Staff Writer – Latoya Wakefield
I loved when my mother told us stories…She would move her hands wildly about when she was telling the exciting parts. She would open her already big eyes wide when she thought we would be surprised. She would laugh when we asked insightful questions.
‘Dis yah generation smart eeh’ she would say to her partner. I loved to hear her laugh, it was pleasantly boisterous. I would rush from school on Friday evenings, do my homework and all the other chores that I had to before Mommy came home.
My older sister would run a boat (cook) as Mom told her that every woman should know her duties in the house. My sister was almost 13 yrs old at that time. Everything would be done by the time mom got home just so that she could tell us stories, sometimes she would bring us Finga and twist doughnuts as treats from the Bakery where she worked.
My brother would rub her feet and then she would begin ‘Mi did tell unnu about di time when duppy pinch daddy?’ We all laughed.
‘No mommy, duppies aren’t real’ I would say eloquently. My mother hated when I spoke Patois at all. She said I was her only child who had the brains to keep straight As I should always practice English so that I could get one of those fancy Bank Teller jobs. She was confident that with my ‘propa English’ and my ‘high colour’ I would land that job as soon as I finished high school.
‘Who tell yu dat?’ Mommy asked with one raised eyebrow. ‘Teacha’ I replied then revamped and said ‘Teacher’
‘Oh ok, well teacheeerrrr nuh always right’ She stressed. ‘Ok mum, why did duppy pinch daddy?’ I said to avoid making a scene in front of my brothers and sisters. I didn’t want to be isolated later when we’re playing Dolly house. They always said I acted like ‘mi better dan di fabily (family)’
Photo courtesy thebusinessaim.com.ng
‘Well him madda always tell ‘im to not sleep on the ground. One night he drop asleep dey and something sting him. Wen mommy look at it, she see that he had a dark spot on his shoulder’
‘ooohhh’ we said.
‘A scorpion cudda bite ‘im’ my brother who was 14 years old knew everything about these things.
‘Yu right enuh, Delroy but daddy imself said to mommy dat him madda always tell ‘im not to sleep on di floor and she woul’ pinch him har’ wen he do so’
‘But Grampa’s mother wasn’t alive when he was grown….’ I stopped, getting the relevance of that point. ‘Oh’ I simply said
‘So yu get it? Daddy madda was the duppy dat pinch ‘im. So yu see even afta yu madda gone, yu shoul’ still neva disobey har’ that scared us all.
Did duppies really exist? I thought when Mommy finished telling that story. Would mommy haunt me after she died? I shuddered; I never should have thought that. Please forgive me, God. I momentarily closed my eyes and said a short prayer. Mommy always said I have goat’s mouth…
