SUNDAY SAUCE: The bridegroom cometh
Published:Sunday | April 11, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Oxy Moron, Contributor
Madgelyn Brissett was a God-fearing woman who lived alone after her grown children moved out. But so manipulating she was, no man stayed with her. In mid-age she was beset by loneliness. So she prayed to the Lord daily and nightly for a husband. Yet, Madgelyn refused to change her controlling ways.
One Good Friday morning, before dawn, as was customary in some rural communities, Madgelyn filled a drinking glass with water, and carefully poured the white of a common-fowl egg into it. On a wooden stand in her yard, she placed the glass at a point where the first sunrays would hit it. Then, she went back to bed to wait while the albumen morphed into a prophetic symbol.
The folklore was that whatever the albumen formed would be an indication of what would happen to the person who set the glass with the mixture. If it were a coffin, then death; cake, wedding; aeroplane, migration; human head, pregnancy, etc. In bed, while she waited for the albumen to set, Madgelyn prayed to the Lord to show her a favourable sign. That would be a wedding cake.
About 7:30 a.m., when the sun was out for quite a while, Madgelyn could take the suspense no more and went to see what the egg white portended. Her heart raced as she opened the living room door and stepped on to the veranda. Then, it stood still, for in the glass was a lovely three-tier wedding cake. The Lord had answered her prayer, at least partially. She went down on her knees right there on the veranda and gave thanks.
John, a neighbour, looking from behind the fence, heard Madgelyn's prayer of thanksgiving and witnessed her circling the glass, after. He suddenly got an idea. Later in the day, he gathered a few of his friends and together they discussed Madgelyn's plight and decided to relieve her from her loneliness.
Good Friday night, when Madgelyn returned from church, just as she was passing under the big mango tree in her yard, a deep voice thundered from above. "Madgelyn Brissett!" The voice roared. The startled Madgelyn quickly knelt, clasped her Bible to her ample bosom and said, "Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth!"
The voice boomed, "My beloved child, I bring thee great news. In the morning, the bridegroom cometh, so break up thy folly ground and be of good cheer."
"Thank you, Geesas, thank you, Geesas!" the now very emotional Madgelyn exclaimed. "I will forever praise thee and give thee thanks for thy loving kindness!"
"Now, rise up woman, and waiteth for the hour, for it is written that thou shalt not live alone!"
And with that she went to her bed in utter contentment.
All day Saturday, Madgelyn looked out for her groom, but his coming was not to be. She reflected on the 'divine intervention' and goose bumps covered her skin from time to time. Finally, the Lord was sending her a husband.
RESTLESS NIGHT
Saturday night was a restless one. In wild anticipation she existed, tossing and turning, wondering what the following day would bring. Then she fell into a deep sleep. She even dreamed about her own wedding, and just as she was about to say "I do", there was a "bang!"
Something had fallen upon her zinc roof. She was jolted from her bliss and shot up in bed. After regaining her composure, she rolled out. That must be the sign, she thought, and her heart danced and fluttered. She looked at the clock on her bedside table; it was exactly six o'clock. She hastily put on a house dress and tied her head. A short prayer she whispered and went to see whom the Lord had sent her way.
And when she saw whom, well, what it was, she shouted, "Woeeeeeeeee!" and dropped to her knees, again, and started reciting Psalm 23. As she prayed in earnest, the huge, white pig, with a stalk of red rose in its very long snout and donning a black bowtie stood at her veranda step with a piteous look in its eyes.