HE IS A MAD MAN
It was a clear day in Bridgetown. Broad Street was crowded as folk moved like spawning salmon up and down the sidewalks. Cars seemed to be jammed door handle to door handle like a herd of buffalo in a never ending stampede. But just a short walk away from Broad Street towards the Careenage, both pedestrian and automotive traffic was merely a trickle and a healthy crowd was gathering around a commotion in progress. Several Police Officers were at the scene on the pier with police boats in the water, and the swell of onlookers growing.
Earlier in the day, Streaker, with barely a loin cloth and nothing more than a smile was playing dominoes with three of the taxi drivers across from the Parliament building. The players were engaging in a game of “cut throat”, that is, every man fuh he self. Streaker loved to play dominoes with the taxi drivers because he was entertaining when he played. Plus, with Streaker being nearly naked, the scene attracted many folk who later became customers for the taxi divers. The taxi drivers exploited Streaker, while many of them thought it was Ok to tease him about his dress and body odor.
But Streaker was once a different man. He taught elementary school for several years and was loved by his students. But often, while walking the school grounds between classes, Streaker was seen having conversations with imaginary people. As the years went by, Streaker started disappearing from the classroom more frequently. One day, after being gone for sometime, the headmaster sent a handful of students to find Streaker. He was found sitting on a large rock completely undressed just staring into space.
The students started laughing and pointing at his genitals while mocking him. “ Look at Mr. Sobers, wuh he come to! Wuh, he is a streaker out heh wid nuttin pon he tail”
The children ran back to report their discovery and Mr. Sobers was involuntarily dressed and dismissed from the school for indecent exposure. The name Streaker stuck with him as he moved about the village.
The game of dominoes was progressing as usual when one of Streaker’s students, now fully grown, thought it would be amusing to retell the story of how he found Mr. Sobers. The mindless student spared no details enjoying the reaction of the crowd where, the taxi drivers, though they had exploited Streaker, they had also protected him from ridicule. Suddenly, Streaker became very agitated and ran towards the Careenage. Several of the taxi drivers pursued him and others also tried to stop him before he dove into the Careenage. Streaker disappeared beneath the murky water while everyone watched to see what would what happen next.
Streaker surfaced after a little while, and then swam under the boardwalk. He found a very tiny opening and lodged himself between the beams just out of reach of any rescue attempts.
Streaker remained in that location for hours while the local police tried unsuccessfully to coax him out. As the crowd continued to gather, a couple of tourists stopped to enquire about the happenings.
“Officer, what on earth is going on here?” Asked one of the tourists? “Did someone drown?”
The officer glibly replied, “no, he is a mad man; he under the bridge”.
Several hours later, with the crowd all but gone, the police and some workmen dismantled a section of the boardwalk to get to Streaker. The police and crew pulled him out and sent him on his way. The taxi drivers went back to their game of dominoes, opened a can of corned beef and some soda biscuits to scoop up the corned beef.
“Man Streaker really gi dem a run fuh dey money today” said one of the taxi drivers, “yeah, he’s a real mad man” answered another. “Come leh we eat man – pass the hot sauce”.
Lessons: Mental illness is prevalent in Barbados. The subject of mental illness hardly seemed to be a priority for decades in Barbados. Rather, in my recollection, many of the mentally ill were avoided, or mocked because of their illnesses. The incident described with Streaker at the Careenage occurred in early 2016. Though most of the story was fictional, except the person under the bridge, the fact remains, that the mentally ill are just regarded as “mad men”.
Story by Stan Brooks