Olga - A Daughter's Tale (9 page)

Everyone sits cross-legged on the ground in front of the footlights breathing in the spicy fragrance of the pimentos in the evening breeze and Aunt Lucy sits behind the footlights and in front of the barbecue, comfortably settled in her chair, sucking on her white long handled pipe, which no doubt is full of ganja, and we all waited silently for her to start her story.

To tell an Anancy story correctly you have to use the Jamaican dialect and have lots of grand and dramatic gestures which Aunt Lucy does perfectly.

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A man plant a big field of gub-gub peas (bush peas). He got a watchman put there. This watchman can’t read. The peas grow lovely an’ bear lovely; everybody pass by, in love with the peas. Anancy himself pass an’ want to have some. He beg the watchman, but the watchman refuse to give him. He went an’ pick up an old envelope, present it to the watchman an’ say the master say to give the watchman. The watchman say, “The master know that I cannot read an’ he sen’ this thing come an’ give me?” Anancy say, “I will read it for you.” He said, “Hear what it say! The master say, ‘You mus’ tie Mr. Anancy at the fattest part of the gub-gub peas an’ when the belly full, let him go.’ The watchman did so; when Anancy belly full, Anancy call to the watchman, an’ the watchman let him go.

After Anancy gone, the master of the peas come an’ ask the watchman what was the matter with the peas. The watchman tol’ him. Master say he see no man, no man came to him an’ he send no letter, an’ if a man come to him like that, he mus’ tie him in the peas but no let him away till he come. The nex’ day, Anancy come back with the same letter an’ say, “Master say, give you this.” Anancy read the same letter, an’ watchman tie Anancy in the peas. An’ when Anancy belly full, him call to the watchman to let him go, but watchman refuse. Anancy call out a second time, “Come, let me go!” The watchman say, “No, you don’ go!” Anancy say, ‘If you don’ let me go, I spit on the groun’ an’ you rotten!” Watchman get frighten an’ untie him cos he think Anancy Obeah man.

Few minutes after that the master came; an’ tol’ him if he come back the nex’ time, no matter what he say, hol’ him. The nex’ day, Anancy came back with the same letter an’ read the same story to the man. The man tie him in the peas, an’, after him belly full, he call to the man to let him go; but the man refuse, all that he say he refuse until the master arrive.

The master take Anancy an’ carry him to his yard an’ tie him up to a tree, take a big iron an’ put it in the fire to hot. Now while the iron was heating, Anancy was crying. Lion was passing then, see Anancy tie up underneath the tree; ask him what cause him to be tied there. Anancy said to Lion from since him born he never hol’ knife an’ fork, an’ de people wan’ him now to hol’ knife an’ fork. Lion said to Anancy, “You too wort’less man! Me can hol’ it. I will loose you and then you tie me there.” So Lion loose Anancy an’ Anancy tied Lion to the tree. So Anancy went away, now, far into the bush an’ climb upon a tree to see what taking place. When the master came out, instead of seeing Anancy he see Lion. He took out the hot iron out of the fire an’ shove it in in Lion ear. An Lion make a plunge an’ pop the rope an’ away gallop in the bush an’ stan’ up underneath the same tree where Anancy was. Anancy got frighten an’ begin to tremble an’ shake the tree, Lion then hol’ up his head an’ see Anancy. He called for Anancy to come down. Anancy shout to the people, “See de man who you lookin’ fe! See de man underneat’ de tree!” An’ Lion gallop away an’ live in the bush until now, an’ Anancy get free.”

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I wish Chickie would go back to Mission House for dear Maurice’s sake. It would be much better for him than the shack they live in now. I know Becky often asks her to move back, but, she won’t go near the place because of Sydney. He says she has brought disgrace on the family and ever since Maurice was born he’s hardly spoken to her. And to cap it all her landlord has taken her to Court for not paying the rent. None of us knew anything about it until Boysie read about it in the “Gleaner” of all places.

Sydney’s far too harsh with the girls. Becky says after what happened to Chickie she doesn’t want history repeating itself. If that’s the case then, I say, since the girls are now young women, its Becky’s duty to give them some kind of sex education – telling them babies are a gift from God is crazy. Knowledge prevents accidents. Only last night I heard the McKenzie boy ask Olga to go with him into the stables.

“Come on Olga, it’ll be ok, we’ll use French letters”. And what did Olga say?

“I didn’t even know you could speak French”.

No wonder he laughed so much, I must admit I couldn’t help smiling myself at her innocent remark. Dear Olga, it was not a good day for her yesterday.

I asked Becky if Chickie had finally given up hearing from Victor Condell again. She said Chickie is desperate to marry Victor, because she doesn’t want Maurice growing up being illegitimate.

How strange, Jamaica’s not like England, where illegitimacy is frowned upon and such a lot of stigma is attached to unmarried mothers. The other day the Gleaner reported that last month there were 137 births in Kingston and 80 were illegitimate. The island has a history of illegitimacy and it wasn’t that long ago when marriage was discouraged and even forbidden but I must admit it was at a time when planters could get more money for their slaves if they were sold separately, rather than as a married couple. Becky’s says in today’s Jamaica, marriage gives a family respectability and, of course, she’s right.

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Letter to Vivie, Miami, USA

from

Olga, Kingston, Jamaica

Dearest Vivie

There’s been a terrible scandal in the family. You just won’t believe what happened last Saturday morning when we came down to breakfast.

“That’s strange; I can’t smell any burnt toast”. Dolly said. You remember Vivie how cook insisted we eat burnt toast, because for some reason she thinks it’s good for us. Well, there was no toast, no porridge and in fact, there was no breakfast at all.

Then Mammie came into the dining room and said cook hadn’t turned up for work and she asked Pearl to go to cook’s house and see if she was alright.

Pearl said “No, Mammie, I get frightened when I go near that house, it’s full of voodoo stuff”. Pearl’s right. If we have a boiled egg for our breakfast, cook makes us smash the empty egg shell because she said if we don’t then witches can use them as boats and control the winds. What’s wrong with that, I wonder?

“She lives alone and maybe she’s ill or hurt, after all it’s very unusual for her not to turn up for work”. Mammie was clearly very worried about her.

But, as we all know, she doesn’t really live alone. She lives with talking peacocks, voodoo dolls, three scrawny chickens, a pet mongoose and that whopping big black cat of hers, called Lucifer, which follows her just about everywhere she goes.

Do you remember Vivie when cook first started working for us Lucifer used to follow her here and because Mammie wouldn’t allow it in the house, it used to curl up under the cotton tree out the front and wait for her to leave at the end of the day. I tried to stroke it a couple of times but it would hiss at me.

I certainly didn’t want to go to cook’s house and neither did Ruby, so Mammie said she’d go, but in the meantime Cassie was to get breakfast ready while

Ruby went upstairs to wake Sydney, because he hadn’t appeared either. Well, within minutes Ruby came running down the stairs and into the kitchen very excited and announced that Sydney’s bed hasn’t been slept in all night.

Now that’s quite unusual for Sydney I know, but I told Mammie that Sydney had probably been working late and fallen asleep on the couch in the office at the back of the bicycle shop.

“I expect he’ll come home shortly to wash and change his clothes. After breakfast I’ll go with you to cook’s house, Mammie” I said.

So, just as we’re finishing breakfast in walks Sydney and we all heave a sigh of relief.

He sits down and says “I have something to tell you” and without even pausing for breath he says “I’m getting married”.

Mammie throws her arms around his neck and gives him a big hug; there’s lots of excitement and laughter. And then he says “I’m going to live with cook until we can marry”.

Well, I don’t mind telling you, Vivie, there was silence, a big silence. He’s not serious I thought. Never mind she’s black, she’s a witch for heaven’s sake.

How can the head of the Browney family live with a witch? What will people think? What will Father Butler think? It’s quite common for Jamaicans to just live together without being married, although respectable people are expected marry. But Sydney is still married to Janetha even though they haven’t lived together for ages. The Catholic Church doesn’t allow divorce so I suppose that’s why they’re going to live together.

Our faces must have shown the disbelief and disappointment we all felt.

Ruby got up and quietly left the room. Dolly and I followed leaving Mammie and Sydney to talk, but the talk didn’t last long or go well because Sydney came roaring out of the dining room saying he would never set foot in the house again and slammed the front door as he left. He was in a big rage Vivie. Mammie started crying and in between her sobs she asked me to contact Cissie and Dyke in Montego Bay. So, I left and sent Cissie a message:

Telegram to Cissie and Dyke, Montego Bay

From Olga, Kingston

URGENT. COME QUICKLY. SYDNEY GONE OFF WITH THE COOK .

Dolly ran to Boysie to tell him what had happened. He came round straightaway and gave Mammie a big hug and told her not to worry, he would talk to Sydney and everything would be alright.

Later on, who do you think walked in, Vivie, none other than cook herself, all dressed up and wearing, I must admit, a very nice straw hat with flowers all round the brim.

“I’ve come for some of Sydney’s possessions”.

“Why would you want Mr Sydney’s things” Mammie asked her.

“Because we are in love and he’s living with me now”. Honestly, she was so cocky I wanted to hit her.

“I’ve brought a suitcase with me so I’ll just pop upstairs and get a few things”.

“Pop upstairs” sounded funny coming from cook, it’s so English and she’s so witchy.

And then she said to Mammie

“He won’t be giving you any more money. He will need all his money for the family I will give him”.

As she turned to go upstairs, Mammie jumped up, rushed over to cook, put her hands on her shoulders and pushed her away from the stairs. Dolly, Ruby and I joined in and the four of us pushed her right out the front door and told her never to set foot in our house again.

The next day Cissie came up from Montego Bay and took charge of the kitchen. She did lots of cooking, baking bread, bulla cakes and biscuits. Oh, she was wonderful and she gave Mammie some money to stop her worrying.

Boysie and I continued to go to the shop but Sydney didn’t appear for about a week and when he did he and Boysie went into the back office to have a little chat. Boysie was concerned that even though we were giving Mammie nearly all our wages now, we were still short of money.

“It’s not like you can’t afford it”, Boysie told Sydney. But Sydney wouldn’t budge. He said he was going to start his own family now and was not prepared to support us any more. Boysie was horrified, and what started off as a calm conversation developed into a huge quarrel with Boysie finally saying he was ending their partnership and wouldn’t be coming to the shop again.

Now Sydney was coming to the shop every day but Boysie wasn’t. I wasn’t happy working there and wanted to leave, but, couldn’t. I’m trapped here, Vivie. I hate Sydney.

All my love,
Olga

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Olga’s Diary

Dear Diary

She’s put a spell on him
: Later Mammie told us why Sydney had stormed out of the house when he told us he was going to live with cook. He called Mammie a hypocrite and said it was ok for her to live with a black man and cause huge misery and pain, not only for her parents, but also her sister and children. He meant Vivie and Aunt Martha.

Mammie replied that at least she and Pops had got married and anyway she didn’t think cook was the right person for him.

Sydney was in such a rage, Mammie said she was too frightened to say anything more to him. She told us that Sydney had been right about her objections to the cook because she was black.

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I experienced such hatred from people I never dreamt could behave in such an ugly manner and I don’t want any of my children to go through the treatment I received nor do I want Sydney’s children turning on him one day because of their colour.

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We’re not all prejudice like some of the others” dear Pearl told Mammie.

But Mammie’s convinced that cook has put a spell on Sydney to make him fall in love with her. That’s the only explanation she says.

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Why else would he choose a short, fat, ugly black woman who practises voodoo.