🏵️ڿڰۣp໐ง pคtri¢ē &ຖikki

It was twenty-three minutes after nine and I was sitting on the padded bar stool that Mama uses to sit on behind her shop's counter. I had arrived exactly an hour early and every car that seem to be approaching the shop sent my heart lodging in my throat.

I wish there was something to do other than just sit and wait in the already cleaned, stocked, and meticulously organized shop. If only a few customers would arrive and keep my distressed mind occupied, but the only person that came to buy anything was Onenie and he ordered two pounds of flour (already bagged on the shelf with the cornmeal and rice) and two tins of jack mackerel.

Nothing to do but take them off the shelf, hand them to him, and give him his change. When he left I sat wondering how a one-handed man who lived alone made his dumplings. A few ridiculous scenarios played in my mind but pretty soon thoughts of OD's pending arrival had me forgetting about his inability and lack thereof.

I went and sat back on the stool glancing at my phone to check the time again and discovering I had WhatsApp messages. I stifled a yawn behind my palm and unlock my phone. My heart pounded in my chest as my belly grumbled.

I had been too anxious to eat breakfast so I had gotten ready and headed on to the shop. I looked on the shelves where bags of peanuts, wriggles, winter fresh, and various cheesy snacks hung from nails and my decision to eat one of the spicey shrimp and crackers that hung on the shelf behind me proved to be my undoing and not the anticipated arrival of OD.

I tried to swallow the peppered dried shrimp but it somehow got lodged in my throat and before I knew it I had a coughing fit that seemed to ignite my burning throat, ignoring the WhatsApp messages I hurried to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water as my phone started to ping the arrival of more messages.

I drank the water in huge gulps halfing the bottle. The cold liquid was a much-appreciated relief but before I could take another drink from the bottle my phone started to ring.

"Hello," I answered my voice coming out weak and gravelly.

"Gyal look fra when...hey wait how yuh soun suh?!"

"Mi cho---"

"Pet a fuck yuh a fuck? In a d Sunday yah, guuurrlll yuh sinnin!"

I chuckled and shook my head at Nikki's shenanigans. "Dutty gyal all yuh can tink about is fuck? A choke mi choke"

"Wooiieee Medz a choke yuh wid e long cocky!"

I took a drink of the water as she said this and the mouthful of liquid spewed from my mouth making a watery design on Mama's shop tile.

She was filling my ears with her raucous laughter and as I wipe my mouth I look to see a vehicle approaching the shop. My heart started to thud wildly in my chest but when it continued to pass I let out a heavy gush of breath I did not know I was holding.

"Hey Pet weh yuh gone?!"

The sound of Nikki's question regarding what was happening brought my attention back to her and her previous take on what could have resulted in me sounding gravelly.

"Yuh c yuh mix up gyal wah mek a Medz cocky a choke me?" I said going for the mop which Mama kept in the back room which facilitates storage and sleeping quarters for Jay and Deenie. "An how yuh know e cocky long?"

"Watcha yah mi fren a get possessive," she laughed and I shook my head only Nikki could take curiosity to a totally different level.

"Yuh nuh ab nuhtin fi duh inna d Sunday yah? Yuh man n pickney dem nuh need yuh attention?"

"Dem alright a bestie time now," she replied and just then I heard someone's muffled call and her shouting that she was in the bathroom if whoever was querying her whereabouts can't let her shit in peace.

Nikki was in a class to herself and she was a much-needed distraction from my tortured awaiting of OD's arrival.

"Suh wah yuh want, weh yuh a tex n call dung mi phone fah?" I asked placing the phone between the crook of my neck and shoulder as I talked to her so that I could wipe up the water.

"Mi ere something pan e shout n mi seh mi a guh tell yuh," she said sounding a bit too serious for my liking.

I remained quiet waiting for her to continue. I lean the mop against the wall and fix the phone to my ears.

"Goodaz a chat seh she n yuh baby fawda fuck a Simone's Roun Robin last night," she said shortly after I heard the flushing of the toilet in her background reverberate in my head with what she just said followed by a beep beep sounded in my phone, someone was calling me.

I open my mouth, I knew I wanted to respond as well as check who was calling but I just stood there staring at the floor thinking of what I heard Goodaz and her friends discussing last night when I went to urinate.

Was that really it? Did OD really go on that level with Goodaz? Of all the waste gyal in our district, he had to have sex with her?

I remember the way he had stared at me when he saw me all up on Medz dancing, I had felt there was still something that could be salvaged. That I could have my heart desires after all but how stupid of me.

Whatever Odean wanted it surely was not in the same category as mine. I felt my heart sink and it took Nikki's barking at someone to stop opening the fridge every minute like them think JPS a gi weh free light to bring me to my surroundings.

"Pat?"

"Hey OD a nuh my property a whateva him waah screw a fi him demise nuh mine," I said trying to mask my hurt with disregard.

"Pat mi sorry mi know---"

"Babes mi good," I said cutting her off. "A just Deenie mi waah fi know are fawda. That is all that matters."

Nikki was my dear friend, she knew me well enough to know exactly what I wanted where Odean was concerned. I however was not going to let myself be torn up about what happened between Goodaz and him when it was Nikki's very phone call that saved me from having sex with Medz.

I was many things but I was not going to be a hypocrite. Odean was not my man yet so little playing the field was allowed until lines and boundaries were drawn that is.

Let Goodaz have her moment.

"So yuh n Medz good?"

Translation: Yuh naah deh wid him?

"Nikki yuh nuh fit fi play cupid so put dung d bow an arrow," I told her not giving in to where I knew this was now heading.

"Gyal yuh nuh see the man head ova heels," she said after hissing her teeth dismissively at my remark. "Yuh know how much ooman a pine ova Medz but all him a pre a yuh Pat."

"Medz a mi fren Nikki."

"Fren fuck Fren," she responded.

"Gyal come off mi phone a guh cook yuh pickney a man Sunday dinner."

"A yuh call mi r a mi call yuh?"

"So?"

"Mi hang up wen mi done chat."

"Mi look like idlazz."

"Shut up bitch."

I laughed and took up the mop taking it to the back room when I heard a voice calling.

"Ms. Mama seeeerrrve mam."

"Wait a shop yuh deh?"

"Yep"

"Ok well one more thing, Medz a keep a ting Wednesday if he invites yuh seh yes. Bye."

I took my phone from my ears and shook my head smiling. I walk out of the room and made myself focus on serving the awaiting customer and not on the fact that it was now a quarter past ten and no OD.

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Please👇

Nuff love 🇯🇲