Salvation Colony

Chapter Twenty-Seven

165 Salvation Colony: Sequel to No Way to Die Chapter Twenty-Seven Commissioner Chemogh Fuofinkwo O n November 15th, Commissioner Chemogh Fuofinkwo of the Ovenga Emi-Immigration received an anonymous letter: Dear Mr. Commissioner; This information is confidential but all important because it is coming from the inner circle of the church. I choose to remain anonymous because I do not want to suffer the fate of Father Danfeely. Get this straight: Reverend Sister Angela O’Reilly of the Mitsiko parish is three months pregnant. It has been established that it is the will of God, and that it may very well end up in the Second Coming of Christ. The white priests are making plans to evacuate her on any pretexts of health, so that she delivers Christ not in Africa where they have spent years looking for him, but in Ireland where they think he ought to be born. If you think the way the writer of this letter does, that our people have also suffered enough to deserve the birth of Christ on their soil, use your good office to ensure that that lady does not leave this country before nine months are over. On November 10th, it had been reported that Reverend Father Archibald Danfeely of the Menako main parish had been found dead, most probably of a heart attack, in his bathroom. The Archbishop was said to have ordered that arrangements be made for his burial the very next day, and that no autopsy be performed on the body. 166 Linus T. Asong The Archbishop himself was said to have been present at the burial, as if to ensure that the corpse had actually been buried. In his funeral speech he is said to have described Father Danfeely as: “a noble pillar of his calling, a man whose death had created a gap in the diocese which will not be easy to fill because he gave his body and soul to the service of the church.” The anonymous letter coupled with circumstances of the death of the priest caused me to summon a meeting of my top collaborators. The sudden death and hasty burial without post mortem examination of Father Danfeely was reviewed and a small committee set up to look into the matter and make suggestions. At the end of the day I dispatched a message to the Menako sector. On the 16th of November I sent this brief invitation to Reverend Sister Angela O’Reilly: Dear Sister O’Reilly; You are urgently invited to this office for a matter concerning you. Kindly bring along your identification documents, passport and the like. I knew Sister Angella O’Reilly would think that the invitation was part of the plot to secret her out of the country. She came without consulting the views of any of the white priests. When she came and handed over her passport and church identity card, I knew I had got her. That Jesus would have to be delivered on our own soil, I told myself. I examined them for a long time and then put them in a drawer. I then told her in a freezing tone: “We will get back to you sooner or later.” I was informed that the priests of the nearby parishes learned of the event with consternation and alarm. But that did not bother me. When Father Fabrizzio called at my Police Station I told him that we were looking into the matter, and that the officer handling the investigations had gone on leave. 167 Salvation Colony: Sequel to No Way to Die The Archbishop at Ovenga was immediately contacted. When he went up to our service and complained that the passport of an ailing Reverend Sister had been confiscated, the Commissioner who had been sufficiently briefed on the scandal told him: “Your Grace, this is a very delicate matter and we want to handle it with extreme care. We have never had any problem whether with the church or with your person. The press is heavily on our backs to say something about it. We have been reluctant to do so. “If you do not leave it in our hands, we shall hand over the matter to them to use it in whatever way they wish.” *** The threat was unnecessary because I noticed that the editors of THE NAKED TRUTH had been served a copy of the letter that had been sent...