Junglevue

© 2010, 2011 Alvin Savage. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 04/27/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-3059-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-3058-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-3057-4 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011901239

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

Jungle in the Ghetto?

Chapter 2

I Left Home

Chapter 3

Moving in the Ghetto

Chapter 4

Rain in the Ghetto

Chapter 5

Living in the Ghetto

Chapter 6

Trouble in the Ghetto

Chapter 7

Ghetto Blame

Chapter 8

No Hope in the Ghetto

Chapter 9

No Informer in the Ghetto

Chapter 10

Ghetto Life

Chapter 11

Ghetto Lesson

Chapter 12

Ghetto Mom

Chapter 13

Born to Live in The Ghetto

Chapter 14

Ghetto Siblings

Chapter 15

Ghetto (Market) Day

Chapter 16

Church in the Ghetto

Chapter 17

Salvation in the Ghetto

Chapter 18

What is a Ghetto?

Chapter 19

Morning in the Ghetto

Chapter 20

Twilight in the Ghetto

Chapter 21

Midnight in the Ghetto

Chapter 22

Christmas in the Ghetto

Chapter 1

Jungle in the Ghetto?

In the jungle trees abound;

Many creatures may be found;

Rules aren’t clear and it would seem

Survivors have to be so mean

That if they start they will arrive,

And once they win they must survive.

In the jungle life is rough;

Everything just seems so tough;

To alter anything at all

Is a task that is not small,

And may require so much skill,

That in the end takes all your will.

The ghetto is a jungle true

And there is little you can do;

In the ghetto right is wrong;

The one who breaks the law is strong;

To get ahead you can’t be kind

Or you’ll be taken from behind.

Jason had just come in through the gate and was about to enter the house when he heard, Run, run, run! A man ran from the street through the partially opened gate and paused momentarily a few meters from Jason. He stared at Jason with what appeared to be terrified, but kind eyes then repeating his command to run, he dashed towards the back of the house, jumped over an adjoining fence and disappeared from Jason’s view.

Frightened, Jason wondered why the man had told him to run, yet had not given him any reason to do so. Suddenly conscious of another sound he had vaguely heard, Jason wondered if the sound could have been gunfire. If so it was quite some distance down the road. If the man had been running from the location of the sound how could he have reached this far so quickly?

As if in answer to his concerns he heard the sounds made by several vehicles moving together. One after another they came to a screeching halt near his gate and several police officers ran towards him while others ran into adjoining yards shouting, Which way did he go? He did not stop to speculate on whether they knew the man had come into his yard. Instead Jason pointed towards the rear of the house and noticed that his finger was trembling.

Get inside, another of the officers shouted, and don’t come out. He paused momentarily to ensure that Jason obeyed, then dashed to the back of the house after the other officers and he too disappeared into the twilight.

Two other officers remained at the gate as if ensuring that people from the adjacent houses did not swarm into the yard and hamper the operations of the police. Jason could still hear the other officers knocking down any objects that happened to be in their way as they hurried after the man.

Curious neighbors peeped through windows, hidden behind worn curtains, as they tried to figure out what was going on. But they knew better than to come out on the streets with so many police officers around.

Jason had just come home from school and was about to enter the house when the man had run into the yard. Still shaking from the encounter, he pushed the door open and stepped inside the house. As he did so he heard the sounds of other vehicles stopping at the gate. There was a brief discussion and the vehicles drove off with tires screeching and sirens blaring.

Jason kept seeing the man’s face and eyes that seemed as dark as night. Why was the man telling him to run? He had never seen the man before, but those were not the eyes of a criminal. Those were kind eyes, Jason thought. What did the man do to have such a large contingent of police officers on his trail? He switched on the light, but remembered that his mother had told him that during any police activity he should never turn on the light as it offered a target to both sides. Quickly he pressed the light switch down, cutting off the light, but the darkness seemed more pronounced than before and he fumbled his way to the kitchen and felt for the stool on which he sat while trying to regain his composure.

Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the dark and he could make out the objects in the kitchen including the plate with his dinner. His mother always left his dinner in the same spot before leaving for her cleaning job at the public hospital a few miles from home. If he got home early it would be warm, but sometimes when he got home late it would be very cold. Tonight it was very cold. In the circumstances however, there was no question of heating it. This would require lighting the kerosene stove, getting a pot and heating the dinner, then washing the pot before going to bed. The stove usually smoked terribly, causing considerable discomfort to the eyes, and making it necessary to leave the kitchen much of the time while it was in operation. Tonight he could not go outside, thus lighting the stove was out of the question.

Jason started eating the cold dinner. He had stopped for Physical Education (PE) training after school and the long walk home usually took about one and a half hours. His school was located all the way across town and even by bus it would take several hours because the bus travelled around the town, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, literally stopping at every bus stop. But taking the bus was not an option open to Jason. After the first day in high school his mother had told him matter-of-factly: Son, you will just have to walk. I don’t have any money.

Jason never argued with his mother. He walked to and from school daily and was hardly ever late.

The sounds of the police gradually died down and the officers outside were taken away by a police vehicle. Without so much as a word to anyone the police left and the tenants in the yard came outside and began discussing what had happened. Jason stayed inside and tried to do his homework, but soon fell asleep.

*****

Hi, Jason, come here. It was Phillip. Jason had just finished his dinner and was sitting inside his room listening to the television news on his neighbor’s television. His mother could not afford a TV and it was not convenient to go to the neighbor’s apartment, so he made a habit of listening through the wall. True, he could not see the pictures, but he could hear enough to make sense.

Phillip called again. Jason, what are you doing? Come outside for a minute. His voice was much louder this time. Jason got up reluctantly and went to the door.

What is it, Phillip? I was just getting ready to start my homework. He walked down the two steps that led from the verandah and stood waiting on Phillip, wondering why he had come to see him so late. Well, it was only seven o’clock, but Phillip lived about two miles farther up the road and it was certainly not safe to be on the streets after dark.

Did you hear about the police raid last night? They captured a man who is wanted for murder. They say someone tipped off the police and they cornered him a couple of streets away, not too far from here. Phillip sat on an old box under the mango tree near the house and Jason sat beside him, still wishing he could go inside and listen to the news.

Did they say what his name was? he asked Phillip.

No. They say that he is not from around here and he was just taking refuge, probably running away from the police. Seems like his luck ran out. I hear that they beat him badly before taking him to Central.

Phillip probably sensed that Jason was a bit tired and asked about PE training. How was the training? I just could not make it today. Hope Coach is not mad with me. He looked at Jason, who looked like he was ready to fall asleep.

It was good, but I am really tired and am aching all over.

You should be fit as a fiddle by now. You train every day. Phillip looked at Jason again. I wish I had your discipline. But I can’t stay so late after school. I have other things that I want to do. I suspect that Coach is quite angry with me. He paused. To tell you the truth, I can’t take so much pressure. Every chance I get I am gone. But I am running out of excuses.

Well, I want our school to win champs this year and I would like to win a couple of medals, myself. What it would be to collect a gold medal! He closed his eyes for a brief moment, as if relishing the idea.

Really? I have much better things to dream about, Phillip replied. No way am I going to kill myself with that kind of training. No way! he repeated.

The yard was faintly illuminated by the street light coming from a lamp a little distance from Jason’s house. A number of the street lights had been intentionally damaged and had not been replaced for some time, resulting in the street being poorly lit and some places being really dark. Children were repeatedly told to keep off the streets at night, but for many the road was the only playfield they had and night was the only time when it was cool enough to play.

Jason was discouraged from playing on the street either day or night, but Phillip seemed to have no difficulty or restrictions from his parents. Sensing that Jason was really tired, Phillip decided to leave. Relieved, Jason watched him go then went back inside intending to complete his homework while listening to the neighbor’s TV, but he soon fell asleep.

*****

Most of the houses on the street were constructed in the early part of the twentieth century when Kingston began expanding as the centre of trade and commerce. For the most part the houses were well designed: located on the typical city lot with spacious front lawn and large back yard suitable for gardening. The main house consisted of three bedrooms set on one level, with living and separate dining areas and a long verandah enclosing the front of the house.

In some cases a garage was included, which was sometimes used as storage areas, but more recent designs included the car port, which differed from the garage in that it was essentially open, more modern and required less material.

A helper’s area was standard feature of these houses, as well as facilities for a gardener, however these were later converted into one or two bedroom flats and utilized as a source of income for some home owners. As the rural-urban migration intensified, the demand for housing accommodation increased and some of these houses were converted into apartments and rented to several persons in order to maximize returns. The practice resulted in large numbers of persons living in a small geographic space called tenement yard.

In many of these tenement yards various social problems developed among residents. Conflicts became the order of the day and in many cases the original owners tried to relocate to areas that were less populated, such as upper St. Andrew, and later into parts of St. Catherine. The result was a rapid deterioration in the property values of many of these formerly upscale communities, which eventually became so run down and crime infested that they earned the name ghettoes. Gradually the people developed cultural practices that were completely at variance from the normal society creating suspicion, discomfort and fear within the mainstream society and inability and probably unwillingness to understand and address the associated problems.

The changing fortunes of many home owners resulted in even further problems, thus over the space of several decades the face of Kingston changed drastically from a simple developing city to a complex metropolis with differing behavior patterns from one location to another.

This was the scene that greeted Jason’s mother when she arrived in Kingston in the early 1960’s to get away from the rural poverty that she had experienced throughout her young life. She stayed with a family friend for two weeks while she tried to get a job as a live-in domestic helper, but after two weeks of unsuccessful search the friend asked her to leave. The friend told her that it was better to return to the country where fruit trees abounded and it was always possible to find something to eat. In this yard, she said, not even grass is to be found.

In desperation Jason’s mother gave in to the first opportunity to get off the streets. The result was Jason, but the shock came when she realized that the boyfriend had nowhere to accommodate her and she was still on the street with nowhere to go. A lady saw her on the street one day and offered her a job as a domestic helper, washing and cleaning, but only for three days per week, thus it did not include living accommodation. Desperate and now several months pregnant with Jason, she gladly accepted. Her job included washing on Mondays, ironing on Wednesdays and cleaning on Fridays. At the end of the day she pretended to leave the premises, but instead hid and slept in the laundry area, which was in a separate block about twenty to thirty feet from the main house.

One night she woke up to labor pains followed by loud uncontrollable screams, which awoke her employers. They were shocked into quick action, which probably saved her life and that of Jason’s. Jason did not know the full story, and the little he knew made him worry about his mother. As he got dressed for school he wondered about his father. He wanted to ask his mother if he had ever come by or whether she knew where he was, but, unwilling to add to her pain, Jason had refrained.

*****

Jason left early for school. His friend, Phillip usually took the bus so he left home much later. Jason never told Phillip that he walked the four or five miles to school each day. Phillip would probably think he was crazy. Once Phillip had been absent from school and when Jason asked him why, he said that he had missed the bus and so he had returned home. Each afternoon Jason had slipped away from his classmates and, taking a shortcut across the playfield he would hurry across town using several routes away from the main. He passed through areas that many Kingstonians would be afraid to venture in, but unknown to him the townsmen ensured that he was not harmed.

Jason rushed into his yard and pushed the door of the communal bathroom. The door was closed and a gruff voice from within told him to await his turn. He gritted his teeth as he waited patiently for his turn. The bathroom consisted of two compartments: a toilet and a shower. The toilet consisted of a bowl without a seat or cover and a flushing pan mounted high on the wall. A chain hung from the bowl and was used to release water to flush the toilet after use.

The communal shower was made by installing a half inch pipe into the wall. A galvanized elbow was connected to the pipe and channeled the water downwards to the user. The floor was of concrete with a floor drain that allowed the water to run outside where it was absorbed into the ground. Recently it had started to accumulate around the entrance to the shower and someone had placed a piece of wooden plank in front to avoid stepping into the stagnant water.

Jason had begun to use the PE facilities at school to take a shower after training most evenings, but on week ends he was forced to use the shower at home. He realized that his mother used similar facilities at work to avoid using this uncomfortable facility. He hoped for the day when he would be able to leave this place.

To her credit, Jason’s mother had asked a carpenter to make a little wooden stand on which she stood when using the shower. For this and other improvements she had tried to initiate, the neighbors had branded her ‘Miss Uppity’. According to them, she was behaving as if she were better than they were. But she did not seem to mind as she kept encouraging her son to work hard at school and get a good education.

*****

The first day of each month was D day. The representative of the landlord came and collected from the tenants money for rent, electricity and water usage. He would walk to each door and knock. Each tenant would be given a piece of paper outlining what he or she should pay for the current period. This usually resulted in loud shouts of dissent, but the collector was adamant.

Would you prefer that I give you notice? he would say nonchalantly and with his free hand pointing at the tenant he would turn as if to go. Not wanting to risk being asked to leave, the tenant would hurry inside and return shortly with the money.

When he came to Jason’s mother his countenance changed noticeably:

Miss Nellie, he would say, how are you today? It is such a nice day. I see your son is doing fine in school. He is such a well behaved young man; I am sure he is going to be a very successful man some day.

Jason could never understand why he behaved so differently with his mother. But his mother never paused.

Morning Mr. Jakes, she would say. Please let me have the paper.

After looking at the figures she would challenge him.

I don’t have any electrical appliances, and I am not home most of the time, so how come I have to pay so much for electricity and water? She stared at him accusingly. If you keep robbing the poor God will judge you really hard.

Mr. Jakes looked at her accusing eyes and flinched, but said nothing. She shook her head, turned and went inside and soon returned with the money.

Thank you, Miss Nellie, he said sheepishly. You have a good day now. I wish I could have some of your Sunday dinner, but duty calls. He turned and walked quickly through the gate.

Jason heard the other tenants mumbling under their breath: One said: Old trickster. Another said, We want our own bills so we can see if you are robbing us. Still another one said a bit louder, Your boss’ll soon fire you, you old cheat. By which time Mr. Jakes was well out of earshot.

*****

Chapter 2

I Left Home

I left from home to find a way

To overcome the poverty

Of generations one to three,

They all preceded me.

I wrestled with myself all day

Until I heard my conscience say:

This is no place for you, my boy;

For in the jungle there’s no joy.

What is a jungle, you may raise?

Is it a constant, or a phrase?

Is it a place you’d want to go,

Or just a name for a ghetto?

Phillip, come inside and make up your bed, Mrs. Campbell looked at Phillip sitting under the large mango tree. Right now! she emphasized.

Coming, Mama, Phillip said, without even turning his head. He made himself more comfortable as he listened to rock music from the small transistor radio beside him. Gosh, he thought. Mama is so fussy. Sunday is for fun and relaxation. The bed can stay for awhile. After all, no one is going inside my room. No one would ever know that his bed was unmade, and had been for the entire week.

His sister was helping with the Sunday breakfast and his father had gone to church. He found church boring and contradictory. He had watched two church sisters fighting on the steps of the church near his home just after service one night. He was shocked at what they were saying to each other; they screamed while rebuking each other in Jesus’ name, while the other members seemed quite content to watch and listen to them disgrace themselves and the church. Later he had overheard two other women saying that they were fighting over one of the elders in the church.

His father never missed church, but he never missed the rum bar either. On several occasions Phillip had passed the rum bar and had seen his father sitting and drinking with friends. True, he had never actually seen him drunk, but what difference did that make?

His mother was always working. He did not like her job and neither did his father. In fact his father had discouraged her from working, but she had asked him to allow her to work as a means of occupying herself while the children were at school. She was a workaholic and Phillip hated it because she was always expecting him to do things as well. Phillip, do this, Phillip, do that. It was disgusting. He wondered how she never asked his father to do anything - not even to pick up his shoes, which he sometimes removed while reading the newspaper. She would always take up his shoes and place them neatly in the bedroom.

Phillip, his mother called again, this time louder. You are getting nothing to eat today unless you make up your bed.

Oh boy, what a miserable woman, Phillip thought. Reluctantly he got up, placed a stone on the paper on which he was sitting, so that the breeze would not blow it away. Then he went inside, quickly pulled the sheet over the bed and rushed into the kitchen where the aroma of his mother’s cooking was simply overpowering.

Wow, can I taste it, Mom?

His sister objected, but his mother told her to let him be. At that age boys eat like a horse. It’s better to eat at home than that rubbish they sell on the streets.

When she had first come to Kingston, Phillip’s mother had worked as a domestic helper for Mr. Campbell’s family. At the time Mr. Campbell’s Mother and a nephew were living at the house, along with Mr. Campbell. Both Mr. Campbell’s father and grandfather had lived at the house, which had been in the family from it was built.

Mr. Campbell, like his father, worked at the wharf and was practically an institution there. He was of British extraction and was frequently asked why he had remained in the area, despite the obvious signs of decline. He had steadfastly insisted that both his parents and grandparents had lived there and he was obligated to retain the family tradition. Moreover he had steadfastly asserted that no ragamuffin was going to drive him from his house and home.

This was one of the largest and most opulent houses in the area. The main house consisted of four bedrooms and two bathrooms, along with an extensive living and separate dining areas. In addition to a sun room, a powder room and study there was a full two car garage as well as separate outhouse with a helper’s area and full accommodation for a gardener. The property occupied over half an acre of land and the well manicured front lawn was larger than many other properties lower down on the same street. Like many other houses, the helper’s area had been converted into a two bedroom flat and rented to a young professional couple, at the insistence of Mrs. Campbell.

Phillip’s mother, who was barely half Mr. Campbell’s age, was taking care of the elder Mrs. Campbell, when Mr. Campbell, out of the clear blue, asked her if she would consider marrying him. Frightened out of her wits, the young girl from rural Jamaica, had jumped up, ran to her room and after calming her nerves sufficiently, had returned to the sitting room, minus her apron and cap.

Did you mean what you said just now, sir? she had asked him, still trembling, looking doubtfully at him and hoping that his aged mother was not listening.

Of course, he had replied. Do you think I would say something like that if I was not serious? You are an attractive young woman and I am single. I believe that I can provide adequately for you… He had paused, looked at her and as if he was asking her the time of day had added: What do you say?

She was certainly disappointed by his romantic deficiency, but she could not deny that this was an opportunity of a life time, and one that was not likely to present itself very often. Sure, he was much older than she was; in fact he was over forty and she was just turning twenty. But the boys who had expressed an interest in her had nothing to offer her. One had invited her to a movie and wanted her to wait with him at the bus stop. She had flatly refused. It turned out that he had only had enough money to purchase his ticket and was expecting her to purchase hers.

Still wondering if Mr. Campbell was serious, she had blushed then said: Yes, sir, I mean I will marry you, sir.

Good, he had concluded, "then I will have it arranged.

Mrs. Campbell was brought back to the present by her daughter, Cindy, only one year older than Phillip. The two children had come early, and then try as they might, they could not have another child.

She always called her husband Mr. Campbell and after eighteen years she was still in awe of him. To compound the situation both children looked like their father. Looking at Cindy now she found herself wondering if she was really her daughter. She could understand with Phillip since boys were expected to have their father’s genes, but girls were supposed to look like their mothers.

She had tried staying home for awhile after Mr. Campbell’s mother had passed away. Whenever he had visitors either from work or from church, she would serve them and then disappear to look after the children or perform other domestic chores. Once she had heard a visitor ask him if his wife was overseas. While his reply was reassuring she could not help feeling inadequate and out of place.

When she took the children to pre-school in a taxi, the taxi driver tried to flirt with her, thinking that she was the helper. One day the principal asked her to tell Mrs. Campbell that she was inviting her to a PTA meeting. That was the last straw. After the children went to high school she decided to look for a job.

With only limited domestic skills and no formal education she had few options, however she spoke to one of Mr. Campbell’s associates who suggested that she