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.
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