Chapter 38 continues
As the conversation had continued, it had emerged that Kiah was in competition for the title of “best student” with the girl referred to as the “regulator,” who was none other than Julia Sabal, the daughter of Mrs. Jessie Lopez Sabal, Miss Millicent’s helper/housekeeper.
Matron’s earlier farming assistant, who had advanced to become one of her father’s favoured workers in connection with his sugar experiment and who had been put in charge of that project, had a younger brother to whom he had turned over the plot of land he had acquired on her recommendation, when the sugar project had grown to the stage where it occupied his attention full-time.
This brother had eventually married Miss Millicent’s helper, with whom he had had four children, the eldest being the girl Julia, who was now seventeen.
Theirs was a sad story. Miss Jessie’s Creole lover, and the father of her first child, had turned up casually after a couple years with the intention of picking up with her where he had left off; but when she had had the good sense to reject him, had spitefully taken their son away from her and gone to live in a village further south along the coast, leaving his mother behind with Miss Jessie.
Frankie Sabal, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to develop the plot passed to him by Richie, had given up after a while and gone to work as a truck driver, a job at which he had become very proficient and earned good wages. This plot of land being not far from the Bertram property, on his way to and from work he had often passed the lonely figure of Miss Jessie as she made her way between work and the small hut she had rented in the poorest section of town when she, her son and Miss Liz, his grandmother, had lived together.
Frankie Sabal became a skilled driver and a hard worker, but had one serious flaw in his makeup. He was a once-a-week alcoholic, who spent his earnings every Saturday in the barroom, stumbling home and collapsing on his front porch week after week. On Mondays he reported for work in a sober state, remaining so for the whole week until Saturday, when he collected his pay and started the spree all over again.
Eventually the two loners had come together, got married, and gone to live in the house on the plot of land near the Bertram property, and had four children before you could say “who live ya?” as the Creole saying goes. Miss Liz accompanied the new Mrs. Sabal to her home not far from her work with Miss Millicent, and the couple left her behind to keep house early each morning and returned late evening to an uneventful life until Saturday, when Frankie stumbled from the barroom, and the fireworks began.
Miss Jessie would assist him from the gate, where he usually had his first fall, and guide him onto the porch and into the main living area, where his truculence began with his seating himself in the rocking chair and loudly calling on her to bring her pay and set it on the table before him so he could prevent her from spending “their” money on foolishness. Next, she was instructed to get pencil and paper so he could make and “cost” the grocery list as she timidly answered his questions as to what was needed to last for the week. The list-making would be accompanied by bursts of soliloquy setting forth Frankie’s philosophy of spending hard-earned money: not on any stupidness that came to “oman’s” head, daring to believe that they were entitled to the proceeds of a man’s toil and sweat to spend as they have a mind! But they better not think they could take Richie Sabal’s little brother for a fool! After all, the Sabals were people with brains. Look at the confidence that had been shown in Richie by a man like Teacher Bertram, of high standing in the community, who had put his big brother in charge of the special experimental project, proving his worth and making Richie a man now handling big money!
By the time the list-making had been completed, Frankie Sabal had worked himself into a rage over how little progress a man like Richie Sabal’s younger brother had made, all because of the burden of a wife who was a breeder and had brought four children into the world for the purpose of consuming every cent he had been able to put his hand on! No account had ever been taken of his part in fathering the children or reducing their income by amounts squandered in the barroom; but the costing of the grocery list and the discovery that her wages were not enough to cover the amount required to purchase their needs invariably resulted in a cruel physical chastisement of his wife by the frustrated man with nothing to show for his hard work but demands for food.
Miss Jessie, of a docile nature and cowed by her assertive mate, made no effort at self-defence but submitted meekly to Frankie’s assaults, quietly taking “their” money and the list to the grocery when his bad behaviour had subsided, and buying whatever it could cover.
Julia, being the eldest of the children, had witnessed this Saturday ritual throughout the years, and had finally broken under the pressure of seeing her beloved mother’s brutal weekly punishment at the hands of her father, with no one daring to lift a hand in her defence, Miss Liz, the only other adult, being greatly intimidated by Frankie’s carryings on, as well as by her “survivor” status in the household. Backed by her little brother, (Frankie) Junior, at the age of twelve she had put her foot out one day and tripped her father on the way to grabbing her mother by the hair and, made unsteady by his drunken condition, he had gone sprawling on the floor. The two children had each picked up whatever came to hand to use as a weapon and, standing over Frankie Sr., threatened to batter his head if he dared get up and go after their mother.
Frankie, the man who just minutes before had been throwing blows into his wife, had started to weep in self-pity at his children’s ill-treatment of him, when all he was doing was looking after their interests!
Miss Jessie had left him weeping on the floor and, taking the list and the money, had gone off as usual to make what purchases could be covered by the funds available. All four children had remained behind with Miss Liz, the two younger ones commiserating with their father while the two champions went about tidying the house as if nothing had happened.
ooo0ooo
Lucille had given me these details of young Julia’s life in order to explain how the conversation around their supper table on Valentine’s Day that year had developed. It seems that Kiah had expressed disgust at the way Julia had taken on the role earning her the title of “regulator,” and in his account had referred to her as “long-mouth Julia Sabal.”
She related how this had aroused her beloved eldest child into the unexpected delivery of a stern reproach to her brother, commenting that a remark like that did not sound as if it could come from the mouth of anyone in their family, given the example their parents had set them in how to treat others; and when he had complained that the girl was too interfering and bossy, she had replied that his training had been to do unto others as he would have them do to him, and she was sure he would not care to be spoken of in that way.
Lucille’s opinion had been that Kiah was too proud of his accomplishments and was resentful that anyone only a year younger than he, and a female at that, had aspired to challenge his academic supremacy; and that Jewel had hit the nail right on the head when she had questioned whether he wasn’t being macho like many of the young fellows nowadays and, further, asking what was wrong with a girl trying to excel? Wasn’t that what Mam had encouraged Safira and herself to do?
She had said that she had been glad about Jewel’s challenge to Kiah, who was indeed influenced by friends in some of his ideas and attitudes, relating an incident of some years before that had restrained her from dealing with him herself.
They had had a “mauger” (meagre) crop at the milpa that year and had been hard-pressed to find money for necessities, so that Abelino had taken on extra yard-cleaning. Fortunately, the Police Department had hired him to clear a good portion of the bush behind their compound, and he had carried both Kiah and Caleb along with him after school in the evenings and on weekends, for which they had been paid.
In the course of this project, Abel had come across an old weather-worn crocus bag deep in the bush containing U.S. currency, which Lucille believed to have been the payment for the Mayan artefacts in connection with the case that had resulted in the death of Neville Enright, her first husband.
Abel had taken his discovery to Eric Coburn, who was then the first “native” Administrative Assistant in the District Commissioner’s office. The item had been sent to the capital, and nothing further had been heard of it.
During the evening referred to, Kiah had quoted one of his companions as having said that his father (i.e. Abel) had been stupid to turn over all the money to the government and not keep some for himself as a reward. Lucille’s reflex action had been to raise her hand and slap him across the mouth for daring to belittle his father by repeating the criticism, instead of taking pride in his honesty.
Everyone at the table had stopped eating and she had watched in alarm as Abel had got up from his seat, reached for his hat, and walked through the door. After some minutes she had followed him outside, and had found him sitting on the bench under the almond tree. She had asked him to please come back and finish his supper, but he had shaken his head and said that he could not do so until she had apologized to “his” son, whom she had had no right to shame like that in front of them all. She had meekly returned to the room and told Kiah how sorry she was for having humiliated him, and had asked him to go and bring his father back inside.
Admitting to me that that had been the only time she had ever struck any of her children, and that Abel had always told her that Kiah was the child most like her in temperament, had set her mind to thinking of her troubled relationship with her own mother and wondered whether he thought that she had been responsible for their difficulties. Ever since then she had left it to Abel to deal with him.
She said she had been proud of how Jewel had handled the situation, explaining to Kiah that as his big sister she wanted to make things easier for him as he went out into the world, as she and Abel had done for her. From observation she had discovered the danger of allowing friends to influence you to stray from your home training, citing how lucky she and Safira had been to have a model like her (Lucille) to follow; and they, the boys, by a father like Abel, who would never hurt anyone either behind his back or in front of his face.
(Chapter 38 continues in Tuesday’s issue of the Amandala)