Chapter 38

                        Tiony's pov

  2 weeks later...

  André drove to work in Gibbanks' Jeep, carrying Arlem to school, Jevaughn, Tyrone, and his pregnant girlfriend Kady-ann to work. André collects Arlem from school at two in the afternoons, and he stays with Kady-ann until she leaves work at four-thirty. Gibbanks didn't make getting fired bother him. He was still earning on the side from the company and has begun clearing another parcel of land to plant more marijuana. I worked locked inside the bedroom during the daytime to keep out the noise of the workmen building the dual carport and storeroom. He carries Artyon with him in the mornings, and they always return in the late afternoons.

  Natty had someone bailed Cryptonite out of prison, and I heard he beat him badly and took what money he had been caught with before threatening to kill him if he saw him again. The place looked like an estate with two large electronic gates, high fences, and groomed gardens at the front. Rubbish drums were placed a short distance away from the gate, and the rubbish truck collected the rubbish when the road sign was put up by Gibbanks' friend Marlon, who worked inside the ministry of land and housing. A team from the Jamaica public service came and erect light posts, connecting this new community with electricity, and everyone could now pay electricity bills as we all got meters.

  "A one fridge mi a plug in pon it suh dem betta try nuh send mi nuh high bill or else it nah pay." Uncle Earl says when the electricity works was fully completed.

"Dem si di theiving wire dem, dem can gwane guh report it cause a straight theiving light mi a us." Mattic states.

  His house was almost completed, and like us, he had a great view at the baack and front of his yard. "Chantelle look like she a breed again." Mommy says lowly.

  "She betta hurry up and done build di room dem wey she a add on, cause mi couldn't guh breed again fi mi babyfada if mi caan live wid him." I state.

"Mi like how Shinel a build up har place and si Steffon mek sure sey she move in fully wid Weedeye. 'Oman fi have ambition and always have some wey fi put dem head. Yuh nuh si di whole a Natty sister and niece dem a build up somn fi demselves, dung to Dinah and Thickarous a gwane good." Mommy reasons.

"Fi real mon, any work Gibbanks a duh Thickarous and All-purpose present dem self fi di likkle hustlings. Yuh waan si how fast dem a pick off di first set a weed. Ignition nah gwane too bad, him start raising turkeys and rabbits along wid him likkle work. Di rest a dem need fi guh look work and stop depend pon Natty. Mi hear Chantelle and Chantae a chat Ignition 'oman a sey she waan put business place out pon di main, a same way mi feel like dem a chat mi to ino, cause mi nuh si nutn wrong wid dat. Di girl a elevate herself." I reasoned.

"If dem waan chat yuh a fi dem problem dat, yuh working and since Chantelle gone back to Natty she stop wuk, dem na've nutn fi hurt dem. Dem sey si mi and cum live wid mi a two different somn, what a way Palsy can watch people business. Mi tell Gibbanks dis mawnin' when yuh send di meat come sey mi waan build a fence and him tell mi sey him sisters a pree fi duh di same thing. Mi nuh like how dem just walk through di yard anytime, and Palsy she nuh care how Earl reap from him grung she nuh know sey she can put two somn ina one bag bring come, but every time she come a beg somn." Mommy expressed lowly, and I washed my hands and began making the dumplings for the chicken back soup.

  Gibbanks came inside the kitchen with a basket of carrot, red irish potatoes, cucumbers, ginger, and afro yam. "Any time she comes back a ask yuh fi nutn, yuh don't have it. She too mean fi smaddy wey love ask people fi things and favors." I tell Mommy.

"And faus." She added.

  Daddy and Tyrone came, and we had dinner together around the dining table. "Mi jealous." Ms. Beverly says, coming inside, carrying a bag.

"Yuh nuh affi jealous yuh seat deh here." Mommy tell her.

She laughs and says. "Mi know dat mon."

  She went into the kitchen unpacking some things out of the bag and then told us. "Mi gone again, a just dem fruits dey mi bring suh Tiony can mek some juice and mi neva waan every body fi si cause a nuh nuff mi get from mi sister."

"Okay, thank you." I tell her.

  Two large soursop, some lovely apples, three pears, and a bag of cherry. Miss Beverly always looks out for her family. Anything she gets was shared between Gibbanks, André, and Jevaughn, and Mister Audley stayed the same way. They put their immediate family in front of everyone else, and Arlem and Artyon receive special treatment. They were like my parents, Artyon simply gets all the special treatment now. Life was good. We weren't lacking anything, and food was abundant.

"Mister Troy, since when yuh turn big farmer?" Gibbanks asked Dad teasingly.

  Both of them began to laugh before Dad tells him. "Hey buoy, mi nuh want yuh a look over mi grung ino."

"String bean, callaloo, cabbage, broccoli, yuh a gwane mon." Gibbanks teased, and Dad smiles proudly.

"Mi a try mon, mek use a di land ino." Daddy says.

"Dat mi a talk bout. Mi a guh plant some sweet corn fi sell, mi tell Daddy a'ready. Money deh pon dem." Gibbanks says, and I zoned them out while making the juices and putting them inside the fridge.

  Chantelle called me on my phone as I was about to go and bathe my sons, and I answered. "Hey, cuz."

"Wha a gwane? Yuh just lock up dung dey ina di house suh." She asked and said.

"Lady, I work online." I tell her no longer wanting to beat around the bush and hoped she'd understand the reason for my aloofness.

"Oh! How yuh neva tell mi?" She exclaims and asks.

Mommy gave me a look and walked off with Artyon inside the bathroom. "Mi think mi did tell yuh waday yah." I say, looking up into the roof.

"Mi and Shinel, dem a go a one a mi friend party." She says, and I told her immediately that I wasn't interested in going because why is she just telling me this.

"Mi know yuh nah come nuh wey, a yuh jeep mi call yuh fi borrow." She says in what was more of a statement or demand rather than asking.

  "Yuh want to borrow my jeep?" I asked, surprised.

"That's what I said." She responds.

  I was at a loss as what to reply to her because what happened to her man vehicles and with all the money he has, why doesn't she have a vehicle? I was about to tell her that Daddy was going out with it when I heard Mattic begin asking her. "Why yuh caan ask Natty fi buy yuh a vehicle? Wey yuh a fuck him fah from how long? When yuh a guh stop red eye other people fi dem things and guh demands it from di man wey a fuck yuh?"

  I end the call with a deep sigh and was surprised to see Mommy at the bathroom door and Gibbanks and Daddy by the room door. "Mattic couldn't give it to har better, borrow which jeep? A dat a bun dem eyes now?" Mommy says and asks in an upset tone of voice.

  "Even if Mattic never comes to the rescue, I would. Bout lend har jeep fi guh party, she better guh fix har careless lifestyle. Stupid!" Gibbanks says and exclaims.

"Mi caan tell nuh body how fi live dem life, but she need fi get har life together. Wait till I si Earl a mawnin." Mommy says.

  Mommy indeed told Uncle Earl the following morning, right in front of Chantelle. "It come in like yuh blind Chantelle, yuh nuh si sey di man set up di whole a him family? A when di one room wey yuh add on a guh done? Mek mi tell yuh dis yuh a my niece and mi need yuh fi have some sense. How di fuck yuh waan barrow Chupsy jeep and yuh don't have one wey bruk dung? Is only certain things yuh have sense fah? Yuh better nuh mek by weekend mi nuh si yuh wid a vehicle or hear sey yuh a guh get one or else a gon bruk yuh rass! Fucking idiot!"

  Embarrassment was written all over her face, and she walk over to Mattic who was getting on his shoes to join the workmen in decking the dual carport roof and storeroom adjoined to my house. Gibbanks and Mister Audley passed into the yard with some woods to make fire, André carried over the big pots, and Jevaughn carried over a bag of ground food. Tyrone came out on the verandah where I sat yawning, like André and Jevaughn he had taken the day off from work to also help mix the concrete for the decking. The supportiveness wasn't lacking in our family, and I'm eternally grateful and pray it stays that way.

"When me a build my house a premix me a use and duh one thing and done, cause dah nice body yah caan tek too much a di hot sun and hard work." Tyrone says aloud, walking over to my yard.

"Yuh fada gone fi come back fi ensure sey yuh get di most work fi duh todey. Yuh, grow up too nice." Mommy told him aloud, and just then, the gate opens, and Daddy drove in.

"Woiee!" Mattic says, and we all began to laugh.

To be continued...