When me use to go a Primary school a country, yuh know, we use to have dis girl name Gwendolyn. Dat girl coulda romp so till. Massi, ma, as recess bell ring so she an Joyce dis fly outa class fore teacher coulda say “chilvren”. An when lunch bell ring fi wi say “for health and strength an daily food we praise thy name oh, Lardamen” she cyaant even close har eye dem for it look like she did tink seh if she close dem playground a go vanish when she open dem again. She a di ongly person me know wha come back from lunch early for she cyaan wait fi play dandy-shandy an rounders (di same ting wha dem call dodge ball and baseball eena Foreign) and she find sinting fi play till Joyce come .
Me say, chile, when dat girl leap up eena di air, she put all dem Olympic people to shame. When you see fi har blouse collar, uhmmm, no amount a bleaching and scrubbing coulda bring it to. She always haffi wear kerchief so it nuh get too bad. An mek one a dem bway go ketch di ball. Heh, Gwendolyn run him dung so till di poor ting haffi holler out seh him give up. Moonshine night an yuh siddung unda tree a eat cane or a dive eena one juicy East Indian or Bombay when who walk up. Hear har:
“Mek we play grass so green, nuh?”
An all night, ‘one and twenty’, ‘manuel road’ (and fi har finger naah mash, yuh know) ‘moonshine baby’ till granny haffi seh:
“Awright, Gwendolyn, done now.”
Sometime Miss Adina haffi send somebody bring har home. Anyway, chile, di odda day me a walk eena supermarket and me tell yuh is like dem set supermarket pon me. For every time me set foot in deh is like all a Guinep Hill come out. Me hear a voice say:
“Ambrosine Smith?”
Me ketch me fraid for di one gormandizing Miss Mercy an har chiney eye dawta love fi accost me and invite demself to dinner wid dem fambly an tribe. An through how tings an time hard yah now (yuh coulda believe dat coulda happen a Foreign?), me cyaant even spare anodda chicken leg like me use to. Missis, di spirit is willing but di flesh is weak. Anyway, chile, when me look, nuh di one Gwendolyn. Di chile fat like mud an look like hard time a gree wid har. One piece of reuniting an ting. Well, chile, she tell me how much children she have an how well dem is doing and dat she was visiting di good old US of A because who nuh get athletic scholarship is in di Penn Relay ting an all kind of games an sports dat take dem all ova di world.I was abased for if yuh cyaan ketch Quashie yuh ketch him shut, nuh so ol time people seh? Yes, ma, even eena Foreign.
