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
had suddenly announced that afternoon that there would be a national election in a few weeks time. This meant that more persons than usual would be congregating in the shop. Next to Miss Mary's Bar at the corner of the road, Lady Hermine's shop was the place where everything under the sun was discussed. Many arguments were birthed, and died, there in an amicable way over the domino table and the ludo and draughts tables. At this moment the discussion was about the upcoming elections and everyone in the shop was trying to out talk the other. The noise was horrendous and Marsue was getting a headache! Suddenly there was the sound of loud music blaring over speakers. The people in the shop ran outside to see what was the cause of this noise. Two flatbed trucks, with huge speaker boxes on them, were coming up the road. They drove pass Lady Hermine’s shop. One stopped on the corner at Miss Mary’s Bar and the other went further up the road and stopped at Mr. Chin’s Ice Cream Parlour. Based on the colours on the trucks it was clear that the truck that stopped at Miss Mary’s Bar supported the ruling party and the other truck supported the opposition party. The men standing on the piazza of Lady Hermine’s shop rubbed their palms with glee. One of them shouted,“Free food and liquor tonight!”
The others roared with laughter.
It was customary, whenever there was going to be an election, for the opposing candidates to have street meetings in the constituency. What was unusual, however, was to have them both on the same night on the same street!
“What a calamity!” said Marsue as she and Florence walked towards Miss Mary’s Bar.
By this time other residents had left their homes to see what was happening and they watched as the men who had travelled with the truck begin to ‘string up’ the sound system. Marsue's inquisitive brother Christopher stood in the midst of the group of men as they stretched the speaker wires across the road and connected them to the light poles. He kept asking them so many questions that they got annoyed and told him to go home to his parents. Marsue told him to go back to the yard. Christopher hissed his teeth and said he was going up the road to where the other flatbed truck had stopped. She tried to stop him but he dodged her and ran up the road. Marsue shrugged her shoulders and smiled with Miss Mary who had come outside with some bottles of beer for the men.
“Lend we some chairs,” said one of the men to Miss Mary.
Miss Mary brought four chairs to the men who promptly placed them atop the flatbed truck behind a microphone stand. Domino tables were set up on the piazza in front of the bar. From the jukebox in the bar the strains of “The Message” could be heard.
“My fada bawn ya! My fada bawn ya! My grandfada bawn ya! I an I bawn ya!” sang the resident barfly as he staggered up the road towards the other flatbed truck.
Marsue and Florence followed him laughing.
“Move out a de way old bway! Wid yu old time music!” shouted Black Boy.
The man turned and said
“Tom drunk but Tom nuh fool!”
More laughter from the crowd who had joined the trek towards the other flatbed truck. The sound of bells clanging filled the air as they got nearer. There was a large crowd in front of the ice cream parlour and an even larger crowd on the inside, mostly children though. The opposing candidate was already there and he was buying ice cream for everyone inside the shop and all those on the outside. Mr. Chin was smiling broadly but Mrs. Chin had a worried look on her face. Rumour had it that the bill that was incurred from the previous election was never paid. Christopher was coming out of the parlour with six ice cream cakes in his hands. Marsue said to him,
“Nice! Yu collect ice cream cakes fe all a we!”
“Yu mussi mad! Mi collect all a dis fe miself! Go in deh and go tell Mr. Alexander whey yu want!” said Christopher.
“No sah! Me caan teck dis ya crowd ya!” said Marsue.
Christopher looked at her and said,
“Yu too stoosh! Tan deh nuh! Mi gawn, de ongle smaddi a get any a my ice cream cake a mama!”
He walked off and headed down the street. He stopped, turned around, grinned and said,
“A Missa Mike me a guh check now fe one apple juice from Miss Mary Bar!”
Marsue laughed and watched him as he turned back and continued his trek down the street. Christopher was too young to care about politics. He loved ice cream and that was that! Marsue told Florence to go inside the Ice Cream parlour and try to get ice cream for both of them. She watched as Florence weaved her way through the crowd and found her way to Mr. Alexander. She saw Mr. Alexander smile and called out something to Mr. Chin. He then looked in Marsue’s direction and waved. Marsue waved back. Shortly afterwards, Florence came out of the parlour with two large containers of Neapolitan ice cream. Marsue clapped her hands in glee. This was her favourite ice cream! Florence asked her if she was going to stay and listen to Mr. Alexander? Marsue told her no as she wanted to go home to put the ice cream in the fridge for Sunday. Florence said she would be eating hers right there because if she took it home her brothers would take it from her and eat it and God bless what they would give her. Marsue said nothing because she knew Florence was speaking the truth, so she told her she would see her later and went back down the road, wondering if Florence was really going to eat all that ice cream by herself! She passed Christopher standing in front of the doorway of Miss Mary’s Bar. He told her that he heard that Missa Mike soon reach so he was positioning himself so that he would be the first one to ask him for his ‘drinks’.
“Likkle bway come go home!” said Marsue.
Christopher would not budge from the doorway. He was adamant that he was not leaving until Missa Mike came and he received his apple juice! Marsue told him that if she did not have the ice cream she would have dragged him by his shirt straight to the yard! Christopher laughed and made monkey faces at her as she walked off. When Marsue reached home she placed the ice cream in the freezer and went back to help her grandparents in the shop. When she stepped inside the shop she got the shock of her life! Missa Mike, whom Christopher was waiting on at Miss Mary’s Bar, was in her grandparents' shop! Mr. Mike was there laughing and talking with the people. Marsue noted that everything, except for a few slices of bread, was gone from the glass cases in the shop! The shelves which were normally laded with corned beef, oats, rice, tin mackerel etc., were empty! When her grandmother saw the expression on her face she smiled and said,
“Missa Mike giving the people what they want and he paid for everything!”
“Wow!” said Marsue.
Winnie coming in behind her whispered that he paid because he saw the sign in the shop that read “No Trusting”. We laughed. Mr. Mike looked at his watch and told the people it was time for him to go and give his speech. Everyone left the shop and followed him to Miss Mary’s Bar where he was helped unto the flatbed truck by his driver. He took the microphone from his personal assistant and began to speak to the crowd. Mr. Mike’s speech, as usual, was educational as well as informative. He spoke of all his party had done in the last four years and what they intended to do when they are returned to power. He made fun of his opponent Mr. Alexander. He said that Mr. Alexander knew he would be at this location and still insisted on being there too.
“Everywhere I go this man just follows me! He’s vexed because he knows he can’t follow me into Gordon House!” said Mr. Mike to the cheering crowd.
Someone shouted,
“Next ting him a guh waan falla yu guh a toilet!”
The crowd laughed.
Mr. Mike wrapped up his speech by telling the crowd that they should live good with the persons who had chosen to vote for the other party and they should not get involved in any form of violence. He thanked them for their support and told them he had to leave because he had another meeting to go to in Papine Square. The crowd waved goodbye as he drove off in his Volvo 264. As soon as the car turned the corner the crowd went up the road to listen to what Mr. Alexander had to say. Mr. Alexander’s speech was similar to that of Mr. Mike’s, filled with a lot of promises and the ringing of bells whenever a moot point was made. Both sets of crowd intermingled and laughed and talked when his speech was over. He said he had to leave shortly because he had a meeting in Gordon Town. The crowd that had listened to Mr. Mike earlier started to laugh as they remembered what he had said about Mr. Alexander. It was getting late so Marsue and Florence walked away from the crowd and were heading home when there was a huge explosion!
“Pow!”
The entire road was suddenly in darkness!
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