Parties.
On one of those days when I was searching for more reasons to hate parties, my imaginations ran really wild and I found myself wondering what ancient parties looked and felt like. Was there any form of genuity or the whole cliche started from time immemorial.
Source
If I'm to grade myself, I'd say I sit comfortably on the 'party-pooper' side of the seesaw and I couldn't be more proud. However, there's a twist. I would say I'm a silent party pooper in the sense that I haven't made a scene in the handful of parties that I have attended. Unlike a few other party poopers who throw gloom over social enjoyment. But it wasn't always this way..
When I was younger, I attended tons of birthday parties. Every week was someone's birthday party and due to my fine dancing skill, I was always invited.
I had lots of fun at these parties and my favourite part was always the "play games or dance to win a free gift". I just loved free gifts! And so I never turned down the offer to dance my way into a bag filled with gifts.
This went on for quite some time and I usually emerged the winner or a runner up. Honestly, I do not know where those dancing skills went. The news of my dancing dexterity spread like wildfire and soon enough I got a lot of friends. I called them friends because I didn't know the difference between friends and acquaintances at the time.
On the top of the friends list sat my childhood best friend, Dhee. Dhee was basically the best thing that happened to me during that period. She was the social butterfly and I was just the little girl who every other kid wanted to be friends with because she could dance.
As the social butterfly, Dhee always kept me updated because one way or another, juicy news always got to her first.
"Wongi, did you hear what happened between Dorcas and Brenda?" Dhee asked me during one of our random conversations.
"Dorcas? The one in our class?"
"Yes. That Dorcas".
"I didn't hear any news but I've just observed Dorcas trying to get close to me"
"Close to you? Run o"
"How do you mean Dhee?"
"What people in class said about Dorcas is that she's a poisoner. She poisons people that she hates"
That was the most hilarious thing I heard so I burst into laughter
"This is not a laughing matter wongi. Brenda's mother said that she poisoned Brenda. When last did you see Brenda in school".
It was then that reality hit. It had been over a week since I last saw my classmate Brenda who was the brains in our class.
" I thought they were friends. How does her mother know that Dorcas is the culprit?"
"Because Brenda said that the last person she got food from was Dorcas".
"It cannot be. Why would Dorcas do that?"
"Jealousy of course"
"So why didn't Brenda's mom act or involve the police?"
"People say it's because she didn't have any tangible evidence"
This was a really sudden and unbelievable realisation which I just couldn't get myself to accept. Dorcas seemed like a really adorable little kid.
I was still friends with her but I paid careful attention to her. As a kid I knew about the "keep your enemies close" quote and so I acted in it. My impression about Dorcas changed when I was almost a victim. It was yet another birthday party and the normal routine was followed. I attended, had fun and won lots of prices in the process.
After my last dance battle, I was extremely thirsty and exhausted and guess who came right at me with a glass of juice? That's right, Dorcas.
At that moment, I didn't give it much thought because what could possibly go wrong? My subconscious and my thirst were at war. As I was about to gulp down the content of the cup, I heard Dhee scream. My best friend never screamed and that too from such a distance.
I watched as Dhee sprinted towards me and the first thing she did was slap the cup out of my hand.
"What did you do that for?" Dorcas asked.
"Oh, so you want to poison my best friend too?" Dhee responded. At the sound of poison, my eyeballs bulged in fear.
"Poison?" I asked no no in particular.
"Yes! Dorcas' close friend Benjamin told me about it".
At this point, all eyes were on Dorcas. I wanted her to defend herself. I wanted her to say that Dhee was lying and that she would never do that to me but the direct opposite happened. Dorcas broke down in tears.
"I'm sorry Wongi. I..I didn't mean to do it. It was the devil's hand work".
Mouth agape, I stood there. Dumbfounded. I am not a fighter else I probably would have indulged. Calmly, I held her by the arm and headed straight to our class teacher who thankfully attended the party too.
My class teacher at the time was really happy that I didn't indulge. She told me that she would take care of it.
On arriving at home, I told my dad all about Dorcas and how Dhee saved my life. The next session, I was transferred to another school and I didn't hear what happened to Doecas after that.
What I do know is that she is one of the major reasons I stopped going to parties as I never can tell when another Dorcas may show up.
Love, Wongi 馃尲