Ditta Sylvester, Contributor

Melva Markland used to be a decent woman with high moral standards. When she met Vernon, the two had next to nothing. Now, their two grown children were doing well and life was financially good. They had come a far way from the little zinc fence tenement yard they had first lived in. Vernon was a mechanic who loved motor vehicles. To him, turning the switch in a car and listening to the purr of its engine was the most exciting thing in life. Melva understood him and though she hated washing his greasy clothes, she never complained.

It was when the children were still in primary school, that Vernon had bought the first old car. It had to be towed to the "garage" which was not really a garage, but an open area on one of the back streets of the town and a spot, which conveniently had two large trees, which gave shade to the area. Whenever it rained, Vernon and his assistant, Trevor, had to run for cover at the big Chinese shop on the nearby corner.

When Mr Chung was in a good mood, he would share with them a bottle of rum or brandy, which he kept hidden under the counter. Only customers whom the Chiney man had known for some time could get liquor to buy from him. Chung-Chung, as most people called him, had for years made reference to his "intention of getting a spirit licence". Chung-Chung's liquor selling was a secret, which was no secret to anybody who lived in that place.

It took Vernon almost two years to finish fixing up the old car, what with finding the right parts and everything. Finally it was able to move and he immediately found a buyer. Miss Edwards, the retiree who lived down the road, needed a car to take her up town to visit her more well-to-do friends, but the little pension she was getting just couldn't cut it. She had watched Vernon's work with interest so one day when she was out for her daily constitutional and saw them pushing the car, she expressed to Vernon her interest in owning "something simple". He painted the car blue and handed it over to its new owner.

Vernon was deliriously happy with the little money he got from Mrs Edwards and he used it to buy another old car. He was able to repair and refurbish this one in much less time and a buyer was again available before he was even done. The third time he bought two old cars, and repeated the profitable exercise. And so it was that good times came walking - albeit slowly - into the lives of Vernon Markland and his family. In time, they were able to purchase a house in quite a respectable neighbourhood. Then the two sealed their relationship with a big splash of a wedding.

By this time he had acquired a much more suitable spot for a garage and business was going well. Vernon was spending much more time refurbishing and selling cars, than he did on repair work for his customers. He needed more assistants so he brought in one more, and then another until he finally had a crew of four men working with him. Trevor maintained his position as the one who kept things going whenever the boss (Vernon) was away. Jerry Edwards was the fourth man to be hired. He was Miss Edwards' nephew whom they had all known from the old neighbourhood. Jerry had decided to become a mechanic in his endless quest of trying to 'find himself'.

It was at about this point in time that Melva began to notice how frequently Vernon was now missing from the garage. One day she spoke to Trevor about it:

"Is where him gone now?" she asked.

"Him an Jerry say dem gone drink rum down a Chung-Chung," Trevor told her.

It was the same excuse that Vernon had used whenever she enquired of his whereabouts. Yet Melva noted that on none of these occasions did her husband even smell faintly of liquor.

"Him an dat Jerry really tight!" she remarked.

Trevor said nothing more, but he continued to watch her. Melva knew that Trevor found her attractive. She had known it for some time and she also knew that he only kept his feelings to himself out of respect for herself and his boss. She changed the subject.

"How you and you new girl?"

"New girl!" Trevor said looking away.

"How you mean?" Melva continued. "Everybody talking bout dat pretty girl you have now. Is what she name again?"

"People chat too much," he said.

"So is not true?"

"Miss Melva, dem young gal nowadays not like your kinda woman you know."

"What you mean?" Melva asked him.

"Is long time I know you. Look how you stick wid Vernon. Wash, cook, clean and look bout you children. All dem young gal nowadays interested in is money!"

"So she don't want to do anything for you?"

"Not one ting! Jus dress up an walk street all day long. A man need him good dinna after him done work a day time. But she too stylish to even cook an I can't eat a restaurant every day."

"But dat bad!" Melva remarked

"Is last night I tell her to leave mi yard because she have no use to me," Trevor informed her. "She suppose to gone by now."

"Me sorry to hear," Melva said. "Anyway Vernon don't look like him coming back here anytime soon an if him come in late, him not going to eat. Why you don't drop by after you finish work so you can get a little something to eat?"

"Tank you Miss Melva," Trevor said.

A few weeks later, Melva was sorting the laundry one Saturday morning. Vernon had just bought her a new washing machine. Her hand touched his wallet and she pulled it out, wondering how he had managed to forget it in his pants pocket. Melva opened the wallet and counted the money in it. She replaced the notes and was about to put the wallet in a safe place when something fell out and on to the ground. Melva picked up what looked like a small paper square and turned it over. It was a picture of Jerry.

She felt instinctively that something was seriously wrong. The morning was hot and though she was sweating a little, a chill went through her body. Jerry's thin lips ginned up at her as in derision. Quickly she tore the picture into tiny pieces and threw the scraps into her washing tub. She opened the pipe and watched them dance madly around in the water till they disappeared down the drain. She put her hand to her head as she tried to dismiss the whole thing from her mind. She reminded herself to take a blood pressure pill.

For the rest of that day, she tried her best to put her suspicions out of her mind. She managed to do much more trying than succeeding. She kept thinking about how little intimacy herself and her husband had shared lately. She had assumed that it might be because they had both grown older but now she wasn't so sure. She kept remembering the look of guilt on Vernon's face when she laughing told him how the children of the neighbourhood had recently begun to address her as 'Mrs Chi-Chi'.

That evening Vernon came home earlier than usual. All day she had been trying to think of how to broach the subject of Vernon's apparently new lifestyle. As she watched him eat Melva said,

"I need a little change you know Vernon. You have any money in you wallet?"

Vernon put down his fork and said, "Dat wallet cause me one heap o' stress an' embarrassment today. I don't know is where it get lost from me."

Melva said nothing.

"Is what you want more money to buy now?" Vernon asked.

"Just to get some tings for mi self. Vernon you still love me?"

Vernon laughed.

"Is what kinda fool-fool question dat Melva! Why you asking me bout dat now? You tink say mi love a next woman?"

"Not a woman," she said almost to herself, as she handed him the wallet. Vernon's face dropped. He grabbed the wallet and opened it hurriedly. He did not check the money.

"Is Jimmy picture you looking for?" Melva asked quietly.

The fork clattered to the floor. Vernon's lips closed tightly in a thin challenging line as he glared at his wife across the table. It was the same guilty look that she remembered but this time it was mixed with defiance. He knew that she knew the truth about his relationship with Jerry. Words were, at this point, unnecessary. Noisily he pushed his chair backwards and got up from the table.

See part 2 next week.

- Ditta Sylvester