Уильям Николсон - Motherland

‘There are other kinds of empire,’ says Larry. ‘What’s your view of our American owners?’

‘Gangsters, the lot of them!’

‘So are we gangsters too?’

‘Not in the United class. They wrote the book. You have to hand it to those boys. Did you hear about how Zemurray got Bonilla in as President of Honduras? One yacht, a case of rifles, three thousand rounds of ammunition, and a bruiser called Machine Gun Maloney. Those were the days.’

Larry relaxes in the warm evening air, tired after the long voyage, made dreamy by rum. A brown lizard scurries across the porch before him, to disappear over the side. The bougainvillea is in brilliant bloom on the slopes below the house. Then as he watches, a hummingbird passes, hanging briefly in the air before him.

‘There,’ says Cecil. ‘That’s a real Jamaican welcome.’

The bird has a tiny bright green body and a long red bill. As Larry watches, it jumps back and forth in the air before him, and then flits away into the purple blossoms.

‘This is paradise, Cecil.’

Larry realises sitting on that porch that he is at ease in a way he hasn’t been for many months. He chooses not to explore this realisation. Enough to enjoy it while it lasts.

Cecil takes him on a tour of the plantations. Many have been hit by Panama disease, a fungus that attacks the roots of the banana plants. He finds a vigorous programme under way of rooting out the diseased Gros Michel plants, and replacing them with the Panama-resistant Lacatan variety. He watches the plantation workers cutting the heavy stems of green bananas, and carrying them long distances to the collection points. He talks to them about the work, but can get very little out of them.

‘They think you’ll sack them if they complain,’ says Cecil.

‘I won’t sack you,’ says Larry.

‘Sacking is nothing,’ says Cecil. ‘In Guatemala the United people shoot them if they complain.’

They laugh at that.

‘I won’t shoot you either, I promise. But I do want to know if you think the company’s treating you fairly.’

They shrug and look down at the hard earth.

‘It’s a job,’ says one.

The others nod in agreement.

‘Could you get a better job?’

‘Not today.’

‘But maybe one day?’

They all give cautious nods, watching to see if he minds.

‘One day Jamaica will be independent,’ Larry says. ‘Will everything be better then?’

They shrug and remain silent.

‘Come on, Joseph,’ says Cecil. ‘You don’t usually sit on your tongue.’

‘Well, sir,’ says Joseph. He strokes the fruit on the stem of bananas beside him. ‘I don’t see no one like me getting rich.’

‘So when independence comes,’ says Larry, ‘you’ll ask us to go.’

A great shaking of heads greets the suggestion.

‘Fyffes leave Jamaica? Never!’

Rumbling across the island’s rutted roads in Cecil’s company jeep, the warm wind in his hair, Larry tries out the idea that has been forming in his mind for weeks now. He describes his vision of a company where every employee feels valued.

‘Won’t make a blind bit of difference,’ Cecil says. ‘They’ll carry on just the same as ever.’

‘But why? If we improve their pay, their benefits?’

‘Whatever you give them they’ll take gladly, but they’ve got people telling them every day that we get rich on their backs. They’re comfortable being dissatisfied. They wouldn’t know how to be content with their lot.’

‘Why should they be so different to us?’

‘Who says they’re different to us? Hell, I’m dissatisfied. Improve my pay and my benefits if you want.’

Larry likes Cecil. He strikes him as a man who is at ease with himself. Sharing the evening meal with him, watching the pleasure he takes in his food, he returns to the subject of his dream company.

‘There just has to be a way for people to work together in a business the way they work together in a regiment, or in a football team. Where every success is a success for all. Why does there have to be this feeling that one man’s gain is another man’s loss?’

‘Because one man’s richer than another.’

‘I don’t agree. I think everyone understands about differentials in pay. They don’t expect everyone to get the same. They know some people are cleverer, or harder working, or more burdened with responsibility than others. Not everyone wants to be the boss. What everyone does want is to feel respected and valued in their work. They want to be proud of their company, and know that their company is proud of them. They want to be known as individuals, not bought and sold like cattle. They want their work to give meaning to their life.’

Cecil gazes across the table at Larry with a puzzled but affectionate look.

‘I think you really mean it,’ he says.

‘Why shouldn’t I?’

‘Well, you’re up against human nature, aren’t you? Deep down, people are shits.’

‘Are you a shit? Because I assure you I’m not.’

‘You’re a good man, Larry Cornford. Like your father before you. God bless you. I pray you don’t get too hurt.’

Larry bids farewell to Cecil Owen and sails from Kingston to New Orleans, on a ship of the Great White fleet. New Orleans is now the headquarters of the United Fruit Company. Given Larry’s position in Fyffes, inexperienced but marked for leadership, his father has thought it necessary for him to meet the president of the parent company, the legendary Sam Zemurray. However when Larry presents himself at United’s handsome headquarters on St Charles Avenue, he finds he is scheduled to meet a vice-president of the company called James D. Brunstetter.

‘Call me Jimmy. Great to meet you, Larry. We have a high regard for your father, as I’m sure you know. He doesn’t go for the quick buck, but a slow buck is still a buck, right?’

He’s a small man in his sixties who chain-smokes and talks fast.

‘So you’ve been in Jamaica. Did you meet Jack Cranston, our main man there? You’d like Jack, everyone likes Jack. So how old are you, Larry?’

‘I’m thirty-two, sir.’

‘Well now, I wasn’t around when your grandfather did the deal with Andy Preston, but as I understand it, the deal went like this. Back us, leave us alone, and we’ll make you money. Is that how you understand it?’

‘Exactly how I understand it.’

‘Then we’ll get along just fine. There’s only one rule in business. Just keep making money. That way no one’s going to bother you. Now what can I do for you? You want to check out our operation here? You want to take a look at our docks?’

‘I’d like that very much.’

‘I’ll take a stroll with you myself. The Thalia Street wharf is only a hop and skip away. Grab your hat, young man.’

Jimmy Brunstetter walks as fast as he talks. By the time they reach the wharf Larry is sweating freely in the humid heat.

The United wharf is three times the size of the Fyffes’ wharf at Avonmouth. Lines of men walk one behind the other, each with a stem of bananas on their shoulder, forming a ceaseless stream from ship to store. Two ships are docked, each one being unloaded by specialist cranes.

‘You know how many stems we bring in each year?’ says Brunstetter. ‘Twenty-three million. You heard of Miss Chiquita Banana? Sure you have. We’re labelling the fruit now, every hand, with the Chiquita brand.’

‘My grandfather did the same with the Fyffes blue label, in ’29.’

‘Okay! So you got there ahead of us. Good for you.’

They enter the welcome cool of the transit shed. All down the long aisles stems of green bananas hang from racks as far as the eye can see.