Candice's POV
"Den Tita wah mek him a look pon yuh suh" my baby brother asked. He called me "Tita" due to his inability to say "sister" because of his lisp. A'Jaun is only six years old. I was taking him to his first day of school. St. Catherine Primary.
"Mi nuh know enuh Jaunie. maybe him sick inah him head" I said while making circles at the side of my head with my right hand, and holding A'Jaun firmly with my left hand as we crossed the street.
I spent the entire summer with A'Jaun and my four other brothers. I left Jamaica to live with my dad in Canada when I was 12. Since then, I've been coming back every summer to spend time with my mom, and almost every Christmas to see my dad's mother.
"Hello beautiful children, mothers and fathers and relatives alike"
A light skin woman with dark brown hair greeted the crowd. She had hip dips and a small waist that went well with her 'C' cup chest. Her hips were wide and her thighs thin. A contradiction I thought
Dah ooman yah shape like any fridge tpc.
" I am Mrs. McKenzie"
"Den smaddy really married har? She look like a walking barrel" someone from the audience said, not loud enough for her to hear, but loud enough for anyone within 6 feet of her.
Sigh when body shaming aguh done?
I'm no saint and I do pass my judgement but God know. Mi nah guh seh dat mek people hear.
"Ow!" I heard A'Jaun scream. A kid had stepped on his toe.
"Sorry miss , sorry" A bleached out face woman said looking unapologetic. Her "sorry" wasn't meant as an apology but as a way of saying "excuse outta mi way" . I hissed my teeth and stooped to my brother's level to remind him of the rules of how to handle things when he gets into a conflict.
After meeting his teacher, and sending A'Jaun off, I knew I had to get home. 23 with an hourglass body I couldn't hide even if I tried, being in Spanish town meant cat calling, and inappropriate comments on my body.No car, no license and a 5 hundred dollar bill. I have absolutely no sense of direction and I knew I'd be as lost as a duck if I didn't ask for help.
Being my usual clumsy self I dropped my phone, and with my grand luck of course it fell into one of the many potholes we have in Jamaica.
Bomborawse.
As I fetched my phone from the muddy puddle, upon raising my body to my original standing position, my head collided with another person.
"Yuh cyah watch weh di bloodclawt yah-"
Then I saw him. He had the darkest eyes I had ever seen, a full beard, neatly groomed. Caramel toned skin, like the sweets I'd always buy in primary school. He was wearing a thin cuban link gold chain and a cursive tattoo peeped out of his V neck shirt.
"Excuse mi?" He said " A you lick up innah me enuh lady"
"Why up pon dat" the person next to him said.
He gave him a sharp look.
"Suh wahmn yuh nah seh sorry?" He said staring me dead in the eye.
"Uh.. I- uhm"
"I wonder if she dumb dawg" his friend said
"She nuh dumb Leo cause hear she nearly cuss me out a while aguh" he said to his friend
