A TENEMENT YARD IN A DE CITY - CHAPTER 6 -

                 Friday evenings were always special to the people who lived on the road. Knowing that there was no school the following day, or work for most of the adults, it was a time of enjoyment and merriment for them. Cooking on a Friday evening was a no-no; so Lady Hermine’s shop was the place to purchase what was called ‘lighters’ for their dinner/supper. Lighters included fried sprat, bammy, fried dumplings, roasted yam, saltfish fritters, banana fritters, roasted saltfish and hardo bread, bully beef sandwiches, cornmeal pudding and potato pudding. Lady Hermine also made toto, coconut drops and grater cake. The shop was always crowded on a Friday so Marsue and her sister Winnie would go and assist Lady Hermine, their grandmother. This Friday evening, however, was different. The Prime Minister

A TENEMENT YARD IN A DE CITY - CHAPTER 5

               It was Michael’s duty to feed the dog and water the plants in the garden at the side of his grandfather’s quarters. There was also the enclosed garden at the top of the yard, near to the fence, where his grandfather planted yam, gungo peas and callaloo. These were also to be watered every day, as per his grandfather’s instruction. Any dereliction in this duty could mean a reprimand in front of all the tenants in the yard as well as the next door neighbours. Not to mention the people that lived in the yard across the street. Michael did not want that to happen because there was a new girl next door and he would not want her to hear his grandfather talking to him like he was six years old! He connected the hose to the garden pipe, turned it on and began to water the plants. Suddenly

A TENEMENT YARD IN A DE - CHAPTER 4 -

Behind the quarters to the left of the tenement yard is a small secluded area where the men of the yard would meet to smoke and discuss politics or their latest conquests. The area was called Headquarters and women and girls were not allowed there. You could stay at the front of the yard and hear the loud guffaws from the men when whatever they were discussing took a humorous turn. The smell of cigarettes and marijuana would permeate the air on a windy day. The youths of the tenement yard

A TENEMENT YARD IN A DE CITY - CHAPTER 3

It is Monday morning and Sissy is going to work. She was going through the gate when she heard her name being shouted out by someone. It was coming from the back of the yard. She turns around and sees Mrs. Leana approaching her. Sissy looks to the sky and rolls her eyes because she knew that there was going to be a quarrel with this woman this morning and she had no time for that!

A TENEMENT YARD IN A DE CITY - CHAPTER 2

          Black Boy, called thus because of his very dark complexion, returns to the yard after Mr. Vincent left. Tall, dark and handsome, Black Boy is an aspiring Singjay who hopes to ‘bust’ one day. Singing Bob Marley’s “Duppy Conqueror”, he smiles at the other tenants. He stops, takes an unlit spliff from the pocket of his shirt and lights it. He puts the spliff to his mouth and takes a 'draw', blowing the smoke into the air. Taking the spliff from his mouth he shouts out,

A TENEMENT YARD IN A DE CITY - Chapter 1

It is Sunday afternoon. It was quiet in the yard because all the little ones in the yard had gone to Sunday School. Marsue is sweeping the front of the yard with a broom. She pauses her sweeping and looks down into the tenement yard she had lived in for most of her young life. There was a huge two bedroom apartment in the front of the yard. It had its own bathroom and kitchen. This was where the Landlord had lived before moving to his new home in Cherry Gardens. It was now occupied by his cousins. There was a row of single rooms on both sides of the yard. The rooms on the left had enclosed verandahs. The rooms on the right were larger with verandahs that were not enclosed. There was a building on the right which housed three toilet stalls and three shower stalls and another building on the left which housed four separate kitchens. Two tenants each per kitchen. To the side of the kitchen was a water pipe built within a cement enclosure. This was where the tenants got water from to do their cooking and washing as well as where they would gather to gossip. It was affectionately called ‘The Pipe-side’. Everyone of the tenants had a wooden table with zinc on it at the front of their quarters. This was where they kept their laundry pans and where they washed their cups and plates. Clothes lines were strung up all over the yard and even though it was a Sunday some of the tenants were busy hanging out their laundry to dry. Looking at it all from the top of the yard it was not a pretty sight and Marsue longed for the day when her mother would be able to move from this tenement living! She was also tired of the constant bickering amongst the adults. She sighed and resumed her sweeping. Even though her mother had told her over a hundred times not to sweep the rubbish through the gate unto the street she was doing it anyway. She was sweeping the

Border Secured (A Scenario) Section 5 – Epilogue

Shirley lay gasping for breath at the feet of the Detectives, no one knew what to do to assist her. Miss Brown called the Kingston Public Hospital and asked them to send an ambulance quickly but Shirley died before the ambulance arrived. The Ambulance Driver said there were shots being fired near the gates of the hospital, plus there was a skirmish amongst warring factions in the surrounding area, and that caused the delay in their arrival. They collected Shirley's body to take it to the hospital so that it could be pronounced dead by a Doctor. We were to

Border Secured (A Scenario) Section 5 - Part 14

The DNA testing for Conroy took place as scheduled. I was surprised to see that they tested Reverend Julian’s brother Jeffrey instead of one of his sons. As a matter of fact all of the Reverend’s seven children turned up to be tested, I guess Reverend Julian’s wife Shirley (Maud reminded me of her name) was not taking any chances! So now we await the results which, we were told would be ready in two weeks. Maybe I have been watching the Maury Show too long because I thought the results would have been ready in a couple of hours!

Border Secured (A Scenario) Section 5 - Part 13

Barrister Foreman pulled up at my gate about two hours later in his dusty old Jaguar. He was our family lawyer and, from as long as I knew him, which was from when I was a child, he had been driving that same Jaguar. It was old then and was even older now. It was so old that the paint was stripping from off the car and it needed a proper ‘duco’ job. In Spanish Town where his office was located his car was nicknamed ‘scratch and win’ (the tagline for the Lotto) due to the discolouration from the many patchworks done to the car over the years. He could easily buy a new car but he refused to do so, saying that he sometimes had to work late at night and all the vagrants and extortionists in the town knew him by his car. His biggest fear

Border Secured (A Scenario) Section 5 - Part 12

It has been a month since Reverend Julian died and I am still trying to come to terms with his death. I am still in shock to know that he died at the same time that I woke up from my dream. When my Grandmother talked about people ‘travelling’ and ‘visiting’ persons when they were dying I would always laugh at the notion of that and declare it to be utter nonsense. I told Maud about the dream and she was astounded. She believed, like me, that Reverend Julian came to get my forgiveness and to tell me good-bye. The human side of me said that I should not have forgiven him but the Christian side of me said that if I had not forgiven him he would probably still be in the hospital lingering on life support instead of going on to his Maker. Oh well, he certainly escaped a proper tongue-lashing from me! (There goes my human side again!) The bell of death saved him!