Mary picked up the phone after it had rung the fifth time. It was Suzzie.

“Are you still sleeping, Mary? I told you we should be at his place before five.”

“I’m ready. I was in Betty’s room.”

“I hope she wasn’t preaching another long sermon. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“It was very short, but one that we need to discuss. I’m waiting for you.”

Within some 30 minutes they had approached Antubam’s compound.

“Now,” Suzzie said, “you don’t have to say anything if you are con­fused. Just leave the talking to me. We need to make as much money as possible from this thief in the next few days, and leave. I’m sure he will buy all the suggestions, and give us the money. We should make good profit from these transactions, trust me.”

They entered the compound, just as Antubam was leading Abena Grace out of his room.

“Good morning, Osofo,” Mary said.

‘Hello, my beautiful ladies. I hope you are well, and I hope everything is okay.”

“Everything is fine, Osofo.”

“Please give me just a few min­utes’. He led Abena Grace to the street, and was there for over 20 minutes to get back, obviously due to the difficulty of getting a taxi for her.”

“Osofo,” Suzzie began, we would like to make some suggestions about things that need to be done, since the church is now growing impressive­ly. We have listed a few things, and we would like you to consider them in order of priority.”

“I am so grateful to you, Suzzie and Mary, for your support. I really appreciate your help in securing the bank account, and your honesty. My only worry is that even though you are supposed to be my wives, you are yet to fulfill your duties in the most important department. I hope you are not feeling jealous because of those, er, ladies.”

“Of course not, Osofo. We accept the fact that the demands of your work are very heavy, and you need something to relax your mind and body. Please be assured that when we get everything fully established, we will take very good care of you, especially when we travel with you to preach on radio stations in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.”

“That sounds very interesting. Now, let me hear your ideas, especially about the radio stations.”

“Osofo, your church is expanding at a fast rate, and you need to move into a decent house all by yourself, which is comfortable and spacious enough for your status, and for the kind of visitors you will soon be entertaining. And of course, we must furnish the house.

We must also, as a temporary mea­sure, buy some decent chairs for the church, and make some temporary structures to make the place look attractive. And Osofo, you must buy a car in the next few weeks. Apart from your new status, you will be travel­ling widely soon, and you must…….” All these sounded like music in his ears.

“Thank, you, Suzzie, thank you so much. You know, I have thought of all these, but quite frankly, there simply is no time. Why don’t you make a list of these items, and get some prices, so that we get them done as quickly as possible. And let’s start work on them today. If we make some money available every day or two, we should get them done in good time,”

“We have done, exactly that, Os­ofo. Here you are.”

“Great. Look, I’ll leave this with you. I already trust you for the way you have started running things. Let’s start after church today, shall we?”

“Okay, Osofo. We’ll do some clean­ing and cooking whilst you get ready for church.”

“Thank you ladies. And I am looking forward to spending enjoyable eve­nings with you.”

“We are also looking forward to it, man of God.”

“Now,” Suzzie said after Antubam had gone to the bathroom, “let’s clean the place and cook something for this dirty thief who thinks we will ever allow him to touch us.”

“You obviously dislike him,” Mary said, but you like his money.”

“We are only charging him unoffi­cially for our services. Our charges are high because he himself is a thief. And of course, very soon we will be leaving, so our charges have to be high. By the time we finish these assignments, Mary, we will be com­fortable.”

The service followed the same pattern as previous days. There were many testimonies of financial and health miracles, and after preaching another short sermon, Antubam sat down for consultations.

Whilst he gave ‘directions’ to his clients, Mary and Suzzie counted the money. In the course of consultations, he selected two attractive ladies to go the ‘mission house’ with him. After the last client had left, he came to meet the two ladies, all smiles.

“You will be pleased to hear, my beautiful ladies that two ladies who came for directions before travelling to Europe have sent someone to give thanks for the success of their busi­ness, and have given an offering of ten thousand dollars, so we can make a good start with our plans straight­away. So I want you to change this and get going.”

“That’s great, Osofo. We’ll do that. Today’s offerings came to four thou­sand cedis. We’ll pay that into the account.”

“There’s another four thousand cedis here. Please add that.”

“Okay, Osofo. We’ll call you and give you some feedback.”

“I’ll be expecting your call. Take GH¢100 for lunch and transport.”

“Suzzie,” Mary asked as they left the church, ‘what kind of business are those two ladies doing, which has been so profitable that within two days of landing in Europe, they have brought an offering of GH¢2,000?”

“Do you need me to tell you? We shouldn’t hang around this Antubam man for long, Mary.”

By the close of day the two friends had concluded arrangements with a landlord, and furniture and home ap­pliances supplier. They had also made part payment for a smart ‘home secondhand’ saloon car.

Finally, they had called and con­cluded arrangements for an initial two-week, early morning broadcast on Echo FM. For their efforts, they had put away a cool five thousand cedis for themselves. The car dealer drove them to Antubam’s place, and Suzzie knocked on his door. He came out after some20 minutes, and, see­ing the car, almost collapsed with joy. The ladies gave him the other news.

“Osofo,” Suzzie reminded him, “we will make arrangements for the chairs and other stuff for the church in the next couple of days, if funds are available.

All that is left for now is an out­standing amount of GH¢4,500 to be given to the dealer here, Mr Amoako. He has agreed that we make payment in two weeks.”

“Wait a minute!” he roared. “I think I can get it now.” He went in and came back with the amount.”

“Okay then, Osofo. We’ll see you at church as usual.”

“Okay, my beautiful ladies. Remind me to make some money available for the church fittings. And as for this weekend, we must spend some enjoy­able time together, especially as we now have a car at our disposal.”

“We’ll be looking forward to it.”

By Ekow de Heer