32.8 C
Belize City
Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

Desmond Roberts’ devious games

FeaturesDesmond Roberts’ devious games

Chapter 43
It happened that due to pressure of work Jerome was sometimes unable to leave the hospital in time to catch the regular flight at 11:30 on a Saturday morning and would have to charter a plane to get home; and it had been on one such occasion in mid-July that an incident had occurred causing a ruffle in their relationship.

A Mr. Desmond Roberts, a prominent and wealthy storeowner of East Indian extraction from their town, who had travelled to the capital on business and, like Jerome, had missed the regular flight home, had been advised by the airline company that he might seek a passage with him on the final charter flight for that day.

Jerome had graciously agreed to a sixty/forty share of the cost with him, so they had travelled together, during which time Mr. Roberts had invited him to a graduation party for his daughter that night, requesting that he bring his “little” wife with him, having learnt of his recent marriage.

As an aside, I put the word in italics because in relating what had transpired Jewel had confided how she had felt belittled by his persistent use of that word in referring to her when his wife and daughter were even smaller in size than she.

Believing it might prove a pleasant diversion for Jewel, who very rarely participated in the social activities of the town on her own, Jerome had urged her to accompany him while he took advantage of the opportunity to discuss with his host an offer he had made to explore ways in which they could create opportunities for the young people in the town for higher education beyond what was presently offered, this being a well-known preoccupation of Jerome and his family, who often utilized the Bertram Fund for just such a purpose.

To please him Jewel had overcome her shyness and dressed herself in one of Gertrude’s new creations; and when he had seen her he had teased that she looked too beautiful to share with strangers so he thought he would change his mind and they would stay home. She wished he had meant it seriously she had said, but he had eventually telephoned for Mr. Valerio’s taxi to take them to the Roberts’ home off the Southern road.

When they had arrived they had been met by the host and his wife and led into a large room with tables surrounding a dance area, and were invited to sit at one of the tables and/or to dance if they wished while that gentleman organized their discussion session.

Jewel had described the guests as being a large, noisy crowd of elite white or light-skinned adults most of whom she had never seen before, all dressed in the latest styles, eating, drinking and dancing to a “name brand” band from the capital. It had struck her as strange that she had not seen any young persons of graduating age among them, until the guest of honour had appeared later on along with a young friend, the two of whom she had recognized as probably the pair she had overheard Kiah and some of his classmates, who were of the same graduating class, describe as the “clique,” although they were only two.

They had spoken of the girl who had attended their school for only the last term of the year, having previously lived and gone to school in the capital, as well as in the Caribbean; and who had taken under her wing and monopolized the attention of the darker companion she had met at the school, with whom she had formed the alliance regarded by them as a clique because of their alienation of the rest of the class and their holding and aggressively expressing the same opinion on all matters.

In the meantime Jerome had escorted her to the floor where they had joined others engaged in dancing to a slow ballad; and, soon after they had reached back to their table, their host had appeared with the two young ladies, loudly outlining the course of action to be followed: the girls were to escort Jerome to the “office area” for their discussion, and he was sure that Jerome’s “little” wife would not mind being separated from her husband, which would not be for too long! In the meantime she could enjoy herself watching the dancing and his staff would look after her.

With hardly a pause in his rattling off of the plans the action had begun: the daughter hooking an arm into Jerome’s and starting off, trailed by her companion, and the host disappearing in another direction. She had watched helplessly, stunned by the young girl’s commandeering of her husband, later observing to me that not even she, who was married to him, would have dared to “hook” Jerome like that; but had noticed with satisfaction a little later that he had stood still and addressed a few words to the girl, who had removed her arm and walked forward while he and her companion had followed in single file.

Soon she had been left sitting alone at the table, while around her was bustling, noise, music and dancing. As she looked on Jerome had appeared on the dance floor for a short turn first with Celia Roberts, the daughter, and, afterwards, her friend, retiring through a door at far left as suddenly as he had appeared. She had had the odd feeling that their host was somewhere directing the movements of a performance of which he alone had the master plan, and a feeling of resentment against him had begun to emerge when she had found herself alone surrounded by merrymakers.

ooo0ooo

Before they had left home Jerome had promised that they would stay for only about two hours and she kept consulting her watch, longing for the time to pass quickly. They had arrived at about nine o’clock and their host had hustled him off with the two girls about half an hour later. Counting from nine-thirty, then, she had calculated that they should be away by eleven-thirty.

At about ten fifteen she had looked up to find Jerome’s hand on her shoulder as he had slipped into the vacant seat at their table, and had heard his quietly spoken words that their host had not yet settled down to any discussion but had been in and out of the room introducing various relatives and inviting him to “show them a few steps,” and offering him a variety of tea flavours to sample. He had become impatient with the lack of action and had proposed that they leave after another half hour. As they had taken the trouble to dress and come some distance out of town, however, she had urged greater patience on his part; and he had taken her advice but showed her how she could reach him, requesting that she come for him if for any reason she got tired and wanted to leave. Taking heart that he was as anxious as she was to get away, she had resolved to have more patience herself, in the hope that a useful purpose might still be served.

####

A few minutes after he left her she had watched as he had entered the dance area again, this time with a tall woman wearing a long silver and white gown she had overheard voices around her identify as the recently divorced sister of their host’s wife. She had looked away in distaste as the woman, nearly as tall as Jerome, had placed one arm around his neck, settling into an intimate pose as a slow piece of music had started to play. She had taken a quick glance back at the duo, however, and been relieved to see him standing with his arms at his side awaiting the return of the woman, who was speaking with the bandleader. Soon a lively tune had started to play and, when the woman had returned, Jerome had taken her in a conventional pose for a short turn on the floor before retiring from where they had come.

####

During what seemed to be an intermission in the dancing, two young ladies in waitress uniforms had appeared near to Jewel, carrying a large tray laden with platters of food, desserts and drinks, which they had placed on the table before her; but as the overpowering odours had assaulted her nostrils she, who refrained from food after seven o’clock at night because of her condition, had reacted with an involuntary exclamation, later explaining to the servers that she couldn’t eat anything so would they please take it all away rather than let the food go to waste.

Taken aback at what might have seemed to them a rejection of the lavish treat their employer had requested they provide to his guest, the two servers had grumbled about her behaviour, including an unkind quote of the saying that “when table napkin tu’n tablecloth table cyan hold ahn,” loudly enough for her to hear.

Investigating the commotion, the supervisor, who turned out to be Miss Amanda, (who worked and lived at Nurse Pauline’s establishment along with her two children, and was known as her right-hand), had recognized Jewel, and exclaiming: “Oh, it’s Nurse,” had rushed to her aid, sternly reprimanding the discourteous pair, some of whose remarks she had overheard also, and had taken over attendance on Jewel herself, bringing her a glass of iced water at her request. She had conversed with her for a while and had coaxed her into tasting a sliver of the graduation cake.

Unsettled by all the unpleasantness to which she had been exposed since arriving at the Roberts’ home Jewel had still held on, praying for Jerome to complete his business and come to take her home; but, unfortunately, fate had not been through with her for that night.

ooo0ooo

When eleven-thirty had finally arrived Jewel had gone in search of the powder-room to prepare herself for departure, but returned to her table to find it occupied by two couples who had pulled up extra chairs and appeared unaware that they had taken her place and left her stranded. Searching for somewhere to sit while waiting for Jerome she had noticed an alcove surrounding a sewing-machine further back in the room, and had sat in the chair in front of it leafing through a style book.

Not long after, she had been approached by a stranger identifying himself as a volunteer teacher at the high school, boldly inviting her to be his partner on the dance floor. Declining as politely as she could, with the explanation that she was “expecting,” he, misunderstanding her meaning, had commented that the person she was expecting deserved to lose his turn for his neglect of such a pretty young lady. Raising the style book so he could see from the ring on her finger that she was married, she had hastened to enlighten him about the meaning of the term she had used, and that it was not the custom for women in that condition to dance with anyone but their spouse. Apologising for his mistake he had lightly remarked on her husband’s laxity in leaving such a good-looking wife as a temptation to male passersby. Alarmed by the word, Jewel had sprung up from her seat and quickly crossed to the other side of the room, saying as she went that she did not want to be a temptation to anyone, and he had left in search of another partner.

She had taken a seat on a long sofa against the wall, at one end of which had been seated a very slender, elderly man resting an arm on the sofa handle and trying to keep awake. He had identified himself as the graduating girl’s grandfather and tried to engage Jewel in a shouting conversation.

As he had continued to speak to her she had moved nearer so she could answer at normal voice level; and had been subjected to an informal inquisition from the old man, who had admitted recognizing her as the doctor’s recent bride, and had proceeded to fire off several personal questions at her such as how lucky she must feel that an ordinary nurse such as she had gained a husband of such high standing in the medical services of the country, as well as being the Bertram grandson and heir to their wealth and properties; observing, further, that people were wondering if she had used “do-so (obeah} to achieve this. At a loss how to deal with such rudeness, Jewel had taken refuge in silence and had returned to her earlier place on the sofa; while the old man, having relieved himself of his curiosity, had started nodding off again, his body drooping into its earlier position.

Taking pity on him after a while, Jewel had suggested that it would probably be best that he go to his bed; but he had explained that his bedroom was being used as a cloakroom for the party and coats and wraps were piled on it. Hearing this Jewel had encouraged him to lie down and stretch out his legs; and, to make him more comfortable, had removed his shoes and put some cushions under his head. There being enough space, she had returned to the extreme end of the sofa, from which vantage point she had been able to view her former table in case Jerome showed up.

When there had been no sign of him, after some time she had looked around and seen an open doorway leading to a long and narrow balcony and had decided to get some fresh air then return to the room from time to time to check. She had become more and more uneasy when each time she checked he had been nowhere to be seen, although the crowd had begun to thin out a little; so at ten minutes before twelve had decided to go in search of him if he did not show up in the next five minutes.

Returning to the balcony, she had looked around to see if she could find a stool to sit on during her final wait, and that was when she realized that at the far end there was a stationary wooden swing with someone sitting in it. It was too dark to see clearly, but she had heard a male voice directing her to the light switch on the right of the doorway and suggesting that she turn it on. When she had done so, she had made out a young, light-skinned male, with a cast on his left leg from ankle to hip, sitting in the swing, his injured limb resting on a low stool.

He had called her by her married name, inviting her to sit on the seat next to him if she was tired, apologizing for monopolizing the only stool. Admitting that she had been unaware of his presence before, she had walked over and, thanking him, rested on the edge of the seat, “for five minutes,” she had told him.

(Chapter 43 continues in Tuesday’s issue of the Amandala)

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International