Shortly after meeting Silvia a
young lady from Trinidad moved to Winnipeg and landed in my home room as well
as in a science class with me. Otranee,
better known as Ranee, became the third
in the “hallway trio”. Every morning
Silvia and I would be early birds at school and would hang out at a particular
corner in the various hallways at Windsor Park Collegiate. Ranee would join us before the bell and we
would share our news, thoughts, but seldom real gossip as we were not part of
any wider “crowd”. It was probably a
good thing although I have had a Pollyanna belief that when I was in school
there weren’t “Mean Girls” like those we see movies or now hear about via
social media. I’m probably wrong but fortunately for our group we did not
experience ill treatment from others.
Ranee was my first “racial”
friend if you will although I never saw her like that. To me she was just a nice girl who I enjoyed
talking with. She had many interesting experience
to tell us about Trinidad and she taught me about “lime” poetry. She also had Silvia and I over playing on her
brothers’ musically instruments. I liked
the drums and got pretty good at a couple of beats while Silvia strummed
guitar. Ranee is really big into her
music today as is a couple of her brothers who I understand are very
successful.
Ranee and I lost touch for a few
years when she married a fellow Trinidadian and moved back to the island for
several years. She had a very dramatic
life there but eventually made it back to Winnipeg and we reconnected both at
the reunions and on Facebook.
Once again – I can only say, I
sure know how to pick friends!
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