I mean, she seemed nice enough. Of course, she did have blue hair, had noticeable difficulty pronouncing the letter 'V' and was in deep concentration watching a movie about a talking pig. But hey, I don't judge.

Let me explain. I had been driving around in Junction, St Elizabeth for maybe an hour, looking for someone to tell me what life in the town was like. I was in the hotbed of activity, or the town square as the locals describe it. There were taxis zipping up and down the roadway, the occasional noisy, overloaded truck and a handful of people walking around. Hardly a metropolis, but fairly active for a rural town.

Breast-feeding

About 20 minutes earlier, I had had a lengthy conversation with an elderly woman and her granddaughter who was alarmingly comfortable breast-feeding her new-born on her verandah, no matter how surprised her uninhibited display made everyone. Or maybe that was just me.

Anyway, here, back in the town square I was sitting in a small bar/shop with a woman wearing glasses behind the corner. Now, I had been making sporadic attempts at initiating a conversation with the woman, but she seemed hardly interested. On a small television set high on a wall at a far corner of the bar, the movie Babe was going on and the woman was transfixed. I silently pondered the social ramifications for me, having not been able to win over the attention of a woman from a fictional talking pig. The implications were not amusing and I decided to take my leave of the situation and got up from the stool on which I was sitting. It seemed as if this was when the woman realised I was sitting there.

"Oh, you want something?" she asked half-heartedly. Taking her initial silence as a serious affront to my charm, I was about to walk out without giving a reply, however, good sense prevailed and I sat back down. I asked the woman if she lived in Junction.

"Yes man. I used to live in Kingston one time, although I was born here in Junction. I live in town for a while but I prefer life down here," said the woman who gave her name as Denise.

Denise stood up briefly to turn the sound down on the television set. She was shorter than I had imagined and had oddly long toe nails. I asked her what life was like being a barmaid in Junction.

"Well, it quiet still. More time di place dead and yuh nuh have nothing to do whole day. When di bauxite factory was open di place was more lively," she said, rubbing her nose.

"Yuh nuh really have anything much to do here, but at least is not like town where yuh have to keep worry bout if man coming in here to bruck yuh shop."

Peace and quiet

I noticed a young boy standing outside, looking in through a window. He was as transfixed watching the movie about the talking pig, as the woman in the bar had been only moments earlier.

"The place used to be much noisier and some people vex about it, but to tell yuh di truth, mi nuh mind. Mi can at least have some peace and quiet," she smiled.

"Mi not saying mi glad fi di factory lock down, because I hope dem people can get back work, but at least yuh have to find di silver lining some time yah man. Life in Junction kinda boring, yes, but mi will teck di boring more dan di violence and noise."

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

Many cars, but little happening in Junction, St Elizabeth. - Photo by Robert Lalah