Douglas and his goat, Dido, on a farm in St Elizabeth. - photos by Robert Lalah

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"Tee-hee-hee!" The boy just sat there snickering as I waited for the old man to make his way down the hill. I was standing in front of a large house in Bogue, St Elizabeth, and was hoping to find out more about the community from the boy, or the man who was working further up the hill. I had signalled to the man and he was making his way down to speak with me. In the meantime, I was trying desperately to have a chat with the boy who was sitting on the ground in front of me.

"Tee-hee-hee!" That was all I could get out of him. He obviously found something quite amusing about me and I was getting rather annoyed. Alright, I was downright peeved and I'll confess that I toyed with the idea of giving the boy one good kick to the foot. That would shut him up, I'm sure. I could feel my foot trembling and was about to go for it, when the man shouted out.

"Yes sar, ah coming to yuh!" That snapped me back to my senses and I smiled and gave an awkward wave in acknowledgment. The man was wearing no shirt, a pair of blue shorts and carried a machete. He was sweating profusely when he finally made his way to where we were.

Hill bottom

"Yes man! I am Douglas. How-de-do? You lost?" he asked. The boy continued to snicker.

I told the man I wasn't exactly lost, but knew very little about the place. I asked him to tell me about the community.

"This is Bogue, man. Bogue in the parish of St Elizabeth," he said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

I asked him if he lived there all his life.

"Yes, man. That is mi fambily house up deh so. Dem not here anymore, so is me alone," he said.

Now, this section of Bogue was rather lonesome. There was only one other house in sight and, like Douglas' home, had seen better days. I asked Douglas why the place was so quiet.

"Well, we deh on the hill top, right here. More people live down ah di hill bottom, but up here so quiet fi true," he said. I glanced at the boy, who was now tracking a mosquito that seemed to have been circling his head. With one giant wallop, the boy swatted the mosquito right on his elbow. I was distracted for a while, as the boy flicked the dead mosquito to the ground. I didn't realise that Douglas was still talking.

"So that is how mi see things right now," he said. I nodded, not wanting to let on that I had no idea what he had been talking about, and quickly changed the subject by asking him if he was a farmer. I had figured that was the case when I saw him on top of the hill with the machete.

"Yes, man, mi have mi field where mi plant mi likkle pepper and so on, but time so dry now, it hard fi really depend pon dat alone," he said. The man looked me over and then asked me to give him a minute.

"Mek mi go inside go put on some clothes, mi going to show yuh how mi survive when mi come back," he said.

The man dashed off to the house to get dressed. This left me with 'laughing boy' once more and my foot started trembling again, when he restarted his high-pitched laughing. Luckily, Douglas wasn't gone long. He soon reappeared wearing a snazzy baseball cap, trousers and a blue shirt.

'Up pon di hill'

"Mek we go up pon di hill," he said. I followed him on a tiring walk up the hill, happy to leave the boy behind.

When we got to a clearing, Douglas looked around. "Wait here so, mi soon come," he said.

Douglas disappeared into the bushes, but soon reappeared pulling on a rope, attached to which was a goat.

"Dis is what mi have to start do now, raise goat. Di farming ting dry up bad, so mi start raise a one goat now and see what can come outa it," he said. The goat was fussing around with one end of the rope, and the slender man seemed to be having some amount of difficulty maintaining control.

Douglas went on to tell me that many of the farmers in Bogue were turning to raising animals because of the slowdown in vegetable sales.

The goat, which, by the way, Douglas called Dido, started getting more rambunctious. Douglas declared that he had to go get some water for Dido, so I bid the pair farewell and made my way back down the hill, careful to avoid coming into contact with ''laughing boy' again.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

Douglas making his way to his house in Bogue, St Elizabeth.