As David and Tracy descend the steps of Potter’s House Parish of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Columbus, Tracy feels light-hearted and warm in spite of the cold Christmas Eve. Since the translation of Deborah, she has become a regular attendee in church and an avid reader of the Bible. To the great delight of David, Tracy even gave her life to Christ in the same church and has started the Believer’s Class before the calamity that took the life of David’s father occurred. But instead of discouraging Tracy, the catastrophe had the opposite effect on her. What with Deborah’s translation and Dr Solomon’s assassination all happening within a month, Tracy finally realises that death is inevitable and life is the greatest gift of God to man. She also came to the conclusion that life itself is, as Warren says, just a preparation for eternity and that a living dog is better than a dead lion. She had not attended any carol service in the last two decades of her life. But tonight, as the choir sang such popular carols as “Silent Night”, “Joy to the World”, “Jingle Bells” and “We wish you a merry Christmas” tears rolled down her face in gratitude to the Lord for coming to die for a black-hearted sinner like her. Even David’s sorrow is finally lifted from his heart by the soulful songs, but a residue of rage still remains at the core of his heart. He, however, masks this internal fury with his smiling face, while praying to God for mercy and strength.

After the carol service, David and Tracy follow the crowd of believers to a nearby open field where the city holds its annual fireworks every Christmas Eve. There is plenty to eat and drink, and a life band plays to the delight of a huge crowd of revellers and fun-seekers who throngs the grounds in anticipation of the fireworks. Tracy and David mill through the crowd, greeting friends and neighbours who have also come to watch the fireworks. At about 11:30 they run into Ted and his family. Henceforth the two groups merge with Sally, Ted’s daughter, clinging to Tracy for the rest of the evening. They have much to eat, much to drink and much to talk about: the translation of Deborah, the seemingly mad policies of the president that appeared geared to ignite the Third World War, etc. At the stroke of twelve midnight, the fireworks begin in earnest and for the next one hour, everyone is enthralled by the breath-taking display of colourful fireworks. Even David looks for his anger and could not find it again. It is such a magical moment.

After the fireworks, David and Tracy dance the rest of the night away at different clubs. By 5 am, they drive to David’s flat dog tired. They barely hit the sack before they fall asleep in their clothes. They are not worried about missing the Christmas service because they know their church does not hold any service on Christmas day. Instead the church mount an outreach programme called, “Let’s go a-fishing”. Both have no plans to attend that programme.

The sun hitting Tracy’s eyes through the drawn curtains eventually wakes her up. She yawns and stretches still groggy with sleep. She looks at her wristwatch and is surprised that it is already 2 pm.

“Wake up, sleepy head or we’ll be late for Ted’s get-together.” She shakes David gently and persistently until he wakes up. “Happy holiday, Dave.”

“Merry Christmas, love,” replies David rising to give Tracy a peck on her lips. “What time’s it?”

“After two. We’re supposed to be at Ted’s by four, remember?”

“No problem. Time enough to shower and eat something. Who goes in first?”

“You go ahead while I prepare some toasts.”

“Okay,” replies David, heading for the bathroom, while Tracy goes to the kitchen. One-and-a-half hours later, both are speeding towards Ted’s place on the way to Dayton Airport.

It is an unusual Christmas afternoon because instead of the normal chilly snowfall, the sun is shining full blast, warming the air and putting everyone in a gay mood. David and Tracy are gaily dressed for the occasion with a touch or green or red. For a while, Tracy has been sneaking some of her clothes into David’s flat along with some shoes, body spray, perfumes and trinkets. As she confessed to her mum, these items are there to warn off aspiring female invaders that there is no vacancy in David’s heart for another woman!

“Welcome, Aunty Tracy!” shouts Sally before they even alight from the car. She runs into Tracy’s arms as soon as she steps down.

“Hello, Sally.”

“Hello, Uncle David. The party’s in the back. Come!”

She must have been standing sentry for a while to have spotted them as soon as they arrived. They follow her to the back and find Ted and his wife amidst a group of friends of mixed races, many of them veterans like Ted and Tracy.

“Here come the lovebirds!” announces Ted and everyone claps and cheers. It is as if they were waiting for the lovers to arrive to kick off the party. They are still having a good time till well past ten o’clock. They finally leave Ted’s place at ten-thirty and drive straight to Tracy’s flat because it is nearer. Like it happened the previous night, they crawl to bed and fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

David is the first to wake up on Boxing Day. He opens his eyes at five and subsequently finds it difficult to go back to sleep. Involuntarily, the ugly events of the past few weeks which he had repressed in his subconscious break loose and come to the surface.

First was the panic in Christian circles that the rapture had occurred in the days following Deborah’s translation. Then came the Holy Ghost inspired explanation that it was an individual translation that occurred and not the rapture. Preacher after preacher cited the example of Prophet Elijah who was also translated in the Bible. Soon the panic subsided but not the harvest of souls and the renewed Christian spirit worldwide. Then Tracy and Ted returned from London changed forever, most especially Tracy. While happy to see her, David could not help but notice the ill-suppressed tension and anger in the two investigators.

The day after their return, Tracy and Ted confronted David’s father, accusing him of sabotaging his own job by organising a reception party for them wherever they went except for their last trip to London which Tracy had hidden from David. Dr. Solomon knew he had been caught out and abruptly terminated the contract but paid the investigators in full. According to him, their services were no longer needed because they had just found out that the Chibok papers did not exist but were a figment of somebody’s fevered imagination. David had been seriously embarrassed by his father’s shenanigans, but had no time to linger on the incident before his father’s “business” trip to Saudi Arabia. Two days after his return, he had been shot by an assassin as he stepped out of his car in a shopping mall. He and Monica had gone to the mall to shop for some items of clothing. As they parked in the car lot in front of the mall, a car screeched to a halt beside theirs and a gun man opened fire on Dr. Adams as he stepped out of the car. He slumped and the assassins sped off. They are yet to be found. Meanwhile, Monica raised the alarm. Someone called the police and the ambulance service. Fortunately, Dr. Solomon did not die at once but clung to life for the next three days.

When he was a bit conscious, he confessed everything to his son. According to him, he had been so incensed by the murder of his wife by Boko Haram in Abuja, Nigeria that he vowed to avenge her death. He joined several organisations to achieve his aim, including the Council of Galdopho which secretly supports the victims of terrorist activities worldwide, and the Council of Basirat which quietly finances Boko Haram. From that point onwards, he began to live a double life, as a Christian and a strong member of the Council of Galdopho, and as a Muslim and a strong member of the Council of Basirat. Along the line, he managed to sabotage many of the arms deals of the Council of Basirat to the effect that many of the arms and ammunition meant for Boko Haram went missing or ended up in wrong hands. He was the one who created the bogey of the Chibok papers to divert attention away from his sabotaging activities. His so-called business trip to Saudi Arabia was actually to attend another meeting of the Council of Basirat. Unfortunately, the unexpected happened at the Saudi airport in the presence of two members of the council. An old friend from his Harvard days recognised him in spite of his disguise of heavy turban and greeted him warmly and loudly, thereby blowing his cover. Shortly after his return, the Council of Basirat sent assassins to kill him. He begged his son for forgiveness and asked David to pray with him. In the middle of their prayer, the old man suddenly shouted: “Thank you, Lord of mercy!” He gave up the ghost shortly after.

“A penny for your thought, Dave,” murmurs Tracy who has woken up and has been watching him for a while.

“Not worth a dime, love.” David rolls over and lands a kiss on her mouth. “Where are we going today?”

“Nowhere in particular. Let’s freshen up and go to the city park. I bet you’ve not ridden the roller coaster recently.”

“Okay,” agrees David, going to the bathroom.

Soon, Tracy hears the shower crashing water on David’s head. She goes to the wardrobe where she had hidden his gift and lays it on the bed. It is a box in a cellophane bag. She then goes to the kitchen to prepare David’s favourite breakfast of toast and lemon tea without sugar or cream. She takes coffee with plenty of sugar and cream, to the consternation of her lover who is something of a health food aficionado. She is just putting their breakfast on the table when he comes out of the bedroom, fully dressed as usual whenever he sleeps over at her place. He does not have any worthwhile clothes in her flat, although Tracy managed to sneak in a few of his pants and T-shirts.

“That smells heavenly,” declares David heading straight for the dining table.

“Wait!” shouts Tracy in mock-anger. She rushes to the bedroom to pick up his gift.

“Happy Boxing Day, darling,” says Tracy as she gives David the gift.

“Thank you, love!”

He brings out the box from the cellophane bag. The first thing that falls out is a curious piece of clothing that looks like the collar of a lady’s dress.

“What’s this, Trace? Part of the gift?”

“Don’t be silly, Dave,” squeals Tracy in shocked amusement. “That’s the collar of the Chadian woman’s dress I told you about. I forgot I stuffed it in that bag when I demobbed. Give it to me.” She snatches the collar from him and throws it on the couch. “Now open your gift or no breakfast for you.”

“Your wish is my command, lady.”

He opens the box and finds the expensive white shirt he had admired on one of their recent window shopping sprees.

“Marvellous! Thank you, dear.” He covers her face and mouth with kisses. “Unfortunately, I only have a tiny gift for you.”

“It doesn’t matter. Give it me now!”

Dramatically, David whips out a little box from the back pocket of his pants and gives it to Tracy. With trembling fingers, she opens the box and finds the piece of silver chain with a heart-shaped diamond pennant which she had admired weeks back at Madam Lafayette Jewellers.

“O my God! O my God!” squeals Tracy in delight. She gives David a long lingering kiss. “Thank you, Dave. It’s simply wonderful!”

“Just like you, Trace. Now go have your bath and let’s eat.”

“You go ahead, Dave. I can’t eat much anyway.”

“Okay.”

Tracy puts her gift on the table and runs to the bathroom. David also puts his back in the cellophane bag. In the process, he mistakenly shoves the torn collar into the bag along with the box. Unaware of his mistake, David goes to the dining table and begins to eat slowly. Tracy finishes in the bathroom and goes to the bedroom to dress up. As she passes by David, she tauntingly wiggles her buttocks in his face and he slaps her bum playfully,

“Teaser!”

“Oh!” squeals Tracy in delight as she runs to the bedroom. She comes out soon dressed in a shimmering emerald gown that accentuates her superb figure. She wears her new white shoes and puts her matching white handbag on the dining table while she grabs the box of trinket. She removes the chain and gives to David.

“Do me the honours, will ya?”

“With pleasure.”

He puts the chain round her neck and clasps it tight behind her back She immediately runs to the mirror to look at herself.

“Whoa! This is superb, just superb!” She turns this way and that, admiring herself from different angles. The diamond catches the light and a tiny fire flashes outwards at every turn she makes.

“Made just for you, Trace. It looks natural on you!”

“Thanks, love.” She gives him a peck on his cheek. “Now let’s go catch some fun”

“Won’t you eat something?”

“Naah! My tummy’s too filled with joy right now.”

“Not even a cup of coffee and a little toast?”

“Coffee, yes. No toast.”

She gulps down some coffee then packs the uneaten toasts to the kitchen. She returns, grabs her white bag and drags David up.

“Let’s go, Dave, before the sun remembers it’s December and hides his cheery face!”

David picks up his gift and follows her out the door.