My Very Best Friend Forever

My very best friend forever is a man that is very kind to me. He teaches me very many things. I love to be in his company. He gives me the most precious gifts. 

For a long time, I did not know what my very best friend’s name was. He is my very best friend forever and I did not know his name. It so happened that my very best friend forever was someone who would only visit me- in my dreams. That was the only place I had known him in (so I thought).

When he would visit, he would teach me things while writing on a chalk board. Once, I woke up remembering symbols that he wrote. I knew that I understood them when he wrote them, but when I awoke, I could not recall what the symbols meant or much of what they looked like. I did still somewhat remember the appearance of the symbols, though.

I also did not know what my very best friend’s face looked like for quite some time. When recalling our dreams together, I could remember him from beneath his shoulders. It seemed as though I were not able to look up at him.

I was 19 years old the very first time I remember dreaming of him. There was a strong feeling of closeness while we communed together. He is my teacher and my friend. 

At the beginning of the dream, he taught me things, special things. Yet, I cannot recall exactly what he taught me or most of what he said. 

Just before he departed from me, he gave me a gift. The gift was not something I could see or hold in my hand. Therefore, he described the gift to me and how to use it. He said that for now, I could only use this gift within the dream. The gift…is power.

My friend gave me power to do whatsoever I desired, as a gift. The gesture was reminiscent of a big brother giving his baby sister a toy to play with. He departed immediately after he taught me how to use my gift. His parting words were, “Remember. You can do anything you want to do.”

Continuing in the dream with my gift and without his company, I was left to think to myself. I thought, “What shall I do when I can do anything?”

I chose to go to Papa’s (my grandfather’s) house in Los Angeles, Ca. I stood in the dark in his dine-in kitchen that still had the 1970’s shade of green paint on the walls. There were some empty pots on top of the stove and a fork on the counter. The house felt empty.

While I stood there in Papa’s kitchen, I remembered my friend told me that I can do anything I want with my gift of power. I decided to try something. Choosing an object, in this case a fork, I focused on it to cause it to levitate. So, the fork levitated. I then caused the fork to twist and bend while levitating. Then I awoke. 

During the time that this dream had taken place my Papa had recently passed away. My grandma, my dad, and my aunt Jerri (short for Jerlyn) were then living in the house that I had dreamed about.

Papa’s house was always my favorite place to go from a child even until now. An overabundance of kindness was always there as he lived. In earlier years, abiding there were my grandparents, my father, and my uncle until they each one passed on. Intriguingly, when given the gift of power to do whatsoever I desired, the first thing I did was return to the place where I remembered love is.

So, I’ve told you about a dream. Now, I will tell you about something that is not a dream. Here goes:

On a pleasantly warm summer day in the year 1983 I desired to follow my older sister to the Seven Eleven store that was behind the apartment complex we lived in. 

The tan colored apartment building we lived in had dark brown trimming along the edge of the roof top. It was a combination of two two-story buildings facing one another with a wide, grassy quad area between them. 

Children, such as myself at the time, often played in the quad area. Most of the children that lived there played together. We had a lot of fun. We played tag, caught butterflies, roly-polies, and lizards so we could examine them together. (Fun times!)

One bright and sunny day, early in the afternoon, we went to the store, my older sister and I (she’s six years older than I am). As we were leaving the apartment complex, I stopped in front of the chain linked gate that was on the side of the building we lived in. I liked to stop there because there was a little black puppy dog that would usually greet me at the gate.

My big sis did not agree that I should stop there at the moment. She was excited to go to the store. However, there was no way that I could walk past that gate without saying “Hi” to the little black puppy. I would reach my hand through the gate and pet him too.

It was taking longer than usual for the little black puppy to run out to me. “Little puppy! Little puppy!” I would call and he usually would run right out to me from the back door of the end apartment unit that was behind the gate.

I waited for the little black puppy a moment longer. (Now…What I’m about to tell you, I kid you not, let the truth be told to the young and to the old. I’m gonna have to be bold. My tongue can no longer hold it. Just believe it or not once I’ve told it.) As I stood before the gate waiting for my little black puppy friend, a different animal walked out. The different animal was a lion. It was a male lion with a full and thick main. 

We stood face to face this lion and I. We were separated by the chain link gate, which also had a pad lock on it. He made a gentle grumbly lion noise to me. Maybe it was a purr. I was entirely amazed to be standing face to face with a lion!

This lion was clearly my friend, but I still respected him that he is a lion. I did not attempt to reach my hand beyond the gate.

 I wanted my big sis to see him. Big Sis had already continued walking to the store, but she wasn’t toofar from me. One of our cousins were with her as well. I made a run for it. My goal was to get back to my lion with Big Sis quickly before my lion might leave. 

I caught up with them and said, “There’s a lion over here! Come on there’s a lion! Come see!”

“Ishah said there’s a lion over there! Let’s go see!” was Big Sis’s response.

Though we ran as fast as we could and as hard as we could for the short space of about twenty yards, we were not back in time enough to see my lion. He wasn’t there anymore. 

My mother joined us outside to see what the excitement was that had us all running how we were. When I told my mother about my lion, she went to try to find him for me. She told some of the neighbors what she was looking for and why. 

Mother thought that I likely seen a mountain lion, but she wanted to be certain of what I saw. The hunt was on. Neighbors in the apartment complex participated also. No lion was found. Neither was there any other beast found any place nearby that could be presented as an explanation for what I did see. 

Therefore, what I saw, I saw alone. But I wasn’t alone. I was with my lion. I did also understand what a lion is, even though I was very young and small.

I remember how I felt inside at first sight of the lion. My first thought instantly was somewhere along the line of “GAME OVER” in translation. 

I knew that I was beholding a very dangerous beast. The ideal thing to do would be to get away fast. I also could see that the lion was too close in proximity for my little toddler legs to escape him. 

Like a dear caught in the headlights, I stood there staring into the lion’s eyes. What else could I have done? 

As scary as the experience may sound, my fear of the lion faded as the lion walked closer to me. His behavior toward me was ever so gentle. I wanted him to stay and I still miss him even until now. I really would like to see my lion again.

This is me, Ishah Binah in the year 1982.