We've been in St. Lucia for about two days and it's so beautiful. The island has a lot of animals just roaming around like horses, cows, and chickens and I saw a few snakes. I'm not scared of them but my mother is, she's such a scaredy cat. Carnival is tomorrow and we can see it from the villa that we're staying at. The houses and the roads are so close to each other and everything is right in your face. It's been kind of hard for me to find food because I'm vegan but I'm still alive.
I'm at the supermarket which is right across the road from the villa we're staying in so Mommy let me go by myself. I'm just in here looking for anything plant based so I can eat it later. I found this fruit called Guinep and it looks like grapes. Mm, that might taste good. The supermarket is playing music and I don't understand what they are saying but it sounds good.
Then she give me something And then me swallow, fever Gone right away
When yuh coming back, Cassandra When yuh coming to give me medicine
(Be quiet boy I'm yuh doctor, I come here to make yuh betta)
And then she jook jook jook
What? That's very... I don't know, I kind of like it though. I think I heard it before too, it brings back memories from when I was younger. I roamed around the store and found the frozen aisle. They have stuff from America too. In the freezer, I saw ice cream in a plastic bag. Oh, those are ice lollies, I saw those on the internet and they're vegan.
5/$5
The sign said and I took five different flavors. I think I'm done shopping before I go broke. I stood in line and heard someone call my name.
"Halle?" The person said in a thick accent and I turned around seeing this older lady. Her hair is black and gray, but not like black and white mixed gray. It's more like a silver color, it suits her.
"Yes ma'am? Do you need help with your things?" I politely asked and she shook her head.
"No, yuh too kind. You don't remember me?"
"Umm, no." She did call me by my middle name and a lot of people know my middle name but I use it as my stage name but they don't call me that. She must really know me...
"I'm your great-grandmother, Halle." I'm named after her?
"Oh, um I don't know if to hug you or not." I nervously chuckled and scratched my head. She smiled, showing her dimples just like mine.
"It's fine. Are you here on vacation?"
"Yes, when I was younger my mother told me where I'm from so we decided to visit."
"That's nice, you have good parents."
"I know."
"I've been looking for you for a while, hoping you would come back."
"I've been here before?"
"Of course, you used to live here with me before your mother gave you up. I didn't want her to but you were her child, not mines. I guess it was better for her to give you up because now you have a family that loves you."
"Yes, I do, a huge family too." I said and she chuckled.
"Would you like to meet them?"
"I um, if that's fine with you." I nodded my head and we paid for our things. The cashier bagged out items and we left out of the market. We made small conversation as we walked to the villa.
"Mommy, momma I'm back."
"Okay, what did you get?" I heard Momma ask as she walked out of the kitchen drinking water.
"You got that at the store?" Desiree asked me referring to my great-grandmother. I saw my mother's eyes widen as she covered Desiree's mouth.
"I'm so sorry ma'am. Who's that Zee?"
"This is Halle, she's my great-grandmother. That's my mother, Janet, my little sister Desiree, my brother Christian is over there and my other sister is right there and I think my other mother is taking a nap."
"Nice to meet you all."
"Nice to meet you too."
"Azuree can I speak to you real quick?" I nodded my head and handed the bag of groceries to my brother. We walked out back and she looked at me.
"How are you so sure that she's your great-grandmother?"
"She told me... she also said that her name is Halle and that my birth mother gave me up. It wasn't in my file that my mother gave me up and we all thought that she was dead..."
***
My parents let me go over to her house which is right up the road from our villa. I learned a lot of things about my family from her. My mother was in her twenties when she had me but she didn't want to keep me, she wanted to have an abortion. My great-grandmother talked her into keeping me and she did, but gave me up for adoption when I was about two. My dad was an older man who had a wife and children and didn't want anything to do with my mother when she turned up pregnant. That's sad.
My great-grandmother also said that I'm the only child and so is my mother. When I came to her house, memories came back to me. I remember some things about the house but not all. I just remember colors and smells. She lives with her sister Mary and she's nice too. When I arrived she was cooking salt fish, bake, green fig, and cucumber salad. It sounds so good but I told her that I'm vegan so she said that I could take a few plates for my family. I did eat the bake since she said that it's just flour and water and it was so so good. I tried the green fig and it was okay, I didn't like the texture. It was like a banana.
"Yuh come down fa carnival?"
"Uhh yes." I don't really understand her but I'm trying.
"Are you jumping?"
"Am I jumping? Huh?" She laughed and I blushed in embarrassment.
"Yes, jumping is when you are in the carnival. Do you have a costume?"
"Oh no, I'm not doing that. I just wanted to see the costumes and experience the culture, you know." I'm having fun and I can't wait until Thursday to see the different colors and the costumes. I'm excited about the music too, I know there's going to be a lot of people there.
***
•I can't believe I did this all in Azuree's POV...
•Zee meeting her great-grandmother?
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