KayCee opened his eyes just as his bedside clock announced nine. He was reluctant to get up from the bed; after all, it was a Saturday morning. The whole day lay before him to idle away as he liked. But as the faint sound of approaching foot-steps got to his ears, he hoped that his mother was not coming for him again.

“KayCee, you must get up now, your food is almost ready”, his mother said, as she opened the door and showed her face. KayCee sighed.
“Remember that today is the second day of the Retreat. You promised to go with me to the programme; we are commencing at twelve. So, get up and prepare, my dear; please KayCee, I don’t want us to be late.”

As his mother left, KayCee sighed again. He was still basking in the pleasurable thoughts of all the fun he had had at the party he had attended the previous night. As he looked through the window, and observed the beautiful day, he wondered how he would just waste all of such a day in a Church. His mother, an exceptionally godly woman, had been on his neck, urging him to repent, quit his sinful life, accept Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, and commit his life to God’s service. But how could that be? How could he just waste his youth serving God? Wouldn’t his friends laugh him to scorn? Well, he was just twenty-four. Before he turned forty, he would probably consider what his mother was saying. And that would be about sixteen good years from now! He had enough time to make up his mind. So, for now, the whole wide world is there for him to explore and enjoy. And he wouldn’t let any one deter him.

He must have fallen asleep again, but this time, he woke up with frightening start. A ghostly silence had descended on the entire house. Suddenly, the smell of a burning pot assailed his nose. He got up quickly, rushed to the kitchen, very apprehensive, and shouting his mother’s name. No answer came from anywhere. With shaking hands, he hastened to the cooker and turned it off. The pot had been damaged considerably. Where on earth had his mother gone suddenly?

“Mama! Mama!! Mama!!! Where are you?” Fright and desperation had strongly gripped him. It was still ten, and his mother could not have left so suddenly for the programme, leaving her pot to burn away on the fire.

“Mama! Mama!”, he kept shouting, as he raced to his mother’s room, the bathroom, the store, the guest room, and in fact, everywhere! His mother’s Bible, bag, clothes, and all, were there, as she usually kept them, in readiness for an outing. So, what had happened to her? KayCee had become terribly alarmed.

An idea occurred to him. Aunty Jane, her mother’s friend, must have an answer. With only his shorts on, he dashed out of the house sweating profusely. Aunty Jane’s house was just some two compounds away.

Aunty Jane’s husband sat moodily in front of the house, sighing intermittently, and shaking his head. Few drops of tears were escaping from his eyes. Sadness and sorrow were written all over him. “What on earth was happening?”, KayCee shouted breathlessly. The man slowly looked up, his eyes glistening with tears. KayCee became highly alarmed, afraid to ask any more questions.

“Yes, it is all over”, the man said sadly. “It is all my fault. She warned and warned me. I went back to my former sinful life. Now it has happened. The Rapture has taken place. My wife has gone to heaven, leaving me here. Oh! I’m finished. Oh, she just vanished before my very eyes!”

“What?” KayCee found his voice again.

“She was just telling me to return to the Lord, before it was too late. She was urging me to follow her to the Retreat. She was still talking when it happened. My wife suddenly vanished!”

“And my mother? What about her?” KayCee asked unnecessarily.

“Oh, you don’t know? She must have gone too! They have all gone. Gone! Gone! Gone to heaven to be with the Lord. I thought I had all the time to make amends. But the Rapture of the saints has caught me unprepared. Oh, how I wish that I was never born”.

KayCee was dumbfounded. For some seconds he stood motionless, rooted to the spot. Then suddenly, he dashed out, heading home. He was still wishing that it would not be true. As he made to enter their compound, his eyes caught a girl rushing out of the house, a sharp object in her hand, and a murderous scowl on her face. It was Jessica, the girl he had taken to the party the previous night…

“Yes, you are the one I’m looking for! I will kill you today, and send you to hell quickly! You, KayCee, you have ruined me! I had been a faithful Christian, following my parents to Church, but yesterday, just yesterday, you came and deceived me, and seduced me! Now, I have missed the Rapture! I must kill you! I must…”

KayCee did not wait to hear more. He turned quickly and ran to another compound with the raving girl in hot pursuit, cursing and threatening. As he barged into a house, frantically soliciting the protection of the family members who had gathered together, they were too pre-occupied with the radio to which they were all listening to pay him attention. A more awesome feeling gripped him instantly. A thick, overwhelmingly chilly fog of gloom hung in the air. He just found himself a place in the midst of the people and became calm instantly. As the girl also barged in, the pervading gloom in the room, equally arrested her and she temporarily forgot the object of her fury. Her fear became more fierce than her anger.
The radio was reporting the chaos that had been witnessed from many parts of the world due to the mysterious and sudden disappearances of several people. An aircraft had crashed into a mighty thirty-five storey building in Miami following the sudden disappearance of the pilot. All the 268 people on board had died. Several accidents had occurred in several places as drivers vanished from the seats of their vehicles. As a result, hospital accident and emergency units have been jammed. Confusion reigned everywhere as people ran helter skelter, looking for missing relations. The Pope, the radio reported, has elected to say a special high mass for the victims of the global catastrophe at four. It was gathered that all the people who had so far been reported missing belong to the group of people who claimed to have been born-again, and who were always seen preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ….

“Ah! I’m finished! KayCee, I must kill you!” It was the same girl again. This time, she acted so fast and before KayCee could escape, she had grabbed his clothes. And as she lifted the sharp piece of iron to stab him, KayCee screamed with all his might. At the same time he woke up in a pool of cold sweat, in his bed. Oh, so it was a dream?

“KayCee, what is it?” It was his mother. She was in his room, searching blindly for the light switch. She found it, and switched on the light. She had been attracted by the terrible screams that KayCee had let off.

“Oh, a horrible dream!”

“What dream?”

“Please Mama, I want to give my life to Christ now. Now, Mama, now! Please Mama, forgive me. I want to serve God now, yes, now. Oh, Mama, are we still in this world?” He was speaking very fast. He gripped his mother’s hand strongly.

“Okay, my son, let’s go to my room. I am happy that you want to serve God now. There won’t be any problems again. Come, and I will show you how to reconcile with God. Time is short. Extremely short. The time to be saved is now, yes, now. To wait for the next minute might be very dangerous”.

As they entered the woman’s room, a few minutes to midnight, with KayCee clinging to his mother as though she could vanish any moment, the radio, tuned to a Christian station which KayCee’s mother always listened to, began to play a very moving duet, with an arresting accompaniment of piano and trumpets, played so low as to give prominence to the singers’ voices. She recognized the song immediately. It was Alfred Barret’s 1953 composition entitled: There Is No Tomorrow With God. It sang: