Dear Nesta,
Hi girlchile, all is well? I sincerely hope so an’ dat neffin en hidin’ in de shadows waitin’ to pounce ’pon yuh an’ t’row yuh down, mebbee never to get up agen. ’Cause yuh never know.
Only las’ week I happen to hear a man ’pon one o’ de call-in programmes axin’ nuff questions ’bout some turrble virus dat been knockin’ ’roun’ fuh ’bout 18 monfs, an’ dah was de firs’ time I was hearin’ ’bout it. I t’ink de word “bacteria” get call – or someti’ing so, yuh know me an’ dese big words en tummuch frien’s – but wuhevah it is, it don’ soun’ good.
I onderstan’ a couple people even dead, an’ jes’ fancy, we been goin’ in an’ outta dah horsepittle, widout de slightes’ knowledge o’ wuh tekkin’ place. Yuh call dah fair.
From small, I always hear de troof does set yuh free, but mebbee de aut’orities din want to start a panic. De few tourisses I see – dem en dah plentiful dese days – mighta hear ’bout it an’ run fuh cover, as we rumour mill en sweet. Chile, once dah start – lookout. A sneeze could turn into a col’ in couple minutes, become AIDS furthuh on, an’ de body at deaf’s door in a hour or so. We’s masters at de art o’ rumour.
Anyway, de big shots get call in, de horsepittle now get de all clear an’ all suppose to be OK. I gine still wait li’l longer, doh, ’til I satisfy muhself all is well. It would ha’ to be fambly or a very close frien’ to get me in dat place right now.
I been wonderin’ wuh gone wrong wid all dem big plans fuh de fancy state-o’-de-art horsepittle I was hearin’ ’bout las’ year. Dem plans fade out, or wuh? An’ we now lef’ (as nusual) in de dark, wonderin’. Politicians all ovuh de worl’ never get tired o’ spinnin’ top in mud. But duh should remember dat duh lowly subjecks en idiots.
I cyahn speak fuh nobody else but I know I got muh good sense, Brumley school or not, an’ mos’ times, I could sif’ out de wheat from de tares. Durin’ de las’ elections, Philomena an’ muhself use’ to get bare sport when de nights come. We hear summuch impossible dreams flyin’ offa bofe flatforms dat I en know how it din turn into nightmares when we went to sleep at night.
Well, sence de elections an’ de Estimates, life fuh mos’ en gine so hot. At election time, de Dems was p’intin’ out dat de Barbados Labour Party $90 million stimulus package was tummuch. An’, tell de troof, it really did seem so, to we ontrain brains.
Now, lo an’ behold’, de stimulus package dem put forward is $600 million – dat mos’ o’ de big-up economis’s cryin’ down. Howevah much it gine turn out to be, I know right now, a lot o’ we in de Turnin’ smellin’ hell. My nighber daughter jes’ get lay off an’ all down de street, de cry is ’bout losin’ jobs.
Yet, las’ week I hear Minister Donville Inniss state de “economy is poised to grow” an’ gine experience mo’ “robus’ growf in de monfs ahead”. Reassurin’ words, but we wanta know jes’ when dem gine become reality as we play hide an’ seek daily wid de few pennies to han’.
I tryin’ hard to look ’pon de bright side, faif, but sence I recently hear anethuh politician tell we de circumstances en good an’ guvment should leh de people know, it got me nerviss.
Well, at leas’ dah turrble virus in de horsepittle gone. Wuh comin’ nex’? De Budget? Life sure en dull!
Tek care o’ yuhself,
Yuh frien’, Babsie.
