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
rubbish onto the sidewalk when a car drives up to the gate and stops. She hurriedly sweeps the rubbish into a pile and runs quickly back inside the yard, closing the gate behind her. Her brother Christopher, who was sitting on the fence, jumps down into the yard and shouts,“Mama! Mama! De landlord come! Mr. Vincent! Him come fe de rent!”
His mother Sissy shouts at him,
“Shut you mouth nuh likkle bway!”
Sissy turns to Marsue and says,
“You see how long I’ve been telling you to hurry up and clean the verandah! Look how yu meck Mr. Vincent come and yu not even start it yet but yu gone sweep yard! Hurry up man! And move the chimmy from deh so!!”
Marsue hurriedly takes the chimmy inside their quarters. She comes back outside and says,
“Cho mama man, yu getting too excited! Calm down! It’s only Mr. Vincent! Him is not God! Is him need the money not you, plus our Sunday dinner done cook already!”
Sissy picks up a stone aims it at Marsue and says,
“Gal shut yu mouth before me buss yu head wid deh stone ya!”
She was about to throw the stone at Marsue when Mr. Vincent opens the gate and enters the yard. Smiling sweetly at him she says,
“Good morning Mr. Vincent!”
“Good morning Mrs. Bernard.” He responded.
Sissy turns to Christopher and says,
“Bring a chair for Mr. Vincent to sit on. I hope you remember which one to bring.”
“Yes! De one dat don’t have any tear pon de seat!” says Christopher loudly.
Sissy looks up to the sky and rolls her eyes. Marsue laughs at her mother’s expression. Christopher returns with the chair and hands it to his mother, who in turn hands it to Mr. Vincent.
“Thank you very much Mrs. Bernard,” says Mr. Vincent as he takes the chair from her and places it under the ackee tree.
Mr. Vincent sits on the chair, takes his glasses from the pocket of his shirt and puts it on. The other tenants approach and wait expectantly. Mr. Vincent peers over his glasses and says to Sissy,
“Mrs. Bernard, may I have the receipt book please?”
Sissy hands him the receipt book. She also handed him the light bill and the water bill.
“Why are you giving me the light bill? Wasn’t it supposed to have been paid from last week?” asks Mr. Vincent.
“I tried to collect the money from the other tenants but some of them will not cooperate,” said Sissy.
Mr. Vincent, who was aware of the long-standing animosity amongst his tenants quickly said,
“Alright, alright, let’s not get into that now, I’ll deal with it.”
He looks at the water bill and exclaims,
“My God! $55,786.95 for water! This is madness!”
In a stern voice he addresses the tenants who all seemed unconcerned when they heard the amount of the water bill.
“It is high time you people realise that I am not minting money! Some of you will not even pay your full rent! Stop wasting the water! The pipe-side is not a river side! The other day I came and saw the water running like Dunn’s River Falls because someone forgot to turn off the pipe. Stop sending the little ones to the pipe to catch water! Stop it man!”
Hyacinth steps forward and says,
“Sar, is I alone in the yard that have little children enuh, and every time something go wrong in de yard is my pickney dem get the blame. De bigger children dem waste water at the pipe-side too!”
“I have already spoken! I am done talking! $55,786.95 for water! Madness! I have a swimming pool in my yard in Cherry Gardens and my water bill is not even a quarter of this!” exclaims Mr. Vincent. He adjusts his glasses and asks her,
“So where is my rent?”
Hyacinth, stuttering, says that Black Boy had gone to the corner shop and he would soon be there with the rent.
Mr. Vincent sits up straight in the chair, points his finger at her and says,
“I hope so. Your babyfather is taking this thing for a joke now. Every month when I am here for the rent he’s gone to the corner shop! It’s four months now that he has not paid any rent! I am going to remove the windows and doors from your quarters if I don’t get any rent this morning!”
Hyacinth starts to cry.
Sissy hands Mr. Vincent her rent with a smug smile on her face. The other tenants hurriedly come forward with their rents and Mr. Vincent takes their monies and gives them their receipts. One of the tenants asked Mr. Vincent if she could have a word with him.
“Yes you may Miss Shaw,” said Mr. Vincent.
Miss Shaw had a complaint about Marsue. She said that whenever Marsue cleaned the bathroom building she used a lot of water and purposely made the water run down to her doorway making it impossible for her to step in and out of her quarters because of the mud caused by this action.
“You are lying Miss Shaw! I did not do it purposely!” shouted Marsue.
Marsue turned around grinned and whispered to her friends who were standing nearby,
“I did it spitefully.”
“Come, come, says Mr. Vincent, there’s no need for a quarrel. But my dear Miss Shaw, the water cannot run up the yard it has to run down. The bathroom and the toilet must be cleaned, after all, cleanliness is next to godliness! Heh, heh, heh.”
Turning to Marsue he smiles and says,
“Just try and use a little less water Marsue. Okay?”
“I will try,” says Marsue.
She lolls out her tongue at Miss Shaw.
Mr. Vincent had finished collecting rent from the tenants and stands up to leave. He called Hyacinth and says to her,
“You and Black Boy are taking me for a Poppy Show! Tell him that next month when I come here I want my five months rent! If he does not have it he will be evicted! I will throw his things out in the street! I am not joking!”
He goes through the gate, gets into his car and drives off. Hyacinth starts to cry again and the tenants gather around as they try to console her.
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