— T—
I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was living as a Bachelor at my house in Huntsville, Alabama.
It was Sunday, and I had gotten up pretty early.
It was not like any other day, though.
I had a craving—a craving for a Banana Split.
I thought to myself, “Why am I craving Ice Cream so badly this morning?”
It seemed like I should be craving eggs, bacon, flapjacks, or at least something that you would eat in the morning.
I couldn’t ignore the craving, though.
I put my shorts on and drove to Walmart.
At Walmart, I purchased vanilla ice cream, bananas, chocolate, caramel topping, cherry toppings, and the little sprinkles that you sprinkle on top of the ice cream.
I hate to admit it, but all in all, I spent 60 Dollars on the banana split.
I drove back home thinking, “I need to call ‘Tony’ and tell him what I’m doing.”
Tony loved banana splits. Heck, Tony loved sweets, period, but he especially liked things like banana splits.
Tony was my brother, but he was like a best friend to me.
He was the wind beneath my wings. I sincerely believe that.
“With all the toppings I bought, I bet Tony would drive up here to Huntsville to enjoy a banana split with me.” I thought.
Then, I remembered that Tony was sick.
I had talked to him the night before, and he had a migraine. He sounded horrible.
I remember that I forgot to tell him “I love you” before getting off the phone. I was upset with myself for forgetting to say, “I love you, brother,” to him before I hung up the phone.
I got home and hurriedly unpacked everything.
Then, I got my bowl out and made the biggest banana split that I’d ever made. It was delicious. My mouth was sticky because of how messy it was.
I finished one banana split and made another.
“Tony would love this; I’ll call him this afternoon and tell him about it; He will probably be feeling better by then.”
It was now 9:30 in the morning, and I had ruined my breakfast!
I was feeling sick myself from pigging out, and I went to lay back down.
—When you’re a bachelor, you can do things like this.
I put the T.V. on the History channel and got back into bed to take a nap.
At or around 12:30, my phone rang. I let it ring, too.
I was still a bit sick from my early morning overeating. The phone call went to voice mail.
The phone immediately rang again; this time, I answered. It was Papa, and he said, “An ambulance is taking Tony to the hospital. I’m at his house, and I found him unresponsive”.
I replied, “I’m getting in the truck now and heading that way!”
As soon as I hung up the phone, I thought to myself, “Tony’s dead.”
The day had been so weird, and I felt something that told me that Tony was dead.
Before leaving, I texted a friend and told him that I had to go to Birmingham, and I asked if he could check on ‘Max,’ my dog.
He asked what happened, and I told him I think my brother has died; At the very least, he is at the hospital.
I arrived at the hospital at around 2:00 p.m., and I found out that Tony had, in fact, died. He had a massive brain hemorrhage and had died instantly.
I will not go into everything that happened at the hospital.
To this day, though, I wonder if Tony was somehow enjoying that banana split with me.
Maybe vicariously.
