Excerpt from Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The Seeker felt thankful that her sister had faithfully contributed her tithes to Papa Davina's ministry. One did not earn a private audience with Papa D. until after at least a year of attending the open services that he conducted below for all and sundry, and with an unbroken record of tithing. Her sister had even transferred her "redemption coupons" to her. There were, of course, exceptions for emergencies. To bypass any unplanned constraints, the seeker must first cover the year's arrears—among other charges—and at double tithing. Emergencies covered vicissitudes such as court trials, where divine intervention was needed to soften the judge's sadistic soul and pronounce a full acquittal, sometimes even citing the prosecution for abuse of process and contempt.

Her own predicament was not that drastic, and as some patients are prone on visiting the doctor, she was not without her self-prescription. Hers was simply a case of poor business choices, a spate of ill luck that had persisted for three years, leading to losses. Then there was the bane of customs levy on goods that barely survived the depredations of sea pirates now massively invested in the nation's eastern creeks. Nothing that could not be offset by the allocation of a single oil block. This was what mandated the recourse to Papa D.

And now, finally, she was face-to-face with Destiny, a pursuit whose fulfillment nested in the hands of the sole guardian of the prophesite. There the Gardener of Souls—another of Davina's titles—stood, arm outstretched as one who wielded the staff of Moses, his electronic gadget a wand that could make barren rock yield its most prized, procreative, life-sustaining secret. But that was a primitive era when Moses could produce only water—the staff of modern-day Moses was tuned to oil gushers. The black gold, nestling beneath farmland and ancestral fishing ponds. Perspectives changed with modernity.

As if her thoughts were being read, the visual display was now augmented by the aural, as the sonorous and wheezing pipes of organ music began to dispense an uplifting composition. It transported her to lands yet undreamt of, to visions of the attainable. Papa D.'s voice gathered together the emotions that had sprung up in her troubled, frustrated mind and, at his chosen moment, brought them down to earth.

"There is a drawer attached to your stool—by the right side. Pull it out. You'll find a folder and a fountain pen. Old-fashioned fountain pen, not ballpoint. Open the folder and extract one sheet."

The Seeker obeyed. Her hand touched the folder, and she needed only that one touch to feel the luxury of the finest vellum. "I import it directly from Jerusalem," revealed Papa Davina reductively. The Seeker was already persuaded that this was papyrus on which the angels wrote the Book of Life.

"Write on it what it is you seek," he invited.

Excerpted from Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka. Copyright © 2021 by Wole Soyinka. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.