WHEN I GROW UP....
I want to be a surgeon or a barrister or an architect. Failing that, I’ll settle for being a journalist or at the very least the Queen of England or somewhere on the continent. So what if I’m black? When I grow up, I’m going to marry a prince.
And during my reign
1. My word will be law. Although I’m learning that I can only be a law unto myself.
I
Place and People, 1945
THE ISLAND RESTS like a gigantic prehistoric fish, tail fin stretching into the tempestuous waves of the Atlantic, head resting in the calm waters of the Caribbean Sea. On the hill at the cliff edge, where the eye of the fish protrudes, stands an ancient edifice.
Chapter Fifteen
The doorbell rang at seven, making him jump. He and Rambo went to the door. Ms Jones stood on the doorstep under the light of the portico. She had cut her hair. It was frizzed out in wild curls. Slightly more black than usual. Mr Smith stared open-mouthed at her. She was the epitome of gorgeousness.
A spot of indigestion, anyone? Illustration Copyright © 2023 by Akaila Armstrong.
DAVID PLACED two small scoops of cou-cou on Tasha’s plate with two slices of sweet potato, some salt-fish gravy and cucumber salad. Then he dished out his portion and started to eat.
IN 1816 Nanny Grigg and a group of other women, alongside Bussa in Barbados, took up arms to fight for their freedom. On 14-16 April, 1816, Bussa led the largest uprising for freedom by enslaved people in Barbadian history. Although not much is known about Nanny it is reported that she was valued at 130.00 pounds and worked on Simmons Plantation. Nanny was able to read and write and told her fellow slaves that they had to fight for their freedom.
*
Chapter Seven
Cameron leaned back, reading the last sentence. He smiled and then immediately frowned. Looking around the apartment with its four rickety chairs and Formica-covered table, he wondered where all that effort expended in becoming a success had gone. He had grasped the brass ring, and in America, had clambered up the greasy pole. All he had needed was a wide pair of shoulders on which to stand. He had found two. That thought brought his mind around to his cousin Fran.
INSIDE THE PRISON was warm. Adrian sat facing a grizzled man through a cracked plastic screen. The old man looked a vision of Adrian himself, in a good few years. The one difference were the eyes. The old man’s had seen plenty.
“Hey, son,” his father said, flashing yellow teeth. “You good?”
“I just here, Dads.”
“You ain’t had work today?”
“Nah, I get today and tomorrow off.”
The smile faded. “How you mother is?”
“She miss you bad,” Adrian lied.
“TYRONE, YOU HEAR DAT?”
He grumbled and turned his back to her.
“Tyrone,” she hissed again. “Get up, somebody outside de house.”
“Alright…alright,” he mumbled as he scratched his chest sleepily and crawled from beneath the bedsheet.
Chapter 4
THEY ARE ADMIRING Baby that night everything changes. They are quietly claiming things about her to the soundtrack of Adan’s cooing—in deference to the mystery of her mother’s name. Lala claims Baby’s nose, the way the little legs turn gently inward at the knees before repelling each other, the elegant triple-jointed toes. Adan claims her long torso, the flat, broad bones beneath her face, the way her upper lip retreats when she smiles.
“Just like Penny,” says Adan. “Penny daughter self.”
