Jamdown

Chapter 11

Terry Arden

The night sky gathered around us as we sat in the yard of this household. Trees blushed with their array of red flowers. Subtlety blew away from the tall tree that rested outside the house's borders. I only wanted to not be involved with foolishness. Tallman was ready to war over nothing at all. 

Made little sense to me, if my old friends Blake and Rigga heard my thoughts they would have said I was growing soft. It was not that. For me, it was just meaningless to live like that now. 

Tallman's lips moved like a fluttering motor. Joshua and another man were listening with avid intent. The noise was infectious, but I was immune, so my ears heard nothing. He got himself so worked up over Malt. 

Renee sat beside me. She shook the juice inside the plastic KFC cup.

Renee made a momentary glance at the boys before she turned to me. I hoped no words left those lips of hers and came in my general direction. 

"Pass the ketchup," she said. Her voice was like a soft wet dream to some men. To me, it was a raging flood with gold hidden below the rabid currents.  

I looked at the tiny parcel. The red design over white packaging was neat. We sat separated, but the wind blew blissfully the lovely tinge of her fragrance. It made me want to sleep and dream of a better life. I took the ketchup and gave it to her. 

Her face had high cheekbones. Renee was captivating with those slim eyelids that her mother blessed her with. It was matched by her grizzly hairstyle that bounced with every shake of her head.  Renee was too flirty for her own good. I would be hard-pressed to avoid her least I jumped into problems with Joshua. 

The only reason Joshua was with her was, because she looked good on his arm. When she was not here, he flirted with everybody else within five miles. It was not like any woman was stupid enough to open their legs for him though. 

How those two still managed to continue this façade of a relationship was beyond me.

Better things needed to be on my mind. I needed to contact my brother tomorrow. Negril was the destination. Money was the objective.

After she took a bite of her spicy chicken burger, specks of lettuce peaked out the sides, the noise got closer.

I was not getting away, wasn't I?

"Yo Arden roll in, a Lacovia we a reach," Lance said.

I raised my head. "Why, I have no bus fare to go there." A thought crossed my mind. "Wait, hold on why are you going there, anyway?"

"Kimani a hold a roast, we ago bump one, two liquor with him."

I kissed my teeth at him and said, "Man youth me nuh want to drink nothing round that waste-man footballer. Him could never defend a goalpost yet, Rian could have dribbled the ball around him rass!"

Renee snickered.  

Lance retorted, "Arden no insult the man, yuh can play no sports fi know man hard work."

I was not lying. Kimani Williamson was a terrible soccer player at least at the level his team played. They played in the division below the Premier League and he barely played more than five games a season. That meant the coach had better players to choose from. 

His only claim to fame in Berryhill is that he got with the one girl every dude wanted to get a chance with, Nodelyn. He screwed that up and she had been on lockdown, it was odd to see her brother Irwin playing American Football. Here, I thought he was a lazy idiot.