It had started like any Thursday. William Williams (yes, that's his real name), who quite understandably asks people to call him Billy, got out of bed, gave a hearty stretch, put on his slippers and shuffled outside to fetch water for a bath.

Now, even though it was coming up to 6 p.m. Billy was just getting up. You see, he works the night shift as a watchman at a nearby hardware outlet. His small, wooden home is just about 50-feet from a section of the Spanish Town leg of Highway 2000. You can actually see the blue, wooden structure from the roadway.

An unexpected turn

So as Billy took up his bucket and walked outside, he rubbed his eyes and greeted the evening with a deep breath. Things, from then on, took an unexpected turn. Billy spotted a small gathering, maybe 10 persons standing at the fence that separates the highway from the open field on which Billy and roughly 20 other persons live. Everyone was looking up and pointing at something in the sky. Billy quickly threw down the bucket and ran to join the crowd.

This is where I met him. I had been travelling on the roadway, minding my own business when I too spotted the people staring at the sky. I pulled over to ask what was happening.

It was a stout fellow with a receding hairline who answered my query.

"Look pan di sky. Di people dem seh dem never see nothing like dat. First dem see a circle around di sun, and now look pan it, pure line deh round it," he said.

They were all gathered behind the fence, but soon curious drivers stopped their own vehicles on the roadside and hopped out to gaze at the display.

It appeared as if I had not arrived in time to see the best of what had apparently taken place. To hear the group describe it, the circle around the sun was quite the spectacle.

"Man! Mi tell unnu seh unnu must repent! Dem ting yah nuh normal! It is di coming of our soon and coming King!" shouted an elderly woman, seeming quite pleased. She was holding a wash brush in her hand, suggesting she was in the middle of something when she spotted the mysterious circle.

I looked over at Billy. He appeared somewhat troubled. I asked him his take on the matter. "Mi? Eh, mi nuh know. Yuh tink ah really a sign, Miss Babs?" he said to the woman with the brush. He had wide eyes and seemed really disturbed by the possibility that the trumpets could soon sound.

Billy's warning

"Billy, ah tell yuh from yuh was a likkle pickney dat yuh must come inna di church! Yuh nuh listen to mi. Yuh an dat careless gyal love go too much dancehall and wouldn't even tek one day outa di week fi go visit wid di Lord," the woman said, pointing her finger at him. Billy said nothing, but looked contemplative. The fat man with the receding hairline gave a slight chuckle. "Yuh nuh badda laugh, yuh know, Marlon for yuh baptise when yuh ah pickney, and is last week mi see yuh ah come from outa betting shop! Yes! Yuh think mi never see yuh? Is alright," the woman said, sending the fat man's mood south.

The sun was setting now and the rays had all but disappeared. Slowly, the sky watchers went back to their regular routine, each with his or her own explanation for the circle around the sun. Billy was the last to leave. He was sweating heavily and rubbed the back of his head as he walked. "Ah wah dis pan mi yah now?" I heard him say.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

A woman and a young boy watch the sun from a cliff near Highway 2000.