'Well, it did better one time. Is not like when mi did first start sell out here. But give God thanks still, for mi still can manage'

Long, long ago (last Saturday) in a land far, far away (Spanish Town) there lived a spritely middle-aged woman called Miss Shirley, who ran an empire of coconuts, bananas and sugar cane with the rigidity of a German soldier.

Now, Miss Shirley actually lives in St Mary, which is some distance from Spanish Town, but has been overseeing a fruit stall in the Greendale community for more than 10 years.

"It far yes. But weh mi fi do?" she responded dryly, when I asked her about the distance. She makes the trek back home twice a week.

Miss Shirley sits near a fence across the road from a small car wash and at the entrance of one of the older housing schemes in Spanish Town. The Spanish Town market, which is where you'd perhaps expect to find her and other vendors, is more than five miles away.

"Mi nah go inna di market, sah! Too much bad mind and watch watch. Ef yuh sit right yah so, den yuh haffi ah fight wid dis yah one who sit down beside yuh and dat deh one over deh so. Mi caan badda wid dat! Mi love right here so," Miss Shirley said, her eyes wide.

Some of Miss Shirley's produce.

Seen many things

I asked her how business was, so far from the heart of the town.

"Well, it did better one time. Is not like when mi did first start sell out here. But give God thanks still, for mi still can manage," she said with a smile.

Now, from her post on the outskirts of Spanish Town, Miss Shirley has seen many things, some of which she would prefer to forget.

"Mi nuh inna di town town, but even right here mi siddung and see man get lick down wid car, man get shot, all kinda sinting. Ah 10 years yuh know, mi see whole heap of tings," she said.

But despite it all, Miss Shirley is content with her spot in Spanish Town and has no plans to move anytime soon.

"Mi love it, man. And things even quiet down now. Yuh nuh have di shooting and things like one time. Is true seh mi woulda love if it did stop altogether, but we still give thanks fi life," she said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com