“Today, I’ll talk about Jesus’ best friend,
Simon Peter,” he said, his face a mask of reverence, accented with
his short grey hair and his fiery eyes, “the man who built the
church, and the most important apostle. Jesus appointed Simon to be
the first pope, making every pope a friend of Jesus. Simon was the
rock the church was built on. He suffered a martyr’s death in Rome
at the hands of Nero and was given the keys to heaven by Jesus
himself.”
He spoke of Simon for some time. I was
rather disappointed. I’d hoped to hear more about Jesus. When the
mass was over, Mary took me to see him. I shook his hand.
“Jesus visits me in my sleep,” I said
proudly to let him know we could be friends, but this seemed to
make the priest unhappy and Mary embarrassed.
“Jesus attends to his whole flock through
his ministers,” he said kindly. “To say he personally comes to
earth to visit you is incorrect.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“The church is Christ’s institution in the
world. Through it, the Word of God is spread. He’s the way and the
light, but you must walk a path to him following the rules of the
church. You can’t make up your own like some Protestants do.” He
put his hands on top of Sally’s head. “How are you Sally?” he asked
gently.
“I believe Christian,” Sally said. “Jesus
comes in his first sleep and fills him with love which he passes on
to me.”
“As you can see, much has changed in our
household,” Mary said. “They’ll come around, Father.”
“I’m sure,” he said softly. “Hello, Una,
how’s your mother?”
“Much better now.”
They chatted for a time, and I stared at
Sally in wonder. I loved her so badly in that moment that I became
short of breath. Later, we arrived home and swam in the pool.
Already I could use the slide and kick myself to safety. We laid
out in the sun afterwards and Una brought us cold Coca-Cola and Mr.
Salty potato chips. Una wore a white and red dress and a white
kerchief over her head. She dangled her big black feet in the water
at the shallow end and smiled over us like the happiest creature on
earth.
“Tell me about your mother?” I asked.
“Clara is her name,” Una said. “She’s a
little tiny woman, hardly a shadow of her big Una. She’s been
ornery this last year and not herself. I recently found out why.
She had to go to the hospital for a heart operation, but she’s
alright now. I may have to return to the island for a few weeks to
look after her though.”
“What happened?”
“She’s getting old.”
“Tell us about your life in Jamaica,” I
asked.
“The island is full of bad men,” she said,
looking sadly into the water and then up at the sun. “They sell
drugs and weapons. I returned to the island in the first month of
1960 and worked at a jerk shop, one which later, I bought. Under my
guidance, following my recipes and prices, and with the former
workers, it did well. I didn’t buy into the boss-racket and didn’t
pay tribute-money. My first place, The Kingston Jerk Shack, became
well known on the island. Within years, I’d seven of them from
Montego to Santa Cruz to Spanish Town.
“During this time, I fell in love with a man
who also tried to find success in the eatery business. In Kingston,
it’s a singularly difficult thing to do. He was a master chef,
Acomite Williams, and could cook up wondrous recipes. He was a
small thin man with a moustache and a teasing smile, my catchaman,
and I called him Sweet Peewee. Aco was a kind gentle man, not these
la-di-da bag of vain-glorious Rastifarians, who run on the beach
half-naked, and smoke Guanghua, dancing Reggie through the
night.
“His specialty was cooking for large groups,
weddings and such, and some of his creations were in great demand.
His Pepper Crawfish from the Pit was first-rate. He did Étouffée
with Seafood and Veggies. I remember a Jambalaya recipe, a spicy
rice dish with dolphin fish and deep-fried plantain, pineapple, and
breaded beef chunks. He had a large place, the Poppa-Box, down near
Trenchtown on Lyndhurst. I loved going there. The smell of baked
bread and garlic filled the air in the whole neighborhood in the
evenings. He did Jumbo, Cajun, Creole, and Jerk. The people loved
him, but unlike me, whose shop was small and not worth anyone’s
bother, his soon became the hottest spot on the island. The
tourists came in buses, even during the noon-hour. He soon had over
a hundred workers making serious earnings, but the thugs started to
hang around and muscle in on him. Kingston is a Rasta-infested
mafia-controlled marihuana-benumbed sewer.”
She looked down at us as though suddenly
realizing who she spoke too. I was a afraid she would bolt. I urged
her on. “What happened, Una?” I asked.
“My little Peewee, took my advice, wouldn’t
he?” This was said with some bitterness. “He fought back.” she
continued. “He refused to be gouged and strong-armed.”
I knew exactly what she meant and didn’t
need the words explained.
“At first, the Police came and guarded the
Poppa-Box,” she added. “For sometime, it looked like we’d won. Then
one late night as we left work, the police were nowhere to be seen,
the lummoxes came, sober and mean, big black dregs sent by the
top-dog. They threatened us and I cursed them badly. One of them
struck me in the head with a rifle-butt and knocked me to my back.
Aco struck him back and while I laid there on the ground, they
mocked him for his small size and jeered me as an ugly fat mama. He
tore into them and they beat and stabbed him several times. When
they saw what they had done, that it had gone too far, they fled,
the cowards that they be. When I took poor Aco into my arms, I knew
he was fearfully hurt. He trembled and the blood was everywhere. I
screamed for help, but before anyone reached us, I lifted him up
and raced to the car. Before I made it to the hospital, he died,
right there in my car, his head on my lap.”
Una’s story was horrifying. All the more so
because she was sobbing softly. Were there no nice places in the
world except for the Tappets?
‘“How did you meet Mom and Dad?” Sally asked
also crying softly.
I realized she’d never heard the story
before. “That’s another tale, another time, child,” Una said and
caressed her hair, “but I was already friends with them by then.
But I loved my Peewee and when they buried him, I knew I would
never find another. He was a wonderful man and loved me to my soul.
The world’s full of suffering and everybody gets their fair share,
but enough crying for today.”
She wiped the tears from Sally’s eyes, and
from the look on Una’s face, I realized the depth of their love.
Una returned to the house. My inclusion into the family was now
complete. Una would never have told me that story unless something
had changed. Sally and I continued to play in the pool. Kurt and
Andy came by. Una served us sandwiches and cold drinks. Stan and
Mary came home early and we’d supper outside, a barbeque prepared
by Una, with hot dogs and hamburgers. Kurt and Andy’s parents came
straight from work and were dressed in business clothes. Bert was
in a gray-blue suit, with a pale blue dress-shirt and a dark
navy-blue tie with red stripes. His shoes shone below his cuffs.
Beth wore a silky solid-blue colored suit-jacket with a matching
dress. The pearl necklace around her neck was simple and elegant.
Her makeup was very light, but with her blond hair, it had a bounce
above the shoulders, and with her light blue eyes, she could have
easily been mistaken for Sally’s mother by looks alone, a pretty
woman with thin eyebrows and smooth skin.
I’d have liked to have seen her in a bathing
suit. Bert himself was a tall fit man, but you could already see
grey hair, more so than even Stan, who also had plenty. Mr. Vondt
also joined us, and another couple, Ken and Vivian Roxton. Ken was
a war buddy of Stan’s but didn’t fly planes. I didn’t quite yet
understand that. They worked together now and the Roxtons lived
nearby. Ken was a robust and well-built man of around Stan’s age.
I’d seen him several times and took him to be Stan’s closest
friend. Una had also told me he was one of Stan’s allies inside the
Tappet structure. I didn’t get that either. After all, Stan owned
it. Ken had known Stan from the beginning of Tappets and had
invested in his inventions in precision machine tools. Vivian was a
short petite redhead in a cherry-red and summer-green dress. It was
the best meal I had so far at the Tappets and I’d double servings,
as did Sally, Kurt, and Andy.
“You need to have some Champagne this
evening,” Una said when she caught me alone.
“Why?” I asked.
She rubbed my head. “Be patient, my
full-grown child.”
“Why am I a full-grown child, Una?”
She leaned into my ear. “You are a child in
your first sleep, if not one in your second?”
I flushed and looked into her eyes. Sally
must have told her about me coming into her room nightly to sleep
with her, but I could tell right-off, she’d no judgment about it. I
was beginning to learn a little of Una. Sleeping with Sally was an
event which made me neither good nor bad in itself. That didn’t
define a moral state of being no matter what your age. This
contradicted everybody else who I’d heard an opinion from on the
subject of sex. It would take years to learn that Una didn’t
believe details should ever blind someone from the bigger picture
of life, and why it’s one of the most important, and hardest
lessons to learn in life. Stan lifted up a glass of Champagne.
Everyone followed suit, and I did likewise, looking from face to
face, settling on Mary’s, whose eyes watered.
“Here’s to the future of our son,” she said
solemnly.
My eyes darted to Stan’s. “It’s official,”
Dad said, returning my gaze, “and legal. We received the papers
today.”
I didn’t know my adoption had ever been in
doubt, but this too, takes years for a kid to learn, especially in
America, a promise is not a promise until it’s legal, and then,
even then it’s in doubt. “Welcome to our family,” Mary said and
embraced me. She smelled like flowers. I thought of my birth mother
and how happy she would be for me. I wanted to go and talk to her,
but of course I couldn’t at that moment. Everyone welcomed me and
hugged me or shook my hand. I felt like crying. Una brought out a
chocolate cake. Ice-cream was also served with butterscotch or
chocolate toppings, or both. I’d the cake with both kinds of
toppings on the ice-cream. It was scrump-delicious.
“What would you like to do tonight?” Mary
asked. “Your choice.”
I looked at Sally. “I’d like to see The
Planet of the Apes,” I said.
Sally, Kurt, and Andy all shouted in
support. “So would I,” Stan said and it was decided.
After the company had left, Una, Mary, Stan,
Kurt, Andy, Sally and myself were off to the movies. “Does Una know
about us?” I asked that night afterwards when I lay with Sally.
She shrugged. “I never told anyone,” she
said, “but Una knows everything, so I think she must. She never
sleeps and is always in the kitchen preparing food and eating. She
practices magic and controls everyone who eats her recipes. I heard
my mom and dad discuss it. She controls them completely. She’s a
Rasta-Witch.”
I laughed lightly. It was hot in the room
and we were sticky. “Let’s sneak out for a swim?” I said. “We’ll
see if Una’s always awake.”
We dressed in our suits and snuck quietly
down the stairs. No one was about, the kitchen was empty. We swam
in the pool, but didn’t play for long. While I kissed Sally in the
shallow end, I noticed a curtain downstairs flutter.
“Someone’s up,” I warned. We crawled out of
the water, dripping up through the pantry to Sally’s bedroom. Una’s
bedroom door was open.
Under the covers naked, our bodies were
fresh and cool, and we kissed and hugged. “Have you ever bled from
your button?” I asked as we lay in each others arms. She shook her
head, clearly frightened by my words. “Girls get periods and bleed
below for several days every month,” I told her. “It hurts. Soon
after you get your first period, you can make a baby if a boy
splashes inside you.” I could see that I’d gotten her nervous.
“Sorry,” I whispered and fell asleep.
I left at near four o’clock and Sally was
sound asleep, but I couldn’t get back to sleep myself. At dawn, I
rose and dressed. I was going to leave a note that I was going to
see my mother, but everyone but Sally was up. Larry the chauffeur
was standing at the kitchen island reading the sport section of the
newspaper and drinking coffee. Una passed me a glass of ice-cold
milk.
“Why are you up so early, Christian?” Stan
asked, checking his briefcase.
“I wanted to visit my mother’s grave and
tell her about the news. I know she’ll be happy.”
He scratched his head. “Why don’t you gather
some flowers for her and Larry will drop you off on the way.”
Everyone laughed and Larry nodded. Mary came
into the kitchen. “What so funny?”
Una told her and she kissed Stan
affectionately on the cheek. “You’re so cute, dear. You left your
YISs in my office upstairs last night, I put them on the desk in
your den.” She rubbed my head. “It’s a good idea, Christian. We’ll
drop you off, if you’ll come straight back. Remember, Mr. Vondt
arrives before noon.”
I nodded and rushed out of the house to
gather flowers. It was startling to me that they had both had
essentially similar responses, as though they were expecting it and
knew what to say. They dropped me off and I thanked them and kissed
Mary on the cheek. I was emotional and almost cried. At the
gravesite, I carefully placed the flowers and spoke to my mother,
sitting on a tombstone beside hers. I told her of my love for Sally
and more of my new family, including Una, about the Arckon family,
Mr. Vondt, and about my party last night, but I suddenly felt
myself being watched. I rose, not alarmed, but feeling defenseless.
I scrambled up into a nearby tree until I saw Lloyd come along and
look up through the branches.