Pass The Mantle

”Johnson, Johnson. You did it again, right?” We all walked away as Johnson laughed uncontrollably behind us.

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We are five friends; we stayed in the same community and attended the same school. These boys are my best friends, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. It was 7:30 a.m., and I was late for school. Daniel was already standing in front of my home, screaming my name: “Fash, if you don’t come out now, I will be going." I couldn’t even finish my food because I didn’t want Daniel to leave me at home. As I ran out to join him, I saw Victor, Johnson, and Kunle approaching my home too.

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“Fash is always waking up late,” Johnson said with a little expression of anger on his face. “I’m sorry, guys.” I quickly apologized. We went to school late twice that week, and it was all my fault. That morning, Johnson kept insisting that if we got to school late, they would stop coming to call me before going to school. He kept repeating the words, and now it felt like I had offended him before. “I already said I’m sorry. What do you want me to do again?” I asked with frustration building within me. “Maybe if you got up early next time, I wouldn’t be talking this much,” Johnson fired back.

“That’s enough, Johnson,” Kunle said at the top of his voice. He knew if he hadn’t said it like that, Johnson wouldn’t stop talking. Johnson was our very close friend, but he loves nagging about everything. He nags about how Victor chews his food: “Victor, can’t you eat without opening your mouth? Must you always open your mouth?” He would say this when Victor was eating or on days like when Daniel's uniform was rough. We all know how tight things are for Daniel's parents, which makes it hard to pay for electricity. Any day Daniel's uniform is rough, Johnson won’t let us rest. “Daniel, people will see us now, and you will look different because your uniform is rough.”

We couldn’t hate him because that was his own flaw, but a day came when he did the unthinkable, and this really annoyed everyone. It was lunchtime in school; we all gathered to eat together, but I noticed Victor wasn’t at the table yet. “Who knows where Victor is?” Daniel inquired of us, but none of us seemed to know where he was. As we were checking the dining hall to see if we would spot Victor, Johnson came running to our table and said, “Guys, come and see. There is something I want to show you.”

We all stood up, leaving our food unprotected, just to see the new discovery by Johnson. He took us to a corner and screamed, “See Victor eating with his mouth open,” and he started laughing. It was so annoying. Kunle said, “Johnson, Johnson. You did it again, right?” Johnson continued to laugh uncontrollably as we all walked away with Victor.

A few weeks later, there was a power seizure in our community, and the electricity was out throughout the weekend. It was Monday again, and it was time for school. I made sure I was prepared before the others came to my place. Immediately after I finished eating my breakfast, I went outside to wait for my friends. Shortly after, I saw Victor, Kunle, and Daniel walking towards my home. Normally, Kunle and Johnson walk to my house together, but I was surprised Johnson wasn’t part of them.

“Where is Johnson?” I asked.
“I thought he was waiting at your place already,” Kunle said. “Let’s go to his place and check on him, even if we are late,” Victor said. We all went to Johnson’s place, but before getting to his place, we saw him just coming out of his house.

His uniform was so rough; he wasn’t fully dressed because he didn’t want us to get to his place before he came out. “Johnson, you’re late today,” I said to him with a smile on my face. He looked at me with a disgusted look and said, “No, I’m not late. If we walk fast, we can make it to school on time.”

“Why is your uniform so rough, Johnson? Don’t you have iron in your house again?” Daniel said this while laughing so hard. “So you’re telling me the power outage didn’t get to your house?” Johnson fired back. “Well, we had a rechargeable iron, which everyone here came to use at my place,” Daniel said shortly, but continued, “You know, since your uniform is always ironed, I never expected it to be this rough. Was it under the rock throughout the weekend?” We all burst into laughter while Johnson faced down.

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Johnson started making excuses for all the shortcomings he was facing that Monday, but no one was ready to listen to him. We were all laughing, and he was about to start crying when Kunle said, “You see yourself now; you want to cry after you have gotten a taste of your own medicine. You see, life is turn-by-turn; that’s what you don’t know. It’s your turn today, so enjoy it.”

We all walked to school laughing and happy, while Johnson was moody through the journey to school.

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