Dear Nesta,
How you, chile? I know yuh got to be better dan me, wid all de trials I been goin’ t’rough lately! Las’ week I had a turrble fright when I butt up ’pon a fella tryin’ ’e bes’ to get in my kitchen, an’ it did only God mercy – an’ de wrought iron door I had ’long wid de solid door – dat save muh. Dat bol’ brute was pullin’ at de wrought iron wid a will. An’ high daytime, to-besides. De times we now livin’ in! Wuhloss!
When ’e spot me, ’e scramble down de steps, jump over de wall, an’ went peltin’ t’rough de bushes. Well look, I din know I could holler so hard, faif! Afterwards, a carpenter frien’ turn up an’ sugges’ bolts fuh all de doors to mek t’ings mo’ secure, so ef dat brute decide to mek a return visit, he gine be in fuh a good surprise. I was sure I had de kitchen door lock, but I onderstan’ dese vagabon’s got duh ways an’ means o’ gettin’ in people houses. Anyway, all muh bolts now in place, so leh ’e try.
But yuh en hear de bes’. Philomena got a young cousin livin’ in one o’ de Heights or Gardins, or some place so, an’ two days befo’ my “visitor”, she apartment get brek in. Four apartments ’pon de groun’ floor o’ dat buildin’ get hit. Sence my experience, I been hearin’ ’bout summuch t’iefin’ now tekkin’ place, I wonderin’ wuh really gine on.
Frien’s tell muh I shoulda call de police. Fuh wuh? To turn up two days later like de las’ time I had cause to call dem? I hearin’ ’bout cuts in de force, an’ ef is true, it might tek two weeks ’stead o’ two days befo’ duh could reach muh nex’ time.
I – an’ nuff mo’ – not in de bes’ o’ moods dese days. De outlook gloomy enuff wid all de bad t’ings goin’ on – people losin’ jobs, de ones still wid jobs, carryin’ home nex’ to neffin in duh pay packets, rumours o’ mo’ layoffs, an’ nearly evah day somebody gettin’ kill. De youff seem to be losin’ hope – dem turnin’ now to suicide. Wuh happenin’ a-tall? I t’ink dis islan’ need prayer to help turn it ’roun’.
Recently, domestic vi’lence cause de deaf o’ t’ree women, an’ de las’ one was so vicious, people still in shock. Various organizations been callin’ fuh laws ’gains’ dat fuh de longes’ while, wid no results. But I onderstan’ at long las’ Guvment doin’ somet’ing ’bout it. A pity, doh, it had to tek summuch grief an’ pain fuh somet’ing positive to happen.
I know guvment need to cut back, but de orsepittle cut got muh li’l confuse. I don’ onderstan’ how duh could cut money from a institution dat need it real bad an’ yet Philomena tellin’ muh she hear de Healf Minister ’pon TV talkin’ ’bout de new horsepittle, sayin’ duh “still lookin’ at it”. He mention “interest being expressed”, but by who, ’e din say. Mebbee, dah en fuh we ears. But how Guvment could be t’inkin’ ’bout dah projeck at a time like dis?
De word out is “all han’s to de plough”. Wuh ’bout de politicians han’s? Dem en know ’bout ploughin’, too? Wuh ’bout tekkin’ a pay cut – like evahbody else – an’ travel by Economy Class? Yuh say dah cyhan happen? I suppose yuh right, but wuh’s to stop muh from dreamin’? C’dear, I got yooman rights too, y’know!
Tek care o’ yuhself.
Yuh frien’, Babsie.
