The Toyota RAV4 SUV was small, but nimble. Truth be told, it was probably large enough for their purposes, so Kenneth decided not to argue with the clerk about messing up his original rental reservation. They did not want to waste valuable time on non-essential activities, so they quickly loaded into the vehicle and pulled out of the Sangster International Airport parking lot and followed the signs to Ocho Rios. They drove in silence in an easterly direction, heading out of Montego Bay, along the north coast towards Ocho Rios. The early afternoon traffic was heavy, but it thinned out quickly as they passed the Holiday Inn hotel, and then climbed a slight incline heading towards what Kenneth always thought of as the gateway to Montego Bay. Ahead on the left, the Wyndham Rose Hall hotel stood towering against the beautiful blue sky on the top of the hill, with white clouds cuddling the peak of the hotel towers, and the Caribbean sea languidly caressing the shoreline and beach; and on the right, the Rose Hall Great House presented a majestic and ominous pose, its brilliant and dazzling white aura inharmonious with its dark history. For as long as he could remember, Kenneth was in awe as he drove between these two great structures.
Ninety minutes later, they skirted the outer bounds of Ocho Rios and headed through Fern Gully towards Kingston. As they approached Faith’s Pen, Kenneth turned to Sean and Kathy, ‘You guys hungry?’
‘I didn’t eat much on the flight, so I am famished,‘ Sean said.
‘My stomach is too nervous to eat much, but I guess I should eat something,’ Kathy said.
Kenneth pulled into Faith’s Pen and cruised past a few of the concrete huts. ‘Every time I come here I am amazed by the improvements that have been made to Faith’s Pen.’
‘You know it was one of the bauxite companies that did this?’ Kathy said.
‘Really?’
‘They wanted to mine the land where the wooden shacks of the original Faith’s Pen were located, so they built this upgraded version with the barber green roadway, concrete huts and running water to give the vendors a reason to move. They also offered to build the new road so that the government would approve the project.’
‘All and all, a win-win situation for all,’ Kenneth remarked. Kenneth stopped the vehicle in front of ‘Sonia’s Hut’. Various vendors descended on the car, pushing against the driver’s door.
‘Yes boss. Me have boil corn, manish water, curry goat.’
‘Me have de business. Me have jerk chicken and pork.’
‘Look my way boss. Ackee and saltfish with roast breadfruit and festival.’
Kenneth waved them all away as he exited the car, ‘Is alright. Ms. Sonia will tek care of me. Yuh nuh mind.’
‘How yuh gwaan so boss. Yuh caan spread round de business lickle?’
Kenneth stopped and looked at the young barefooted boy who made the remark. ‘Why you not in school?’
‘Is Saturday boss.’
‘Is it? Sorry. Lost track of the days of the week. Alright, bring me three cold coconut water.’
‘Yes boss.’ The young boy ran off towards his stall, labelled ‘Mas Henry Tings’.
Kenneth, Sean and Kathy walked up to Sonia’s Hut to see what was on offer.
‘Ms. Sonia. What you have today?’ Kenneth called.
A speckled-haired woman, with dark weathered skin, appeared from behind the stall. ‘Howdy Mas K. How yuh do?’
‘Rough Ms. Sonia. Rough. You know how it is?’
‘Always. Well, me have some ackee and saltfish and roast breadfruit. And me also have some pumpkin soup.’
‘Dat sound good. Me will have all dat. No food in the soup though,’ Kenneth said, rubbing his stomach.
‘Just ackee for me. No soup,’ Sean said.
‘I’ll just have the soup. And I’ll have food with it,’ said Kathy.
‘Dumplin, yam, sweet potato and coco?’ asked Ms. Sonia.
‘No coco,’ replied Kathy.
Ms. Sonia turned to Kenneth and Sean, ‘You want pear and plantain?’
‘How you mean? Nuh mus,’ beamed Kenneth.
‘You shouldn’t even ask,’ laughed Sean. As he waited Sean sniffed the air, ‘Is that jerk pork that I smell?’
‘Yes, from Mas Henry hut,’ Ms. Sonia responded without looking up from her task of preparing the plates of food.
‘Any good?’
‘Yes man. Me commend it,’ Ms. Sonia beamed, flashing her immaculately white false teeth.
Sean disappeared, and a few minutes later came back eating from some foil. ‘Ms. Sonia, you were right. Dis pork sweet.’ Drawing laughter from everyone.
Twenty minutes later, they were pulling away from Faith’s Pen.
‘Good food, cook good,’ Sean said, and settled down in the back seat to take a nap.
‘I have to admit that I feel a lot better. That soup was good. Just enough scotch bonnet pepper to flavour, but not burn,’ Kathy remarked, also making herself comfortable in the front seat. ‘I think I’ll take a nap.’
‘So the two of you going to sleep while I drive?’ Kenneth asked.
‘Absolutely.’
‘Too right.’
It was not long before Kenneth could hear deep breathing from both his passengers. He smiled. He was glad that they were both getting some rest. Their mission could be dangerous and risky, and they had to be as calm and lucid as possible. Kenneth also made himself comfortable, but not too comfortable, for fear that he might also fall asleep, and that would not be very good, since he was driving. He chuckled as he rubbed his goatee.
Kenneth patted Kathy on the shoulder, and hit Sean on the leg.
‘Wake up guys.’
There were groggy responses from both of them. Kathy repositioned herself in the front seat. Sean moved his leg and let out a long sigh.
‘Wake up guys,’ Kenneth said with more urgency.
‘Are we there?’ Kathy mumbled.
‘No. Not yet. Spot check,’ Kenneth said through clenched teeth.
Sean leaned forward so that he had a better view through the front window. The sight of two police officers walking towards the car greeted him. ‘The police! Were you speeding?’
Kathy jumped up. ‘What should we do? Should we make a run for it?’ she said, reaching for the door handle.
Kenneth grabbed her arm, ‘No. It looks like a routine spot check.’ Kenneth took some deep breaths, before turning down his window.
‘Hello sir. Can I see your driver’s licence and the papers for the car?’ The police officer was a young woman with a nice welcoming smile that exposed neat, white teeth, and deep dimples. Her cap sat on top of a neatly all-in-one hair style.
Kenneth paused, staring at the female officer, ‘Ah …’ Kenneth spluttered.
‘Sir, are you OK?’ the officer asked. The smile started to disappear.
‘Yes … yes. Sorry. I was a little confused for a moment.’ Kenneth reached into his pocket and handed over a piece of plastic, and then reached into the glove compartment and handed over the documents for the car.
The officer looked at the driver’s licence and frowned. Kenneth bit his lip. He looked behind him to find the source of a thumping noise. Kenneth looked down to see Sean’s right leg bouncing up and down.
‘Sean. Sean!’ Kenneth said under his breath.
‘What?’
‘Stop that!’
‘Sorry,’ Sean whispered.
‘Mr. Johnson.’ The police officer leaned towards the window.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kenneth could see Kathy vigorously rubbing her hands in her jeans. He reached out and grabbed one of her arms.
‘Yes,’ Kenneth said, turning to the officer.
‘I need to check these. Please turn off the car and wait here.’
‘What …’ Sean started saying.
‘Shh!’ Kenneth said under his breath and gestured towards the passenger window. They looked out of Kathy’s window to see another officer standing beside the car.
‘Jesus!’ Kathy exclaimed.
‘Mr. Johnson.’
Kenneth jumped in his seat. He turned to see the female officer looking in through his window. ‘Yes.’
‘You live in Florida?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘And what is your address?’
Kenneth gave her his Pembroke Pine address. The officer read the address on the driver’s licence, smiled and gave it back to Kenneth, along with the papers for the car.
‘You have a good day now, Mr. Johnson.’
Kathy sighed.
‘Thank you,’ Kenneth said, and started the car.
There was a sharp rap on Kathy’s window that made everyone in the car jump. They looked across to see the other officer gesticulating with his M16 rifle. Kathy’s hands were trembling so much she was unable to open the window, so Kenneth used his driver-side controls to ease the window down. The officer had a big head with eyes that seemed too small for his head. His large mouth curled into a sneer.
‘Wha’ yuh can do fe me?’ he snarled.
‘What?’ Kenneth muttered.
‘Leave someting wid me nuh. Tings rough,’ he said matter-of-factly.
Kenneth looked at Kathy, and then quickly pulled out his wallet. He pulled out five twenty US dollar bills, and gave them to Kathy, who passed them over to the officer. He took them with his very large hands.
‘Irie. Tek care now,’ he said as he quickly stuffed them into his pocket.
Kenneth slowly pulled away from the kerb.
‘Thank you Lord Jesus,’ Sean muttered, as he collapsed in the back seat.
‘Amen,’ Kenneth responded under his breath.
Kathy sat with her hands under her thighs, rocking back and forward.