Lancelot was the first to wake up later that evening. Yes. Evening. They thought they were going to be up earlier than the five-thirty so that they could at least have lunch. Lancelot was surprised to have woken up to that time on the clock. At first, he thought it was because of the painkillers he literally overdosed before going to bed. Gyasi was literally screaming at him while he was taking them earlier that morning.
'Herh? Abrantie, you know we just delivered one of us from a near death experience, right? So, if you feel like overdosing, please pack your bags, and go and die by your wife,' Gyasi was almost wrestling the pills from him while talking.
'She wouldn't even notice if I died, Gyasi. I am in terrible pain. Just two pills, please,' Lancelot swallowed the pills hard and gulped the entire 500 ML bottle of water afterwards.
Indeed, he woke up feeling better. But he was surprised he was the first to be awake and the intensely deep sleep for almost ten hours was not as a result of the pills he took. Indeed, everyone was worn out and they needed to simply rest. He sat up on the bed. He could still feel some aches in his body but it was minimal compared to earlier. His roommate for the trip, Nurudeen, was still stirring in sleep on the other bed. He would not be awake all by himself. He threw his second pillow at him and woke him up.
'Mmmmmmm, aaah,' Nurudeen moaned.
'Stop that and wake up, it is almost six in the evening.'
'Tis what? Six? Are you for real?' Nurudeen said tossing and turning. He let out a loud cry when he tried to sit up but he managed to sit up though.
'What's wrong?' Lancelot asked with concern in his voice.
'My ribs felt like they were just uncaged! The pain is unbearable. Ouch. Ouch.' Nurudeen really looked like he was in pain. Lancelot got up and helped him to sit up, propping him against more pillows.
'Just relax. You will be fine. I think a painkiller later would help the situation.' Lancelot said and stepped out. He knocked on the door to the other bedroom. He kept knocking but there was no response. He entered anyway.
'Wake up, wake up,' he walked to their bedsides and shook each of them violently until they were awake. He left and went back to his room, only to see about three missed calls from his wife. He smiled while looking at the call log. For the first time in a while, he now remembered really that she was still a present part of his life. The roller coaster they had gone through in almost forty-eight hours was enough to keep his mind a bit at bay. He replied with a text message asking what was up and assuring her that he was very fine and having fun. Was he having fun? Well, at least the dangerous turn of events was quite exhilarating – except for the kind of danger they were exposed to. He spoke to Nurudeen for a while and they decided whether they would go out for some food or not. Lancelot stepped into the shower and was out in no time. He dressed up and sat in the living room, waiting for the others. Laziness had gotten the better of them because of how tired they were. But Lancelot had had enough of sleeping and being cozy. He was still texting with his wife who was still insisting to speak to him on a call instead. Lancelot was not ready for that and he was sincere with himself about it but not with her, because he was considering how she was going to feel about that kind of statement.
Gerald and Gyasi stepped into the living room while Lancelot was still texting with his wife.
'You are really serious about this outing? And here I am still feeling sickly lazy?' Gerald said with a yawn, sitting in the couch opposite. He was still in a pair of shorts and a tshirt which he wore when he was indoors.
'Are you not hungry?' Lancelot asked.
'I am but I am not in the mood to step out of this room, this suite, this space,' Gerald replied. 'I mean, can't we order some food and have some fun in here or even down on the beach or something? We have barely spent time in here since we came.'
Nurudeen entered now, also looking dressed like Lancelot and was surprised that Gerald and Gyasi were not prepared for an outing. They all sat in the living room while Gerald insisted that they stayed indoors. Gerald called the receptionist to find out if their restaurant was working. They ordered some grilled meat and catfish, and a number of side dishes including all kinds of weird labels for rice meals that were on the menu. The receptionist said the food would take thirty minutes so Gerald instructed that they bring some drinks and snacks for them to enjoy.
'Well, I guess Gerald wins on this one,' Nurudeen said, removing the shoes he was wearing.
'I do owe you an apology, Nurudeen. I flipped earlier and that was not supposed to be a good response. You were also taken by surprise by the actions of these men, wherever they came from. You did not deserve that kind of outburst. The situation was frustrating but for brothers, we hold each other—' Gerald was cut in the middle by Gyasi.
'It's okay with all this officialness and premium syntax and semantics! You are not in the court… And Nurudeen has heard you,' Gyasi interjected. Everyone laughed and Gerald only cupped his hands to prop his jaw, sighing and shaking his head.
'Why don't you let me finish?' Gerald complained.
'We will not let you finish. This lengthy apology too is what?' Lancelot joined the teasing with laughter.
'You all, just allow Gerald to be himself!' Nurudeen remarked. 'Apology accepted, my brother and I should also be apologizing to you all for dragging you all into this web of mine – this complex web I knitted with my rather stupid, unwise and unguided choices.'
'Rather stupid?' Lancelot asked. 'What you described was not stupid. You had no choice at the time, you had no options, like… In that kind of season of life you were in, you wanted to make which other decision? You rather got caught up in someone's web because you were ignorant and vulnerable then. I don't think you should be hard on yourself because if your parents were active and present enough to lead you, life would have been different. If they had the money, if they had the leverage our parents had and still have, Nurudeen, you wouldn't have gone on to struggle to work for such unscrupulous and slick people.'
Nurudeen was about to speak but Gyasi also came in. 'I agree. Many have just had to become men by indulging certain things just because that looked like the only way they could become men, Nurudeen. And that was your situation. It is not an endorsement for wrong choices or even the deliberate folly of many young men. Neither is it an issue of not being smart enough because it takes a smart and wise person to leverage a simple opportunity to work for such big men as you put it. These mistakes that came from your zest to find that stability as a growing young man should not be something you wield to berate yourself. You were not careless, nor silly. You were just a boy who probably needed a lot of guidance and needed to be surrounded by better humans who would not pray on your naivety and vulnerability. Even those of us who had active father figures still needed much more that just our fees being paid. We needed our hand held by our fathers, to be deliberately taught to be men and not expected to grow into men just by watching.'
'Exactly,' Gyasi concurred. 'And this has affected most of us. We have grown into men because we had to, without any real preparation and guidance. Who here had his father sit down with them to talk about marriage, money, managing the home etc at age 19 or 20 or way before you told your father that you were ready to marry?'
Gerald laughed. 'I remember how my father would scream – be a man – whenever I had to pour some emotions to him. It moulded me to be strong but it made me somewhat a nonchalant person in a lot of situations because I grew up shielding myself and dissociating from being empathic or even being true about my emotions. A lot of stoutness and a stoic personality that does not help a lot of issues in my life. He barely talked about anything. Everything was about be a man without me knowing how to be…'
'This is and has remained the issue for many boys today who are becoming men. So, instead of imbibing the very homely teaching and guidance, they rather subscribe to the social label of who a man is and should be because the fathers have not deliberately taken steps to teach and guide the boys in that dimension in and outside the home. As you said, Gerald, many boys are so emotionally numb because the father exemplified that social structure in the home as well. Many too would just see the label of manhood as making money. Others too who have had a pretty bad social conditioning would see manhood as some arena where you are to conquer women, do all the hard stuff and it doesn't even make sense…' Lancelot said.
'Truly, truly. I mean, if I had some guidance, I wouldn't have been caught up in that web. I wouldn't have even married someone I did not really want to marry. Like, a lot happened in that time and I wished I had a second voice…' Nurudeen admitted.
'And you know it is really critical to transition from being a boy to becoming a man?' Gerald said and they all contributed their agreement. He continued, 'the choices you have to make even for your career, the choice of who to marry, the management of money, how to build yourself, groom yourself, how to live a life of impact… I just think boys are left to become because we expect them to become! There is no way we are even keen on that age of transition, to help them grow better…'
The conversation paused briefly when the concierge came in with waiters, with the appetizers they ordered.
No comments:
Post a Comment