I know a blind man. He is one of my best friends. I have some sort of ” mental disorder” – I’m a terrible misantropist and I suffer from spleen. But. Today, the misantropist… is not pissed… no. He’d like to talk you all… about the great Johan B….
Sometimes, we had and still have fantastic conversations and he’d made me realize I wasn’t necessarily the only one in the world with a disorder… Then, in a flash, after I had handed him a gigantic bag filled with pet bottle caps – over here, you can save them for the blind.
I had met Johan in a bar for the physically handicapped persons. The ” Sjapo”, it was called. We used to have a lot of fun there. Jesus Christ, the amount of jokes he’s able to remember ! The famous Flemmish comedian Kamagurka came there often to grab a pint now and then too. And I had been performing there: The picture of me and my guitar hung up high there, and I got to be second at a contest once… So. Johan and me were often seated next to eachother, by the bar…
I felt right away from the start I was going to have good laughs with this fellow ! A lot of afro-american songwriters from the Thirties, Fourties and Fifties were also blind by the way. Take a Blind Boy Fuller and a Ray Charles e.g….
So. As I was telling you all about: He came to fetch the bag filled with pet bottle caps, at my place. When you’ve saved a huge ammount of them, you can exchange them for a guide dog. A labrador that even picks up the coins you may have dropped. Extraordinarily trained animals. … For a blind man to survive…
Thus. He became my friend. One of my best friends. Due to the lack of funding by the town authorities – it was the time of the economic crisis – the Sjapo had to close. The consequence was that I started to invite Johan regularly at my place. And, let me tell you, sometimes it got to be pretty tough: I had to lead him through my front door, get him seated, even lead his hand when he tried to grab his drink and cut his meat into small pieces when I had led him to his chair by the table to eat dinner. And when he went back home again, ’cause – believe it or not- he’s really living on his own, I had to call up the taxi and lead him to it…
But. He’s such a great guy… What a vivid imagination he has… my God… and the jokes he’s able to come up with ! And – above everything – what a true feeling of common sense he’s got… And when he’s listening to my music, his ears are wide open like no one else…
Although he has a really harsh life, and, yes, he DOES get a little bit cranky now and then, I hope I get to cherish our sincere and joyful friendship for as long as God decides for us to have and to hold this wonderful life. We’re both Christians and have both suffered a long time-table of problems, from since we were young. But we hold on.
I like blind people because due to their lack of eye-sight they often are true music lovers. And when they’re as spiritual, funny and thankful as the great Johan B…. I will help them where I can !
Johan, thank you for being my friend…
Pieter B. alias spiceypete
P.S.: I hope you will get your labrador soon. X
Narrative Nonfiction
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