She was the closest I ever came to having a sister (from another mother!!) An only child, a lovely woman when I met her that is; we shared a lot hurts and pains of finally being adults, our hopes fears and crazy dreams, mine being of the crazier variety, she cried with me and me with her, we laughed , we would talk, endlessly at times we would just sit . We shared some classes and notes, we were in college together. We were more than classmates
She was always there for me, for all of five years, which is an eternity.
Would you believe our friendship as close as it was, finally ended over money I had lent her and she took forever to pay back? Our last conversation was rather nasty and we do not talk any more. I still have her number and would not mind starting from where we left but the small spat stands between us. She let me down.
Lesson number 56987 in the book of life; never lend money that you would not mind losing to anybody least of all a dear friend.
We knew each other from the age of five. Our mothers were good friends, still are. We shared dolls, sweaters: the only piece of clothing you could share without earning the wrath of our mothers, books, sweets, fruits; especially the fruits! you would take turns at sinking your teeth into delicious mangoes guavas oranges and sugar cane. Always in the spirit of fairness you would not take a bite too big. And pass it on to the other person. Doorsteps were a good place to sit and swap stories. Whatever it is that little girls are always whispering to each other. I was always fascinated by her family composition. She had one daddy and four mothers. All known to each other and the general public in case you are wondering.
She had something I did not have, an outgoing nature; always at ease with others. I was more aloof, she complemented me. If someone in school wanted something from me, they would go through her, and thus it was for a while. We were together during the secondary school holidays as we had gone to different schools. She would be loaded with greetings and notes from the adventurous young men to whom I paid no attention. And once in a while she would convince me to talk to one of them just once; does anyone remember how boring 16 year old boys are? With all due respect how many sentences from Shakespeare can you use in normal speech, or even letters for that matter? Without sounding like a broken record? For the record I loved Old Bill’s writing but couldn’t they do better than that?
She went to college in a different part of the country, we kept in touch. I took a trip to her new place when she finally had one of her own like me and we danced ourselves lame celebrating freedom. The crunch came when she encouraged me to have something going with her boss, a man old enough to be my father with children the same age I was. I was livid as she apparently did not see anything wrong with her proposition, and figured that I was lonely. Maybe I was but not to that extent. I guess we have drifted apart. I have not seen her in a while but her mother is always updating me on her activities. They think it is the distance that does not allow us to keep in touch. That and the fact that when she came to visit me she raided my closet in my absence- I had gone to work and she wanted to sleep late before catching a bus at midday. Never mind that she returned the stuff later. Unlaundered. And a lot of other little things that she did. The ones that make or break friendships.
I miss her sometimes, but I guess her first season in my life has come and gone. I am sure we will be in each other’s lives again. But at the moment the distance is my saving grace.
