Ancil“I think the one eye makes her even more beautiful. It shows that she’s a fighter. That she’s a survivor. They took one of her eyes but they couldn’t take the other. They abused her, they abandoned her, they called her names but she’s still here. Still fighting.”
I couldn’t help myself but smile at Kate’s warm sentiments towards Juliet and it seemed like Juliet couldn’t help it either because she broke out with a smile.
Tanty Mavis instantly got all mushy mushy placing one of her hands on my shoulder and the other on her chest
“Juliet!” A girl with a GREEN SWEATER came out from the inside of the house and shouted. “Time to bathe and get ready for dinner.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow okay,” Kate said, comforting.
“Okay,” Juliet said before getting up and making her way inside.
Kate turned and looked at Juliet but then quickly switched her attention over to the girl who called her. The girl made her way over to the table where the big kids sat and Kate stared at her really intensely. At the moment, I couldn’t really figure out why Kate was staring at the girl so intensely since she wasn’t particularly rude or disrespectful with the way she called Juliet.
“It’s a long time since I saw that girl smile like that,” Tanty Mavis said.
“It’s all about how you talk to them,” Kate said, still staring at the girl.
“How about I show you two to allyuh rooms where allyuh could bathe and get ready for dinner. It only have one more remaining so I hope you two don’t have a problem sleeping together.”
“No, not at all,” I said.
“Good.” Tanty Mavis then led us into the house towards our room. While we were walking through the house, Tanty Mavis introduced us to some of the others. There were actually a whole lot of children in the house, so much so that I could barely make a step without bumping into someone. The place was really crowded but somehow I didn’t feel stifled. I felt warm and homely. It felt like I was in a good place; a place where love was the main agenda and comfort was ideal. I saw disabled children, children in wheelchairs and bandages but they all seemed so happy, unlike Juliet.
“This is a real nice thing you’re doing here,” I said to Tanty Mavis.
“At the end of the day, somebody have to do it. Somebody have to give these young people hope for a brighter tomorrow, you know. If nobody do it then they go just end up angry and on the streets as a bunch of criminals. And I think that that’s the problem with Trinidad; nobody does do it. That’s why you always hearing bad things about Laventille on the news but I think it’s time we start hearing good things about the community. And this is the best start. I might not be alive to see the change but I could die in peace knowing that I contribute in some way to the future because you see this.” Tanty Mavis gestured encompassingly. “This is the future right here and if you could change this, you could change the future. Always remember that. Even if is just one child, if you could do your part to change that life, do it.”
By the time Tanty Mavis was finished, we were in front of our room which was only sealed off from the rest of the house by a curtain; no door. She then told us to bathe and get dressed for dinner which would have been ready in 20 minutes. Kate used the bathroom in the room while I was allowed to use the general bathroom. I made my way into the room after bathing finally getting a good look at it. The room was a huge downgrade from our suite in the Hyatt. Everything seemingly looked crooked and old as if they would fall apart with a touch. Don’t let me get started on the spiderwebs. Tanty Mavis had told us that the room was in a disheveled state because no one used it but she promised that it would be cleaned up in the morning; meaning we had a night to survive among the spiders, rats, and cockroaches that lurked within. Kate didn’t seem too concerned about the room as she stood in front of the mirror brushing her hair which was in quite a mess before. She wore a baggy jeans overall with a small white vest which you could have barely seen below the jumper. The overall alone was enough evidence to show how old the things in the room were. Who still wore overalls? Overalls were so 1993 Dennis The Menace.
“Do people still wear Overalls?” I asked Kate while I made myself at home on the bed which made a whole lot of squeaky sounds. At first, I thought the noise came from rats or something but it was just from the rusty springs.
“It was either this or a shin-high skirt,” Kate said, turning her glare from the mirror to me. She then strolled over to the bed and sat beside me and after a moment of deep thought she asked, “Do you believe in destiny?”
“Destiny?” I knew what destiny meant but not what it meant in the context of Kate’s random question.
