THE EX FACTOR #21
`If life throws lemons at
you, catch them, make lemonades and sell it. Just pray there's anyone to buy
it.
I hate that I like to say
this but not everyone really understands the true meaning of friendship. A lot
of people put to foolish use, that delicate word "friend".
Not every friend is a friend
and I don't care if you call me crazy for making this little research I'm just
about sharing with you about the word 'friend', what it really means and how it
came about.
FRIEND.
Word Definition:
1. A person whom one knows,
likes, and trusts.
2. A person whom one knows;
an acquaintance.
3. A person with whom one is
allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade or companion.
Word History:
A friend is a lover,
literally. The relationship between Latin word: Amïcus "friend" and
Amõ "I love" is clear, as is the relationship between Greek philos
"friend" and phileõ "I love." In English, though, we have
to go back a millennium before we see the verb related to friend. At that time,
frëond, the Old English word for "friend," was simply the present
participle of the verb frëon, "to love." The Germanic root behind
this verb is *frï, which meant "to like, love, be friendly to."
Closely linked to these concepts is that of "peace," and in fact
Germanic made a noun from this root, *frithu-, meaning exactly that. Ultimately
descended from this noun are the personal names Frederick, "peaceful
ruler," and Siegfried, "victory peace." The root also shows up
in the name of the Germanic deity Frigg, the goddess of love, who lives on today
in the word Friday, "day of Frigg," from an ancient translation of
Latin Veneris diës, "day of Venus."
I don't want to bore you off
but there are some people that do not refer to people as their friend, except
in the general "my friend" term but when they call you a friend, you
are definitely going to take a whole lot of effort to unfriend or defriend
yourself from their little wolf pack. I am that kind of person. There are
slight differences between associates, hommies, allies, comrades, brothers in arms
and pals but I'm not your english language teacher am I?
There's also a difference
between a simple friend and a real friend and its disgusting how some people
would keep portraying themselves as strangers and want you to call them
friends. Friends are those special people you surround yourself with, those you
don't joke with and people who are just a mini step below your fam... family is
what I mean by that. Although as you grow and your status changes, your friends
are bound to change. Sometimes in life, you have to shed both habits and
friends but some friends are closer to you than the limits of the word's
definition. They leave the status of being your friend to becoming your
Alter-ego.
Apologies for my many bible
references when I'm flowing in the current of emotions but I'll just make a small flash pass at proverbs
17:17... So before I get anyone reading this, confused and steaming off with
questions like "Jay, why all these gibberish and fruity blabbering?"
"Why must you think out loud and won't stop at that, but still write it
down for someone to still come read it up?" "Jay, what's your
problem?... Give your thoughts and writings some direction please and stop
wasting other people's time."... Before my angry readers draw their weapons
(their tongues, that is) I'll just say this: If you've ever had a 'friend' or
if you've ever been a good friend to someone, either they loved you back or it
was just one sided or if you know the true meaning of friendship, stop for a
few seconds and say a prayer for Dave. My friend who's slowly slipping away
into darkness on the hospital bed. The exact narration of events are still
unclear, as I wasn't there when it happened but according to "he
said" and "she said", Dave had stood up while I was out of The
Stepp Inn, asked for me and left the supposedly watchful eyes of Doc FM. Next
thing Doc knew was a heated argument at the near end of the club and in no
time, a crowd had assembled and that was it. Our next tasks were picking our
friends body from the floor, calling a cab and making our way crazily to the
hospital.
Although word has it that
nobody touched Dave. He was said to have slipped and hit the back of his drunk
head on the edge of the ordering stool. Some said he had tried molesting a
guy's girlfriend and the guy pushed him like he was in a pushing contest, and
thanks to his already drunk and staggering state, he simply went like a bowling
ball into the ordering stool.
Titi nearly went crazy upon
her arrival to St. Luke's hospital. Only seeing the blood made her dizzy and
she had to hold firmly unto me to stop her sinking to the ground.
"He's strong. I'm very
sure he'll be ok." I had told her as she broke down in tears.
"Why did you get him
drunk and abandon him Jay?, why?, why?, why?, why?..." Each
"why" was accompanied with a feather weight punch in the chest and I
dare not let the puncher out from my grasps and embrace, before she gets her
spark and does something crazy.
"I'm sorry... I'm very
sorry."
My shirt was soaked from
various forms of liquid matters, water, blood, Titi's tears and sweat took the
main soaking percentage. I was really panicking but I dare not show it.
Although we were told we could go home by the health personnels attending to
Dave, we decided to wait to check on his progress and response.
"You guys can go home
now Jay, I've got my man from here"
Titi later said suddenly as we all sat on the waiting couch, just after the
reception. Mickey and Doc FM had made to leave in the slowest way possible but
I sat still and it really got them confused as they contemplated on sitting
back or leaving without me.
"I'm not asking if you
wanna go home Jay. I want you guys to go. That's what I meant. I'll need time
alone with my fiancée" Titi whispered. She sounded calmer and what she
said would've made me dance since its obvious she had forgiven my friend but
the situation on ground would not give any room for it, else I'll just bag
myself a quick mental check up.
"I'll see you later
then." I said beneath my breath as I gathered my stuffs together, gave Doc
and Mickey a "let's go" sign with a move of my head and made for the
door. Just as I got to the door, Titi called out.
"Jay!"
The three of us instantly
turned back like it was rehearsed. We were looking very sorry and almost worse
than Chiwetel in twelve years a slave.
"I'm not angry!"
Nobody replied. We just
nodded in unison and left the reception hall.
****************
I sat in the cab, partly
thinking of my friend in the hospital and what it was, that Lizzy wanted to see
me for. She has been behaving strangely lately though and I've sat down to
scrutinize the chain of events between us in the past few weeks. I've not been
able to lay hands on any spot where I've stepped on a mine. Probably I've
offended her, without even knowing what I did got on her bad side. She probably
must have gotten tired of hoarding whatever it is I did inside her mind, hence
the reason I'm on my way to her place.
A few lines form Brymo's
'Down' song sneaked into the radius of my attention and I smirked at how the
artiste quickly painted life's complication with his imaginary characters of
the thief, the chief, the aboki and the theif's neighbour's daughter. Life
itself is complicated enough. Why add females? I had read somewhere, probably from
one of my very own articles. Females can paint the picture of someone with a
small cut on the little finger seem like he's about to... Or just underwent an
amputation. There's no over-sizing natural female specialties. Gossip,
exaggeration, attention seeking, mood swing and overreaction. Although I'm not
trying to generalize all attributes to every female but I could still carry out
a female censors and my statistics would show...
"...Oga, na this
junction?... Oga mi?" The cab driver interrupted my thoughts.
I jerked out of my thinking
galore and realized we were almost at Lizzy's place. For some unknown reasons,
my psychic thing flashed a thought of telling the driver to turn back and drive
me back home which almost made me laugh a scornful laugh.
"Turn to your right and
stop in front of the fifth house by the left." I replied as I fondled my
pocket for my phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Liz!... Whatsup
dear?"
"I'm fine"
I shrugged and continued.
"I'm in front of your
house. Could you come open the door?"
"Why didn't you tell me
when you were about coming instead of calling that you're already outside my
door?... What if I'm not at home?... What will you do?"
"See, young
woman..." I got out of the parked cab, hooked the phone to my left ear
with my shoulder, drew my wallet and handed some notes to the cab man.
"I'm not in the mood for your attitudes. Just open your door if you're at
home and if you're not, simply talk and I'll just jump back into the cab that
brought me. Can it be more complicated than that?"
She replied with something
inaudible and in a few seconds, I heard movements followed by clicks on the
brown HTS security door.
"Good afternoon..."
"For the record, I'm not
dumb. I tried your number and it was saying switched off. Its you who knows whose
call you're avoiding that is making you switch off your phone." I sharply
cut in angrily.
"I'm sorry." She
replied as she walked back into the house.
I followed her inside wearing
a very angry expresssion, shut the door behind me and just as I turned back,
Liz ran into me and hugged me tight like a kid afraid of someone. She sank her
head into my chest and I just stood there confused, while I ran my right
fingers through her hair.
"I'm sorry darl."
She whispered.
"Its ok" I replied.
She raised her head, drew
mine with both hands until our lips met. The kiss lasted a minute or two and I
knew something was not right.
"I've been transferring
aggression. I'm really sorry Jay. I must have got you feeling bad for
nothing." She said when she finally let go of me and went to sit on the
left hand single seater comfy couch.
"Are you ok?"
She nodded
"... And who's annoying
you?"
"Nobody." she
replied, she shaking her head slowly.
And that was when I saw that
her face was hiding a lot of sadness and fear. She had black lines under her
eyes - she has been crying often of late.
"What could've happened
that Liz deemed it right to keep me away from?... What must have caused her
consistent weeping?" I thought as I moved to take a squatting position in
front of her.
"Talk to me honey"
She just held my hands but
didn't reply.
...And that was when it
struck me and I felt my heart skip two pulses.
"Where's Dorothy?"
Liz bursted into
uncontrollable tears and I felt so faint, I scrambled for support.
Everyone has a spot that
links to their emotions... However strong and heartless they may seem. Even the
stone heart has a piece of flesh in it.
Mature Minds Talk.
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