How I met my friend
Jason, a tall retired pro basketballer from Daytona. He has been my friend for over a decade now since when we last met in the summer of 2007 on a safari in Africa. Over the years we have become close and we often make time to visit each other. He has also become fond of me and even considers me one of his own family. When I visit him, we hang out with his sons and even accompany them to the gym and basketball training. Despite our contrasting backgrounds, we have forged an unbreakable friendship founded in respect and appreciation for each other.
It was a sunny day on the slopes of Mount Kenya where our family had pitched our tent. The weather was sunny and clear giving a good view of the plains below with diverse wildlife. We had gone hunting the previous day and my brother was hurt when he fell on his face while running after an antelope, therefore, we decided to let him rest for a day before we went ahead with our excursion. I decided to take a stroll alone through the thicket to waterfall few hundred feet away. The view of the water plunging down in the evening was breathtaking. On arrival, I noticed a water bottle and a broken wrist watch on the ground a few feet from each other. I was startled, but I ignored. Monkeys were cluttering in the canopy above aggressively insinuating something sinister but I ignored their presence and I hurried to a small clearance at the bottom of the waterfall. I laid on my back to view the water coming down the rocks. I noticed a white thing dangling on a tree branch close to where the monkeys were circling.
I walked to the tree and what I saw made me scream. Drops of fresh blood were dripping from the canopy overhead and what seemed to be human body was held in the canopy either unconscious or dead. I was dumbfounded but I managed to call emergency services and informed them of my location. The monkeys appeared calm as I kept praying because that was the best I could do at the moment. Shortly, a rescue team arrived in a helicopter and he was flown to Nairobi for medication. I rejoined my family after he was rescued and after few days later, we left to go home.
Few months after the excursion, I received a call from an unknown number. On the other end of the line was a male voice who identified himself as Jason and he thanked me for saving his life. He informed me he had fallen from a cliff above while rock climbing and broke several bones and other bruises. The rescue team came in time to save his life and he stayed in hospital for three months for therapy and reconstructive surgery. He offered to pay for me a trip to his hometown to meet him and his family in Daytona, Florida.
I met him on a wheelchair but he thanked me for saving his life. His family appreciated my timely intervention for calling rescue services. We spend a few weeks together as he described his moments before he passed out on the tree and how he tracked me to thank me. Since then, he has become a close friend who we keep in touch. He offered to pay for my college and I enjoy his company when I visit him and we go golfing, shooting ranges, basketball matches etc. Over the years, we have become closer and I truly appreciate our friendship which is very unlikely given our backgrounds.
