Monday July 25, 1977
Psalm 56
Got up medium. Dressed. Went to Biscayne. Came back. Saw A-, boring A. Helped with fire. Ate. Mark came down, driving a car all by himself. Then he came on his chopper and A and him talked about "Yes, Mark, I love you." We played, walked dogs, talked to Speedy after feeding Guerly. T fed Greta. Pops cooked. At supper. Heard "Dulci" went to bed after pj's. Thank you, Mr. O, thank you.
I ate:
I'm remembering that "chutney". There were a lot of East Indians (and Chinese) in Jamaica. So there was a sort of familiarity with the culture, which I think inspired my parents to try to make things like "chutney". Either that or...."well there ain't much more to eat than mangoes, so lets make it exciting!" But the chutney was pretty good, cuz if I remember correctly my mom would add hot peppers and other spices.
I think Mark was a kid who lived down the road a piece, though I never figured out exactly where. When we first moved to the house in Bull Bay, before A's family broke apart, her little brother "Junya" and a small crew of sort-of-middle-class Jamaican boys rode their banana-seat chopper bikes up and down the road at breakneck speed. Mark was one of those boys, and if I'm remembering correctly, was very fair-skinned. A's life seemed so "American" when we first got there. We'd all pile in her house to watch TV; the Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman and cartoons. Mrs. Mathis, the housekeeper stayed in the kitchen and cooked. The first "yardboy", Jess, stayed in the yard and we didn't talk to him much. Jess had this crazy-loud laugh. We would sometimes hear him late in the evening and my mom would say "There goes Jess laughing with big pink tongue."
A's dad, Mr. Atkinson (who the Professor and I re-named B.H. Paint--a commonly-used brand of paint but to us, B.H. stood for Boar Hog), had a yellowish Thunderbird much like this one, which he loved and always referred to as "The Thunderbird."( I sort of remember it having a black hard top, but I'm not sure. I also don't think he had it long. ) But then Mrs. Atkinson up and left, and Mr. Atkinson started beating on A. Or maybe he did before and I didn't notice it, but I remember hearing him yelling at her and hearing the blows and her crying. The "Chopper boys" stopped coming around as much, if at all. Mr. Atkinson and the kids would then disappear to God-knows-where. I don't know that I ever asked her, or why they would come back to Bull Bay. I think she was in boarding school.
Jess left and Speedy came. And Speedy (who's real name was G. L. Walters) was way more interesting to talk to than A- probably because poor A- was hiding a lot. Looking back, she must have been so unhappy but at the time I had no frame of reference. Our family is nuts, but we were usually having a good time.
I wonder what happened to A-. Speedy, too.
Got up medium. Dressed. Went to Biscayne. Came back. Saw A-, boring A. Helped with fire. Ate. Mark came down, driving a car all by himself. Then he came on his chopper and A and him talked about "Yes, Mark, I love you." We played, walked dogs, talked to Speedy after feeding Guerly. T fed Greta. Pops cooked. At supper. Heard "Dulci" went to bed after pj's. Thank you, Mr. O, thank you.
I ate:
- Breakfast: 4 Busta, 1 mango
- Dinner: Pumpkin+chocho+rice soup, sardine+green banana+wheat cakes, mango chutney
- Supper: Parched green banana, tomato+sardine sauce, mango+orange sauce
I'm remembering that "chutney". There were a lot of East Indians (and Chinese) in Jamaica. So there was a sort of familiarity with the culture, which I think inspired my parents to try to make things like "chutney". Either that or...."well there ain't much more to eat than mangoes, so lets make it exciting!" But the chutney was pretty good, cuz if I remember correctly my mom would add hot peppers and other spices.
I think Mark was a kid who lived down the road a piece, though I never figured out exactly where. When we first moved to the house in Bull Bay, before A's family broke apart, her little brother "Junya" and a small crew of sort-of-middle-class Jamaican boys rode their banana-seat chopper bikes up and down the road at breakneck speed. Mark was one of those boys, and if I'm remembering correctly, was very fair-skinned. A's life seemed so "American" when we first got there. We'd all pile in her house to watch TV; the Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman and cartoons. Mrs. Mathis, the housekeeper stayed in the kitchen and cooked. The first "yardboy", Jess, stayed in the yard and we didn't talk to him much. Jess had this crazy-loud laugh. We would sometimes hear him late in the evening and my mom would say "There goes Jess laughing with big pink tongue."
A's dad, Mr. Atkinson (who the Professor and I re-named B.H. Paint--a commonly-used brand of paint but to us, B.H. stood for Boar Hog), had a yellowish Thunderbird much like this one, which he loved and always referred to as "The Thunderbird."( I sort of remember it having a black hard top, but I'm not sure. I also don't think he had it long. ) But then Mrs. Atkinson up and left, and Mr. Atkinson started beating on A. Or maybe he did before and I didn't notice it, but I remember hearing him yelling at her and hearing the blows and her crying. The "Chopper boys" stopped coming around as much, if at all. Mr. Atkinson and the kids would then disappear to God-knows-where. I don't know that I ever asked her, or why they would come back to Bull Bay. I think she was in boarding school.Jess left and Speedy came. And Speedy (who's real name was G. L. Walters) was way more interesting to talk to than A- probably because poor A- was hiding a lot. Looking back, she must have been so unhappy but at the time I had no frame of reference. Our family is nuts, but we were usually having a good time.
I wonder what happened to A-. Speedy, too.
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