The Non-Silence of the Lamb

by Luke Brown

  “Junior, why don’t you thank this?” She opened her legs even wider, looking at him with a mischievous grin.

  “Are you crazy, girl?”

  “Why not?”

  “You’re like a sister to me!”

  “No, I’m not. I’ve only been living with your family for less than a year, and I am not your sister, nor am I your adopted sister. You can consider me a long-term guest in your family.”

  “Okay. Sure, I will thank it with a kiss. How about that?”

  “That’s a start, but first you should make sure the door is closed.”

  “Okay.” Junior quickly checked the door to make sure that it was securely closed, and then he briskly walked over to Pauline. He knelt down in front of her and gave her a quick kiss on the front of her red silk underwear just below her navel.

  “Not there!” Pauline shouted at Junior. “Lower down. You have to kiss me lower down.”

  “Okay, where?” Junior kissed her a little lower down on her red, tight-fitting silk underwear.

  “Lower than that.”

  “How about here?” Junior kissed Pauline on her red silk underwear squarely between her legs. That day, Junior ended up thanking Pauline for much more than the delicious meal she had prepared. He had to thank her for the wonderful sexual experience that she had given him.

  That day was the beginning of their secret rendezvous, which later became public, because soon after that, Pauline became pregnant with Junior’s first baby girl. They named her Denise Allen-Browdie.

  At this point, Essie was concerned that Pauline would need a real job. Her boss was able to create a position for Pauline in the laundry maintenance department at the private cottage resort. Shortly after that, Junior and Pauline moved out of Essie’s house to live in a small two-bedroom house they built at the back of the same property. That was Pauline Anderson’s rescue story.

  There were many more dynamic stories of young ladies whom Essie saved from the streets of Montego Bay. There was the story of the twins, Pauline and Paulette. There was the story of Joan. There was the story of Evan. There was the story of Marva. There was an avalanche of stories to tell of young girls that Essie took home for temporary—and sometimes even permanent—shelter from the streets.

  Essie’s children were now teenagers or older, but Essie was still the main breadwinner of the family. This fact hit home when she was in a terrible car accident one night after work. There were five passengers in the taxi when the car spun out of control and hit another vehicle. The taxi was destroyed and everyone was injured, but no one died. Essie’s upper teeth were knocked out of her mouth, and she had other injuries, but nothing major.

  When they first heard the news of the accident, Essie’s family cried frantically. They cried because they loved her, but also because they realized that she was all they had. They could not live without her. That night, Essie’s family truly understood that they could not afford to lose their only parent figure. The accident was a wake-up call to all of her kids, who had thought that Essie was immortal and would always be there to meet their every need.

  Essie recovered fully, and her kids learned one good lesson: they should not take her for granted. They should tell her every day that they loved her and appreciated her always.

  Essie herself also had a wake-up call from that accident. She realized that she should take better care of her body and stop the heavy smoking and drinking habits she had developed over the years. She made many attempts after that accident to stop smoking, though she failed miserably each time. She also tried cutting down on her alcohol intake at night.

  Chapter 20

  One peculiar thing about Essie was that she enjoyed a good funeral celebration. Oddly, she had fun at funerals, but she wept at weddings.

  Once, a young man named Mike was playing behind an ice truck when he was hit by a car. In those days, a truck full of large square blocks of ice visited the community of Glenworth once or twice a week to provide ice to those people without refrigerators. The vehicle was a large, open-back truck—a supersized pickup. The pickup’s body was made of wood, and one or two workers usually worked in the back. They used a large, scissorlike ice holder to pick up the individual blocks of ice and slide the blocks to the back of the truck so that they would be easier to divide into smaller pieces. They divided the ice with an ice pick, which was a long, pointed screwdriver-like tool. People had their iceboxes and bucket containers ready to receive their ice for a small fee. These ice trucks would make many stops to effect these humble transactions.

  One day, after the truck had made a regular stop, Mike, who was a friend of Leonard and about the same age, decided that he would hop onto the ice truck while it was moving slowly from one neighbor’s house to another’s. Mike did a good job of holding onto the moving truck until the truck stopped at the next neighbor’s gate. He jumped off and immediately ran to the other side of the road without checking for oncoming traffic.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to the other side. A taxicab was coming at full speed right around the side of the ice truck.

  Essie was very sad about her neighbors’ unfortunate loss. She went over to their home to give her condolences to the family. However, more than anything else, she went to find out how she could help with the prefuneral celebration, also called a wake, a setup, or a nine-night.

  A nine-night was a traditional Jamaican way of cheering up a grieving family that had just lost a loved one. It was an Afro-European-Jamaican traditional ritual that varied in its forms and styles. In all its variations, there were two basic elements that usually remained constant. Those elements were the acknowledgment and showing of respect to the spirit of the deceased, and the cheering up of the grieving relatives. Usually, the nine-night was funded by the family that had encountered the loss, but often, a relative, a good friend, or even a church would step in and donate extra funds for the occasion.

  The entire community, although sad and disappointed by the loss of a dear loved one, participated wholeheartedly in this prefuneral celebration. It started out slowly on the first night and picked up momentum over a nine-calendar-night period. By the time it got to the ninth or last night, the occasion was in full swing. Sometimes it turned out to be a big dance party with lots of liquor, food, and loud music.

  Only the most committed nine-night followers showed up on the first and second nights. They were the “rumheads” or alcoholics, some would say. Usually they brought their own rum and hard liquor with them, if it was not supplied by the grieving family.

  They met at the gate of the deceased’s home or in the front yard and formed a circle, where they sang familiar songs that were unique to that occasion. A typical nine-night song was one called “Come We Go Down.” It was very Afrocentric, and it went like this:

  Come we go down, gal and boys,

  fi go broke rock stone.

  Let’s get down, girls and boys,

  to break rock stones.

  Broke dem one by one, gal and boys.

  Broke dem two by two, gal and boys.

  We go broke rock stones.

  If you mash yuh finger,

  don’t cry, gal and boys.

  We go broke rock stones.

  While singing this song, they bent down or sat with two or more stones in their hands, knocking them together and then passing them along to the next person. Each time the stones went completely around, the nine-night participants increased the speed with which they passed them along. Sometimes playing this game while drunk could be a serious challenge.

  For other songs, there was usually a leader in the group who read the verses of the song while the other members of the group followed by repeating word for word whatever the leader said. This style of singing was often referred to as a “Sankey.”

  The leader clearly and loudly spoke the words of the song: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.”

  Then the group sang that line of verse only, the best way they could. “Amaaazing graaace, how sweet the
soound.”

  “That saved a wretch like me,” the leader continued.

  “Thaat saaved a wretch like meeee,” the group sang and then patiently waited for the leader to read the next verse.

  “I once was lost but now am found,” the leader said.

  “I onnnce was looost but noow am found.” A story was told of a Sankey at a nine-night ritual celebration that was being held in the countryside of the island. A highly respected leader was doing an excellent job of leading the group into the verses of the song. It was a very large group, and all were singing and having fun. It started raining lightly, and the leader decided that it might be time to quit and go inside to get some shelter from the rain, so he told the large group, “I think it’s time to quit.”

  “I thinnnk iiiit’s timmme tooo quit,” the group sang.

  “We must go inside to get some shelter from the rain,” the leader warned.

  “Weee muuussst goo inside to geeet some shelter from thee rain,” the group sang, and waited patiently for the leader to lead them into the next one.

  “I don’t know about you crazy people, but I’m going inside,” the leader said arrogantly.

  “I dooonn’t knooow about yoouu craaazzy people, but I aam going insiiiide,” the group faithfully and naively repeated.

  “Enough is enough. I’m getting wet, and I don’t find this blasted thing funny at all, so I’m out of here. You can find yourself another leader.” He was fed up and upset, so he took off while the group was still singing his last words of warning to them.

  Essie loved to have fun at these nine-nights. She usually showed her support by baking a cake for the occasion and donating it to the grieving family. She loved to bake and would bake a cake every chance she got. If someone had a common cold or the flu, Essie offered to bake a cake for him or her. Everyone could rely on her. She brought a cake or two to every occasion that she attended.

  However, if you asked her to make cakes for the purpose of selling them, she wouldn’t do it. She enjoyed doing it for free. She would take donations to buy the ingredients, but she didn’t want to profit from this hobby.

  Essie usually attended the last night of the nine-night. That was as much time as she could invest in this occasion with Mike’s family. The last night was the big night with Jamaican white rum, oxtail, curried goat, rice and peas, and power water. All the popular ethnic Jamaican foods would be there, plus all types of music, but mainly the most modern reggae music. Sometimes it was like a big block party. If that didn’t cheer up the grieving family, nothing else would.

  Chapter 21

  There was a story once told of a new priest who had to be disciplined by his superior at his second Mass. The new priest was so nervous at his first Mass, he could hardly speak. After Mass, he asked the monsignor how he had done.

  The monsignor replied, “When I’m worried about getting in the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip.”

  So the next Sunday, the priest took the monsignor’s advice. At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink. He proceeded to talk up a storm. Upon returning to his office after Mass, he found the following note on his door:

  Sip the vodka; don’t gulp. There are ten commandments, not twelve. There are twelve disciples, not ten. Jesus was consecrated, not constipated. We do not refer to Jesus Christ as the late J. C. Jacob wagered his donkey; he did not “bet his ass.” When Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper, He said, “Take this and eat it, for it is my body.” He did not say, “Eat me, for it’s my body.”

  The new priest was disciplined for his lack of judgment and his reckless behavior. In the same way, Essie disciplined her children when she felt they needed it. She did not spare the rod and spoil the child. On the contrary, she didn’t hesitate to use the belt. However, she felt she was prudent and knew when to stop. She believed that where parents went wrong with physical punishment was that they sometimes didn’t know how far to go or when to stop.

  Essie made sure that she got in at least three good strikes at her children when she was administering physical discipline to them. However, she only used physical discipline after two or three verbal warnings had failed. She believed that you should talk to your kids first. Let them understand your concerns. Let them know the danger they face if they don’t comply with the rules.

  On the topic of obedience and discipline, Essie once told the story of a man and his pony to her children. “Once upon a time, a man and his son set out from the country to town to sell their pony to take care of their immediate finances. They had to go through several villages before they got to the auction. When they entered the first village, they were both riding on the pony.

  “The village people were concerned about the pony. They shouted, ‘Oh, wicked people you are! How could you put so much weight on the poor pony? You should both walk and let the pony walk freely.’

  “The man and his son complied. They got down and let the pony walk free of the load. As they entered another village, the people of that village became concerned about the old man walking. They shouted, ‘Poor old man! Why waste the precious use of the pony while the old man suffers? Let the man ride the pony, and the boy can walk.’

  “The man and his son again complied. The man rode the pony while his son walked behind. As they entered the next village, the people of that village became concerned about the little boy walking while the strong father rode the pony. They shouted, ‘You cruel old man! Let the little boy ride the pony. You are strong enough to walk.’

  “Again, the man and his son complied. The man let the son ride on the pony while he walked behind. By the time they had passed through the final village and gotten to the market, both the man and his son, due to the urging of the village people, were now carrying the pony.”

  Essie always closed with the moral of the story. Her kids had to know what they wanted in life. They couldn’t always listen to everything other people said to them, or they would make fools of themselves.

  Essie had an astute way of administering discipline at times. She suggested that the child she was about to discipline go outside and choose the switch or belt that she would use for the spanking. She considered this to be a psychological challenge that cleverly forced the child to think really hard, even if it was just for a second, about the bad deed he or she had done and to play an active role in assessing the degree of discipline that fit the behavior that warranted it.

  One day, Essie told Bunny to make sure to sweep and clean up the front and backyard before she got back from work in the evening. Bunny, twelve at the time, conveniently ignored her request and went to play soccer. He spent all day with his friends and didn’t get back until late in the evening. When Essie came home from work and noticed that Bunny hadn’t done what she had told him to do, she got upset and threatened to give him a spanking. “Bunny,” she called in a stern voice. “Yes, you Bunny. Where are you? I want to see you right now.”

  Bunny started explaining as he approached his mother. “Yes, Momma. I forgot to do the yard. I’ll do it tomorrow.” He felt guilty because he was aware, due to the anger in her voice, that he was in big trouble. He tried to beat Essie to the punch, hoping to change the impending situation that he faced. “I’ll do it as soon as I’m up tomorrow, I swear.”

  “Boy, what did I tell you this morning before I left?” Essie asked her trembling son.

  “You said that I should sweep the yard before you got back home, Momma,” he nervously responded.

  “Did you do as I told you?”

  “No, Momma, but I was going to do it as soon as I woke up tomorrow.”

  “What did you do all day while I was gone?”

  “Nothing, Momma—no, I mean I went to play soccer with my friends. Forgive me, Momma. I won’t do it again. I swear. I won’t do it again.”

  “When I tell you to do something, I expect that you do it first before you go out and play. I don’t mind if you go out and play socc
er. What I care about is for you to be a responsible person. You can’t make it in life if you aren’t responsible. Everyone has duties around here, and today, your duty was to clean the yard. Do you think that was too much to ask?”

  “No, Momma. It wasn’t too much. It was fair. Momma, you’re a fair person. That’s why I love you, Momma. God knows, I really love you, Momma. Please forgive me. I’ll do whatever you say. If you tell me to jump and touch the moon, Momma, I’ll do it.”

  “Okay, son, jump and touch the moon for Momma.”

  “What?” Bunny’s jaw dropped to the floor. His poor little heart skipped a beat. Shock and astonishment left his mouth wide open.

  “Just trying to prove a point, son. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Essie smiled, seeing the confusion on Bunny’s face. “Son, I love you, and that’s why I want you to grow up to be a fine young man someday and get a good job and do whatever you are hired or told to do. I’m going to spank you only because I love and care for you. Go outside and get me a switch now so I can give you a good spanking.”

  “Okay, Momma, I’m going now. I’m going to get you the best switch that I can find.” To him, it was like going outside to look for the bullet that would be used in his execution. It was one of his hardest tasks yet.

  It didn’t take Bunny long to figure out that this task was even harder than the initial task of cleaning up the yard. Why didn’t I just clean up the yard before I went to play soccer? he thought. Things would have been so much better if I’d done that; I wouldn’t be faced with this difficult task. After a few minutes of pondering, Bunny had a great idea. Maybe I can spend the whole time searching for the right switch until it’s time for bed. By then, maybe Momma will forget about it, and as soon as I wake up in the morning, I’ll take care of it. That way, I won’t have to deal with this whole scenario at all. Half an hour later, he was still in the backyard searching for the right switch to take to his mother.