Old Friend

They arranged to spend a week together
It was the most anticipated event of
the year for him
His friend and brother of many years
would finally be with him
They had a lot to catch-up on
They met almost twenty-five years ago
His parents decided to change him from
a day student to a boarding school
The transfer process was rigorous 
By the time it was finally worked out he had 
lost a year
He resumed in the boarding school but had 
to repeat the previous class
On the day he resumed, he was given a locker
and a bunk
His bunkmate was a smallish boy of about
the same age as he was
His bunkmate's body was covered by the
notorious scabies infection
The other students avoided his bunkmate
like a plague
Nobody wanted to contact the infectious 
skin disease
He didn't care about the scabies
He hated the school
He was angry that his parents changed
his school and made him lose a year
He wanted to contact any disease and
fall ill so that his parents can see that
he didn't belong in a boarding school
and offer to take him back home
That was why he willingly became bunk
mates with the boy
They became fast friends
The boy was a year younger than he was
He had been attending boarding schools
since he was three months old!
WOW!
His mother dumped him with his father
when he was two months old
She ran off with a richer man
His bunkmate's father couldn't cope 
with him because of his work
His bunkmate's father was an agricultural 
extension officer with OYSADEP and 
the nature of his job required that he 
was always travelling from one 
farmstead to the other!
So his father arranged with
a school to take care of him
That was the world his bunkmate 
grew up in through nursery, primary 
and secondary school
He saw his father once in a blue moon!
Whenever the school was on vacation
he travelled to stay with friends and 
sometimes relatives of his Father
His friend didn't even know what his 
mother looked like
His friend's story was quite pathetic!
He felt like protecting and loving his
bunkmate immediately after he heard
the story
Nobody ought to grow up without a 
family
Their friendship grew!
He didn't hesitate to invite his friend 
over to spend vacations with his family
His parents also took to his friend quickly
While they were in school, they started
experimenting with many things
Cigarettes, prostitutes, drugs and alcohol
It was like an ill wind that blew through
their hostel when they were in SS 2
Almost all of them got carried away 
by this wind
He was deeply into cigarettes and 
marijuana
His friend resisted the peer pressure 
gracefully
Always claiming he was asthmatic or allergic
or broke or something
Up until when they graduated from secondary 
school, his friend kept far away from every
vice
They graduated and parted ways for many 
years
He gained admission into a federal university
His friend gained admission into a state
university
He graduated and got married
They lost contact for over twenty years
One day his friend tracked him down on 
Facebook
They started exchanging chats
He told his friend about his family
He had gotten married and had 
two daughters
His friend was still single, he was working
with a tourist agency and travels all over
the world
Their conversation continued until they
decided they needed to see face to face
But he didn't know how to make it happen
He couldn't just leave his family and say
he was going to stay with a friend
and his friend couldn't come to his home
and stay
It wouldn't be natural!
He waited until his wife and children travelled
abroad for the Christmas break
He couldn't travel with them because he had
expended his annual leave on writing some
professional exams
They decided to spend one week together
in his friend's house
As soon as he dropped his wife and children
at the airport, he took off
His friend was in the country for the Christmas
break and they had a lot to catch up on!
He got to his friend's house around 7 pm
It was a wonderful reunion
They hugged and cried
They had last seen each other when they
were in their teens
By the time they saw again they were in 
their late thirties
He had become a born again Christian
He was even pastoring a Church!
They spent hours talking about
what their old classmates were up to
Then his friend offered to take him out
They went to a joint close to Diamond
Estate somewhere in Egbeda, Lagos
There was music, booze, girls and all
sorts
His friend bought a packet of cigarettes
He hesitated
He wanted to say "I quit that a long time
ago" 
But he didn't want to kill the flow
They had a very strong chemistry
He didn't want to condemn his friend
He decided they would talk later
He took a stick of cigarette and lit it
Then they ordered drinks
Within a minute, the years rolled backwards
They drank and laughed and smoked
He even danced and sang along as
the live band played some old school tunes
Then the scantily dressed ladies 
approached them
They were not "prostitutes" as such
They were "students" in need of some
cash and offering a good time to available
fun seekers
He was inebriated
He remembered taking one of them by the
hand and leading her to his car
He got into the back seat
She hopped in
His hands dove into the meat-pie
She let it sink into the softness
Then she whispered "Its 20 thousand
for the night, 25 thousand if you want
skin to skin"
It was the "skin to skin" that jolted
him back from the lustful senselessness
How very easy it was to fall back into
a pit after standing for so long on the
mountain top
He apologised to the lady and told her
to leave the car
He sat there
The alcohol clearing
Tears streaming down his face
It was not a moment of weakness
It was foolishness!
He would have thrown away everything!
And for what?
Later that night, his friend joined him 
in the car 
He drove away slowly, making a mental
note to have a frank discussion with 
his friend!
When they got back to the friend's house
His friend went to bed immediately
He sat in the sitting room staring 
into space
He had quit smoking and drinking
for almost ten years
He had walked the straight and narrow
with the joy of the Holy Spirit
He was not a "believer" in words only
He couldn't believe how cheap it was
for him to throw everything into the
wind
Later, around 2:00 AM
He heard his friend screaming
He rushed to his friend's room
He was battling with unseen forces
frantically in a nightmare
He remembered what God delivered 
him for several years ago
Those days when he thought he was
enjoying
His health deteriorated, his life was a
mess and he had constant nightmares
too!
The weight of darkness takes its toll
on the life of an unsaved person
The next morning, he told his friend
he had to go
His friend was disappointed
He told his friend what happened and
how disappointed he was with himself
His friend told him he was a ninny!
He decided he would rather be a ninny
than be a jolly good friend at the 
expense of his sanity!
He got to his car and started it
The car wouldn't start
He got a mechanic to check the car
The fuel pump had packed up
They fixed it
He started the car, the silencer had
been broken
While he was drunk driving the previous
day, he had wrecked the car badly
He spent so much
It was quite an expensive reunion!
By the time he was driving away
from the location, he could only
lick his wounds
The next day, his wife and children
called
They had landed safely and wanted
to see his face
He laughed and joked with them
His wife asked him why he was back
at home
Weren't you supposed to be with your
friend?
He told his wife he wasn't comfortable
in a stranger's house
He was missing his family too much
He had to return home
His wife blew him kisses
He blew her kisses
He told her he loved her
She told him she loved him
They did lovey-dovey into the night
It was the best night he had in a very
long time!
As for his friend, they grew apart
He wanted so desperately to tell his
friend about the love of Jesus and
the transforming power of the Holy
Spirit
But he had learnt that he had his
Achilles heel!
He committed his friend to God in
prayer

Ps: His friend is now married and
recently had a son
He was invited by his friend to come
and name the baby
He politely said no!
He gave his friend the phone number
of another pastor to call
He still couldn't trust himself around
his friend
He wasn't sure it was a risk he ought
to take