Dave Slightly Toasted
Featuring: A Portrait of My Friend David
Some friendships begin after a 10-minute walk to buy the one meal that could make you forget about your shitty day—because minutes before you place your order, they run out of bread, and you realize there’s no point buying ewa agoyin anymore. So you walk back the way you came, trying not to scream into the sunset or cuss out the idiot blaring music from two rooms over.
Perhaps that was the case the day we met. But if it was, he’s never mentioned it.
Our friendship began like many others. With a stranger striking up small talk with another. Starting with a simple “Hey, man, do you ever think about how unlikely it is that we’d figure out that Clark Kent and Superman were the same people?” and evolving into long & regular chats about life, sex and mental health, and an even longer text thread of dark humour, the banes of young adulthood, and sus memes.
Sometime in 2021, David, like most of my friends my age, left Nigeria for school.
We kept in touch for the most part. There were always things to talk about—but never enough interest in talking about them. Somewhere between the silence and the rest of our lives, we began making each other playlists.
Something about Weston Estate’s vocals over a slow beat would always remind me to check on him. He’d introduced me to them the year before he left—when I spent a week at his place. We hadn’t spoken much. He was on some new meds and was becoming a different person who was only familiar when he talked about music.
It was this familiar voice that greeted me when I arrived in Portsmouth. It came from a lean yet muscular version of the man I remember—with dreads falling down his head and a smile parting the short beard that was but a short moustache the last time I saw him.
He was happy to see me. There was a lot he wanted to talk about.
Last Time: Vote For Onifade Pelumi
A Portrait of a Nigerian Youth In Protest
The year is 2020. The location is Lagos, Nigeria. Onifade Emmanuel Pelumi, a 20-year-old reporter & intern, is declared missing.
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Till I have the pleasure of sharing my work with you here or on Instagram.
Be kind to yourself, ok?
Tam Olobio
🥹y’all made playlists that’s so sweettttt
Wow