Dear Nesta,
I don’ know ef yuh could remember, but as young girls we us-ed to sing a li’l rhyme, “Oh dear, what can the matter be”! I been singin’ dat song non-stop ovuh dese pas’ monfs, ’cause I en know wuh comin’ ovuh dis li’l islan’!
All de lawlessness an’ tragedy dat been happenin’ lately lef yuh to wonder wuh it is tekkin’ hol’ o’ people min’s!
Lord have ‘Is mercy! Partly evuh mornin’ yuh could open de paper to read ’bout some shootin’ or stabbin’, killin’, bullyin’, t’iefin’ . . . ! Wuh, I hate to t’ink wuh might nex’ be in store fuh we!
When it come to t’iefin’, dah seem to be de Number One pas’time! It look like it becomin’ a industry, yuh en know? Ef um en cars, um is copper, ef um en cucumbers, um is cows or liquors or cheques or wuhevuh else dat might tek de t’ief fancy!
As fuh gole jewelry! Dah gettin’ snatch offa people han’s, necks an’ anywhey else duh might be so foolish to put it. I know, not me! Nowadays, when I go out, I look like a proper bare-neck fowl, yuh cyahn fine one scrap – gole, silver, brass nor tin – anywhey ’bout my person!
I don’ t’ink folks got much regard fuh life dese days. I en know ef by watchin’ all dem movies ’pon TV an’ de Net, duh now get cole an’ indiff’rent to tekkin’ a life, but it seem de quickes’ reaction today is to reach fuh a gun – befo’ time, it was a big rock!
I believe ef yuh cut open some yoomans, yuh would fine a stone whey duh heart should be, faif, an’ de onlies’ t’ing to sof’en dah up is de dollar bill!
Now, we all facin’ hard times, widout a doubt! Law-abidin’ people, tryin’ duh bes’ to mek a hones’ livin’, turnin’ duh han’s to all sorts o’ diff’rent li’l jobs, while ethuhs – scammers, I call dem – sprainin’ duh brains to come up wid evry trick in de book to get rich quick! Duh learnin’ fas’ enuff offa de TV an’ de Net, an’ when duh done hackin’ an’ scammin’, ef yuh en careful, yuh fin’ yuhself at de cleaners!
It happen to Philomena not too long ago!
She get relieve o’ a good chunk o’change by a sweet-talkin’ vagabon’ – callin’ ‘eself a frien’ – wid a hard-luck story right outta one o’ de fairy tale books! He even had me startin’ to believe ‘e, but praise Chris’, I come to muh senses jes’ in time! Dese crooks motto is “Dishonesty is de Bes’ Policy”!
I onderstan’ de aut’orities might t’ink ‘bout puttin’ up “Candid Camera” to help ketch dese criminals! De idea got worf, but I feel it gine only deal wid de effecks o’ dis lawlessness, not wuh causin’ it!
Dem same aut’orities might ha’ to come up wid a plan to teach de fellas to realise – befo’ duh get back out – dat life got mo’ to it dan jes’ robbin’ an’ killin’! But it en a-tall easy to ben’ a tree when it ole. As my muddah would say, as she was sharin’ out some warm lashes ‘pon me or muh sister – “Train up a child in the way it should go and when it is old, it will not depart from it”! How right she was!
Tek care o’ yuhself,
Yuh frien’ Babsie
