Mistaken identity in Eleven Miles

"Mi seh mi see yuh around here already!" he said, his hoarse voice getting louder.

There seemed little point in trying to argue with the man. His mind, after all, appeared made up.

"Mi just caan remember when time. Mi get old now, yuh know. But yuh caan tell mi yuh never come around here yet," he said.

I didn't know what to do or say next. It was my first time visiting the St Thomas community. I had met this man while on my way up a lonely hill. There was nothing more than bush on either side of the road and I was initially pleased to see someone else there. He was carrying a bag over his shoulder and walked with a bent back.

It was a cheerful hello that I offered him. His response, though, was: "Is when mi did see yuh around here again?" It was all downhill from there.

After a while, I tried to politely hint to him that I needed to leave. It was turning out to be a chore, though, as he seemed intent on figuring out where he knew me from, before allowing me to leave.

Saved by a woman

Luckily for me, a woman called out to him from the bushes. As it turned out, there was a house in there somewhere.

"Leave di young man meck him gwaan where him going!" the woman yelled. The man looked in the direction of the bellow.

"Ah who dat?" he said.

A woman wearing a rather large black hat walked out to the road. She was dressed in a long blue dress and clutched a book in her right hand. She held her head high as she walked by the man. She didn't look at him at all.

"Yuh holding up di gentleman time wid yuh question question. Unless yuh have something sensible to say, meck him gwaan where him going," she said.

The man scowled and walked off. The woman went on her way as well and I was again alone on that narrow, hillside road. I continued walking for a few minutes and came upon a clearing that offered a nice view of trees and hills. I didn't spend much time there, though. It was a little eerie being there all alone.

I headed back in the direction from which I had come and eventually got to the main road near a seemingly abandoned building on which the words 'Twice as Nice' were written.

I stood alone in the shade of the building for a short while before I was approached by a short man with a nose that looked like a question mark.

"Big boss!" he said. I nodded hello.

"Big boss ah long time mi nuh see man like yuh inna di place," he said.

Not again.

I told him, with perhaps more emphasis than was completely necessary, that it was my first time in Eleven Miles, so any recollection of me in the area was undoubtedly faulty.

Miss JJ daughter

The man looked at me in silence for a moment.

"Nah man!" he exclaimed. I slapped my forehead in frustration.

"Mi memba when time yuh used to come check Miss JJ daughter. Ah long time dat, though," he said.

By this point I was a beaten man. I simply nodded. Then, I asked him if he lived in Eleven Miles. He said he did. I asked him if the place was always so quiet.

"Yuh know is so it get now," the man said. His chin quivered as he spoke. I found this odd.

"One time ah back yuh used to have nuff people into Eleven Miles, but now di people dem move out. It nuh really have nuff people again," he said.

I nodded, pondering the man's words.

Then, he looked at me.

"Bwoy yuh nuh change none tall. Same way yuh look," he said.

"As mi see yuh mi memba yuh. Nuh change none tall."

I sighed. It was time for me to leave.

Where should Robert go next? Let him know at robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com