“What The World Needs Now”

Thunder and Lightening… Not my favorite moment and I was happy that it all started when I was at home. I wasn’t that lucky when I was in Trinbago two weeks ago… My nephew was about to drop me off to see a friend, but when I saw the lightening strike, I told him not to stop the car because I am not getting out…
Tonight the weather was worst than Trinbago’s weather… The lightening strikes flashed as though someone was taking pictures. The thunder rolled as though a rock was going to come through the window. I wanted to hide in the closet, but my daughter and son were looking through the window. After the flashing and rumbling the place suddenly got very quiet. I guess what the world needs now is some peace and quiet.

“Milk And Biscuit In Trinbago”

One thing I did not like in elementary school was the nutrition moment – milk and biscuit. The biscuit was delicious, but the milk was another story and there were rules…
You were given a cup of milk and you had to drink it first before you were given the biscuit. Our teacher would walk around with a strap, to make sure you drink it. It was the hardest thing to drink. I used to take little sips until she came to where I was standing then I would take a mouthful. “Swallow it now!” She would shout then she would look in my cup, “Drink the rest!” Now I would be more upset because the rest of the milk was always lumpy. Our teacher would stand there with an, ‘I dare you’ look on her face and her strap ready to pounce…

“Only Old People Die”

I think I must have been about age 5 when I started to really hear about death and I was told that only old people die so I asked, “How old is old?”
“You have about 65 years to go before old age starts to set into your bones so don’t worry about it.”
65 years was a long time away, so I didn’t worry about it for a long, long time until a girl who was 11 years died. She lived in the neighborhood. She was three years older than I was. Fear set into my heart, and I accused them of not being truthful to me, but they said that her death was an accident.
I was supposed to accept that answer and be cool with it, but her death troubled me for a long time. Then life went back to normal… Old people were the ones that were dying for many years, but today young and old dying…

“The Kerosene Lamp In Trinbago”

I was vacationing in the home that I grew up in… It was, as usual, the most comfortable, relaxing home to be in. At nights, I slept blissfully, and to hear the cock crowing in the morning as a wake up call was just delightful. My vacation was just perfect, but then again, I should have known that something would happen to kill perfection…
One night, after I fell asleep, I suddenly woke up. The bedroom was pitch-black. It felt hot and humid. I opened the bedroom door and looked out. The house was in total darkness. I wasn’t sure where to find anything and I wasn’t going to wake my mother, sister or nephew…
“We are going to deal with it in the morning,” I whispered and I picked up a magazine to fan myself. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps and I saw a light… Someone went into the kitchen, lit the kerosene lamp and put it on the dining table… O how nostalgic the smell of the kerosene and the light from the lamp made me…

“Always In A Hurry”

On a very hot humid day, I was waiting on the bus. My son, who was 7, was with me. The bus was taking a very long time, and since I was pregnant, the heat was more overbearing… my son was looking drained, so I decided to take another means of transportation. Every taxi that passed by had a passenger inside. The next choice was a dollar van. It was not one of my favorite ways to travel, because the dollar van drivers are always in a hurry. When we got into a van, the driver drove off and I fell into the seat. I exclaimed, and he apologized, but he increased his speed. My son held my hand and he asked, if I was okay. I told him that was one of the reasons I did not like getting into these vans… When we got to our destination, my son put out his little hand to help me.
As I stepped onto the sidewalk, the driver started to pull off and the door hit me on my hip pushing me forward. I stumbled into my son and we were both grabbing at each other. After we got our footing, I turned around to let the driver have it, but he drove off…

“The Audacious Kiskadee”

Stuart is passionate about his fishes so he takes good care of them. The aquarium is blocked off, but the mistake he made was leaving a space between the fence and the roof. He knew that birds could fly in through the space, so he intended to cover it with mesh-wire. Weeks went by and no birds came in the area where the fishes were, so he forgot about what he intended to do. One day, when he went to feed the fishes, a Kiskadee flew in, swooped down over the aquarium, caught a fish, hovered for a moment audaciously looking at him, with its victim clenched between its feet, did its famous birdcall –“kis…kia…dee”, then flew away with the fish…

“If It Is Budding Trinbagonians Will Make Tea”

At breakfast and dinner, my siblings and I were guaranteed a nice cup of Milo, Ovaltine, homemade hot chocolate or Cocoa. My father paid close attention to how much we drank because one night, in every week, we are going to get the same size cup, full of local herb tea… BUSH TEA. These herbs were from his garden. He would say to my mother, “Make this tea for those children.” We all complained, but it did not help. He sat at the dining table to make sure we drank it all… It was either, Bois Canon (Bwah-kah-no), Lime-bud, Malomay, Portugal-bud, soursop-bud, even guava-bud tea…

“The Foolish Thing”

I am wondering who came up with the idea to put a piece of sponge to act as a brush to make corrections, in the bottle of the BIC WITE OUT... I was just trying to correct an error, and the foolish thing white out the error and non-errors...

“You Are Not The Father”

I was sitting in an office waiting for assistance, when an episode of the Maury Show started… “OH DRAMA!”
Looking at television during the day is not a normal thing for me. I was flabbergasted by what was taking place. Suddenly, a thought came to me… The Maury Show had the wrong name… It should be called, “THE YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER SHOW!”

“A Moonlit Lime In Trini”

My nephews –Stef, Stuart and Marc planned a lime… They know I like beer… I like it because it is refreshing and because of the health benefits… so Carib and Stag was the drink of the night. They also brought B-B-Q Chicken and all I can say about that chicken is, DELICIOUS!
Anyway, we sat in the yard and the moon was full and looking glorious…. After my second beer, I saw the man and his dog in the moon…
An hour went by quickly… Great conversation and laughter makes time slip away… My nephews were looking at me to see how many beers I drank. The moment they were distracted, I took empty bottles from Stuart’s pile and put them next to the 2 empty bottles that were in front of me. Some time later I was boasting that my pile was greater than theirs… They were all trying to prove that I was not speaking the truth, but I was meticulously trying my best to prove my case, over my hysterical laughter… All I could say about this lime is… Stef, Stuart and Marc, you guys know how to throw ah lime…