And just as I expected, it didn't take long for Ms. Millie to show up to start to mind mommy business again. I could never understand that woman; she doesn't want to be mommy's friend, she says she respects her but yet for all, she can't help but shove up herself where she doesn't belong.
I was lying on my bed about to read The Venus Conspiracy when I heard,
"James oh! Is you day dey boy?"
I got off my bed as quickly as Speedy Gonzales not to mind their business but to calm mommy down because I know the introduction of this pompous neighborhood CCTV camera was not going to make the present situation at home lighter. And just as I was about to speed through my room door to call out to mommy I heard,
"Cheryl, doh bother go outside dey eh; all dah goin an happen dey goin an happen for a reason. Jus let it be girl. Jus let it be."
"But Petra, mommy go put dung she Christianity cloak for dat woman called Ms. Millie. Ah cyan siddung so an watch her do dat."
"Gurl," she said with one serious look on her face, "ah tell you to leave it alone. If mommy doh deal with all ah dat years ah pent up frustration now, ah bet you she go regret it in the end. Leave dem people alone leh dey sort out dey business. Whatever she tell Miss Millie, know dat dah woman had it coming to her a long time now."
Petra had a point. I could remember the years I began noticing that something was wrong and began questioning my mother about the whereabouts of my father. I always got the civilized response.
"Chile, you fadda say he coming back soon. So you go see him when you see him."
Those responses went on for years until I began to grow older; they changed from that civilized response to,
"Watch come out in front me with that eh. Ah tired tell you doh ask me about dat!"
Me papa, I don't like embarrassment; so every time I hear that, I retreat and try hard not to ask her those questions again. But sometimes I can't help it because there's a burning desire deep down within me to want to know who my dad was and what happened. It didn't see normal. It always felt like it was something bigger than any of us knew.
I eventually retreated into my room and listened to the advice of my big sister. I got back into bed and picked up the thriller novel I was reading earlier, trying my best to ignore the commotion I knew was about to unravel.
As I flipped through the pages, I thought about Professor Bacci and this discovery he had that would allow him to control human emotions such as falling in love. At that very moment, I wish I was professor Bacci and that I could inject mommy and daddy right now with that drug he created that would make then inevitably fall in love. Maybe that way all the bickering would stop and I would finally get some answers.
As I wandered in my thoughts, I was quickly dragged away from the tranquility when I heard daddy say,
"Yes Miss Millie, is me but now is not the best time."
Miss Millie didn't wait but responded, "Now is not the best time ah know. You come back to make it up to the wifey but leh me see how you looking dey na boy. Look how long I en see you"
"Ah little later Miss Millie." Daddy insisted.
For a second, I began to become less anxious because mommy wasn't talking. I knew if she had something to say, she would have said it already because she wasn't afraid of Miss Millie the way some of the other neighbors were afraid of her. I started thinking to myself that maybe mommy was at a place where she couldn't care about Miss Millie and her inquisitiveness any longer and that she would just wait for her to leave so that she could finish her conversation with daddy. I listened closer,
Miss Millie started up again, "Later? So you come back for good Jamesy boy. Like you finally come back to your senses"
But Miss Millie real fass eh. Nobody does ask she husband Winston anything about if he come back for good when he showing up every two months by her and going again. Eh? Wa do Miss Millie?
"Miss Millie, now is not the best time okay." Daddy was becoming a bit agitated by the sound of his voice.
But Miss Millie still kept pushing, "James you en even know if ah go be home later, ah little talk now won't be bad."
The wrath that poured down after that sentence sent an alarm to all the neighbors on Conch Street and the rest of streets in Brownsville. James and Petra ran out their rooms and were peeping through the window and I was just lying on my bed shaking my head saying to myself, "ent ah tell Petra dah woulda happen."
Some of the things mommy said, I dear not repeat it either.
"Stinking dutty scrutch Millie! You en hear dat good-for-nothing man say now is not the time. Like you come down here without you 4 eyes; you en see me and dat man talking? Look! I find is high time you start to take you nose outta people business and focus on yours. From the time dat man leave here, you minding me and me children business. Is like you cyah help it but to be fass. You running you mouth on us from sun up to sun down but yet for all, you never talking about your business like you does talk about mine. Why you en talk about Winston and the twelve children he have outside dey with your sister and two of the ladies from your church? Why you en talk about the fares you had to make to get the piece ah land next to yours or the obeah man you went to to find out whey Winston was the last three years you couldn't see him? Eh Millie? Why you en talk about the 50 pounds you thief from Old man Joe the last time you look after his house wen he went England or the fact that you not even sure if Marcus is really Winston own?"
Mommy took one slow, long drawn out breath and stared at Miss Millie as Miss Millie just looked at her with utter shock in her eyes. But it was almost as if that made mommy even more angry
"Doh watch me so Millie! What you watching me so for? Eh? Ah hold me tongue for too long! You out there minding other people business but you doh want nobody mind yours? Ah giving you 5 seconds to come out in me yard before ah start telling everybody who come out to mind your business now, all de things you used to sit down and tell me!"
Before mommy could finish, I had already jumped up out of my bed in shock. I used to hear people saying that my mother had calmed down after she married my father and had us but I never really understood how much 'calm' they meant. I never saw my mother in that element but I could tell she was angry because I could see her standing there again with her two hands dead at her side. Her eyes were wild and her chest was heaving again just as Mr. Joe's bull. I do not like that bull one bit; it really scares me and just like that, mommy was beginning to scare me now.
But everyone couldn't help but notice Miss Millie. She quickly retreated to her house with her tail between her fat legs just like a dog admitting defeat. For all the things mommy said to her, she never responded or threatened her. I caught a glimpse of her standing there with her eyes wide open before she ran away.
I guess daddy must have known mommy long enough and understood her if he had been with her as long as they said, because not once did he advise her to hush or not study Miss Millie; he just stepped back just like James and I did when mommy's eyes met his earlier. From that day onward, everybody in BrownsVille knew not to mess with mommy.
scrutch - broken English (creole) for crotch
4 eyes - used to describe someone wearing glasses
fares - money made from prostitution
thief - to steal; commonly used in Grenada as a verb and not as a noun
sun up to sun down - all day long; literally meaning sunrise to sunsethold me tongue - to be quiet
Want to know what happened next? Look out for the new book coming soon!
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