DON’ PUSH MUH!
Both my father-in-law, Dad, and my mother-in-law, whom I called Mum,enjoyed telling stories about “back home”! I wish that I had recorded some but, unfortunately,my memory will have to do. As best I ca, I will try to write them up to share on Bajan Hotsauce, although mine don’t usually end with “pass the hot sauce!”
“There was a time when a train track seemed to go roun’ de whole island of Barbados.” Mum said, “De old folks use ta say dat it was mention in de Bible cuz it was so slow…”all the creeping things”, but it got folks outs town to de country and back. But I never rode it cuz it was gone by the time I was a girl!” She went on to tell her story about the remnants of history…
“I musta been ‘bout eleven or twelve at de time. I can’t remember exactly, but I was a silly child back then. I used to go with my auntie what took care of Lucille and me, to de place where she wukked, de Atlantis. It was big stuff back then, de train even stopped right at de steps of de hotel! Well, my auntie, she wukked in the kitchen and sech, and that’s where I learned to fold napkins into wha’ looked like ducks, to help her ya know, to mek dem pretty for de tables, an’ to set the wares jes’ right for de guests.” She gazed off as if remembering a simpler, more pleasant time in her life.
“Well, sometimes when she was real busy getting the meal ready and serving the guests, I would go off with some other chil’ren what came with they mum or aunt or someone. We would find something to do, maybe make a game of ‘puss, puss, catch de corner’, or ‘four-square’, or something. But that day, there were just three of us girls and we got bored trying to play games that needed more children. So we decided to explore…”
Once again, Mum paused, deep in thought and memories. “Well, you know what I said ‘bout de train? Well, although the train din’ run no more, de tracks an’ things were still der, cuz it only jes’ stopped runnin’ a couple years ‘for my time. An’ we little ones thought nuttin’ bout makin’ mock sport ‘pon de tracks ‘n all.” Another pause.
“Anyway, dis day, when we wuz tired of foldin’ napkins an’ trying to mek up games, we decided to explore. Now de Atlantis was down Tent Bay and so we headed up toward Bathsheba. We wuz following de train line cuz it wuz a easier walk than tryin’ to walk ‘pon de road w’de donkey carts ‘n trucks ‘n all. We got all de way to Joe’s River Bridge. It was high over de gulley full of rocks ‘n all, w’ jes’ a little stream of watah, dey called a river.”
“So we started playin’ a game, pretending like we wud push each other off de bridge an’ see who cud get closest to de edge.” Mum stopped with a crackly laugh, “Wuh, laws, but we were foolish, doh! We cudda fallen down an’ been hurt! We would screech at each other, ‘Don’ push muh!’ but turn right ‘round and push again. We did that for a good time ‘til we saw the sun tellin’ us to get back to de hotel! We had to get back before de noon meal finish, so we could go home with our auntie or whatever.
When auntie hear ‘bout our foolishness at de bridge she gave me a good lickin’ and said not to ever do it again. I thought she was jes’ vexed, but den I hear ‘bout dis boy, wut happen before we time. Auntie only jes’ shared it cuz she hear about our game.
“Anyway, you know boys is more foolish dan girls?” This time her laughter was more subdued, as she thought about what she was going to share. “Well, dem boys use ta swing ‘pon de same bridge, and one day dey was swingin’ and not payin’ attention to nuttin’. Well, a train musta come long and kilt wanna dem boys, an’ de
parents tell de chil’ren to stop goin’ der to make mock sport cuz de danger! Well, we din’ go back after dat, not cuz de train, cuz de train stop by dis time, but cuz we scare each other nuff w’ de pushin’ n all!” And with that Mum finished her story to me.
Bajan hotsauce story: Jeanne author
PHOTOS: Collection by Anthony Hinds, posted on bajanthings.com, The Great Barbados Train Hike.