Baring one's sole in Bonny Gate

I was walking near a small burial ground in Bonny Gate, St Mary recently when a middle-aged man with a pointy nose stepped out of the bushes.

"Yuh ever hear something like dis though, sah?" he said. I looked behind him to see if he had a companion. There was nobody there. I looked behind me and there was no one there either.

"Mi give di woman mi shoes dem fi wash from last week and all now!" he exclaimed, waving his arms.

I shrugged, offering my empathy, but truly had no idea what he was talking about. The man had a yo-yo in his hand and started swinging it up and down, all the while frowning and mumbling.

We both stood there for a few seconds without saying anything. Then, he gave the yo-yo a final swing, wrapped it up and put it into his pocket. I then introduced myself to the man.

"Please to be knowing you. I am Eric. Have mi excuse for di miserableness, but right now mi just get dark, for di woman won't do what mi tell har. Every Friday day she always find harself pan mi doorstep like dem puss, but pon di blue moon when mi give har something fi do, is pure laziness. I can't bother wid it," said Eric, shaking his head.

I asked him if he lived in Bonny Gate. "Not really. Mi live elsewhere but di woman is from here, so you find dat mi spend nuff time here," he said.

I mentioned that there weren't many people around.

"No man, dem people is working people. We have all manner of people here still, but most of dem is hardworking people so you nah go find dem here at dis time. Dem deh ah dem office place and dem ting deh," he said.

story behind the name

I asked Eric if he had any idea how the community got its name.

"Not a clue, sah. Not even a guess. One time one white man did pass through di place and ah ask di same question but nobody never have nothing fi tell him. Mi hear dat him check Miss Sheila and she tell him dat is some slavery business, like one slave woman did name Bonny or something like dat, but mi nuh sure," said Eric, shaking his head. "Bonny nuh sound like woman name to mi still."

I asked him where I would be able to find Miss Sheila. "She dead, man. Dead and bury bout five years now. She did know dem something deh, but she can't help you yah now," he said.

Eric told me he had a bus to catch and so had to be going. I thanked him for his time and continued in the direction I was heading in the first place. About 10 minutes later I came across two men sitting on the railing of a bridge. As I got close to the pair, one of the men cleared his throat.

no pot yet

"Bredrin, what time yuh have deh?" I checked my watch and answered accordingly, telling him it was close to two in the afternoon.

"Ah lie!" the man exclaimed. "And mi nuh put on nuh pot yet! Mi deh yah a chat wid dis man yah and not even look what a gwan," he said. The man jumped from the railing and started jogging down the road without saying another word. The other man who was still sitting on the railing started chuckling.

"Hee hee! Dat big gyal! If him woman come home from work and nuh have nuh dinner is hell and powder house pan him, so him haffy gallop weh go deal wid it fast!" the man chuckled, nearly falling from his seat.

I asked the man his name. "I am Johnny Blacks, di biggest footballer from 1976," he said, with wide eyes.

"Some road work going on inna Bonny Gate so we really secure a work so dat is why I am here. Mi really nuh live around here," said Johnny Blacks, adding though, that he spent a lot of time in the community.

"Bonny Gate is a nice likkle place. It nuh really have nuh vibes or nothing, but ah so life go, it quiet. Sometime yuh haffi tek it easy. Bonny Gate people nuh trouble nobody. If yuh nuh come down here, yuh nuh hear nothing bout dem at all," he said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com