….Is there one you can count on?
….Is there one you can count on?
Do it and do it again. Don’t stop it because you’ll never know when the bells will chime. You’ll never know which side you’d find yourself. It could either be the safe zone or the unsafe side. But just when you thought it’s all over, there comes someone with the plumb line to save the situation.
A God-sent rescuer is on the way running to tidy up things. When grace is coming she comes unfettered. So does favour too. They might seem miniscule to some people; however you can’t downplay their significance in Man’s day to day activities.
If you believe in Karma you’d understand what I’m talking about. But I hope you’d get it by and by if you aren’t a believer in this act of reciprocity. It’s a vibe, it’s a feeling and it’s an aura that radiates like the powerful sun.
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I’d have been marked absent if there were a roll-call say in a class. Thank Goodness the ‘time keeper’ had good judgement and saved the situation. She stopped the approaching mishap that was probably minutes away. Linda figured out something must be wrong. She realised something wasn’t right.
What’s keeping him late today?
She possibly asked that question before she called me. But Linda knew tardiness wasn’t my portion of doing things. I’m always on time, always there to be counted. And if I were a little behind time or shade late I would give her a call. But not today, I’d been ditched. I’d show up but not at six!
A few months ago a twenty-something year-old Ghanaian lady was found dead in her apartment in Worcester Massachusetts USA. Her decomposed body according to reports was discovered weeks after she passed on. Where were her workmates?
Did she have friends? And where were the neighbours?
Strange it took that long!
Elsewhere in the UK in 2009, I witnessed similar incident in Cardiff City, when a young man’s fetid body was hauled out of his window across my residence. Residents said they hadn’t seen him for days. That begs the question. Strangely no one checked on him until his odor invited the police.
Indeed true friends check on each other or one another from time to time in spite of their busy schedules. Life abroad is hectic and it seems one is always on the move. Busy bees, busy all day busy all night, trying to make ends meet.
What else would you expect after a 16-hour shift, 40-straight push-ups at 12:30 in the mornin’ and writing 1 of 5 pages article (that translates into 1,479 words) in between those frenetic hours?
You’d of course be exhausted. Yet the body refused to surrender. I couldn’t sleep till about 2am still listening to BBC news in the hope that it would lull me into sleep. At that moment I knew nature will steal my pride. She’ll rob me of my long protected pride, the pride I’ve jealously guarded.
Hours before (during my lunch break) I’d called a few friends of mine. I’d called Brother Richard, Joseph, Billy, Jonathan, Michele and Uncle Bob. I’d also texted my Octogenarian friend —Frank Manlore to wish him good night and good luck. Frank and I have been doing this for months now.
I mentioned Uncle Bo: He’s one of my good good friends. Good Old Bob lives in Gig Harbor I don’t get the time to see him often since he retired from his work place here in Tacoma. I visited him last month.
He thanked me for the call and I thanked him for his time. It’s karma.
Ghanaian highlife musician Akwasi Ampofo Agyei (alias Mr. A. A.A) of blessed memory put it this way: “Wo’ye papa a woye fa, wo’ye bone nso’ a wo’ye fa.”
Dear reader I implore you to observe sleep if you aren’t familiar with death. They look alike. They must be bed-fellows I guess. I found myself in a huge class lecturing, answering questions etc… And boy, the students kept me busy!
Nonetheless I enjoyed their company and they told me: “Come back Sir Gordon. It was nice to have you here.” Some of the students still tailed me as I was preparing to step out from the auditorium.
Linda’s call would suddenly end my odyssey into the dreamland. . I was supposed to do shift change at six, which is why she called. I’d been saved by the bell!
But I felt relieved better than the days before. I’d clocked four out of an eight-hour normal sleep. That wasn’t bad at all especially for me. I don’t get it much from my crazy days. Days wrought by intensity.
“Be careful the road is slippery drive safe here,” Linda told me.
Thank you my friend you made it count when it mattered most. That was the bell at six!
Why didn’t you set an alarm?
I’ve never used an alarm. I am used to waking myself up. I get up consciously. But believe me, when you’re into deep sleep alarm bells can’t change the equation. I’m talking from experience. In September last year I nearly killed myself. I wasn’t drank and I wasn’t on any drugs. I don’t do them anyway.
It was simply sleep deprivation. After five near misses of deadly accidents I finally rammed into someone’s car less than a mile to my destination. I talked to myself. I called my name time and again to stay awake— telling myself of an impending danger… I dodged a train (the Link) I avoided sliding into the Puyallup River (River Rd.)
All this happened in an about 25 minutes’ drive (not even an hour). And it was a week before the grand opening of the Washington State Fair in September 2015.
Perhaps the only thing I didn’t do was to stop at a lay by and catch some sleep. But I was rushing home to save my other job. Hard to believe I still couldn’t save it!
At seven -something my phone rang. It identified the caller as Tozia. Apparently he’d noticed something that snuck my hawkish eyes. What’s up Bro?
“Hey I saw you wished Juliet a happy birthday and didn’t acknowledge Mary,” he said.
Wow I better do that quickly. ‘How could I…Happy birthday Mary!!!
Ladies I hope you both have a great one today and the years ahead,’ I later wrote. Mary and Juliet are my friends on Ghana TC Radio Chatroom. Thank you Tozia you made it count when it mattered most. And that was the bell at seven!!
You see how karma works? We’ll need somebody. I need you, you need me and everybody needs somebody.
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