A day at the 'well'
Published:Tuesday | June 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Pawp pawp! The large blue-and-white truck slowed to a stop and people started running towards it. They were coming from all corners with buckets and washing tubs in hand.
"Mitzy, mi tell yuh seh mi hear di truck! Run go tell Shirley and tell har fi borrow Miss Joyce big bucket and come fast!" yelled a woman, running towards the truck.
I was sitting inside a small shop across the road in Moneague, St Ann, when the driver of the truck hopped out. "Alright, alright, mine yuh bounce mi down!" he yelled before walking a few feet away to stand in the shade of a mango tree. Another man who was travelling in the truck walked to the back of the vehicle and started dispensing water into the containers.
"Ah me fus reach so mek sure it nuh done pan mi dis time!" yelled a short fellow wearing short pants and a merino. He was holding a bucket in front of him and ordering everyone to get behind him. Nobody seemed to have been listening to him though, as the more people showed up, the more they bundled. A small shoving match nearly got out of hand, and would have, if not for the timely intervention of the man dispensing the water, who threatened to pack up and leave if order was not immediately restored. The crowd quickly fell in line.
The woman behind the counter inside the shop I was sitting, chuckled. I asked her what she found so funny.
"Nuh Miss Inez big bwoy," she said. I asked her who among the crowd she was speaking of.
"Him nuh out deh. Dat is why mi laugh. Miss Inez sickly yuh know, and har eye dem dark, so it up to di big bwoy fi get di water when time di truck come," said the woman, looking through a window at the action across the road.
"Last week when truck come, di bwoy inna bed lay down same way. When Miss Inez come in and ask him weh di water deh, him mouth join church. Mi hear seh she nearly kill him wid some big lick even wid har bad eye," the woman chuckled as she related the story.
"See it deh now again. Truck come and di bwoy still is nowhere to be found. Him better nuh badda go home dis evening. Him haffi go sleep a river bank tonight," she said.
I walked to the door of the shop to get a better look at the activities. The arrival of the water truck seemed to have been the highlight of the day for everyone around. Even those who weren't hustling to have their containers filled were out watching what was happening.
A car pulled up behind the truck and its driver started honking the horn, shouting obscenities to the people in the road and complaining that the truck was a nuisance. The car then pulled around the truck and sped away. The driver of the truck, now greedily devouring a mango, gave a casual glance at the driver of the car but said nothing.
About 15 minutes later, all seemed to have received their lot and the driver of the truck got back in, gave another honk of the horn and pulled away.
"Eh eh," said the woman in the shop. "See it deh now. Miss Inez ah come in from prayer meeting," she said. I looked down the road to see a skinny woman walking with a limp up the hill. "Mi sorry fi di bwoy now. Prayer meeting or no prayer meeting, Miss Inez will surely kill dat lazy bwoy tonight!" she said.