Di people dem start shout out how mi fi come tek a dip inna di water. When mi tell dem seh mi nuh want to do it, dem start call mi devil and gather round mi ... . Mi haffi push weh two woman and gallop weh, fast fast.

Shhhh. The sound of the river got louder as I walked downhill. It was mid-morning at Castleton Gardens in St Mary and I had spotted a crowd by the river. I was walking closer to see what was happening, when I heard someone yell.

"Ahhh!" It was a blood-curdling scream, the kind you expect only to hear in slasher films. My first instinct, as it often is, was to lunge head first into nearby bushes, but luckily, I restrained myself long enough to hear a follow-up yelp.

"Yes! God is good to us all! Amen and praise be to His name!"

Needless to say, this changed the mood and I hurried to the bank of the river to see what was happening. On the other side of the water, there were around 15 or 20 people, some dressed in red robes. There were two men standing in the river, water up to their knees. One was standing behind a woman in a white robe, while the other man was standing in front of her with an open Bible in his hand. The man with the Bible lifted his right hand to the heavens and the woman fell back into the water. The man behind her lifted her back out, drenched, but smiling. The crowd, watching it all unfold, applauded and some shouted words I could not clearly hear.

Story of a baptism

I noticed a woman, wearing what looked like a house dress, chewing on a slice of watermelon about 20 feet to my left. I walked over to her.

"Hello, please?" she said. The woman was about 40 years old and had giant arms and, oddly enough, had no eyebrows. I asked her what was happening, trying hard not to stare at the empty space above her eyes.

"Is a baptisam, man. A baptisam," she said, still chewing away. The juices from the melon ran down her arm, but this seemed to be of little bother to her.

Warning

"Every Tuesday yuh see dem out here. Is a church from up inna di hill. Nuh go too close though," she said, her mouth full. I thought it a curious warning, and questioned her about it.

"Well, yuh can go if yuh want, but one time mi did was go ups up mi self and go tan up near dem and one piece a sinting!" she said, spitting a watermelon seed to the ground. It landed uncomfortably close to my shoe, causing me to take a step to my right.

"Di people dem start shout out how mi fi come tek a dip inna di water, all kinda sinting. When mi tell dem seh mi nuh want to do it, dem start call mi devil and gather round mi. Di whole ah dem start pray down pan mi. Mi haffi push weh two woman and gallop weh, fast fast," the woman said, spitting another seed to the ground. This one landed to my right, prompting me to take a step to my left.

Taking no chances

I looked back at the crowd by the river. They seemed harmless enough to me. In fact, I imagined I would have been considerably more comfortable with them than I was with the seed-spitter. I was about to tell the woman that I was going take my chances and move closer, when I noticed that her eyes were wide. I asked her what was the cause, but she didn't answer.

"See dem deh ah look pan wi! Come!" I glanced across at the crowd and, in fact, most of them were looking in our direction. One woman was making a gesture for us to come closer. I turned back to the melon-eater to ask if she would be willing to go with me. Unfortunately, she was already well on her way up the hill. Her hefty legs moved with alarming speed and in a matter of seconds, she was out of sight. I looked back and saw the crowd still looking. Caught in an uncomfortable situation, I had but a second to make a decision. Do I follow the seed-spitter, or go across the river to the crowd, a move I had been warned against? In the end, I gave an awkward wave to the crowd and casually strolled back up the hill. As soon as I was at the top, I headed straight to my vehicle and dashed out of the area before the seed-spitter could spot me.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

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