A Brother’s Keeper: What Happened To My Friend Frank?

My importunate phone calls had gone unanswered.
No texts back and no call from him. I knew then something was wrong.

You know tomorrow is never promised. And no one knows, if there will be another tomorrow or another day. This is why I treat each day as a special gift from my Maker and I see it as a blessing because there are millions out there who couldn’t make it now or today. They’ve transitioned to another world unknown to us.

A day runs not on its own. A day never walks alone. A day goes by with a zillion activities from over a billion people scattered on the surface of the planet Earth. As a people we run each day like the ants jockeying to and fro looking for bread and butter.

Our day is packed, bursting with action-- each one pacing to somewhere but obviously to nowhere. Where are we, you want to know? We’re certainly on a treadmill. To most of us life is all about us. It’s all about me and no one else. We careless and care not about what goes on around us. We don’t know our neighbour (s) and if we do, we seldom talk to them or say hello or hi to them.

What happened to my friend Frank?
On Wednesday December 6, 2017 around midday after checking on Mr. Francis Malone (he goes by Frank) a few days and no word from him I went to his house –15 minutes’ drive away from my residence which is 7.3 miles. My fear had been confirmed Frank’s condition was bad!

In no time paramedics would arrive.
They came running.
The fire officers were up to the task, the pet control officer was handy (to take care of Frank’s cat/dog). Frank’s neighbour Suzie Stevens was there too (she offered to take care of the Dog) and last but not least Sheriff Travis Hoffman who was there with me from beginning to the end.

Without delay Frank was stretched off from his living room where he'd laid in supine way, hauled into a waiting ambulance--- off to the ER centre at Good Sam Hospital in Puyallup, Washington.

I pray he pulls through this. It’s a tough battle but he’s a strong man. And I trust the good Lord will release upon him His compassionate healing power. I know doctors treat but God heals. I was down there on Thursday and Friday afternoons to see my good friend. He couldn’t verbalise. But I saw his laughing eyes when he opened them.

Did I see this coming?
“Good night Gordon. I walked to Safeway and almost didn’t make it back home. My knees are giving out…the lady on the corner helped me. “

And it seemed to be so bad that the next morning he even struggled to make it to his mail box.

“I walked to the mail box. Very hard to do. My knees are giving out,” Frank texted in early or mid-November 2017.

Around October this year someone ran into his car and took off. So I suspect that could contribute to his mobility struggle coupled with aging and other health problems.

Frank is an octogenarian white man, stocky and easy going. He lives alone and has no family member in the city he resides. So I took it upon myself to be checking up on him on a day-to day basis. And thank Goodness we’ve been doing this ritual for so long a time. We’ve known each other since 2008. We both worked at Walmart over by South hill mall in Puyallup.

Yes I knew this was quite unusual even though there’d been times I hadn’t heard from him say two days. But Frank would text or call back when he missed mine and say for example, I forgot to put my phone on a charger. There’s a good one I remember:

‘I couldn’t find my phone this morning. It fell into a cup which I happened to look in later…So a late greeting.”

I also recollect there was a similar case in April and another in early November. I went to his house in both cases. “Well I couldn’t find my phone for two days. I finally found it this morning. That’s why you didn’t hear from me. Good night Gordon. I hope we’re still friends,” he wrote that in April.

‘Yes we are still friends and we’ll forever remain friends,’ I replied.

Before the Wednesday, I’d texted him and placed a few phone calls but all to no avail. But like as I said earlier that wasn’t the first time I had had him not reply my text messages or phone calls right away. Frank had collapsed. His phone was dead. Mr. Malone was home Alone!

See we all need someone to lean on. A friend to check on us, not for money and not for bread and butter because life is like a candle in the wind it doesn’t stay longer. I remember several years ago when I stepped out from my room and met my neighbour across me.

‘Good morning Bro,’ I said. His response: “What’s good about the morning?”

He left me openmouthed wondering is that how our world has come up to?

Our whole mind is about money. That’s our number (#1) focus. We don’t value life. And we tend to have no idea how much a smile from us can make a big difference in one’s life.

Thank God we found Frank not dead but alive.
Sheriff Hoffman (I didn’t tell him he shares his last name with my in-laws) not the Sheriff John Brown, Bob Marley and the Wailers featured in his 1973 hit song labeled (Tuff Gong). Sheriff Travis Hoffman # 300 of Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is a veteran. He’s been in the service since 1976 (41 years).

“Are you the man’s friend?” he enquired. Yes, Sir, I replied.

“You’ve a saved a soul,” he told me.

Officer Hoffman and I scoured through the building looking for a way to get in. He managed to get one of the windows opened. And I got into the house to have the front door unlocked. Thank you so much Sir for showing up and showing love.

Frank used to have a roommate named Achie. He moved out around May this year. They’ve known each other for decades. They’re good friends and more or less like siblings. But he has a younger brother called August who lives in Marysville WA. Frank was down there in June this year to celebrate his sister-law’s 83rd birthday. And he was back there in July when his brother’s wife died.

"I said my goodbyes to her,” he told me.
Frank is kind and affable. He speaks so highly of me whenever we run into some of his friends I don’t know or haven’t met. He will tell them: “This is Gordon my friend. He’s from Ghana, he’s literally genius.’’ And I received such remarks always with humility.

I love his good sense of humor. He told me one story: “A little girl was in a line in Safeway. She told her mother I was Santa Claus and I was so excited.”

I like to extend my profound gratitude to the nurses, doctors, CNA staffs and everyone at Good Sam who are working tirelessly to save the life of Frank. Thanks a million!