Chapter 2: CHAPTER TWO- LISA IS MY GIRL
However, I inserted some note changes so that it made it my own. Beads of sweat formed on my brow as the lights were bright and hot. I ripped open my shirt and the buttons flew in all directions revealing my wash board stomach and muscled chest. The olive tanned skin glistened in the lights against the back drop of the hairs on my chest that just seemed like hair on a week old baby. This drove the girls in the crowd wild and they rushed the stage in an effort to get a touch of me. At no time did I take my eyes off Lisa, because I wanted her to feel as if she were the only girl in the auditorium. Despite the pokes and prodding from Antonio, she was transfixed in one spot and I saw that Antonio was getting annoyed as if I had stolen the soul of his woman. Antonio had security escort me from the stage after a few young ladies made it on the stage and managed to hug me and they tore my shirt to shreds. For the next couple of weeks I received more digits and notes from both girls and some strange men that would just stand and smile and licked their lips when they saw me on campus.”
“So, did your plan work to get the attention of this girl, Lisa? I hope you got her number or even a chance to put in a word?”
“Somehow, I thought that I overdid what I was supposed to do to get the attention of the one girl, but two weeks after the show I had still not managed to get in a single word to her.”
Gustave laughed until the wine in his glass spilled its contents on the crotch of his grey slacks.
“How anticlimactic and disappointing! All of that sexiness on stage for nothing. I wish I was there to see it. Shit, I was planning to wear these pants back to work later and now it’s stained and ruined."
“Serves you right and calm down, Gustave, its only wine and it will not matter anyway, you are always smelly,” Jaden laughed as he looked at the moonlight glistening in Gustave's blue eyes.
"You can say anything you like, Jaden; at least you have a woman back home. I am still trying to get mine."
"Gus, I was determined that Friday the 13th would not pass and since it coincided with the council meeting, it meant that her shadow, Antonio would be occupied. I needed to do something that would hold her attention thereafter. So, I rehearsed and rehearsed my speech to a point that I could recite it in my sleep.
“Jaden, the things men do for women,” Gustave said sarcastically.
“You know, Gustave, even my family got in on the act too. I remember it as if it was yesterday.”
I gazed off into the distance as the years seemed to roll by and I was back at my parent’s kitchen table again in Jamaica.
Jamaica – Early 90’s
It was Friday morning and my mother Samantha started off by teasing me as she came up behind me and asked,
“Jaden, do you think you have enough words to approach Lisa now?”
“Mom, how do you know about Lisa?”
“We have known everything for years. You have been torturing yourself about that girl since high school. Anyway, you can’t help yourself, like father like son. Your father behaved the same way about me in high school and look what happened!”
I smiled at the thought of a home with children with Lisa and then my little sister chimed in and she said in a sing-song voice,
“Jaden is in love with Lisa, but he is a chicken.”
Then to add to the torment, she started to cluck and scratch like a chicken.
I doubled my fist and was about to throw a blow in jest, but remembered that my mother was right behind me. The house was normally full of laughter, fun and today would have been no exception and even my parents would join in on the fun teasing or just cracking up at the exploits of their three children. I was often the butt of the jokes and jeers, but I could take as much as I gave.
“Anyway, Jaden,” said my father, “just focus on your school work for now; all the girls will come later in life.”
“Daniel!” exclaimed Samantha, “do you remember what you were like at his age?”
“Yes! I surely do,” replied his father, “I was a horny toad chasing every stick with a dress until I broke my leg and met you at the hospital.”
France – Present Day
“Oops,” said Jaden as he passed gas.
Gustave pinched his nose and fanned his hand feverishly.
“Shit, Jaden, your fart surely smells awful, but I like the relationship that your family shared. I did not experience that growing up at my home. You Jamaicans seemed to have a lot of fun.”
“Yes, we enjoyed the times when we got the chance with Mom being a nurse and my father a Lecturer at the University of West Hampshire; they were like two ships passing in the nights sometimes. They had seemingly grown apart at times, but they both shared the common mantra that a family that prayed and ate together stayed together. The financial struggles were real and took its toll on the family, with me being in college and Jody and Nathaniel both in Prep School at the same time. I had the dream of finishing college and furthering my education in Paris and eventually owning a Gourmet Restaurant, but Father had no clue where the first cent would come from for me to leave home for further studies. A scholarship would be the only answer and for that I had to be active in college and maintain a steady 4.0 GPA.”
Talking about everything that led up to that day had stirred up all the feelings that I thought that I had buried long ago. Friday the 13th was the turning point in my life and everything started to go south. It is so vivid in my mind I remember my Father being in a very good mood despite his slip up with Mom earlier, but I knew my father would have Mom eating out of the palm of his hands in no time. The air conditioning in the car was so cold that the windows and half the windshield were frosted. I wondered if Daddy could actually see the road.
Jamaica – 1990’s
“Dad, can you see through the windshield?” I asked out of curiosity while trying not to show too much concern.
“Sure, J,” Daddy responded.
“It’s just that Mom told me to be your navigator and I can’t see a thing”.
“It’s ok, son. I have it covered. I like my AC cold like I like my women always chilled and on Ice”.
Instantly there was a loud bang under the car, as if it hit a crater in the road and the air bag in the steering column deployed followed by three of my father’s favourite swear words.
I was quite shaken up and inside there was a seed of annoyance at what I was sure was Dad’s fault. I shook my head, but could not show my disgust as we were just chatting about visibility and now it was obvious that my father did not have it under control, but this was no time to rub that in because he still had a lot of questions. For some reason, my father had taken the back road from Spanish Town instead of the usual highway and was acting very secretive. All of this flashed through my mind as the car shook and wobbled violently, even as my father wrestled with the steering wheel as he struggled to bring it under control. There was the load hissing sound that was coming from the back of the car as well and I saw a look of concern pass over my father’s face.
“I just don’t understand, all the tyres on the car are run flats, so what the hell,” he mumbled.
Alighting from the car after fighting the air bag, I heard three more expletives from my father. I tentatively pushed open the door and stepped out on the loose gravel and my sneakers slipped and I almost fell, but then I grabbed unto the door to save my balance. I saw what my father was swearing about. The tyres on the passenger side were flat.
“I was scammed at the tyre shop in Spanish Town, Jaden. There is no way in hell that genuine run flat tyres would have just deflated like this,” Dad said.
"Dad,” I whispered, “what are we going to do? It’s almost 7:45 a.m. and my class starts at 8:15 a.m.? There was a stern look in response to my question and then Dad chuckled,
“Yes, Jaden, you will get there in time to see Lisa and we both broke out laughing. Let me call your uncle Dominique to come and get you to school. Your uncle Dominique has a transport business with several cars and a full complement of drivers in the area that would be able to respond quickly and bring a tow truck as well.”
We felt quite lonely with the exception of the rustling of the cane and the distant horns on the highway. We were alone. I watched as my father loosened his tie and called both his office and Uncle Dom to advise them that he was running late and needed a ride and a tow truck respectively.
“Jaden, the driver and truck will be here in twenty minutes.”
There was still a look of anxiety on my father’s face as if time seemed to be standing still; after all, we were in the middle of nowhere. As if on cue, three men popped out of the cane piece clutching what appeared to be long sticks in their hands and walking in single file.
At a distance of about 1000 feet they seemed to be clad in blue and had been shouting from their direction. I got more concerned as my vision became clearer. I could see that the men were not carrying sticks as I had thought, but they had rifles in their hands and I could now hear what they were saying; the one nearest to me shouted,
“Don’t move or you dead!”
“Daddy, Daddy,” I whispered, “what are we going to do? My voice was shaky, but I controlled the tone. I knew my father carried a gun and knew how to use it, but it was the first time he had ever been in a position where he may have had to use it.
“Jaden, get to the front of the car and call the police on your phone now,” my father said in an authoritative tone. “We have been ambushed, Jaden. How did they know that I would be driving this route this morning?"
“What are you talking about, Dad?” I asked as I glanced up in the direction of the men and they were now at a trot with the rifles up in a firing position. I heard the report of the rifles and saw the driver side mirror on the car disintegrate within inches of my father. The other two rounds went through the back windshield and shattered the front windshield as well. My ears were still recovering from the first salvo when I heard the roar of the rifles a second time and this time the bullets tore into the asphalt at my father’s feet and in the right fender of the car. The cell phone fell from my hand that was shaking violently and I noticed that the front of my khaki pants was stained with urine. Surprisingly, my father was quiet and had taken a fighting stance and had placed himself in a position that the engine of the car was between the men and himself. I heard two successive bangs from my father’s Glock 17 and my ears rang and I could see my father’s lips moving but I could not hear anything.
We peeped in the direction of the men to observe that one had fallen to the ground, and the other two were kneeling on the ground beside him and muttering expletives. It was only then that I could finally hear what my father was saying as the ringing eased a bit.
“I got one!” he shouted with a gleam in his eye, and it occurred to me that my father seemed to be enjoying himself. But his expression changed to fear when he saw that the men were still coming forward.
The men’s posture had also changed as they realised that they had encountered someone that was able to defend himself and could shoot too.
"The one day I decided to take a chance and look for my special friend, this happens."
“What was that, Dad?” I asked.
“Nothing, Son!” he replied quickly.
I watched as the man lying on the soft shoulder in the murky water that ran alongside the road gasped for air and heard him calling for his mother. The two hollow point slugs had ripped into his right lung and he was losing a lot of blood and could not catch his breath. His two cronies knelt beside him, shaking him as two black John Crows circled overhead, their black feathers glistening in the morning sun as if their feathers had been oiled before leaving their perch. Their first meal of the day would have been the man bleeding out on the side of the road, if he did not get help soon.
I could hear them chatting and their voices carried over to where we were crouched.
“Old bwoy shat you, Breddrin. How come the boy shoot so good from such a distance and is only a handgun?”
“Dennis, should we run or go and kill the bwoy?” Mark asked.
I had never known my Father to be a coward until when he turned and asked,
“Jaden, should I pursue this to the end or wait until help comes? Surely someone would and should have heard the loud explosions and alerted the Police. Jaden have you been able to call the Police yet?”
“Nope. I could not remember the number Daddy.“
“Oh crap, Jaden, give me the phone you idiot,” Daddy replied
I was so damn frightened, scared and trembling, there was an eerie calm and not even the leaves of the cane rustled at the same time when my father said,
“Don't tell your mother about this, Jaden especially the part about how and why I diverted from my normal route.”
Within minutes the whole road was swarming with police and onlookers who seemed to have come out of nowhere. There was blood and shell casings in the vicinity of where the men were but no body. The investigator indicated that there was a blood trail and that they would notify the hospital to be on the alert. The shell casings were 7.62mm, the type used in Assault Rifles and they appeared to be AK 47 Rifles,
“You are a damn lucky man, Daniel McNamara,” the lead investigator said.
He was being supervised by my father’s friend on the force who was an Assistant Commissioner of Police and he assured Daddy that he would take the initial statements and other formal statements would be taken later, but for now he didn’t see a problem based on his experience especially if a body turns up. The weapon would be seized, tested and returned once the ruling was made, but in the meantime body guards would be assigned to the family at a marginal cost.
Although I was still quite shaken by the incident and the speed at which it all unfolded, I still wanted to go to school after changing my pants. My life could have been snuffed out for no apparent reason. I loved my father more that day than ever before.
When we got home, Mummy was crying and asking dad the typical questions.
“Why did you divert from your normal route off the Highway?”
“Sweetheart, it does not matter why I diverted. It only matters that both Jaden and myself are still here in one piece and alive.”
She hugged him as if it was their last hug ever and whispered in his ear,
”Next time you want to pick up one of your girl friends don’t take my son with you”.
He laughed and responded, “So how come you don’t congratulate me on my shooting skills. If I were in the army I would get a marksmanship medal. “Ok, you will get you medal tonight in bed when you shoot at the target you can’t afford to miss”.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone