Israel had always been a calm and responsible young man who avoided trouble by any means possible....but something happened this time, something very huge.
I was in the 100 level in the university, the room I lived in was on the last floor of a two-storey building, Israel's was on the second floor.
My cooking gas had been exhausted when I was preparing a quick meal, before heading out for the evening classes, and my neighbours whom I could borrow from, weren't around.
"Grrrhh" my stomach rumbled out of hunger, I decided to buy food from the food-seller as that was the next available option. As I hurriedly ran down the stairs, I collided with Israel.
"I’m sorry, are you okay?" I asked him concerned.
"Yes, but you don’t look like you are okay" Israel replied as we both got up from the ground.
"I’m okay, seriously, but I just wanted to get some food, I was cooking when my gas finished midway".
"Oh, you can have mine, at least to finish up with your cooking! I just went to get food for my brother and I, I hardly have the time to cook." He grinned widely to reveal a sparkling and perfect dentition.
"Is he joking, why is he being nice? Do such people still exist?"….Grrrhh, my stomach growled again, this time more intense. I followed Israel to his room, exchanged pleasantries with his brother, and left with the gas cylinder.
I got a friend.
"You really saved me ooo, from the hunger, thank you so much bro, I owe you one". I told him when I returned his gas.
He laughed.
"No issues at all bro." He was a jovial young man no doubt.
"I’m Israel by the way and this is my brother—Joel."
Hunger is really bad, no proper introductions yet?
I corrected that and thanked him again for his kindness to me. We gisted a bit about school and the stress that comes with it, before leaving for my evening classes.
Since then, we've been friends—Joel was in 200 level, Israel was in 300 level, this made my journey as a Freshman in the university less stressful since I had friends that I could trust to help me out when necessary.
Soon after, Israel got himself a girlfriend—Sandra. The only thing she had going for her, was her physical appearance, she was tactlessly, lazy and lousy. Israel was a nice guy and shouldn't be hanging out with the likes of Sandra. Joel complained about her dirty habits to his brother but Israel was "in love" and couldn't be convinced.
I even confronted him on the matter;
"I don’t know how you might take this, but why Sandra of all the girls out there? You are a decent guy, how can you be comfortable going about with a girl who's lousy in dressing as she is, in manners? Bro she has a bad record already and you deserve better!"
"I love Sandra and I don’t care about her past, we all have pasts but we should not be judged based on that alone, with love, I can make her change her ways." This was the lame argument of a sinking man but I pushed further;
"But you can’t change someone who is already on her way to destruction, she will only drag you down with her."
But Israel didn’t care about what Joel and I had to say, instead he started showing us attitude. Joel started staying over at my place— he complained that Sandra would be his brother’s undoing. She had him wrapped round her pinky finger.
Israel was blinded by love, he did not want our interference in his love affair with Sandra—I understood that and kept my distance, hoping he realizes soon enough that his love interest was the wrong one.
Then one afternoon, things took a new turn.
The NDLEA(National Drug Law Enforcement Agency) officials visited our hostel on a tip off.
"A whistleblower alerted us about a drug peddler in this hostel, so we are here to conduct a thorough search."
Then a rugged man with very thick voice and equally thick boots asked suddenly;
"Who stays in room 16"?
"I do". Israel answered, startled by the question.
They ordered him to open his room for a search and unbelievably, some hard drugs were found in a bag, hidden under the bed.
"That’s loads of balderdash, I don’t do drugs neither does my brother, there’s definitely a mixup somewhere." By now he was sweating profusely, wondering how those drugs came to be in his possession.
Before Israel could say anything further, he was handcuffed like a common criminal and taken away.
Israel paced around the small room, fuming with anger. Fear lurked in his mind and he muttered incoherently like he was communicating with some spirits.
"Why is Sandra not here yet? Call her again before I end up suffering for what I know nothing about." Israel said, running his hands through his hair in frustration."
On further interrogations, Israel confessed that the bag belonged to his girlfriend, sandra.
Sandra eventually reported at the station but denied having anything to do with that bag. Israel on the other hand had no proof of his innocence, even Joel who had traveled home was told to return immediately and report to the station too.
It became a very knotty case which involved their parents coming down as well. They waddled through very deep shit before they were able to extricate Israel and Joel from that problem.
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Hmm, this love something has gotten a lot of people into trouble. I wonder what makes people think they can change others, bro, only God has the power to change, once I notice a bad character and I tried to talk you out of it and you are not complying, I'll leave. There is a common say, if you can beat them, you will join them.
Am glad isreal and his bro were vindicated at last. Such a lesson for us
There is a saying that a grown person has developed their character fully and trying to change them is like bending a crayfish which is impossible.