Every day the people of Umunkpo looked up to the sky and was filled with apprehension. There had been no rain on the plain for several months now, the children were scattered under the mango tree, and the women who were gathered too, had no joy on their faces, no life in their conversations.
That evening, as usual, as darkness fell over the horizon and night approached, Amuma the priestess of the goddess of fertility stood at the bank of the river, wondering what they had done wrong, the goddess remains silent and withholds the rain. The river once teeming with fish and life was almost dried up. She had performed many sacrifices, yet the goddess remains silent, her patience was fast running out, she had been branded all sorts of name because of their present dilemma. She had been regarded a powerless and inefficient Priestess of Nwanyinkpo. She sighed heavily. She was forty-five and had served the goddess since she was twelve yet had nothing to show for it, no husband, no child, only a thatched roof over her head.
She sighed again as she turned and walked slowly towards her hut, but then those songs halted her steps and as if under a spell, she took the turn towards the direction of the Singers.
The singers were a group of worshippers who called themselves 'Christians' and for some months now, she had lain awake at nights, thinking deeply about these people and their God. She had hungered to be a part of the congregation but her position as the Priestess of Nwanyinkpo held her back but now, she was ready to follow her heart and damn the consequences. This was were she genuinely belonged, not the Priestess of Nwanyinkpo but The Priestess Of The Most High God!
As she took her place among the worshippers, she felt peace like she had never felt, in thirty-three years, she was home at last.
That night, clouds gathered on the horizon, thunder rumbled with flashlights of lightning and a cool breeze swept across the plain, then came the drops followed by a heavy downpour, like Umunkpo had never experienced in a long time.
Amuma who lay awake in her hut, smiled, knowing that she had finally embraced her destiny as a Christian. Umunkpo would live surely again.
