POV ƤƛƬƦƖƇЄ & ƤЄƬƦƖƇЄ 💕

Petrice Walters Swaby was the older voluptuous and more audacious version of me. She was the mother I never knew, the best friend that would be there to the very end and she came with no filter.

A well-arched brow raised itself dramatically as the other stood in place over almost raven colour eyes that boasted a thick casing of well applied that glared at me.

"Look paah mi good if mi a none a di reporter dem a TVJ?" she questioned and then hiss her teeth very much like I would before returning to the braiding hair to continue her effortless mixing of it.

"Like seriously Pet?!" I said a little too loudly but I would rather she had said something to prepare me for the fact OD was back other than me coming eye to eye with him so unbeknownst.

She made a loose knot with the braid placed it with the others she had already done then turn her full attention to me.

"Mi look like mi waah seh nothing bou Odean Davis to yuh?"

The question was rhetoric I know but I still open my mouth to reply but she was not through talking.

"Likkle gal mi seh fi tek dem people deh out a yuh head. Him deh yah wid e cousin dem fra Wednesday and wateva dem a duh yah it nuh flipping concern mi!"

I knew the reason for her animosity. Those who were old enough and were still in the community knew the reason well. Odenia and I were smack dab in the middle of it.

"Bwoy lef yah fi eight years a nuh even tun d white a e yey paah yuh nor---"

"That a nuh wah mi chat bou," I said cutting her off. I was not looking forward to hearing the details of the past that were now up in my face like a stone wall.

"Yuh," she said pointing colourful artistically designed coffin-tipped nails at me, "Naah guh come in a mi shop a nyam peanut cake a nuh gi mi none."

I did not know if I was to curse her out or just persist with my cause for coming here. I roll my eyes and push the peanut cake to her before walking to the mini-fridge she had packed with juice and taking out a Pepsi bubbla.

"Yuh a guh pay fah," she stated before returning the peanut cake and stretching her hand out for some of the soda.

I reluctantly smile as I hand the bottle to her and walk over to one of the plastic chairs she had placed in a small row opposite the door for waiting customers.

"Mi seh mi almost ketch heart attack in a Clarkey taxi," I told her "All along mi siddung in deh e did roun a d back a d taxi."

"Hhhmm," she mumbled clearly not interested but still looking at me.

"If yuh did seh suhm mi wouldn't so surprised."

"So wait deh, mi did inna d taxi wid yuh?" she both questioned and belched in one.

I glared at her standing there in her customary work black jeans, a green black and white jacket over a black cami. Her small feet despite her tall height were encased in a pair of Payless shoe store green, black, white, and grey plaid American Eagle women's Beck Boat shoes.

"Sometimes mi cyaah stan yuh," I told her but she only smile because she knew my words held no resentment. "Mi a tell yuh wah happen and yuh affi start wid yuh foolishness."

I guess there was something in my voice that caused her to pause and take notice because she sat upright wipe her palms across her forehead then ask.

"If mi did tell yuh seh OD deh yah Pat waah difference it would mek e?"

I look at her as she rubbed her palms together getting rid of the sweat she wiped from her forehead.

"At least mi wudda know," was all I could say then quietly said to myself.

I could have prepared myself to pretend him being back in Jamaica was not bringing forth things I have longed and hoped for.

"Yuh see how him dutty family treat yuh, especially e stinking granny Ms. Murlene," Petrice said her anger surfacing. "See she deh pan har last now ole an a dead, mek mi c if e naah fi nyam e retribution before e dead. The wul a dem up deh especially she did a fly high an a galang, but all it took was one stroke fi lick dung the wicked rass. Not even three weeks good an e gone dung to nothing."

This surprises me. Here I was living in the same district and not knowing that the woman that brought my world crumbling was dying.

She and her family were once our neighbours and good friends with my grandmother until one circumstance showed just how Christian and friendly she truly was.

I had heard she had taken sick but had no idea it was this serious. She was younger than our grandmother and was always seen as a stalwart as she had outlived three husbands, a few children, and many community members both old and young.

I felt my heart go out to her. I also found myself hoping she came around, but from what Pet said and her grandchildren coming here for what I discovered not to be a holiday visit, but probably to prepare for her death made me feel far from bitter as it did Petrice.

"Gyal nuh tell mi seh a sorry yuh sorry fi d piece a shit!" Petrice asked her voice laced with indignation.

I took a quick drink of the Pepsi in a rush to gather my composure but Petrice had already pinned my reaction.

"But Puppa Jeezaz," she cried out in disbelief before she gave a humourless chuckle. "Gyal yuh fi tap e yuh too soft, people lakka dem deh yuh nuh sorry fah!"

I look through the door out into the busy square. Cars were briskly passing people going about their business as various weekend noises mingled with a lone mongrel hell-bent on barking at something only he could hear. The scent of Jerky's jerk sausages wafted in on the evening breeze as Blondie the bartender next door raucous laughter vibrated through the now quiet confine of the salon.

I felt rather than saw Petrice come to stand by me. I gladly leaned into her side as she hugged me to her. I took the comfort she offered as my mind drifted to Davis Town the place where I was made to realize that bad mind, grudges hate, and dislike often come with the sweetest of smiles.

"Mi neva seh nuhting to yuh when loud mout Tamieka come in yah to Debbie Thursday evening wid the news seh OD dem deh yah because frankly, mi did vex," she said her voice low but still laced with traces of her resentment. "Mi jus wish mi cudda shove e wul bomboclaat a dem inna mud lake an jus seh good riddance."

I cracked a small smile as images like bits of smoke wafting on the wind surrounded my mind. Tamieka and a not so desirable few were the dregs that never settled from our time living in Davis Town, they were the bitter fruits that kept on bearing even though we were now living a few distances from them to offer them the nourishment they needed.

I pulled away reluctantly from my sister's embrace and gather my composure when I saw that her appointment had arrived. When the woman and her daughter came in I got up and tell her I was going up to start dinner before Mama and the girls come up from the shop.

"What time yuh a guh done?" I ask wondering if it was both mother and daughter that had an appointment.

"Mi good man," she said knowing I was thinking about the hours she alone would be coming home knowing braids took some time. "Clarkey know seh e a bring mi up and Debbie soon come, she has the lady mani an pedi fi duh."

Ok, so it was the little girl she had not both.

"Lata den," I said and made to leave when she stop me and pull something from her pocket.

"Clarkey seh fi gi yuh dis."

My cheeks burn red as I took the change from my fair which I had failed to collect when I rushed from the taxi.

As I hurried outside and headed home Odean Davis's eyes filled my subconscious, the dark beguiling orbs pull the need I wanted to stay buried deep from within me too easily for my piece of mind.

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