Chapter 10 Problems

The Easter season symbolize Peace.  Therefore I am going to continue my Easter blog Peace being the theme.
Big problem for us we had no money. While “Kite Man” was building our kite he kept on rambling about the different people he used “Baby Gal” to slash. By then we had figured that Aunt Sybil’s boarder was the infamous murder who sliced up his victims.  However the police could never pin any definite murder on him. Hence he would spend a short time in prison and them be released. He was also known as the New Amsterdam Butcher Man.   While scratching our head he blurted out “I want Rum”! 

Well Aunt Sybil had a bottle of Rum which she used for black cake and to preserve fruits. So we raided her cupboard poured out all her rum and replaced it with some lime juice swank.

 We now had the best looking kits in New Amsterdam. But fear Aunt Sybil’s boarder was the notorious “Kite Man” known criminal for cutting up his victims. This knowledge lingered in our minds. That night we hardly slept a wink we had constant night mares of kite Man creeping up and cutting us up in our sleep.

Once upon an Easter.

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Chapter 9 Kite Making

 “Go get me some (Pacie) Pacie is a gummy sticky fruit that grew on a large tree in Aunt Sybil’s yard.  So we climbed the Pacie tree chopped down as many bunch of Pacie as we could, as fast as possible, because “red ants was biting we on all parts”.  Red ants always bite you in parts unmentionable.   “Red ants does live in Pacie trees, they love the Pacie fruit because it so sweet”. Next we had to cut some bamboo to make the bull of the kite.  We then asked our mother for a few dollars ran down to Main Street to buy some kite paper to pace on the kite frame.  Because the kite was so big we could not use our crochet # 0 twine, we had to buy a thicker twine more like a fine rope. Now for the tail we get some old cloths and joined them up. “But the Kite Man say we got to get some rope so we find a big old rope in the yard and split it in two to make the tail. The Kite man said “I is a fight man and we gon battle any bad man kite that challenge we on the Back Dam tomorrow”.  Then we made some cut out of and wrote out the name of the kite “Baby Gal”. It was the biggest kite my brother and I had ever seen and the most beautiful. Only one thing disturbed us, was the name “Baby Gal”. Next the Kite Man said “find some razor blades and broken old glass and bottles with sharp edges”. With all these items procured and the kite completed; he declared “I done now. How you all gon pay me?”
Once upon an Easter.
                   London Oyster inspired by our visit to London and the musicians who made our travel in the London underground tube pleasing. Please feel free to contact me on any art shown on my blog

Love

Rowan

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CHAPTER 8 KITE MAN (PART1)

We had no time to waste next morning we start rummaging our aunt’s yard looking for old box board to cutup to make parts for our broken kite. We found a few pieces and with an old cutlass started chopping down on the wood. Suddenly we heard someone shouting at us

“Hay there! Hay you there!” We looked round and there was this tall skinny man pointing at us. “Stop that racket”  “Is what you guys think you doing?” We replied “We trying to repair our kit”. “Oh! I see.” “Come here let me help you all.”  “I am the Kite Man.”.  “Wait here Ah! Gon bring out me out me favorite knife”. “Baby Gal!” “Boy she is the sharpest gal I ever had, when she cut she, she does cut real clean and smooth”. Me use am to chop up nuff of them”. “Bring them boards, le me help you all build a big man kite”.  His fingers were long, and his hands was steady as he chopped and plane down the boards to be used for our kite.

Once upon an Easter

Also attached is art {Blood on their Feet} you may contact me on same or order on saatchiart.com.

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Chapter 7 Aunt Sybil’s

Crossing the Berbice river in a ferry from Rosignol to New Amsterdam an old town named by the Dutch.  We trudged our way down to St.Ann Street with our luggage and tattered kite.  We arrived at my Aunt Sybil’s house late in the evening, it was already dark and we were greeted with lots of

hugs and kisses by my mother and Aunt. Now Aunt Sybil’s house was an old time huge Dutch style house with a high roof, the ceiling space allows breeze to flow through the house. My aunt’s house also had lots of windows and a bottom house which she rented to boarders. The house was also surrounded by a Genip tree and a Mango tree and a Dungs tree.   The Dungs tree was so close to the house that with a reach out of the window one could pick the Dungs. After a quick bath.  Cold water mixed with hot water from a kettle and poured into an enamel bucket. Followed by a quick rub down with soap from head to toe. A bowl to throw water over your body we hoped out the bath as soon as possible. Towel off, then on with your pajamas. We head down to the kitchen for a hot dinner. Aunt Sybil had a huge kitchen with a large table from which all activity revolved. We sat down to some fresh brewed hot  ground Cocoa with raw Cow’s Milk and some Bakes with Salt Fish and two Chinese Cakes for sweet.  The Cocoa tea the best I vow to anyone in the world. Roasted fresh Cocoa Beans ground in a hand mill and served with hot fresh Cow’s Milk; just milked for the cow earlier in the morning it’s a taste to be savored for a life time.

Once upon an Easter

                         Attached to this blog is art Lilies Night now on Saatchiart.com

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Chapter 6: The British Soldiers

With our spirits uplifted Clarence my aunt Yvonne and I began preparing for the big Easter Monday kite flying day.  Only the receive a letter from my mother stating that she wanted us to spend Easter with her in New Amsterdam. The next couple days were now spent preparing for the long journey to New Amsterdam.

We boarded the train in Georgetown, Lamaha Street in Cummingsburg to begin the trip New Amsterdam. 

To our amazement and joy as boys we were in the same compartment with two British soldiers.

Guyana the then “British Guiana” was a sovereign colony of England.  The British army sent soldiers to help squash the unrest and riots and return to country to a state of peace.                           

Between strained snips of conversation we got to know the English soldiers. They proved to be a savior to us after the train made one of its major stops at Mahica. At this stop we are allowed to leave the train to stretch our feet buy food and stuff.

What we did not know was Mahica was also World Head Quarters for Sand Flies and Mosquitoes. The moment the train pulled out of the Mahica station colonies of Sand Flies and Mosquitoes descended on us with most vicious attack of insect on man ever. Sand Flies will attack you in swarms on every exposed part of your body. They will find their way through your hair down to your skull and the bite every exposed part that no hair grows from and leave your head full of bumps, they are bad. The mosquitoes there will bite and drink every drop of blood you own by the time you reach to Rosignol you will have no blood. So there we were facing eminent death when the two English soldiers produced the most complete defense in the from of a bottle of Citronella oil. They offered to share some with us.  We graciously accepted their offer. We rubbed that oil on our body from head to toe. We literally took off our Yachting Boots and rubbed the oil between our toes and of course on our head, under our shirt and pants. “It just takes one sand fly to get under your shirt and pants to have you scratching and itching.  My brother and I will always be great full to those two English soldiers.

Once upon an Easter.

Chapter 5: Test flight

We explained to the Gardner our dilemma. He convinced us that our fears were unfounded and we could build our own wood kite. Up to that time my brother and I could only build pointer broom kits. Which were not very efficient kits. They were prone to breaking easily and had bad flying records.  The Gardner then proceeded to lead us through the steps of making our own wood kite with old pieces of board hanging around our yard. With the assistance of my aunt Yvonne who provide us with some of her Grease Proof paper and some color Barbados Paper we built two singing engine kits with big bulls so that they could hum in the air.  The kits being completed mine was put to the test flight. It flew so high it homed so loud it could be heard for miles my heart could not stop pounding with happiness.  Then as if out of nowhere a strong gosh of wind blew and pop went the twine (Crochet #0) and away flew my kite.  There was no time to waste straight away we plunged in to action running in the direction of the falling kite. As fast as the kite fell it disappeared more speedily. We now had to go from yard to yard over fences fearing dogs and angry shouts. Finally we got to the yard of an old lady and decided to ask her if she had seen a kite fall.  “Yes” she said, and then asks us to describe the kite. I slept well that night with my kite by my bedside.

Once upon an Easter

Chapter4: The Gardner

The time was the early sixties there was political unrest in Guyana schools were on vacation and my aunt was out on strike so was my uncle. There was rioting in the capital Georgetown, and political factions marooning the streets. It was getting close to Easter my brother Clarence and I were facing the daunting prospects of going without a kite. In Guyana it is traditional to fly kits on Easter Monday symbolizing the resurrection of Christ from the grave. We were moping around the house feeling sorry for ourselves and being lazy. 

Because Guyana experiences bursts of heavy rain at any time and extreme heat and sunshine the grass grow at an aggressive pace. It therefore happens on one of those hot spells that a Gardner came by and offered to cut the grass on our aunt’s lawn for a small fee.  My aunt Yvonne quickly agreed.  We as boys stood and watched in amazement as he used his scythe to swipe through the tall grass. Because of the extreme heat and humidity he had to take a break which he did. We sat around him in my aunt back yard and chatted with him and watched in amazement as he sharpened his scythe.

Once Upon an Easter.

Once Upon An Easter Chapter 3 "Milky"

Chapter 3: Milky

                              With the coming of Easter also comes showers and Campbellville always floods.  Mr. Kerry our neighbor had a Speed Boat which he would float down to the wide trench at the back of our homes. The name of the trench was called Milky.  And there gather all the boys of our street, we would go speeding up and down" Milky" in Mr.Kerry's boat. 
          Milky, was the water way where all the boys in the neighborhood learned also how to swim. 
Peter one of the older boys would lead us out to the middle of “Milky” floating on a log then take the log away and leave us in the middle. This called for desperate action a frantic scramble to the shore line suddenly we were swimming.        
           Going swimming in "Milky" was not however approved by my Aunt Yvonne. Therefore after concocting lies as to our reason for leaving home we would end up at “Milky”. Swimming naked as we were born. Best way to swim one felt a sense of freedom. After swimming for hours we return to the  bank's of Milky looking for our cloths which we hid under some shrubs.  Only to discover to our horror that they were gone.  My older cousin while we were having fun had crept up and grabbed our cloths. This presented us with a big dilemma how do we get home without cloths?  Hands between our legs and over our bottoms. Picture that?  In total humiliation as we walked down the street.  The girls of the neighborhood to see and laugh at us; then licks like peas when we got home. And if you don’t holler loud you get more lashes not an easy proposition never the less, we have to journey home. May be we wait till dusk? Still not good a proposition dusk is chilly and cold mosquitoes and Sand flies bite your tail.  
Once upon an Easter.
          Attached painting{ NO WAR}you may contact me on art or view on saatchiart.com