He had a number of North African friends in connection with his IGES activities. I spiffed myself up with a hair-cut, put on my Father's Day gift – a persimmon colored flower-print shirt which came from my daughter in the U.S. Because I had a couple of errands to run that took a while, I was a bit late in arriving. I found the meeting room full. Usually the attendees number less than 20 with all our members attending. I saw close to 30 people there. Wow! The newspaper membership advertisement worked!
It was a night we call "Speech-a-(Mara)thon." I looked around. Mr. Y was not in. Panicked, I found his speech evaluator sitting close by. I sent her a message asking "Mr. Y"? The answer came back "he is absent tonight because of his sudden illness."
Then I noticed paper plates with palm dates on the table. Oh, my! Those are the dates he had talked about when he called me. I could not resist to beg for my 3-minute talk about the dates at the end of the Speak-marathon to thank him for the palm treats.
This was my speech:
"In place of Mr. Y, the would-be speaker #8 tonight, this is what I know about dates on the paper plates. Dates are called 'Arbor Vitae', fruits of life per the Quran, Prophet Muhammad. The palm grows in Arab countries, in the dry countries and desert under severe weather. The palm date, has served humans for a thousand years or more, and contains not only ample nutrition but minerals necessary for humans, such as iron, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus – a lot more than those found in vegetables. They should be indispensable to a woman's beauty. I know that the dates in the front were from his Chad friend for Father's Day. Let's pray for his early recovery and enjoy and thank him and his Chad friend for the delicious and nutritious treats.
And, for all the father's here tonight - , Happy Father's Day!”
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