Folk Incognito: Chapter 6 The British Soldiers

With our spirits uplifted Clarence, our Aunt Yvonne and I began preparing for the big Easter Monday kite flying day. Only to receive a letter from my mother Gertis 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.

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

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

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

What we did not know was Mahaica was also World HeadQuarters for Sand Flies and Mosquitoes. The moment the train pulled out of the Mahaica station, colonies of sand flies and mosquitoes descended on us with the most vicious insect attack 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 bite every exposed part unprotected by hair 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 Rossignol, you will have no blood and become pale.

So there we were facing imminent death when the two English soldiers produced the most complete defense in the form 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 heads, 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 grateful to those two English soldiers.

Once upon an Easter.