Beautiful Souls, Beautiful Soles

Deborah squealed with delight as her father handed her the new shoes he bought for her. As he expected, she turned the shoe over, gazed and the soles, and ran out to the sandy part of the front yard. There, she pressed the soles of the shoes hard on the sand to see the sole prints. Seeing it was one of flowers and bees, she smiled widely and rushed to hug her father.

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“Thank you Daddy,” she said, hugging him tight. Even at her young age of eight, Deborah knew that her father must have sacrificed something to get her the shoes. It was just the two of them; her mother had died at her birth, so her father had said. A part of her wondered how things would have been if her mother had lived, seeing that things were really tough for them and good things were hard to come by.
“You are welcome,” Steve answered his daughter. He was glad she loved it. He had walked round the Oshodi market trying to get the shoe. It was not an easy task, considering the fact that he had four, equally important, criteria for the perfect shoe.
It had to be black.
It had to be economy friendly.
It had to be a size 6.
Most importantly, it had to have a beautiful sole print.
He had, literally, prayed earnestly for God to lead him, and his prayer had been answered.
“You earned it by being a good girl, so I had to keep to my promise.” Deborah had been complaining about her old shoe being too tight for two months, and it was her only shoe for church and school. Steve had made a promise; “Keep a beautiful soul, and I will buy you a shoe with beautiful soles.” And he must admit that Deborah was a well-behaved child. He was proud to call her his.
“I know Daddy. Beautiful souls have beautiful soles.” Deborah released her choking hug on her father’s neck. She looked at him with worry. “What are you going to eat tonight, Daddy?” He always found a way to feed her, but went to bed hungry most times.
“Don’t worry Princess, I will find something to eat. But let’s prepare pap for you, I bought akara for you.”
Deborah didn’t like akara and pap, but she feigned an enthusiastic smile, “Okay Daddy!”
That night, she laid still until she thought her father had slept off, then she knelt by her mattress.
“Dear God,” she whispered, “thank you for the new pair of shoes I got today. Thank you for the food I ate, even though I didn’t like it, but I know my father didn’t eat anything. Please do something and help us have enough money so that my father can eat every day, and so that I can stop taking pap, I am no longer a baby, pap is for babies. Bless my Daddy. Amen.”
Steve held back his laughter when he heard his daughter’s opinion about pap, but he sobered up, tears filling his eyes when he heard her last words. “Amen,” he whispered.
He will have to look for the blessing tomorrow, he promised himself.
He didn’t have to look for it. He was mysteriously approved for a contract he knew he was unlikely to get, but submitted a proposal anyway.
God must have heard Deborah’s prayer.

FIFTEEN YEARS LATER
Steve flipped through the photo album and sighed, he missed his daughter. He wondered if he had made a good decision by refusing to buy her a car for her eighteenth birthday. Their cordial relationship had dwindled steadily after that. Not being aware of what he did, he whistled Deborah’s favorite song, ‘Greatly Blessed, Highly Favored’ by Gaither Vocal Band, as he reviewed the cause of their estrangement. She hadn’t understood that she didn’t need a car as much as the people, his foundation catered for, needed food and clothes.
She had been jealous of his other children, as she called them. She didn’t understand that she was his only child, and that he would have it no other way. Her scholarship had come at just the right time, giving her an opportunity to leave him.
She was far away in Egypt, calling once in a blue moon, and he was all alone in Nigeria.
Today was Irene’s birthday, his beautiful Irene. Deborah was her perfect replica, physically and in her kind spirit. Which was why he was shocked at the jealousy and malice Deborah exhibited.
His office line rang, jolting him out of his thoughts. He picked and listened as his secretary informed him of his next meeting.
“Thank you,” he said and replaced the receiver. As he took his keys and prepared to leave his office, he prayed, “Dear Lord, you gave her to me, and provided for me to take care of her, please bring her back to me.”
As he was about stepping out, his phone rang, looking at it, he saw Deborah’s number. He picked immediately, the meeting will have to wait.
“Hello Dibs” he answered, naturally calling her by his nickname for her.
“Daddy?”
“Yes? Are you alright?” he knew immediately that something was wrong.
“Daddy everyone hates me. All my colleagues say I am spoilt and proud. What should I do? I can’t concentrate anymore!” She was in tears.
Before he could stop them, the words tumbled out of Steve’s mouth. “Beautiful souls make beautiful soles.”
He knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear immediately he heard her silence. “Is that all you can say? Does it sound to you like this is the eight-year-old girl you told that to? I don’t even know why I thought you could help.” She hung up.
Steve wanted to call her back, but he remembered she was Irene’s daughter. They both had a stubborn streak which he couldn’t overcome. She wouldn’t pick up.
“So much for answered prayer,” he muttered as he stood up and walked towards the door. Before he left, he prayed again. “Lord please bring her back to me.”

Deborah walked slowly through the airport. She knew her way home, but she wasn’t sure of the reception waiting for her. Her father’s presence felt like the only place she would be welcome. She couldn’t even pray to God. She felt like everyone hated her, God inclusive.
She hailed a taxi and told the driver her destination. As he drove her home, she went back to the words which made her decide to visit home.
Beautiful souls make beautiful soles; her father’s words.
After her anger had died down, she had asked herself what he meant by those words. He had stopped buying her shoes a long time ago, and she had stopped looking for shoes with beautiful sole prints. She was still wondering what message her father had passed when he said those words over the phone, when the taxi got home. The house looked the same. She hoped the security man was the same too, or else she will be outside the gate until her father came back.
“Madam Deborah! Welcome o!” Audu greeted, making Deborah give a smile of relief. For the first time since Audu was employed, she appreciated his presence in her life.

Deborah looked up from the book she was reading when she heard her father drive in. When she saw him step out of the car with a worried look at her direction, she felt blessed. He still loved her.
Then it hit her. He never stopped loving her, he only extended the love to others who also needed to be shown love.
“Deborah, what’s the matter? Why are you here? Why didn’t you call me?” he hurried towards her as he spoke.
“It’s alright Daddy, I came because I missed you. I didn’t call you for two reasons, I didn’t know if I was still welcome here, and I didn’t want you to worry…”
“You are always Welco…”
“I am sorry I ended the call rudely when I called you a week ago,”
Was it just a week ago? It felt like ages ago. His patience had been tested in waiting for her. “Apology accepted. Let’s get you inside so you can freshen up.” He carried her luggage inside, while she followed him slowly.
“Daddy?” she called out to him, she had to know.
“Yes Dibs,”
“What did you mean when you said beautiful souls always make beautiful soles? I know it wasn’t about shoes.”
“No, it wasn’t. It was about your footprints, your character, and your legacy. Sit down,” he invited. “Maybe it’s best we cleared the air, and reconcile.” He waited until she was seated, then he brought a bottle of chilled wine, and sat down with her. He continued speaking as he uncorked the bottle.
“I’m sorry I didn’t buy you a car, but I don’t regret what I did, I only regret that you misunderstood me. I love you Deborah, I love you more with each passing day. You are my only child. The only one God gave me. You look exactly like your mother, and I know some guy will soon be ready to win your heart, but I have to always stand for the truth. You didn’t need a car, but those other people needed food and clothes and a place to lay their heads at night. Those are the basic needs of life, and a car would have been an excess, a useless excess.”
“I know. I didn’t understand it then, but people started calling me spoilt at school, and I had to ask myself some questions. But you still haven’t explained your words to me.”
“Okay, I will do that. But I want you to delete, from your mind, the fact that you are spoilt,” Steve leaned back in his chair, forgetting the wine. “You are not. You just stopped maintaining the beauty of your soul, so your soles’ prints stopped being beautiful. When you were little, I rewarded you with a shoe with beautiful sole print when you proved yourself to be a good girl. Because you acted right, you reaped the joy of seeing your beautiful footprints each time you looked back. The same goes for your character, your life and your legacy. If you act right, if your soul is beautiful, your story, your footprints will be beautiful, and you can smile when you look back. I was hurt when you said everyone hated you, and called you spoilt. It showed that you missed a mark, I know you to be kindhearted and friendly, which was why you thought to pray for God to provide so I could eat.”
At Deborah’s surprised look, Steve nodded. “I heard you pray. I believe I have answered your question?”
“Yes you have.”
“Good. So, truce?” he asked, bringing out his hand for a handshake.
“Truce,” she replied, “But on one condition,”
“Okay… but I hope you won’t still ask for a car. I still don’t think you...”
“You will go shopping with me; shoe shopping.”
“Shoe shopping?” Steve asked, and laughed hard and loud, Deborah joining him. They laughed so loud that it got Audu smiling when he heard it.
The laughter was a sign that all was well. It was the sound from beautiful souls.