THE FAILED PLAN The weather was very unfriendly that day.

It was cloudy and very cold a thing that resulted in people staying indoors. Despite many cautions by the public health department, people still use braziers in closed rooms, a thing which has caused so many deaths for so many years. That day was one of them. It was all over the radio, a dozen of bodies found dead in their houses. It was on such a cold day when a newly born baby in its tiny birth suit was crying bitterly from the ice cold wind. It lay on a mat of tree leaves in a bush, motherless. Its mother was nowhere to be seen. The memories of that day kept coming to Pastor Kandiwo s mind every time he looked into the two shining guilty filled eyes of the woman standing in front of him. !he had come for confession. "#ome again tomorrow$ Pastor Kandiwo s voice boomed. %e had a deep loud voice. &hen he spoke, it was like a command. 'ne could not differentiate when he was talking and when he was preaching. "(ut pastor, I want prayers today, why should I come tomorrow)$ the woman tried to reason with the pastor. The pastor looked straight into her eyes. %e glued his eyes on her face for sometime without uttering a word. !omething about the woman s confession kept ringing bells in his head. It was on a very day some time and that was the e*act time the woman was talking about, three decades ago. +o one of their time could forget that day. It brought many packages and a bigger package to the pastor. "I will e*plain tomorrow$ he said. Immediately after the woman had left, he closed the confession bo* and sat there meditating. %e was trying to marry the woman s story and his memories. %e had no doubt that she was the biological mother of Dr Kandiwo his adopted son. The ne*t day the Pastor called his son to come with him to the church. ,rom afar the pastor could tell the figure of a woman that sat at the entrance of the church to be the woman, she had arrived already. The e*pression on the woman s face could tell that she was puzzled. Possibly she was wondering as to why the pastor had brought his son. The church doctrine was clearly stated that a pastor must pray for sinners in the absence of the church and bringing his son meant bringing the church.

-ust like the woman the Pastor s son was also puzzled. %e did not understand why he had been brought to the church. %is father had never invited him to the church since ./ years ago when he had told him he wanted to be a doctor and not a pastor as his father had wished. Pastor Kandiwo noted the puzzled looks on the two faces which were to be revealed as a mother and a son. %e first offered a prayer in which he re0uested 1od to give them a spirit of understanding during their deliberations and also thanked him for what he had revealed to him after a good 23 years. ",or a sinner s confession to be accepted to 1od, the sinner must resolve within himself never to commit the same sin again. If the sinner offended someone in his sin he must first reconcile with the person before asking 1od for forgiveness. 4ou can not ask for forgiveness from 1od when you still hold grudges against your friend.$ Pastor Kandiwo e*plained 5ll these words did nothing to the confused brains of the other two people present e*cept making them even more confused. They neither understood what the pastor was saying nor did they see any relevance to the issue at hand. "&hat I am saying is$ Pastor Kandiwo s voice boomed again. "The two of you must first reconcile before I can pray for your sins$ he said with his eyes fi*ed on the woman. The woman looked at the pastor but said nothing. !he seemed not to understand what the pastor was saying. !he was however afraid to ask for fear of being seen as opposing the words of a man of 1od. "The reason for you to reconcile is$ The Pastor continued upon noting that none of the two understood what he was saying. %e was now addressing the woman. %e had prayed all night for wisdom to handle this matter in such a way that there should be a happy ending but he realised there was no easy way to break the news. "This 6an standing here is the baby you dumped in the bush 23 years ago$ he said with his hand pointing at his son while his eyes fi*ed on the woman. %e then paused to allow them digest what he had said. Dr Kandiwo could now gather answers to the many 0uestions he had. ,rom the bits he had gathered from the pastor s e*planation it meant that the pastor was not his biological father. It also meant that his real mother was not the pastor s wife but the woman who was with them in the church. %e immediately stood up and slowly walked from one corner of the church to the other. %e was very confused and did not know whether to be happy or angry.

The woman was crying. %er cheeks were immersed in tears. !he was now asking for forgiveness from his son. !he tried to hold him in her arms but he pushed her away. "4ou wanted me dead7$ The Doctor shouted. 4ou do not have a heart of a mother and so I can not call you one. %e was angry though inside him he was feeling a strange feeling of 8oy. The pastor tried to calm the situation down but the situation was getting beyond his control. It took a great deal of preaching and persuasion for the two to calm down. %e then began telling his side of the story. "It was on this other very cold day when I was travelling to the neighbouring village where I was to deliver the word of 1od to the people there. 'n the way I heard a cry of a baby from the forest. ,irst I thought it was one of those women who fetch firewood from that forest but a second idea told me to stop and find out. %e paused, looked at his son proudly then continued. "5nd there he was, a tiny handsome hopelessly battling with its life on the sheet of leaves. I took it to the hospital and later adopted it. I treated him like my own son since I did not have any of my own as my wife could not bear me children.$ %e e*plained "&hen you came here and told me your story it became obvious that the baby you dumped was no other than the doctor sitting ne*t to you$ %e said with his eyes on the woman. 5s the pastor was about to offer a last prayer the door of the church swung open. 5 woman in her early fifties appeared. !he was panting like a rabid dog and had problems in uttering words. It was the beginning of another drama in the church. "Pastor,$ !he stopped trying to catch some air. "This woman is evil, she said with her finger pointing at the other woman. I have been looking for her for ages and finally I have caught up with her. I want to teach her a lesson.$ "This woman pastor told me to dump my son 23 years ago. I was her employee and she told that if I did not dump my son she would fire me. I dumped my son but she still fired me. I am reliably informed that she has been following my son and that that son was adopted by a certain pastor. I want her to tell me now the whereabouts of my son or else she will curse the day she was born.$ The pastor and his son 8ust stood listening mouth agape.