HE PUT A LI’L MAN ‘PON SHE
Thani was an East Indian immigrant to Barbados and, like many of the other East Indians did an import business; he dealt in imported cloth. He first started walking the streets with a valise in hand and later upgraded to a Morris Minor. He had gabardine, crimpaleen, silk, taffeta, cotton, and a mixture of wool for suits. Thani came weekly, on a Friday, to sell his wares and to collect money. Most of the villagers were very poor so Thani had a credit-like system. He would “trust” the cloth to them, and then collect a little each Friday until the debt was paid.
But Thani was also different and mysterious. He didn’t look like look the average Bajan of African descent, even though he was dark. He had straight black hair and talked funny. The children were attracted to him and he would always take time to entertain the children with magic tricks using cards and coins. The magic tricks made him seem more mysterious and even the adults in the village thought he had some special powers.
Ms. Thompson was a reclusive superstitious woman with six children and no husband. She was barely seen coming and going and her children never played in the streets. But Ms Thompson loved to dress up she children. She was a seamstress and, because she was poor, she trusted lots of cloth from Thani.
On this particular Friday afternoon, the clouds were dark and heavy and there was a downpour. The outside air was heavy and humid and there was little stir in the street. With hardly a breeze blowing, the children and animals were restless as though they sensed something was coming. Thani arrived in the village to collect payment for cloth he trusted to the villagers. As usual, the kids gathered around to look at the beautiful cloth and asked Thani to perform some tricks. He obliged them and made cards and coins disappear and turn up in some of the kids pockets. The children loved Thani and the entertainment even though they were a little scared of him.
But then it was time for the adults to select their cloth and pay on weekly trusts. Ms Thompson was next in line and stepped up to speak with Thani in a soft, wavering voice .”Mr. Thani, I en’ got nuttin’ fuh ya dis week” with a slight trembling in her voice.
“But wait, dis is four weeks now, and each week you tell me de same ting” he responded in a mixture of Bajan dialect and an East Indian twang. Thani hardly ever got upset, but today his patience seemed to run out with Ms Thompson. “Ok”, he said, as he pulled a little suspicious-looking box from under the front seat and gave it to Ms Thompson.
“Wha’ is dis you giving me”? she enquired with some concern.
“I want you to take dis box and you must never open it” Thani instructed her. “Since you owe me so much money, I gun give you something to watch over you till I come back fuh me money next week “.
Immediately, all the village children scampered from around the car, running and screaming in all directions because they feared the power of the coolie man. Ms Thompson took the box in shaking hands and retreated to her house. Once inside, she closed all the windows and doors and suddenly there were loud noises coming from the house. It sounded like furniture was dragging along the wooden floors and pots flying through the air and banging off the walls. Some windows seemed to be flapping and the children sounded like they were crying and afraid.
A large group of people gathered around the house to witness the happenings at Ms Thompson. Each time a loud noise came from the house the children ran away, then slowly came back for the next event. In the mean time, with all the commotion going on, no one noticed that Thani disappeared. He drove to Husbands rum shop to get something to eat. By this time the news had travelled throughout the village that “de coolie man put a lil’ man pun she.”
Thani walked in the rum shop and immediately the place cleared out. Thani told the shopkeeper, “Wuh all I give she was nuttin’ but an empty box to scare she, cause she owe me so much money and I know she believe in obeah!”
Both the shopkeeper and Thani broke out laughing and he could barely contain himself to order his food. Finally, after he regain his composure and told the shopkeeper to “gimme a fish cake cutter, a Ju-c – and pass de hot sauce.
Stan Brooks