ftx legend
my name is toast and this is a story about friendship.
in the year 2000 a brown pup named daisy mae was rescued from the streets by two nice folk. i met this small brown bundle at her new home and have to admit i was a bit
stand-offish. i told her in no uncertain terms that i wasn’t sure if we could be friends.
you see i was still mourning the loss of another street pup pal and felt i could never love again.
when daisy heard my doubts about us being friends she immediately laughed like i had told her the best joke she had ever heard!
“of course we’re friends kid, in fact we’re best friends. you’re brown like me and every buddy knows brown is the color of love.”
and that was that. her confidence in herself and in me gradually healed my heart.
time passed and daisy and i found ourselves getting into amazing adventures. we often write songs and jingles about the exploits of ms. mae and her friend the dirtypuppy.
most days though i would visit her in her house and then eventually leave to go back out onto the cold hard streets. i could tell she worried a lot about me leaving and eventually she gave me a dog tag necklace with her name and phone number in case i got lost.
still though she fretted, often asking me to live with her and her new family. but i had to decline, it was her home and not mine. if i was to find my own i would have to be out there in the streets, looking.
one day, i’m not sure which one, i was about to say my goodbyes to her when she reminded me of one of the rules of the street.
“dirty p, you always needs backup out in the streets. if you’re gonna go outs there then we should start a gang so that no one messes with my kid.”
it made sense to me, i knew all about street cred and it is instinctual for likeminded pups to travel in packs. also if ruffians knew i rolled with daisy, a self-proclaimed brown belt ninja, renegade and kid of the universe (patent pending) then maybe they’d think twice before trying to start a rumble.
but we needed a name for this gang. something tuff! something hardcore!! so i reminded her of my love for all things carb, one being french toast. she nodded approvingly at this brown food choice adding matter of factly:
“and i love hugs.”
and that was it. the “french toast and hugs” gang was born.
both her and i didn’t think much about it at the time but gradually word got out and others wanted to join. i asked daisy what requirements we needed to have for new applicants before we gave them their gang number and she told me:
“only one. they needs to be STONE COLD.”
“wow! ok so what’s that ms. mae?” i asked. she told me then that being stone cold is a person who can only be themselves and be themselves only and who they are adds to this world more than they take away from it.
so i took this one rule and a photo of my pal and i traveled around the world putting the word on the street! occasionally i set up a makeshift grill to hand out some topnotch french toast and hugs to other punKes and kidz out there in our rugged earth.
and as the gang grew i realized i didn’t have to go it alone. i guess none of us do.
i always give credit to my friend daisy mae who taught me the importance of surrounding yourself with only the best. when i look at the roster of stone cold members we have the world over i realize how much backup there is out there. how many friends we all have.
as daisy once put in a song she lovingly wrote for me:
“we’re friends till the end. we’re friends till the end of ends….”
“French Toast and Hugs Song” by FTX #23 – Sarah Giufre
Lyrics:
Daisy Mae, my brown eyed girl
We’ll be friends till the end of ends
She always told me brown is the colour of love
French toast is brown
Maple syrup is brown
Cinnamon is brown
Daisy’s heart is root beer barrel brown
Go on go on, two stone cold kids from the street
Two super ninjas, no they can’t be beat
They started up a gang and now there’s a song to be sang
And it goes
French Toast and Hugs
And your hand inside my hand
Breakfast is on me today
So why don’t you bring some bred
And why don’t you bring some hugs
If you want to do it right
You’ve got to do it with love
Go on go on, two stone cold kids from the street
Two super ninjas, no they can’t be beat
They started up a gang and now there’s a song to be sang
And it goes
French Toast and Hugs
And your hand inside my hand
Breakfast is on me today