I couldn’t be happier last Sunday. It started as a WhatsApp chat, and it read:
‘Good morning to you and the entire household. God bless you, my dear brother.’
The person was not on my WhatsApp list, and the profile picture was womanish. So, I replied: ‘Good morning sis. May I meet you?’
‘I remain Aderemi Agoro, the youngest boy in Lagos State.’
Me: ‘Bogunbolu, how body?’
Remi is a Facebook friend I’d not spoken to for about 30 years. It was even the very first time we chatted on WhatsApp.
We’ve been friends since we were teenagers. I think it would be most ungrateful of me to describe those guys with whom I closely associated at Ebute-Meta as ordinary friends. But since we were not brought into this world by the same parents, what do I call them?
Eureka!!!
I choose to call them ‘frienthers’.
Bogunbolu was eminent amongst them. Let’s hope there will be ample time to celebrate their enviable magnanimity.
He lived on Herbert Macaulay Street, Ebute-Meta, while I squatted with my pals at 61A, Ibadan Street, Ebute-Meta (East). It was not as if I did not have a home then. Even though I lost my dad early, I had a family that gave me a home. In fact, my relatives were marvellous. However, something that was beyond me at that time made me seek alternative accommodation. Maybe it was wanderlust.
As I wrote earlier, we had been friends on Facebook for many years.
However, on Sunday, after I chatted with him on WhatsApp, I settled down to other things when my phone beeped. I did not recognise the voice at first.
I was speaking with Aderemi Agoro!!!
Immediately, Ebute-Meta came to my mind. The clean gutters in which we put our paper boats; Iya kiisun, who sold fried yam, plantain and fish to night crawlers; Iya Ghana, who sold solid food; Central Cinema, my piano lesson teacher, Oko Baba, Makoko, Ago Egba, Lisabi Hall, the various joints that we patronised, and so on!!!
‘Deremi certainly made my day. While thanking him for his show of brotherhood, may I encourage everyone to remember someone, somewhere today, and call them.
Your call could be the tonic they need to be saved from depression!!!
111115
