archie comics

i met a long time friend whom i had not seen for a few years. we knew each other since secondary school which was close to 18 years ago? something like that.

well, along the way, after we started work, he did drop me an email or two from time to time. 2 emails a year to be exact. even he admitted to it. once during christmas and another time around mid year. then for the rest of the time, it was utter silence. he had been travelling around but now he is finally based in singapore. he is a malaysian though, mind you and he makes the journey from his home in jb down to singapore everyday. he should be used to it by now because he had been making this journey from the very 1st day i met him.

it was always hilarious times with him and meeting up with him again was no difference. we had our laughs. and i reminded him that he still owed me 2 archie comics. why?

the story started one fine day after our lessons, some 17 years ago. both of us were hanging out at our fave computer store at crown plaza. after an hour gaming we knew it was time to go. but before we left we popped into the mac's there. we had a combine total of $1.10 on us so i told him to go get a small drink. it was only 80 cents for a small sized drink back then. the 30 cents left went to him so that he could take a bus home, for 25cents. i had a concession pass with a bus stamp, so the ride home for me was free.
my genius of a friend went and came back with a medium sized drink, that cost $1. you can imagine what happened next. there we were trying to think of a solution so that he could have enough money to go back home. begging was not an option and handphones were not the norm back then, so we could not just call for help. we cracked our brains until...
i happened to bring 2 archie comics that day to share with my friends. there was a 2nd hand bookstore there at crown plaza. add 2 and 2 together....
we ended up selling the 2 comics for $1, more than enough for him to make the trip home.

we laughed when we recollected the story. then i stopped and i looked at him. you still owe me 2 archie comics. he looked at me.
we started laughing again...