Connecting with Junction

The woman folded her arms across her chest and looked me up and down. "Yuh nuh beknowing to me yuh know, so nuh badda get cross when mi question yuh," she said.

I had been standing just outside a grocery shop in Junction, St Elizabeth, when the woman walked up to me. She had curlers in her hair and wore thick stockings and spectacles. Her left wrist was bandaged.

"Mi see yuh standing here for a good while now jus ah watch di place and mi know seh dat nuh normal. Mi come to find out what yuh is about," she said.

I chuckled when she said this, but she seemed not to find anything funny about the situation. "Mi look like mi laughing wid yuh?" she asked. I sobered up.

"Is many crimes is going on in St Bess, yuh know, and Inspector say dat we must look out fi stranger. Well, yuh might not look like thief, but yuh certainly is a stranger," the woman said, again looking me over suspiciously.

I assured the woman that I had legitimate reasons for being in Junction.

"And what dat is, please?" she asked.

I told her I was there to see what life was like in Junction.

"Just so? Yuh just want to see what people doing here? Eh eh! Anyway, yuh nuh really look like wrong-doer, so yuh can gwaan," she said.

No hanky panky

"Just remember dat mi know what yuh look like already, so no hanky panky cyaan gwaan."

With that, the woman with the curlers in her hair sauntered off and out of sight.

It wasn't my first time in Junction, but it was already proving to be the strangest.

"Never mind Miss B, yuh hear," someone behind me said.

I turned to find a muscular woman with a particularly pronounced chin standing there. She had to have been close to six feet tall and had a bright smile.

"Miss B just meking sure dat everyting is everyting. Nuh pay har nuh mind," she said.

The tall woman told me her name was Tracy.

"Excuse mi deh, ah going in," she said, walking into a nearby shop. I followed her inside.

It wasn't a very big shop but it was well stocked. The shelves were packed with sodas, canned food and sweets.

Tracy went behind the counter to have a seat. I asked her if she had been working there long.

"Yuh know mi not really working here," she said.

"Mi only ah help out di owner. She have 'big' foot so she out fi 'bout a week. Mi really have mi own likkle hairdressing shop but true tings kinda slow, mi decide fi gwaan hold dis fi a while," she said.

No manners

She said she lived just outside Junction and liked it quite a lot.

"Mi used to live in town yuh know, but dem town man nuh really have nuh manners. Mi was working into a bar downtown and one man come in deh and pass him place wid me. Mi just go outside go find a big stone and land it inna him head," said Tracy. I stepped back.

"Since dat time, mi just decide seh mi ah come back ah country where at least di man dem likkle more mannersable," she said.

Tracy told me that life in Junction was by no means exciting.

"No likkle niceness, yuh know. People nuh really come inna Junction unless dem really have somewhere else going. Some people like dat still, so it good fi dem people deh," she said.

"Me? Mi alright wid it. Even though mi young and mi hot, mi know how fi survive. At least wid country man, dem nah go mek yuh haffi draw fi big stone. Yuh just box dem one time and dem get di message!"

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

The following are feedback letters received from readers of last Tuesday's Roving with Lalah.

Dear Robert,

I have been to Port Royal many times and have had more than my fair share of fried fish. I believe that Port Royal produces the best fried fish in Jamaica.

Other than the fishy business, I am attracted to the historic nature of the town.

I remember taking the ferry from Kingston and I honestly thought I was seeing my last hours on earth. It was an old wooden thing, a replacement for the regular one, which was undergoing repairs. The thing was jam-packed, and one could hear the wooden fixtures creaking.

Regards,

M.G.

Dear Robert,

This is Ward from The Bahamas. I enjoy your writing and look forward to it on Tuesdays.

Yours sincerely,

Ward

Dear Robert,

I love Port Royal bad! I go there every year when I return to the island for the Christmas holidays. I like the article.

Yours sincerely

Devon