Don't mess with the older sister! Wise and sage advice to be sure. In my case it could be said that I was an inch away from losing my eye a lot earlier than now, all because an older sister decided to stick up for her brother.
Back in Mid to Upper Etobicoke we were living in a townhouse complex just off of John Garland Road and Martingrove Road. One of those attempts in urban planning to make the community feel as one. Nice blocks of actually nice homes that had winding paths, lots of green space and a ton of places to hide for illicit behaviour. I was too young for that scene but I certainly found my own trouble often enough. Hanging from a cliff collecting chestnuts. bike races that ended in destroyed bikes and knees, epic hide and seek games and the obligatory ball hockey marathons. And ball hockey is what brought me to two new friends when I moved in. Abbas and Manam were passing the ball around near my place and having a stick near by I sheepishly walked around with it in the hopes they would ask me to join them...they did and friendship was born. Abbas was Indian and Manam was, I want to say, from the Philippines. They went to the public school right next door to the Catholic school I went to, but that never came up for us...the schools hated each other but we were cool with our friendship.
We did what all grade seven kids did, rode our bikes, played hockey, fought and made up and so on. I remember good times with them. I was a little more of a risk taker and I wonder if that got me into some trouble with Abbas' parents, they were quite strict and I sensed that the father hated me just a little bit. Nothing was ever said but you kind of know, I figured if he was still out playing with me I was OK. Now, like all boys and girls we had our share of fights over important things like the goal didn't count and I'm faster than you in a flat out bike race, human nature right, at some point we ended up in an argument over god knows what...maybe hockey cards. These kinds of fights between guys is normal and usually end within an hour or so, the hatchet buried and move on the important things in life, like marbles.
I didn't give the fight any thought the next day as I was walking to school, in fact I probably wan't thinking of anything at all and hence didn't notice Abbas' sister ride up on her bike stopping right in front of me. Here's where that Latin quote comes in. Essentially that quote boils down to this...after this, therefore because of this. Because she did what she did, I turned out the way I did. I have mentioned that there is something that I like about the exotic, perhaps the mystery, perhaps the differences - but I've always been gaga that way. Now one could say that because this exotic beauty stopped me and threatened to push a paper clip in my eye I developed an attraction to the exotic and even dangerous. Horse hockey!! Even before she stared me down I was taken by those eyes, so different than mine and I was always looking for a way to push boundaries with my own safety. She rode right up to me, told me that she knew about the fight Abbas and I had and that if I ever talk to him again she would stick this paperclip in my eye and push to her finger tips. My thoughts during this tirade? God she has beautiful eyes...I could lose myself in them. Yep, pretty stupid I know. My brain works funny.
I didn't think of my safety or trying to explain to my folks what that piece of metal was doing in my eye, I thought of how those eyes attached to that face belonged on a stamp or magazine cover. If I had thought about it I might have guessed that this was her response, as the eldest child, to do her fathers bidding with regards to my friendship with Abbas. Going medieval on my ass, so to speak. Obviously I didn't get stuck and just as obviously Abbas and I drifted apart. We saw each other around the neighbourhood but we didn't hang out like before. Sad but such is life in the boonies.
We went on to live our lives but I still remember those eyes....
Ciao
D
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