Miss
Verna was adamant that he was the Charles Whitmore who had employed her to take
care of his daughter Charmaine, a daughter whom he still had no recollection of. She
insisted that he return to St. Thomas right away with her. Miss Verna was initially on her
way to visit her family in May Pen, Clarendon but she decided that he being
home in familiar surroundings was more important than her going anywhere.
Charles said that at first he was hesitant about going with Miss Verna but the
more he thought about it the more it seemed to be a good idea. Furthermore, he
had
nowhere to stay if he returned to Spanish Town. He took her bag from her
and they left the Railway Station and walked up the road to where the buses
that plied the Kingston-St. Thomas route were parked. The driver in one of the parked
buses waved to him as they approached it and he returned the wave. Miss Verna told him that he always
took that bus whenever he had to come to Kingston and he and the driver always had
a good time discussing politics. Charles, however, could not remember him so
when they boarded the bus he went and sat in the back. The driver was puzzled
at his behavior and asked Miss Verna why was Mass Charles going to sit in the
back when he always sat in the seat behind him? He also wanted to know where
Charles had been all this time? Miss Verna told the driver, whom Charles heard
her called Bobby, that he was not feeling well. She came and sat down beside
him. By this time the bus had filled up with passengers so Bobby closed the doors and drove
out of the Bus Park. By the time the bus turned unto East Queen Street Charles
was fast asleep. He said that Miss Verna woke him once to tell him that they
had reached White Horses in St. Thomas. He looked out the window, shrugged and
went back to sleep. The next time she woke him was when they reached Morant Bay,
which seemed to be the destination for most of the passengers. She told him
that they would be arriving in Seaforth in less than twenty minutes. Looking out the window he was disappointed that he could not recognize where he was. When they reached Seaforth it was the same thing, he could not recollect having being there before. When they
were getting off the bus Bobby told Charles that he was to meet him
at Mass Cyril’s bar later that night to pick up his regular six-love in the
domino game. Some of the passengers laughed when he said that. Charles just smiled and
nodded his head.
He followed Miss Verna who seemed very concerned that he did
not know where he was going. It was finally dawning on her that he really was
suffering from a loss of memory! They walked down a path that had a lot of
trees lining both sides of the path. At the end of the path they came to a huge
iron gate. There was a sign above the gate that had the words "CHARLOTTE'S FARM" written on it. Miss Verna told him that the farm was named after his wife Charlotte. Going through the gate Charles was surprised to see the vast stretch
of land beyond the gate. “Yes Sir!” said Miss Verna, “All this land belongs to
you! The bulls, the cows and all the goats! If you look beyond the coconut
trees you’ll see a shed where you raise chickens.” Charles said he was
shocked to know that he owned all that she was showing him so he asked her if
she knew how he came to own the farm in the first place. By this time they were approaching a
house that had a verandah that seemed to go all around the building. They
mounted the red steps that led to the verandah and Miss Verna told him to have
a seat on the lounge chair while she went to fetch them something to drink. She
returned with two glasses of lemonades and handed one to him. She sat down on a
bench across from him and began her narrative. Miss Verna told him that shortly
after his wife Charlotte died he decided that he no longer wanted to work at
the Slaughterhouse so he began to work with Mass Joseph who was the original owner of
the farm. Mass Joseph, who was ninety-five years old, had no living relatives
and came to love and depend on Charles and treated him like a son. About two
years after Charles started working at the farm, Mass Joseph died tragically.
He had gone to take his usual early morning swim in the river that ran
alongside the property. He was advised not to because it was raining heavily but
he insisted. While he was swimming in the river lightning struck the water and he was
electrocuted. Mass Joseph had left the farm to Charles in his will and that was how
he became the owner of the farm. Charles told Stanley Wharbucks, Charmaine and
Florence that when he heard that he was astonished! He could not believe what
he was hearing! Miss Verna told him to go inside the house and look around and
see if he remembered anything. She firmly believed that his memory would come back as soon as he went inside the house. He got up and went and stood in the doorway, in two minds
whether to enter the house or not. What if he didn’t remember anything? Was
this the way he was going to live the rest of his life? He stepped over the
threshold and entered what was a living room and suddenly it felt like the room
was spinning and the next thing he knew he was falling to the floor.
Just then
my telephone rang. It was the Matron from the hospital telling me that the
protesters had set fire to the gates of the hospital!
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