“WHODUNIT”
… WOD-UNIT
… WHODUN-IT
… WHODU-NIT
One condensed series of letters that would come to symbolize our incredible relationship,
‘WHODUNIT’.
Out of hundreds of hours that André and I spent together, talking about EVERYTHING, it all came down to this.
Many years ago, André and I were playing a game of MADGABS at my parents house. It was my turn to sound out the letters on my randomly chosen card. As I tried and tried to sound them out, André’s laughter was, as always, infectious.
I must have tried, what felt like, a million
different pronunciations of those darn letters…‘WHODUNIT’!!! We were on the floor in tears, laughing so hard it hurt. André finally relented. Taking pity on my cluelessness, he looked at me and said,
“Who done it”. I swear that we laughed until we could hardly breathe. It was one of those laughing fits where you just couldn’t catch your breath, let alone stop.
André and I have been friends since I was
16 years old but we were bonded that day,
closer than ever before, by that one random card.
Little did we know, it would become one of the cornerstones of our uniquely, weird, wonderful alliance and friendship.
I hesitate to share the memory as I selfishly want to keep it just between Andre and I. However it’s far too late for that as we’ve told this story many times over the years.
I think it has always been hilarious to us but in telling the story most people will raise at least one eyebrow and quizzically wonder what we’re on.
Both of us have always been ‘off to the races’ as we talk to others when we’re together. We gallop against one another to get the story out and then prop each other up when one stumbles in their words.
So many hours spent in Denny’s, filling up the days and nights with coffee and incessant conversations about absolutely nothing and everything under and beyond the sun.
The time has passed both of us by.
The same time that I’m sure we spoke of as seeming limitless… endless.
So here I am, rambling on as always, writing words to a story that I want to last forever.
Oh my God… how I already miss you, Andre!
If I only have one more word to say with my farewell hug to you it is … ‘thank you’
… and ‘I love you’
… and ‘I can’t imagine this world without you’
… because neither of us could just end a conversation without day turning into night.
Goodnight for now, dear André.
Sweetest dreams.
And as we end most of our farewells together,
WHODUNIT.
Karen.