Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Plenty

Over de times of bein' absent from de blog, ah relocated -- among other tings. That would mean new church, new people, etc., but nutten like that yet. In essence, I'm not de most "people person" you'll ever meet.
Example: Relative introduced us to nice enough lady, who happens to mention that her friend had a nervous breakdown, an' it somehow fell upon her to step in as a friend an' keep de woman's daughter for a couple of months -- never mind that de woman has family in NY, nearness to de daughter's school, etc., made nice-enough-lady de likely guardian to offer assistance.
She said she don't know what kinda parent de mother is, 'cause de girl only have two pairs of shoes an' five undergarments. When ah asked why she woulda mention that to us an' she don't really know wi, she said that as decent folks she know wi coulda sympathize wid de negligence of that insufficient amount of clothin' that she will now have to spen' money to supplement. Ah told her that throughout mi school years, ah could recall havin' five "school" panties an' a "church" one (an' two "goin' out" ones that might never have existed, 'cause no occasion was important enough for mi granny to authorize de wearin' of dem). Granma woulda "tack up" an' replace only on an as-needed basis, an' even mi male cousin can vouch for de million times wi hear har say, "Mek mi tack up that brief fi yu!" There was no such ting as destroyin' one that yu didn't like, soh that it would be replaced. If she had to use needle, thread, glue, thumb tacks, fishin' line (yu get de point!), they would be "tacked up" an' worn. De "retired an' replaced" undergarments didn't disappear, they showed up durin' de holidays when yu deh home fi weeks. "It don't matter that dem old, drudge dem anyway - yu not stoopin' down fi play marble like de boys dem, soh de 'oldies' won't be seen out an' about." Maybe, she could've afforded better an' plentier, but ah didn't think it was negligence. Three pair of school socks, one pair of church socks, two school ribbons, two white church ribbons, one school handkerchief, one church handkerchief... Yu understan'. From a backgroun' in which yu have one pair of school shoes an' one pair of church shoes (an' if de school shoes at shoemaker an' yu wear de church shoes to school, den yu haffe "walk pon egg shells" wid dem), it's kinda difficult to consider five panties as negligence to daughter. "Nice enough lady" asked if ah only have five now. Taken aback, ah said no. Ah buy dozens, but Granma teachin's dem rule: Ah still mek use of just enough, an' use de rest to replace or for a "rainy day"/momentous occasion that might never come. "Nice enough lady" said maybe that's because she herself isn't from de "islands," an' in America, people at least buy enough clothin' to clothe demself an' their children wid comfortable abundance. A younger woman who was there said she's from de C'bean, an' her parents always bought her plenty personal wear an' every-ting, so it's not an island ting, it might be more of a social ting, as her family's always been Extremely Upper Class, she said, "no offense."
Mi noh bother seh nutten else. Maybe "nice enough lady" was tactless in mentionin' it, maybe ah was tactless in discussin' it. Obviously, wi don't agree, an' she waan convert me to seein' de mother as negligent, widout givin' a proper example of it. Mi naw goh agree, soh that's it.

5 comments:

Dee said...

different strokes for different folks
I was a 5-panty chick (well 10 really) until I went to college and it just didn't seem appropriate to hang my just-washed panties all over the room when I came from the shower
now I have many many panties and put them in the washing machine.

Abeni said...

Maybe they just can't afford to get more.I know I had many at one time and as little as 5 too.

Jdid said...

i grow up wid de church an school shoes. even high school i had church shoes, school shoes and one pair a sneaker fa PE. but i used to run bout in the school shoes and play all sorta cricket and football and when prefects aint looking i used ta play basketball on the hard courts cause if they ketch you in hard schools on de hard courts ya ketch detention. so anyways school shoes was always talking ie sole tear way from top and spending nuff time at shoemaker so i wearing these horrid looking church shoes to school, smaling up myself and praying nuhbody notice
the worse was one time my church shows was some that me brother send from america that was brown suede wid a amber colr almost transparent sole. i think he get them as rejects from the fella in i'm going to get ya sucker wid de fish in he shoe soles.

anytime i had to wear them to school i was feeling sick from the time i wake up.

good memories still. i feel ya on the panty thing though. wasnt necessary for the conversation cause ya aint know how the mother stay for money to buy clothes for the chile. she just biggi up sheself and trying to mek the girl look small or the mother look poor or like she aint teking care a she pickney. thats not right

Melody said...

Brown suede an' transparent amber...like rejects from de fella wid de fish (aquarium inna de platform shoes, eh?), anytime yu had to wear de shoes... LOL! LOL! That 'nice lady' woulda call that abuse, Jdid, she woulda call de City an' report it!

Anonymous said...

Inhteresting!Extremely interesting!!