It was one of those places bursting with people, like so many other places are these days. Somehow cases which have been signed and sealed weeks and even months back still linger on the spacious desks of bosses. A friend and I had some cases to see through and happened to be there waiting for the offices to open. I mean they indeed were open if we’re talking about doors and windows. But for us they’re not open until they start services. So, the two of us were trying to have a good time cracking jokes over this and that. I mean harmless jokes which don’t get on anyone’s nerves could serve as some antidepressants, something too many of seem to be in bad need of.
Anyway while we were talking a smartly dressed, smartly walking (‘gliding’ would also do) and with smart frown approaches us. (What in the world am I talking about? Smart ‘frown’! Really! ) Of course, your nerves do play tricks on you when you come across such a pretty work of nature first thing in the morning. You admire even ‘frowns!’ In her hand she had one of those shiny smartphone the likes of which you think you wouldn’t see for real except in TV adverts and the like. Nearest to her was my friend and without any “Good morning;” or “How are you guys doing this morning?” or even a half-hearted “Hi!” she starts talking. She says she had an important phone call to make and her phone’s battery was dead. She said she forgot to check it when she left home. Would my friend be kind enough to lend her his phone? His was a one-word answer; “No!” I, the witness, am not making up this. And even then the tone in which he said it was more hard-hitting than the actual word!!
Look, my friend is a guy who went through more than his share of rough waters over the years and seems to have turned into that uncooperative hate-filled soul. Maybe the most common word coming out of him was “No!” You’d sympathize with him had you known his story. He has been betrayed so much by the closest of friends and even the dearest of relatives you’d understand his hardened stance. This is not about his being possessed by some evil force. The only way to defend himself, so he concluded years back, was to keep his distance.
By the way while we’re at it, the betrayal stories you hear these days are so dramatic and shocking you’d need no more convincing to conclude, “This is not the world I’d want my children to grow in!” what has gotten into us. How come the best of friends and the closest relatives go against each other so blatantly? Waiting for some research based analysis!
Anyways my friend’s “No!” drains the blood from that pretty face of the lady. She then threw me a glance and just turned her back and started moving. The reason for not asking me is clear; she didn’t want the humiliation of another “No!” Well, had she asked I probably would have made an exception in her case. Ha!
Now a few meters from us there were a group of early-thirtyish looking ladies watching the whole thing. One of them threw at us the scariest stare you could think of and called the lady. “You can use mine,” and she gave her a smartphone which looked like it came a decade earlier from its launch day. Where and how do the ladies get their hands on such futuristic-looking smartphones from?
The lady is seen dialing and the moment she put the phone her ear she starts talking at the top of her voice; “How can you do this to me? How can you take two hundred thousand from me and deny it?” She paced all over the compound getting ever farther from where we were. The Good Samaritans were clearly touched and started whispering among themselves; me and my friend went on laughing over jokes at the expense of almost everyone. Ha! That’s what many of us like doing, isn’t it? … enjoying ourselves at the expense of others. And all of a sudden there was some commotion among the group of ladies, “Where did she vanish?” “She was just there by the main doors!” The four of them practically sprinted in every direction canvassing the whole compound. A couple of them went past the main door into the street to no avail. By now almost everyone heard of it and everybody was talking. The consensus was that the Good Samaritan should have thought twice before giving away her phone to a stranger! The lady whose smartphone was taken was inconsolable!
That, dear readers, is one example of what seems to have become more common in this city. You know what the problem is? Usually, under such circumstances you could sense the person who’s asking you is some hoodlum, and many times you’d be right. The lady I told you about could make it to a beauty or modeling contest and come to with flying colors!”
Some four or so months back someone told me a seventyish man with conservative suit, smart tie and all that asks a young girl if she could lend him her phone; she did. He talks at the same time opening the door of a not-so-new-looking car and sitting behind the wheel. He was shouting as hell and as if something angered him he slams the door shut. Probably by coincidence the car in front of his glides out of the parking spot. And what happens? All of a sudden his car, so I was told, his car literally flies out of the parking spot. And that was that! Another phone gone and another well-meaning person betrayed!
Now I can tell you I’m not comfortable talking such things for fear that it might sound many of us were into smartphone snatching. That’s not the case. But the few make it appear as if other guy was into it. Anyways, such acts might make us more careful and to think many times over before any such actions; but they shouldn’t keep us from offering whatever help we can to the really needy. After all there could be no human emotion more satisfying than coming to the aid of those who deserve it!
Ephrem Endale: Contributer
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 10 APRIL 2022