Kerry Young - Pao

‘His eyes too pale and shifty and I don’t trust him. I only mentioning him to you because he come ’round yesterday and I think I should tell you.’

‘You ever actually hear anything ’bout him make you think him risky? Anything like he lazy or he cheat you?’

‘No.’

‘So what you got against the man?’

Finley screw up his nose and look at me outta the corner of his eye and say, ‘Something I don’t like ’bout the way he smell.’

‘He smell?’

‘No.’

‘Then you got to give the man a chance to prove himself. If he don’t work out we let him go. He need the money and fair is fair.’

Finley wait a good long time and he swallow a good few oysters before he say to me, ‘You spending too much time with the Father.’

In 1961 they have a referendum to see if we should come outta the West Indies Federation because although Norman Manley think it good for Jamaica to be part of a united voice for the thirteen English-speaking Caribbean islands, Busta say Jamaica got a big-island mentality and we should go it alone. He say that the smaller islands going drag us down. So Manley call the referendum and lose, and we pull outta the Federation.

After that it was full steam ahead for Independence. And in February 1962 Manley and Busta go up to England to ask Her Majesty the Queen to let us go and she say yes. So that was it, Independent Jamaica.

There was so much excitement I couldn’t hardly believe it. Lord Creator even make up a calypso ’bout how good Independence was going to be for all of us.

Then one hot afternoon Round Chin granddaughter come to see me. She called Merleen and she come to the shop still wearing her school uniform. As soon as I see her standing in the doorway like that I knew it was trouble. The girl look like she was shivering even though it must have been a hundred degrees outside. So I tell her to come in and send Hampton to fetch her something cool to drink.

She settle herself and drink down the lemonade and that is when she start to cry. Just some little drops outta the corner of her eye and she take out a pretty little kerchief with a flower embroider on the edge and she mop her face. She just dab it, ladylike. And I wait because it obvious that there ain’t no point rushing this child. Then she say, ‘Uncle, I hope you don’t mind me coming to see you like this but I hear tell that you help people and I got my fingers crossed that maybe you can help me.’

I look at her and I see she not shivering because she cold, she shivering because she ’fraid. So I say, ‘Is alright. You can tell me what you want.’

‘I came here to the shop because my grandfather is always at your house playing dominoes with Uncle Zhang and I can’t have anybody know that I came to see you.’

I just look at her and nod my head. And then I give Hampton a look that let him know it time to make himself scarce. After Hampton gone, she carry on.

‘I hope you don’t think me rude but whether you decide to help me or not I have to ask you to promise you will keep the secret I am going to tell you.’

‘Well it depend on what that secret is, because it might work out that I got to go tell somebody so that I can help you.’

‘I think that if my grandfather finds out he will kill me.’

‘Maybe you better just tell me what it is you have on your mind and we can figure it out from there.’

So she tell me. And I listen. And I think yes she right. She in a bad situation, and if all of this get out Mr Chin most likely coming to me to fix it and that prospect I didn’t fancy none.

So I ask her, ‘How old you now?’ And she say twelve and I say, ‘Who else yu tell ’bout this?’

‘No one, I just came to you.’

‘Good. So we keep it that way then. You come here this time tomorrow and I have somebody come see you. You don’t worry no more. You just leave this with me.’ And that is when she really start to bawl. She grab my hand like she going kiss it but all she do is hold it to her cheek and keep saying, ‘Thank you, thank you,’ till I tell her is time she better be getting home. But even when she leaving the shop she still crying like she never going to stop. I think it was relief more than anything had that girl sobbing like that.

Next day Morrison ask Merleen a lot of questions and then him take her ’round back and examine her. And when she leave him tell me, ‘Yes, it seems most likely that she is pregnant.’ But him done take some urine and blood sample so he can go check for sure.

So I say to him, ‘So what you going to do?’

‘What do you mean, what am I going to do?’

‘What you going do to get rid of it?’

‘I’m not going to get rid of it! That is against the law.’

‘What you talking ’bout against the law? She twelve years old and pregnant! Who you think been breaking the law?’

‘I am a doctor. I have taken an oath. It is against the law.’

‘So how come you no worried ’bout the law when you working over East Kingston?’

‘That is an entirely different situation. Those women are well, they are what they are, and this girl here is an innocent child.’

‘That is right, she is an innocent child and when her grandfather find out he going kill her for sure. So then she going be a dead innocent child. Is that the blood you want on yu hands?’

Morrison look at me and then him say, ‘Maybe Margaret can do something.’

‘No, man! Nobody got to know ’bout this. You have to come up with something better than that.’

‘When did it become my responsibility?’

‘When you refuse to get rid of it. I already promise this girl that we going fix it. So now you have to do something, yu hear me?’

So the next day Morrison come to me and say he and his wife going adopt the baby and I say no. But then he plead with me ’bout how Margaret want a baby and I know how important it is to her and how she make a good mother and how she will love the baby and look after it and treat it good and how he already tell her that he sure I going let her have the baby.

‘Yu mad? Yu completely lose your mind? I can’t let you adopt that baby. What you going use for papers? We not registering that baby in Merleen Chin name, yu understand me?’

‘No, I can fix that. I’ll register the baby at the hospital and say that the mother died in childbirth. Father unknown.’

‘No, man.’

‘No, I have it all worked out. I have a house up in the hills in Cedar Valley. Margaret and Merleen will live up there and I will go up at weekends to check on them and look after Merleen, and deliver the baby when it comes due. And afterwards everybody will come back to Kingston.’

I just look at him in complete disbelief even though he standing there looking so hopeful.

‘I thought yesterday yu tell me yu not going break no law, now today yu going falsify documents up at the hospital?’

‘Margaret wants the baby.’

‘She want this half-Chinese baby so bad?’

‘This is her chance. It is not going to happen any other way.’

So I say OK but we can’t settle nothing till I talk to Merleen ’bout it. She have to agree as well because right now she think we going get rid of it.

And he say OK. And then I say to him, ‘So what you expect me to tell Mr Chin ’bout what Merleen doing up in Cedar Valley?’

‘Surely you don’t expect me to think of everything?’

I see he got a point so I say OK and leave it at that.

So now I have to go do something ’bout Merleen’s baby father, a English army captain from up the camp. And as it turn out, Morrison know him. Meet him at some cocktail party at Kings House and I think yes that about right because these white people always like to stick together.