There’re some friends who, even if one tries to, one can’t ever forget.
Such is the case of my former elementary school mate, Gbenga.
I can’t ever forget the fact that his was the first lavish birthday party I ever attended. When I say ‘lavish’, I’m using the word deliberately. It wasn’t as if I had not been going to birthday parties before then.
Even if not, there would always be someone celebrating their birthdays in school when they would wear party clothes to school. Of course, they would bring ‘Cabin’ biscuits, ‘Fizzies’ and the occasional soda drinks.
However, his own birthday was celebrated in their house at Lawanson Street and everyone of us had a ‘seven star’ hospitality and we were even given prizes.
But then, that was not the ‘first’ I experienced from him. Their family was the first one I knew that had a private library.
That library was rich in all terms.
The books in the library ranged from nursery level books to post graduate books. Apparently, the parents had been àkeeping all the books used by their elder children at various levels of their education.
The library also had the now extinct ‘African Writers Series’, James Hadley Chase series, James Bond series, various versions of the Webster’s Dictionary, various versions of the Guinness Book of Records and so on.
They also had games like scrabble, chess, ludo, and bats for table tennis. Indeed, at some point in time, they actually procured a real table tennis equipment. Before then, we had been using unhinged doors as tables.
Of course, theirs was my second home, especially since they didn’t discriminate at meal times.
Before I forget, it was no surprise then that Gbenga was always first in the class.
He was later to attend a secondary school in the Somolu axis, IC, with his elder brother. But the brother died in an auto crash.
By the way, his brother’s initials were SK! I wouldn’t know how my friend inherited his brother’s initials!!
To reduce the trauma of the loss, his bereaved parents changed his school to the International School, UI. He eventually read computer science at the premiere university.
I’ve lost touch with him but I just can’t forget his simple lifestyle. Samuel Olugbenga Falode is ever unforgettable!
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