Charmaine wrote that she panicked when Florence said that Stanley Wharbucks was nowhere in the house. Where could her Grandfather be? She started to cry and said it was her fault because she was rude to him the night before and if anything happened to him she would die! “Well I don’t think anything happened to him because my heart never leap!” said Florence. Charles laughed and said that was something his mother would have said. Charmaine was not amused, she just wanted to see her Grandfather. “Did you
check the garage to see if his car is there?” asked Florence. Charmaine had not even thought to look in the garage so she quickly ran to do so. Her Grandfather’s beloved Jaguar was not in the garage! She went back and told them that the car was not there. “Nobody can drive that car except Mass Stanley, so as far as I am concerned he must have gone somewhere, he’ll be back so we might as well wait until he returns.” said Florence. They went back to the study to wait on Stanley Wharbucks. About two hours later they heard the familiar sound of the Jaguar. Charmaine looked out the window and saw where her Grandfather narrowly missed hitting the gate column as he drove through the gate. She went outside to meet him. Instead of driving into the garage as he always did, he drove towards the steps that led to the verandah and came to a screeching halt. She watched him as he struggled to get out of the car. When he did, he had a big smile plastered on his face. When he saw her he shouted, “Good day my Granddaughter! How are you?” Charmaine said she could smell the rum on his breath from where she was standing. Stanley Wharbucks staggered up the verandah steps. When he reached the top of the steps he almost fell and it was Charles, who had also come outside, who held on to him and saved him from falling flat on his face. Stanley Wharbucks shrugged off his hands. “Grandfather you are drunk!” exclaimed Charmaine. “I am not drunk!” said Stanley Wharbucks. “How many drinks did you have?” she asked. “I had one drink.” he replied. “One drink? Really Grandfather?” asked Charmaine sarcastically. “Where were you? We were worried when we did not see you this morning.” Stanley Wharbucks stepped pass them without answering and went inside the house with them following behind him. When they saw he was heading for his room they went and sat in the study to wait on him.
After what seemed like a long while Stanley Wharbucks came into the study. He had obviously taken a shower and changed his clothes. He had a cup of coffee in his hand and he went and sat behind his desk. He slowly sipped the coffee as he looked at them. Charmaine waited until he finished drinking the coffee and put down the cup before she said anything to him. “Grandfather, don’t you care that we were worried about you?” she asked. Stanley Wharbucks hissed his teeth, something that he had never done in her presence before. “We thought that something bad had happened to you, aren't you going to answer me?" she continued.
Stanley Wharbucks ignored her and turned to Charles and said, “I am waiting to hear the rest of your cockamamie story about you having amnesia.” “It’s not a cockamamie story! It’s the truth!” shouted Charles. “Whatever you say.” said Stanley Wharbucks smirking. Charmaine went and sat beside her father and told him to go ahead and tell the rest of his story. Charles held her hand as he continued his story. He said that even though he tried very hard to remember her mother he just could not. He had no recollection of marrying Charlotte or her death and it bothered him a lot. Miss Verna told him he had left St. Thomas to take Charmaine to her Grandfather in St. James but he did not have a clue where in St. James he had taken her or who her Grandfather was. He bowed his head and said that with each passing day he became more and more frustrated and if it were not for the encouragement of Miss Verna he would probably have killed himself. Stanley Wharbucks scoffed at him when he said that. The years passed and he resigned himself to never ever seeing his daughter, the one whom he had no recollection of having, again. During this time he discovered that his loss of memory did not affect his love for animals so he decided to go back to school to study Veterinary Medicine. Charmaine gasped and looked at her Grandfather. Her Grandfather pretended as if he did not see her looking at him. Charles seemed puzzled by that, so Charmaine told him that she was planning to study to be a Veterinarian too! Charles was overjoyed to hear that and he hugged her and said it was nice to know that she was following in his footsteps. He said that he went to England and studied at the Royal Veterinary College in London. He graduated at the top of his class and returned to Jamaica where he was offered the job as Zookeeper at the Hope Botanical Zoo in St. Andrew. The job came with living quarters on the Zoo compound so he would stay there during the week and spend his weekends in St. Thomas. Miss Verna had managed the farm while he was away studying in England so he allowed her to continue being the Farm Manager while he worked at the Zoo.
“Come, come!” snapped Stanley Wharbucks. “Enough about you now! I want to know how after all this time you conveniently remembered who you were!” “Yes!” said Florence. “I cannot take the suspense any longer!”
Charles sighed and said, “You remember when I told you that when I met Miss Verna at the train station she told me that I had a scar on my buttocks where a bull had gored me? Well, guess what happened to me three months ago?” “Don’t tell me that you are going to sit there and tell me that you were gored by another bull!” exclaimed Stanley Wharbucks. Jumping to his feet he came from behind his desk and stood over Charles and shouted, “You are nothing but a lowdown, conniving liar! You have stayed away all these years and now that you know that she is of age you are coming with your cock and bull story about having amnesia so that she will overlook your dastardly behaviour! Get off my property you dishonest piece of filth!” Charles stood to his feet and said, “I swear to you all, especially to you Charmaine, that I am not lying, please let me finish my story. If when I am done and you still do not believe me I promise to leave and never come back.” “Please, Grandfather, let him finish his story.” begged Charmaine.
Charmaine said that she too began to wonder if her father was being truthful. Maybe her Grandfather was right. Maybe it was a cock and bull story after all. It would be too much of a coincidence for her father to claim that another bull had gored him!
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