AS the men got up to talk about what’d just happened, a lively Jephthah moved to speak first.
Yet in that instant when Jephthah addressed his buddies, he didn’t know when he called them something else.
‘Hey, Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham…!’
It was the first time Jephthah was addressing his new friends by names. But then those weren’t their names at all.
So the friends looked at each other, surprised at where that was coming from. But Jephthah didn’t even know he called the chaps by other names.
He simply went on chattering, repeating the names every once in a while.
‘Listen, Baddok and co…’
‘You get me, right? Baddok…? Simone…? Gilkar and Sham?’
‘Are you still with me, Baddok, Simone and co?’
The men didn’t know what to make of this at all.
Those names were strange. The gentlemen weren’t even sure if those were names, or if they were some sort of endearment over there in Jephthah’s country.
Whatever those terms were, the guys were sure they were completely unfamiliar.
Just out of nowhere, someone among the group talked up, intercepting Jephthah in his long chatter.
‘Hey Jeph! You kept calling us by other names we don’t even bear? What’s it about? Or are they not names; are they something else? Well, you explain to us what this is about.’
Jephthah was taken aback. ‘Other names? Was I calling you other names just now? Didn’t I call you guys your names?’
The friends looked at themselves, surprised and baffled. Then another among them took Jephthah up on that. He had a natural stern voice.
‘Okay Jephthah! What’s our names? What names d’ you say you called us just now.’
The former soldier just stammered. ‘Yes, yes… I said…’
He just racked his head for those names he always thought he knew.
‘At least tell me my own name, Jeph!’ It was the first speaker taking over now. He usually had a personal touch in the way he called Jephthah.
Jephthah scratched his head, his face flushing red as he tried in vain to remember.
‘Ah I’m sorry guys… I think I called you your names just now! But look at me I can’t find it anywhere in my memory!
‘Oh no, this is too pathetic! I must’ve been consumed with my own problems for too long!’
He looked in the gentlemen’s faces. ‘Goodness, I don’t know if you guys can ever forgive this kind of thing! It’s so bad of me, you know! I’m really sorry!’
The Jeph-dude looked to the other guys and whispered. ‘He really can’t remember. It’s tough on him, you know!’
Then a third guy spoke up. He always had a slight slur when he talked.
‘Well… well, that is no problem at all. I like the names our friend call us just now. Don’t you do too, guys?’
The fourth guy was the one who responded now. He did stammer when he talked, and so he’d grown to be a quiet person.
But that quiet dude was the first to answer that big question.
‘We… we like Jeph… Jephthah too much. We like his God, too. So… so what’s in a name that makes it big deal! For me I like his names, too.!’
It was Jephthah’s turn to be stunned. At that moment he was even confused about what names the men heard him called them.
He stuttered through his words when he asked, ‘But what names did I call you, guys?’
It was the Jeph-fellow that caught that question.
‘You kept calling us Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham,’ he replied. ‘But what are those names?’ he quickly added the question.
‘Jephthah’s hands dropped limply. ‘Oh see me!’
His listeners gazed at him intently, wondering what was amiss. Then instantly, the former warrior picked up again.
‘Those names were dear to me back home in Israel! They simply meant friends more knitted than family.
‘But those friends at home were the betrayers that sold me here!’
The Jeph dude couldn’t take it at that point. He stood up and pulled the rest to their feet. Then he planted himself in front of Jephthah to announce the group’s stand.
Jephthah hurried up to his feet; for he couldn’t take the gentlemen standing like sentries in front of him. He was totally at loss at what was happening.
That Jeph guy spoke and his tone was as commanding as the leader of a pack. He declared:
‘Today and forevermore, Jephthah of the House of Gilead. We your friends will follow you to the ends of the earth!
‘We will know your God, and serve your cause, and bear your names. We will be Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham. Your friends knitted more than family!’
Jephthah’s mouth fell open. The next moment he stammered to talk, but the speaker never looked his way. He just turned to the men behind him and renamed everyone.
‘Let men call me Baddok from this day on,’ he started, touching himself. Then he pointed at each of the other dudes and called up their new names.
He named the one with a stern voice, Simone. It was the second speaker.
Then the speaker with a slur in his voice he named Gilkar—that was the third dude. And the last one who stammered he called Sham.
Then the new Baddok declared, while still facing the others and backing Jephthah: ‘Now today, we are reborn Jephthah’s Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham!’
Yet just as Baddok turned back to Jephthah, the latter parted his lips with an objection. ‘No this isn’t appropriate—’
But Baddok was fast with his counter. He hushed the ex-warrior first and sounded a reminder to him in his authoritative voice.
‘You remember I always say we your friends are low already, uh? That there’s nothing lower than worthlessness? You remember that, huh?
‘So Jephthah, if you truly know who you are, you won’t be stopping us and still say you care about us! It is a high privilege to be your right hand, please!’
Right then the Gilead champion was short of words. So he just opened his arms wide for the men to fall into.
His new team flocked into that open arms the next moment. Jephthah hugged them as a tear coursed down his face. And all that he could muster in words were these:
‘Thank you guys… thank you... really, thank you!’
For the ex-champion was fast recovering what he lost.
Copyright © April 2022 by Kayode & Tola Olla
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