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!

Mrs. Leana, who weighed over two hundred pounds, was a bully and always behaved as if she was the owner of the yard. It was well known amongst the tenants that she had wanted the quarters at the front of the yard when Mr. Vincent moved to his new home in Cherry Gardens. She was upset when Mr. Vincent gave Sissy’s parents the okay to move into it. Mrs. Leana did her best everyday to tell the other tenants that those quarters should have been for her and her family because they were the first tenants that Mr. Vincent had in the yard. This woman was a real headache not just to Sissy, but also to the rest of the tenants. The difference however, was that Sissy was not afraid of her and Mrs. Leana knew it.

“Mrs. Bernard! Hi Mrs. Bernard! Wait just a minute, mi have something to say to you!” shouted Mrs. Leana. She was huffing and puffing as she tried to catch her breath.

“What can I do for you Mrs. Leana?” asked Sissy, calmly.

“How yu mean fe tell Mr. Vincent say dat me nuh waan pay my portion a de light bill? Mi nuh send Florence wid de money and yu send it back to mi saying it short!” shouted Mrs. Leana.

Sissy looks at her and says calmly,

“Mr. Vincent said everyone is supposed to pay according to the number of electrical appliances that they have.”

“But mi send the money whey mi normally send a month time! How come it not enough this month?”  asks Mrs. Leana.

“Mr. Vincent said everyone is supposed to pay according to the number of electrical appliances that they have.” repeats Sissy.

“Mi send enough money fe de fridge, enough money fe de tv, enough money fe de iron, enough money fe de polisher, enough money fe de light bulb dem! Whey else yu waan mi fe pay for!!!” shouted Mrs. Leana.

The other tenants came out of their quarters when they heard the commotion at the gate. Persons passing by on the road stopped to listen to Sissy and Mrs. Leana as they argued.

“So what about the hotplate and the fan? What about the blender?” asks Sissy.

Mrs. Leana screams boisterously,

Is who tell yu say mi have hotplate and fan? Is who tell yu say mi have blender? A mussi yu gimme dem!!!”

“You so damn lie and wicked!” says Sissy shaking her head. She turns to the tenants and said,

“Last week, when they were at the pipe side, Florence tell Marsue that they have hotplate, fan and blender. She was boasting about the things her father Bertie brought from Guantanamo Bay three months ago. She told Marsue that her mother said she was not to tell anyone about them. Oonu know dat Florence cannot keep a secret and it was just a matter of time before she tell Marsue about them.”

Mrs. Leana gasped and hollered,

“Florence, come ya likkle gal! A gwine bruk yu backside! Yu chat too much! A gwine rub sinkle bible pon yu mouth! A tell yu all de time ‘better yu foot slip dan yu long tongue’!”

She turns to Sissy and says,

“Me not paying one red cent more! Dem nuh use from Bertie gimme dem, dem still in a de box dem.”

Sissy laughs and says,

“You are such a liar! Up to yesterday you used the blender to blend coconut for your rice and peas! Plus you used it to blend the carrots for your carrot juice! Florence tell Marsue everything!”

The tenants started to laugh.

"Plus there is a big jump in this month's light bill which must be because of these additional appliances!" says Sissy.

"Nutten caan guh suh because mi barely use de hotplate! Mi not giving yu nothing extra this month!" insists Mrs. Leana.

“I don’t care what you do Mrs. Leana. I am going to work. JPS will just come and lock off the light if the bill is not paid. I have batteries for my radio and a whole heap of candles, not to mention my two spirit lamps plus, I have nothing to blend.”  says Sissy walking off.

She turns back and says,

“Just a reminder, Mr. Vincent says that anyone who causes JPS to come and disconnect the light again will get notice to move out. He says he is tired of paying reconnection fees.”

She smiles and goes through the gate.

Mrs. Leana is furious and cannot contain her anger. She rushes after Sissy but is held back by Veronica who tells her to remember her high blood pressure.

“Yu nuh see de woman a gwaan like a she own de yard. Like she a Mr. Vincent secretary! Me nuh care seh dat dem a cousins, me live in a de yard longer dan har, is me should be de one in charge of collecting de light money! After all!” says Mrs. Leana.

“Nuh mind ya Miss Leana," says Veronica. "Calm down, but is truth yu talking. She behave like is she own de yard fe true. She too hoity-toity! A step like white fowl! Mi notice dat when she a talk to yu she use proper English as if she a try fe showoff pon yu because she know seh yu neva get much schooling when yu was a child in de country. Hush, nevah mind.”

“Meck she tan deh! I gwine fix har business. Mi going to Portland this weekend, I gwine fix har business!” says Mrs. Leana. As she heads back to her quarters she hollers,

“Florence! Florence! Come to me likkle gal! I gwine bax yu pon yu mouth cause yu chat a likkle bit too much!

Veronica laughs, she could not wait to go next door to tell her friends that Mrs. Leana had a blender plus hotplate and fan. She told her two little boys to go inside their quarters and not come out as she would soon be back. As she was going through the gate she said, to nobody in particular,

“Gi a eye pon dem, mi soon come!”