes, the television cable was dangling free; it wasn’t connected.
I breathed slowly and took hasty steps back to look at the screen, thinking that perhaps my mind was playing tricks with me.
When the television screen came back into view, I saw that it was no longer blank, no longer a blue screen, but there were words on the television.
Words that chilled me to the bone…words that made me open my mouth wide with horror.
They were simple words, of course, and they said:
Tomorrow is your wedding to Akos.
Just a reminder.
Thanks.
I stared at the words, and I couldn’t breathe.
I felt the air sucked right out of my body, and I dropped the remote as I backpedalled toward the bed, my breath coming in wheezes. Then, I stumbled and fell, and as I gained my hands and knees I looked back, expecting the words to have disappeared…but instead there were more words!
Tomorrow is your wedding to Akos.
Just a reminder.
Thanks.
PS: You’re on my redial list, remember that.
I gagged.
Frantically, wheezing with horror, I crawled to the bed, reached out for the switch I was supposed to press in an emergency, and I jabbed at it repeatedly with a finger that shook to high kingdom!
I sat on the floor with my eyes on the ominous words on the television and jabbed that panic switch jab jab jab jab jab jab!!
Eventually, I heard the lock turning, and a moment later the door opened and Light Duke Greyhem rushed in, his florid face red with apparent worry. He saw me on the floor and came toward me, his face concerned.
“Mr. Biko!” he said, sounding concerned. “What’s the matter, Mr. Biko! Are you not feeling well?”
Frantically, I pointed at the television…but of course the screen was now black, as if nothing had happened.
Black and blank.
The words were gone, and it was just a television which had been switched off.
My whole body ran cold.
“Th-there were wor-words on th-the telly!” I said, stuttering, my horror complete.
He put a cool hand on my arm.
“Take it easy, take it easy, Mr. Biko!” he said carefully, soothingly. “It is okay, everything is okay. Tell me what happened.”
He was able to calm me down, yes.
He didn’t even let me sit on the floor, but took my arm and led me to the settee, sat down with me, and asked me to tell him what happened.
And so I narrated it all to him.
He listened without interrupting, and then he stood up and went to the television, made sure that the power cable was indeed out, and then he turned and came to sit back down with me.
“I’m not going to say you didn’t see what you said you saw, Mr. Biko,” he said gently. “The human mind is the most complex network God ever created, more complex than ten thousand super computers mankind has been able to produce, and so yes, I believe you.”
“You do?” I asked hoarsely.
“Yes, I do,” he said with a gentle smile. “But it wasn’t evil, Mr. Biko. It didn’t come from this fetish priest as you’re thinking. It was a mental projection of your fevered mind, because you’re so stressed up about what is happening, about the deadline given to you tomorrow.
Since tomorrow is almost here, your mind is going overdrive, projecting danger signals, and it is perfectly normal. Don’t be afraid, Mr. Biko. It was just a figment of your mental capabilities taking over in reaction to your anxieties. Everything is done, and you’re okay. By Sunday, you’ll see how silly it has all been.”
I clung to his words and received them, digesting them. It was all possible of course. How could I have thought a television without a plugged power source could operate?
I accepted his words, because I had to accept them to remain sane! That was the only sensible explanation.
“Just to make sure it doesn’t happen to you, and freak you out again, I’ll have the television taken out, Mr. Biko,” he said gently. “I’m sure you can cope without television for this evening and tomorrow.”
I nodded appreciatively.
“Yes, yes, I guess so,” I said with a sheepish grin.
And so a few minutes later two men came into the room, and carefully removed the television from the wall.
Duke Greyhem stayed for a while to speak to me, reassuring me over and again, and I was grateful for that. When he left I finally managed to tell myself that I was just being silly, and eventually slept.
I left the lights on, though, for the very first time in years.
I slept with all the lights on.
No incidents of import happened again, even on Saturday when I was dreading that something horrible would happen. I slept soundly that night, and by Sunday morning I woke up with a fresh step in my step, convinced that everything was alright.
Shortly after my bath and a hefty breakfast, an attendant brought my clothes, washed and ironed, and I dressed quickly. I surveyed myself in the mirror, and I liked my reflection. I was cool and relaxed, calm and ready to face the world again.
Shortly afterwards a knock came on the door, and then Light Duke Greyhem and a beaming Apostle Williams entered.
“It is done, my friend,” Apostle Williams said as he shook my hand. “You’re a conqueror! You’re safe now! That fetish priest has been defeated!”
“The devil has no dominion over your life, Mr. Biko!” Duke Greyhem said and patted my shoulder. “With God, nothing is impossible. Go out there and enjoy your life, and remember this, keep away from your sinful ways and turn to God.”
I nodded with profound gratitude.
“Can I leave now?” I asked.
“Of course, of course!” Duke Greyhem said with a broad smile. “Unless you want to remain for Sunday’s special service.”
As tempting as that was, as much as I wanted to see those beautiful thighs, hips, breasts and different pudenda again, I refused to go in to Sunday Service. I wanted to be away, in my own environment, back to the life I knew.
We were heading toward the front door, and when we reached the desk where the locked telephone was, it happened.
First the golden padlock Light Duke Greyhem had used to lock the telephone dropped and fell on the leather-topped desk with a little soft thud.
The three of us stopped and looked at it, and I felt a small ache deep down in the pit of my stomach.
“Seems you didn’t lock the telephone well,” Apostle Williams said with a chuckle.
I looked at him.
“The padlock is still locked,” I said quietly.
“Oh, I see,” Apostle Williams said with another tight smile. “Maybe, Duke, my friend, you didn’t put it through the space for locking.”
Light Duke Greyhem didn’t say anything; he just stared at the telephone, his face still.
And just as he took a step forward toward the desk, the metal case covering the telephone flew up, and fell on its side, revealing the beautiful telephone.
And then the telephone rang.
“Abosho!” Apostle Williams uttered, and jumped with alarm.
I looked at Light Duke Greyhem.
He was from Europe, and so his face was looking as white as a sheet of paper, all the blood draining from his face with absolute shock.
He had removed the chord that connected the telephone to its connection feed in the wall, and so the telephone was just a machine, a piece of plastic and metal thing on the desk that shouldn’t be able to ring!
But it kept ringing, and then there was the sound that indicated the call had been picked.
A moment later, the speaker-phone was activated, and then Nana Bosomba spoke.
“This is Nana Bosomba, Mr. Biko. As you already know, Akos was buried yesterday, Mr. Biko,” came the calm voice of the fetish priest, without malice, pleasant even. “You didn’t show up to honour my daughter, and you let her die in shame. That’s the choice you made, Mr. Biko. I have also made mine. You’ll definitely grow old with more experience, Mr. Biko. Byebye.”
And the phone went dead.
I looked at Apostle Willliams, but he had already ran from the room.
I looked at Light Duke Greyhem.
He was still staring at the phone, and he was still as white and as still as a statue.
“What is happening, Light Duke?” I asked in a small lost voice.
He didn’t look at me, but he spoke quietly, and his voice wasn’t steady, and he was still staring at the telephone.
“Come with me, Mr. Biko. I’ll refund all the money you paid, and then I want you to leave my church, Mr. Biko, and never come back here.”
Suddenly, he was in motion, almost running from the room.
I stared at the telephone, and I knew…
Yes, I knew.
I was in trouble.
==========