I walk towards her and help to carry a box filled with juices and snacks: biscuits, cheese breads, and other pastry to the old, large blue van. Her husband, my uncle, stares at me at first then a tiny smile curls up his lips. "Yah spread out man!" uncle Titus says enthusiastically.
Aunt Claire gives him a stern look. Then she slaps him on the left arm and laughs. "Yuh supposed to know that we women in the Lindsay family don't have likkle bodies. Wi hips dem broad," she says doing a little twirl for him. Uncle Titus looks at her appreciatively and grins. He reaches for her and she goes to him. She kisses him briefly then jumps in the vehicle while uncle and I continue to load her 'goods' onto the back of the van. Uncle Titus goes back to aunty's stall and carries more stuff back to the van.
I help him load them in and then snatch out a cheese trix snack. He laughs and picks up one himself. He tucks it in his trousers' pocket and places his index finger over his lips. "Shhh ..," he says quietly. I nod then grin at him. I place my snack in my little black 'matey' bag and slide into the back seat of the van. He jumps into the front around the steering wheel and gives my aunty a kiss on the cheek.
"That will be $200 Titus and Tanesia. It's either you pay Titus or Tan Tan you pay, but no freeness today," says Aunty Claire sternly, but I see the corner of her lips quirk up. I bend my head and a ripple of laughter escape from my lips.
My uncle chuckles softly. He takes out two $100 notes and hands it to my aunty. "Here Claire," he says. With a smirk on her lips, she takes them from him and pushes them inside her bra. They're lost between her voluptuous breasts. I grin and turn my head to look out the window.
The engine of the old van coughs and rattles to life. We hear the creak and clang of old parts moving as the vehicle moves off slowly. We drive past other vendors and their stalls and shops. One of them, Trisha calls out to my aunt. My uncle eases his foot off the gas and presses down on the brake to stop his old van. It cries to a lurching halt.
Trisha runs across the road to the other side of the vehicle to speak to Claire. "Yah come mi son birthday party later?" Trish aka Trisha asks. My aunt makes a face that looks like a cross between someone having stomach cramps and a toothache. "Mi nuh sure Trish. Mi tired. I was thinking of staying home tonight," Aunt Claire says
"Lawks man, just come man. Is midweek so the party nah guh be long. We just ah guh do one short thing till bout midnight, then yuh can get fi guh home," Trish says trying her best to persuade my aunt. Aunty Claire sighs then asks, "Who a guh deh deh?"
"Miss Thelma, ahm ... Mitzie ah guh deh deh. Mi son Bryce of course, him father Beres, Sharon, Kadian and a few other friends and family," Trish tells her.
My aunt's eyes narrow as she looks at Trish. "Poochie ah guh deh deh?"
Trish shifts her gaze to me in the back seat. "Tan Tan yuh wah come?"
"Look ere, nuh ask mi niece nothing. Mi ask yuh a question. Poochie a guh deh deh?" Trisha lowers her head.
"Trish?!"
"Arite yes, yes she ah come. Is mi cousin. Mi affi mek she come tru fi mi son birthday party."
"Mi nuh want deh near dah liar deh. That wicked gyal deh!" Aunt Claire spat out. Titus held on to aunty's hand and squeezed. "Tell lie pon mi son! Wikid gyal!"
Uncle Titus squeezes her hand harder. Aunt Claire looks at my uncle and bites her lip. Trish stands by the door speechless. "Trish, we ah guh leave now. We cya mek it to the party. Mi sorry," my uncle says.
Trish nods. "Yeah, mi understand," she replies stepping back, a sad look on her face. I feel bad too. Uncle Titus shifts the vehicle back into drive and the van moves off.
Two years ago, Poochie aka Kaylene, was my cousin Shevon's girlfriend. She found out he had cheated on her with his ex. Instead of cussing him out and giving him 'bun' in return, she went to the police and told them he forced himself on her. He was in the prison system for a year before the charges were eventually dropped. He lost his job working at a public sector agency, and faced ostracizing from members of the community.
All this happened but Poochie refused to apologize, even when it was proven to her family, and members of the community that she was lying. Shevon tried but couldn't get another job, because when he presented his police record to companies, they saw the mention of assault charges and turned him away.
He applied to get the record expunged, but for some reason it remained on the system. Eventually, Shevon's dad, Devon took him up to America. My cousin is doing much better now, but the scars of her lies still cut him and our family deep.
Aunt and uncle drop me off at home. Before they drive off, my aunt turns to me and says, "Come fi sumn tomorrow, y'ere?" I nod and smile. I was expecting something today, but I try to hide my disappointment. Uncle smiles at me and they drive off.
I pull the gate and go inside the house. My mom is already home. She is also a vendor. But prefers to be called a small business owner because she doesn't only sell her products Down Town, she also does a bit of marketing in our community corner shops, and the wholesale on the outskirts of the community.
She's in the kitchen making her product--peanut drops aka peanut cake. It's a tasty traditional confectionery made with peanut, brown sugar (though some people use white sugar), vanilla and other spices. She just finished dropping a hundred, and by my estimation of the amount in the large pot on the stove, she'll be dropping fifty more once the sugary, syrupy liquid the peanuts are in thickens.
I kiss her on the cheek and walk to the stove. The smell of dinner greets me and I lift the lid off a much smaller dutch pot. Brown stew chicken! Hmm, my favorite. I grin at her and kiss her cheek. "My fave, thank you mommy," I say. She smiles back at me as she labors to stir a pot filled with peanuts.
"Want help?" I ask. She nods and steps back. I bend at the waist and begin to slowly stir the pot until the liquid thickens. She watches me. "Yuh aunty give yuh anything?" she asks. I shake my head indicating no. "She seh tomorrow mi fi come fi sumn."
Mommy sucks her teeth. "She better mek sure she give yuh sumn tomorrow or mi a guh stop mek yuh help her. Three weeks now shi nuh give yuh nuttin. She better know seh not because yah her family and her niece ... tsk!"
When the syrup is thick enough she takes the wooden spoon and gives the pot one more vigorous turn then takes out a large metal tray and covers it with thin grease paper. She places the tray on the kitchen counter then takes out a stainless steel spoon.
Very carefully, she scoops up some of the mixture and drops it on the grease paper then spreads it out to make the surface even. "Want me to help?" I ask. She smiles at me. "Sure baby," she says. I grin and go to the cutlery drawer and take out another spoon and help to distribute drops of peanut in syrupy liquid on the grease paper. We work quickly, but carefully because hot sugar isn't something to be messed with.
When we're done we count fifty-eight peanut drops. One hundred and fifty-eight in all. I grin and slap mommy on her left arm. "Good job mums." She squeezes my waist and turns on the stove burners underneath the stew chicken and the pot of rice and peas. She turns them down to low heat and lifts the tray to put it on top of the deep freezer to cool.
"Who is this for? Mr Chang?" I ask, my mouth already salivating in anticipation of tender chicken meat. She shakes her head. "No, this is for the dance later," she says but doesn't look at me. My heart begins to beat fast. "Mommy, yuh sure?" She nods. "Trish asked me to do them for her son's birthday. He loves peanuts, so she asked me if I would do some for him as well as his guests at the party later."
I come forward, feeling a little panicked. "Mommy ... aunty!" Mommy lifts her head and looks at me. I see the determined look on her face. "She already paid me half of the money. She ordered 80, but she says if I do more she will allow me to sell them freely at the party." I shake my head. "Aunty will not like this," I tell her.
"Your aunty is quite fine. She have yuh working for her for three weeks and not even pay yuh nothing. We need money, Tan Tan. Remember your father is not here, we have to do what we have to." I feel sad at the mention of my dad and walk into the living/dining room and sit on the couch.
She comes towards me with a plate filled with hot delicious food and I temporarily forget about my angst. She places the food on the table before me and I go to sit around it pulling up my chair. She brings a glass filled with ice and sweetened cool aid. I thank her and dig in.
"Hurry up and eat. You'll be helping me later with selling the peanut cake," she says. My eyes nearly pop out for their sockets. "What?! Mommy! I can't! Trish asked aunty to come to the dance tonight and she said no. If she finds out we went to sell she'll ..."
"She'll what?" My mom asks her hands on her hips, glaring at me. I open my mouth to say something, anything to convince her to change her mind, but I see her right eyebrow arch up and my mind goes blank.
"Tanesia, I know your aunt raised you for a little while when I was away, but she is not your mother. Also, you're seventeen, you'll be going to university soon. We need money to make sure you get to go." She touched my hair. "Tan Tan, we need this money." I sigh and say, "Okay mommy."
She kisses my forehead and goes back into the kitchen to retrieve her plate. She sits beside me and we eat quickly. I take a shower after dinner, while mommy washes up the dishes and cleans upon the kitchen. I help her place the drops in small, clear plastic bags using tongs to hold them, and tie knots at the top of the bags.
She comes into my room and helps me pick out blue jeans shorts and a tight, pink blouse. I put aside pink flip flops for later. After watching some anime on my phone for an hour I close my eyes and think about what the birthday party will be like.
Bryce and I are cool. Although for appearances sake we avoid each other in the community, at school we are friendly. I secretly have a crush on him. If my mom or my aunty find out it will be trouble for me. I sigh and close my eyes. I am looking forward to the party in a way because I get to see him. We almost kissed at a recent class fete.
We played the 'spin the bottle' game and Bryce's friend, Trevor dared him to kiss me. Bryce took my hand and led me to a corner in the classroom. He smiled at me and was like: "Let's get this over with." I agreed, but when he leaned forward to kiss me I panicked and ran away. I could hear our friends' rowdy laughter.
Afterwards, my classmates called me 'Virgin', not in front of our teachers, but when we're together without adults' supervision. I cringe everytime they call me that. Well yes, I am, but I don't need to be reminded of it. Bryce tells them to stop teasing me like that, but they only avoid doing it when he's around. When he's not at school they tease me mercilessly with the name.
That class fete was the last time I got to talk to him before CSEC exams and summer holidays. He's very cute: brown skinned with nice wavy-curly hair and a bright smile.
He was always a skinny kid until last summer holidays he came back to school with a faint mustache on his top lip, and broad shoulders. He went to Canada to visit his grandma. When he came back he looked like he'd grown four inches taller, I'm not sure. All I know is that I'm nervous about seeing him tonight. Fortunately, I manage to get some sleep.
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