by Karen Lord
When I turned on the TV the images were worse. The view overlooking the Caribbean Sea showed thousands of corpses like little atolls floating on the waves. I tried to make sense of the images by reading the ticker at the bottom of the screen. A series of catastrophic earthquakes had destroyed my island home. It was the first of the Igneous Shifts. Confused, I reached for the phone and dialled my mother’s number. Just last week she had told me about all the tremors the island was experiencing. The terse recording, “Your correspondent is not reachable,” made the reality of what had happened clear. My mother was gone, my home, my country, everything was gone.
That was how Mrs. Rosen found me, sitting quietly on the floor with the phone in my hand. She stormed into the apartment, upset that she had had to leave Midtown during rush hour because I had forgotten to pick up the girls. When she finally understood what had happened, the four of us sat watching the TV, listening to the experts talk about subduction zones and seismic shifts. And there we remained until she gave me a Valium and took me to bed, all the while berating herself for forgetting that Trinidad was my homeland when she had first come across the story on her Twitter feed earlier that day.
Eventually I became a US citizen. I was an “undocumented immigrant”, but my landless state meant there was nowhere for me to be deported to. I believe that the same applies to my existence. No island to return to, nowhere to end my days. I am left here to linger. The scientists can keep looking for answers; but I know the truth. How else can I explain the agelessness, the failed suicide attempts? I don’t call this living; that ended years ago.
“Are you ok? I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
I try to compose myself, as I only have twenty minutes left before I have to be on set.
“No, it’s fine. Come, make me pretty.”
“Prettier,” Misha quips as she blends the makeup into the tracks left by my tears.
* * *
Syndra is waiting for me when I get home. She starts relating all the messages she received whilst I was out. I put her on silent mode. I’m not in the mood, even though the interview was a success. I peel off the red pantsuit I wore for the show; Misha had convinced me to wear it and I have to admit that I looked really good. Jackson was pleased, the studio was pleased, and my bank account will be pleased by tomorrow morning.
I make my way to the bathroom. There, perched on the edge of the tub, I watch the water quickly make its way up from my ankles to my calves, then I slide underneath. This feels good. If I keep my eyes closed, even in this cramped space, I can summon a favourite memory.
After a two-hour hike, we arrived at a river somewhere in Valencia. It was so quiet that you could hear the bamboo bending with the breeze. I remember the smooth firmness of the river stones as I waded in, the crisp, cold water and the way the sunlight warmed my skin in patches as it poked through the leaves. I stay lying on the floor of the tub until the water gets cold. My chest never tightens; there is no need for air. My body flows through death, like a cascadura in a stream. I release a sigh and watch it bubble to the surface. Then, gripping the sides, I pull myself up, step out of the tub and leave a trail of wet footprints all the way to my bed.
About the Contributors
Ararimeh Aiyejina is a Nigerian-born citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, who graduated with a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 2009, and who is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies. While an undergraduate at Princeton, he enrolled in creative writing courses and was awarded the Outstanding Sophomore Award in Creative Writing in 2007.
Tammi Browne-Bannister was born in Antigua and lives in Barbados. She learned everything about writing from The Barbados Community College under the capable hands of Canadian-Barbadian writer, editor and writing competition judge, Robert Edison Sandiford. She attended the Cropper Foundation’s 8th Residential Creative Writers Workshop in Trinidad. She cares for the environment except when she goes shell hunting. Shells are her diamonds. She only pilfers those uninhabited. She buries Moon Jellyfish found dead on the sand and is happy when she finds a silver dollar. She loves sea grapes but runs away from fat porks.
Summer Edward was born and raised in Trinidad. Her work has been published in a number of periodicals including The Missing Slate, Bim: Arts for the 21st Century, Matatu: Journal for African Culture and Society, sx salon, The Columbia Review, The Caribbean Writer, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora and others. She was shortlisted for the Small Axe Literary Prize, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and was one of the “Who’s Next?” emerging writers at the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. She lived in the United States for a decade and now divides her time between Philadelphia and Trinidad.
Brian Franklin is a Barbadian systems developer in the financial industry. He has been writing creatively since he learned how to hold a pencil. He is an avid cricket fan and lover of videogames. He maintains a website where he shares free and experimental stories, media reviews, and rants, at Antisungrey.com. His works draw inspiration from the societies, history and mythologies of the Caribbean region. He is a graduate of the 2014 Callaloo Barbados Creative Writing Workshop. His speculative fiction novel, Iridium, was shortlisted for the 2012 Frank Collymore Literary Award.
Kevin Jared Hosein currently resides in Trinidad and Tobago. He is the 2015 Caribbean regional winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for his entry, “The King of Settlement 4”. His first book, Littletown Secrets, was published in 2013. He is also featured in anthologies such as Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean and Jewels of the Caribbean. He was shortlisted twice for the Small Axe Prize, and for the 2013 Caribbean Short Story Prize. His novel, The Repenters, is to be published by Peepal Tree Press in 2016.
Elizabeth J. Jones, formerly a lecturer in English at the Bermuda College, has for many years been a freelance writer, editor and tutor. She enjoys writing for magazines about all aspects of Bermuda, including its wildlife, history, businesses, culture and people. She has benefited enormously from attending writing workshops organised by the Bermuda Government’s Department of Community Affairs and Cultural Affairs and has written several short stories, as well as a novel, all set in Bermuda.
Karen Lord a Barbadian author and research consultant, is known for her debut novel Redemption in Indigo, which won the 2008 Frank Collymore Literary Award, the 2010 Carl Brandon Parallax Award, the 2011 William L. Crawford Award, the 2011 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and the 2012 Kitschies Golden Tentacle (Best Debut), and was longlisted for the 2011 Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature and nominated for the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Her second novel The Best of All Possible Worlds won the 2009 Frank Collymore Literary Award, the 2013 RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction Novel, and was a finalist for the 2014 Locus Awards. Its sequel, The Galaxy Game, was published in January 2015.
Richard B. Lynch writes in many genres, ranging from poetry to screenwriting. He works in the video and film field in his country of birth, Barbados, where he has won awards for his direction and conceptualization of music videos, and lends a hand where he can in many aspects of filmmaking. A version of this story first appeared in POUi: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing, published by the University of the West Indies.
Brandon O’Brien is a performance poet and writer from Trinidad. He has been shortlisted for the 2014 Alice Yard Prize for Art Writing and the 2014 and 2015 Small Axe Literary Competitions. He has also represented his country as a member of Trinidad and Tobago’s first Brave New Voices slam team in 2008. He performs regularly with the 2 Cents Movement, is a performer and facilitator with the.art.IS Performing Arts Company, and is a recording performer on the Free Speech Project radio programme on several local radio stations across the island.
Portia Subran is an artist and writer of Trinidad and Tobago. Subran finds inspiration from her life experiences, as well as the tales of her parents. Her artwork has been featured in Arc Mag
azine, and has been shown at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago end of year exhibitions. In 2013, she was announced the winner of the Potbake Productions 2011-2013 Caribbean Short Story Competition with her work, “Unclipped Wings”. This work was later published in the Caribbean short story collection Jewels of the Caribbean.
H.K. Williams is a writer from Trinidad and Tobago. In 2014 she was mentored by Earl Lovelace as an apprentice in the Mentoring with the Masters Programme, which was facilitated by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. After successfully completing the programme she was invited to join Monique Roffey’s writers’ lab in Belmont, where she is currently working on producing a collection of short stories. Her work was featured in Voicing our Vision, a short-story anthology published by the Writers Union of Trinidad and Tobago in 2013.
Damion Wilson is a software developer, martial artist, and former bicycle racer, living and working in sunny (mostly) Bermuda. Now accompanied by a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters, he writes using themes gleaned from the world of technology, from experiences teased from the lives of those who’ve touched him, and from his own life.
All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Peekash Press
©2016 Peekash Press
Foreword ©2016 Karen Lord
USA (Akashic): Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61775-526-2
USA (Akashic): Electronic ISBN: 978-1-61775-527-9
UK (Peepal Tree): ISBN: 978-1-84523-336-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016949537
An earlier version of Richard B. Lynch’s “Water Under the Bridge” first appeared in POUi: The Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing.
All rights reserved
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