Hallow be thy name

Our father who hath in heaven
Hallow be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
As it is in heaven...

The massive church bell chimed intermittently sending its sounds echoing through the city as a hymnal song of ave maria can be heard in the background

Ave maria,ave maria

Jason knelt in front of the blonde statue of the virgin mary,praying fervently and occasionally opening his eyes to see if no one was too close for comfort. When the time came for him to receive communion,he didn't move an inch because the activity requires the priest to dip his hand in a cup and put some  broken bread in everyone's mouth,he had always received communion but today,he chose not to, but why was he paranoid?


24 HOURS EARLIER

it was tuesday,the morning was cool with the early morning sun in the horizon,I was watching a telemundo comedy which my female friend theodora swore could totally clear depression,I needed it in light of the family drama in our home and pre-reunion stress (PRS) I was getting already ahead of our travel to our hometown for the reunion, Hamz strolled in into the sitting room ,his face squeezed into a frown when he saw what I was watching,he grabbed the tv remote from me and changed the channel to ait,I was livid with rage

"What the hell is wrong with you" I fumed,standing up to meet him

With a mouth full of pop corn...MY popcorn which I bought the previous day,he told me at my age,I shouldn't be watching telemundo. I was dumbfounded,static and didn't even know how to react, here is this punk who is my junior brother,having the audacity to not only change a channel I was watching but with his mouth full of the popcorn I bought with my money,telling me I shouldn't be watching telemundo,OMG,is that how cheap I've become?

I jumped at him in an instant,the popcorn pack flying off his hands as I took him unawares,both struggling for the remote when suddenly,we heard the soft,shaky voice of our grand ma....no,not dad's mom but mom's mom demanding we stop our scuffle and give her the remote right away

"Oh lord" I moaned as this means we would be watching islamic channel all day,Hamz dipped his tongue out to me totally enjoying his victory

"But mama,I was watching a channel when he came and changed it" I whined

"So do you want me to instead watch what you want to watch? Ehn! It's past 8am now,have you read your quran?" She fired back at me in our local language

I almost hissed in annoyance,I had to literally hold my lips to avoid the hiss coming out which from what I could sense would be a long and loud,totally- ticked-off hiss. I fell with a thud on the sofa,totally pissed when mom came into the sitting and and having greeted her mom asked to be given the remote and changed it back to ait,saying there was a breaking news she needed to hear and on the channel,we heard about a new outbreak of a disease known as Ebola.

Our mouths fell open in total shock as we learnt that one patrick sawyer was the human bag of the disease (God forgive me) who brought it in here and how he went to a private hospital and now got the doctor infected and also how the federal and state governtments are trying to get all those who came in contact with him,mom kept sighing and shaking her head as Hamz and I looked on with horror,thinking about the implication of what all these meant as Grand ma kept clapping her hands at our face,demanding we translate to her all what is happening and mom making a sign for her to hold on ,after the whole enlightenment news and informercials on the disease,mom heaved a heavy sigh and turning to look at her mom,she explained everything,as expected,granny placed her hands,locked together over her breasts,her mouth agape as she just started feeling shocked about the whole thing,moments after we had already started brooding over the matter. Mom didn't go to work
that day because she had a doctor's appointment and was going with gran ma who also needed to see an optician about her eyes and other stuff and were quite apprehensive about going to a hospital environment but Hamz calmed them down saying the virus hasn't hit the federal capital....yet, mom hiccuped at the "yet"

While having breakfast,mom rather solemnly explained to QT and Karl about the disease and why we had to imbibe the culture of washing our hands,especially my brothers as Karl navigated through his phone,reading up on ebola online and on feeds from twitter

"You know I've always taught you guys since you were kids to wash your hands once you get home and after handling money,shaking people,holding public stair rails,opening cab doors,etc,you see?now it has taken a disease that is even deadlier than hiv to force you guys to start washing your hands,especially you three" she said,pointing at Qatari,Karl and Hamza

"my darling here Maj always always washes his hands"

I smiled proudly,raising my clean hands for all to see,everyone laughed while gran ma pointed at me as an example of a good son at which my brothers all rolled their eyes,mom smiled

"I always wash my hands....always,so it won't be hard for me to adjust to this as I always do,I think now,I would have to buy a hand sanitizer" I remarked and mom shook her head as she took a few sips of tea,totally buying my idea. We dug in fully into our breakfast while mom made a few calls to her colleagues,talking about the ebola virus and why as a reputable multinational company where they work,they expect that by close of day,a sanitizer machine should be placed at the front door leading to the reception area even though there are sanitizer machines at all the toilets in the building even before ebola. The rest of the day went as normal.

24 HOURS LATER

By now,ebola has become the trending topic globally and websites dedicated solely for ebola news and alerts created,the death toll keeps rising especially in other west african countries and some western nations had already barred flights coming in from west africa.

"A certain chinese-american scientist Dr kim yu came out and released a video,confessing to creating the ebola virus in a lab with other scientists,sponsored by some american power lords and russian mafias and releasing it on african soil with the aim of causing a pandemic and thereafter they would give the antidote or rather vaccine so as to seem to the world as the big brother and saviour of the world,the country you can look up to in times of grave danger and killing two birds with one stone by also making money from the "experiment", the video caused worldwide outrage and both american and russian governments swung immediately into damage control,releasing press statements denouncing Dr kim yu and labeling him deranged and thereafter sending in experimental vaccines to help cure the affected"

I listened with rapt attention as jason who was coming from church narrated his conspiracy theory regarding the ebola scourge and why he was very positive that he was right that power bloc nations must know something about the virus and that it was a lab-created virus.

I threw my head back and laughed to my stomach's fill,I found it totally hilarious but in my heart of hearts,I knew he sort of had a point,nothing is impossible these days but well,unless it is proven,we should just try and be safe

"Just wash your hands jason,that's all I know and avoid sick people who have dysentry or diarrhoea" I adviced

"You don't have to tell me Maj,am always one step ahead,I already got my hand sanitizer and I got one for you" he said with a smile,holding out the extra bottle of sanitizer for me to see,my eyes popped and I quickly collected it from him,thanking him and I squirt some gel on my hands and rubbed on the bottle to wipe off any bacteria that might be on the bottle

"SERIOUSLY MAJ?" Jason exclaimed

"Are you saying I might have ebola?"

"One can't be too careful with this scourge,I love you jason...you know,as a friend and brother but..." I said while he interjected

"...the fear of ebola is the beginning of wisdom....I love you too as a brother,hmmn"

We both bursted out laughing

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