Spanish Town Square - file

On a dusty, cracked sidewalk on Burke Road in Spanish Town, St Catherine, Trevor the fruit vendor is arranging apples on a small, wooden table.

His table is close to a large supermarket and across the road from a man selling CDs. The CD vendor has large speaker boxes set up at his stall, from which the smooth sounds of none other than Nat King Cole are thumping loudly.

I was walking on what little space there was left on the sidewalk, when I accidentally bumped into Trevor, causing one of the apples to fall to the ground.

"Oy man! Ah weh di ... !" he yelled.

I offered a quick apology, but was even quicker to point out just how unfortunate the placement of his stall was.

"Aright mi boss. But yuh know seh ah just how di ting go. Yuh haffi inna di people dem face fi dem see yuh," he said.

Well-built

Now, Trevor was a burly fellow with biceps as large as my head, so having received from him what I considered to be a polite response, I was ready to walk away.

"So yuh naw buy nuh fruits?" he asked.

I told him I did not intend to, all the while hoping that this would not re-ignite the man's anger.

"So yuh just ah pass through den," he said.

I told him I was spending some time to see how things were in the heart of Spanish Town. As it turned out, Trevor was uniquely positioned to fill me in.

"Well I been selling here now fi more dan four year, so mi can tell yuh dat tings quiet down a whole heap since late," he said.

CD sale

Trevor was still arranging apples as he spoke and people were moving all around us. I glanced across at the CD vendor who seemed to have been making a sale to a schoolboy.

"Mi remember when mi just come out here, man. Tings did just ah get hot wid di crime and ting. Mi see bus get shot up, crowd ah run inna police station ah look fi protection and all ah dem ting yah. Now at least mi can juggle mi likkle fruits and ah man won't molest mi," he said.

"Although ef a man try ah ting mi ready fi him still," said Trevor, lifting a cardboard box under the table to reveal a giant cutlass waiting inside.

"Mi is not a warmonger, but yuh haffi prepare," he said, putting the box back in its original location.

Eager to change the subject, I asked Trevor what he thought had helped bring relative peace to that section of Spanish Town.

"Well, di police dem ah work still, and some ah di gunman dem leave and gone other place. Mi nuh really know yuh hear sah, but mi just haffi give thanks," said he.

The barber

I left Trevor and walked over to a nearby barber shop where I met Luther, the barber, standing in the doorway. Nobody was inside.

I struck up a conversation with the man and asked him for his take on what Trevor the fruit vendor described as peace in the area.

"Well if yuh think about it, is true still. We still nuh really feel completely safe, but is true dat things not as bad as dem was. Now, at least when yuh hear a car backfire, yuh nuh haffi ah jump through di window," he chuckled.

I asked him what he thought had helped bring the welcomed change.

"Well yuh can only live inna war fi so long before even di gunman dem get tired ah di crime, yuh know. So I really believe seh Spanish Town grow up now, at least some part, and realise seh all di fight dem ah fight, nothing naw get better fi dem, so dem just give it up," said Luther.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

Emancipation Square in Spanish Town, St Catherine.