Chapter 10 — When Violence Breeds Violence

As the big white van, found a comfortable spot to park in front of the Bradshaw’s veranda, Philip, still at the standpipe, making sure that Dian and Devon got the dirt washed away from their little bodies; left them and made his way to the front of the yard. He was trying to investigate who were those persons parking their vehicle right in front of their yard.

Dripping wet and still muddy, he began peeping through the tinted windows of the van with caution, trying to figure out who were those persons behind the dark colored windows. But quickly he would learn who they were as the mysterious windowpane began descending lower and lower, and the driver of the van began saying loud haughty morning greetings.

“Good morning, young man!”

The drive of the white van said while removing himself from behind the steering wheels of the vehicle and began stepping onto the property of the Bradshaw’s family.

“Good morning, Sir!”

Philip replied, as his eyes opened wide and began moving back and forth from the white van to the man who had just remove himself from around the steering wheel of the big white van.

Soon, a clanking sound was heard coming from the back of the white van and the back doors to it, then flew open. And seconds later, Christopher Bradshaw, was stepping out from the van with a white blanket laying across his shoulders.

He looked disheveled and weak, and barely said a word of hello to his son Philip, who was standing there, in complete amazement, wondering what to do next.

“Good morning, Dada!”

Philip uttered while anticipating what should be his next move… aiding his father to be seated on the veranda chair or fetch him water to drink.

Moments later, one of the men who had accompanied his father home in the white van, handed his father a brown paper bag which seems to be filled with medication and reminded him to take them as the doctors had prescribed. Seconds later, they were driving off the Bradshaw’s property, while blazing and blasting the sirens on the vehicle.

Dion and Devon, also came running to the front of the veranda, butt naked, checking the excitement that was happening there. And they both gazed upon their father from a distance, too timid to be close in his presences. Because, even though, they were quite young, they still were around him long enough to see the harm that he could do to any of his children. And it would be only a matter of time before their body parts would go missing or become disfigured like their brother, Philip’s.

Seeing his father’s face, looking like a mean crocodile, Philip grab the two little ones standing beside him and brought them back to the standpipe to finish washing away the caked mud that they were covered and saturated with.

Twenty minutes or so later, the caking mud was out of their hair, nostrils, eyes and all other parts of their little bodies.

Philip then got his sister and brother dressed, brought them to the hut in the bushes where his elder sister, Ella, was hiding. And there he told her, she should better get herself wash and dress; because their old man was home now and might be needing her assistance soon.

“My assistance?”

Ella blurted out, hissing her teeth and cutting her eyes while folding an old piece of cloth around her maturing private parts.

Quickly, she lifted Dion and Devon, placing them on the makeshift bed she had constructed inside of the hut. She then offered them some of the corn-beef and yams they had left over from the night before, while giving them stern warning to eat their meal and never to move from the spot where she had placed them until she was back at the hut. Because, she was going to cleanse herself now and would be back in a jiffy to be with them.

Ella needing more privacy, went and used the bathroom on the family house while Philip went to the standpipe to wash away the mud still dripping from his short and sweaty upper body.

He was now in a hurry, especially since time was far gone, for him to catch his full hours at the Crusher Company.

Washing down his body with the water hose at the standpipe, Philip could hear his father calling out his mother’s name to come and see about him. And not hearing her responding to him, he became very agitated and began cussing himself away.

And from the pipe where Philip stood, he spoke as loudly as he could, telling his father that their mother wasn’t there in the house, and if she was ever there, she would have answered to his calling by now.

But would Ella or Philip ever give their father any inclination about where his woman, his common-law wife and the mother of his five children, was presently?

Philip already feeling tired and exhausted from all the activities of the morning, dressed into the same pants he had worn from the day before, stole one of his father’s undershirt and went rushing off to the Crusher Company to seek his daily bread. Where his eyes met his new friend, Tiger, and greeted him with a hello.

“Hey Phil, the boss man, was asking for you over an hour or so ago!”

Tiger informed.

“What about?”

Philip inquired.

“Man, I’m really not sure, but he was just asking! So, go and check and see what’s on his mind… keep in mind that you are the last one here for the job!”

Tiger suggested.

Philip had the perfect excuse but he just wasn’t in the mood to go and speak with Mr. Marshall, because he had called him out of his name the day before, because of the unpleasant looking deformity of his face. But, serious shit was happening at his home front and he knew, he desperately needed this job.

Swallowing his pride and having the perfect excuse, Philip stepped into Mr. Marshall’s tiny office with grieve showing all over his face and related to him why he wasn’t on the job any earlier than now.

But before Philip could divulged his story, Mr. Marshall was quick to apologize over the sad news of his mother. And soon, he began relating the case of his mother to him. Far from what he knew to be the actual truth!

“What a pity, the awful things those men has done to your mother!” Mr. Marshall lashed out sympathetically; “I get to understand that there were four of them who had beaten your mother to death’s door in the five o’clock hours of the morning; and they even try setting your house ablaze!”

Philip stood there in a state of shock, hearing this scenario of what had transpired with his mother earlier on this morning.

“I really wasn’t expecting you to show up at all today!”

The boss man continued on.

“Well, my mother is in the hospital now and there is nothing I can do for her, so I would rather be here trying to make a living.”

Philip said calmly as his mind was now eager to return home and tell his sister about what persons on the streets were saying about his mother circumstances.

“If want to work go ahead and work, it might help take your mind from off of it all!”

Mr. Marshall advise while feeling sorry for the young man standing in front of him.

Without saying a single word, Philip nodded his head and soon began stepping backwards from the presences of his employer. Moments later, he went grabbing his bucket and started heaping gravels from one heap to the other until the day was done.

Just before leaving the grounds of the Crushing Company, where both men had been toiling all day, Tiger, backed Philip into a corner and began expressing to him heartfelt sympathy about his mother’s condition.

Nodding his head, Philip said his appreciation to his friend while not showing any emotion of whether he was sad, afraid or hurting. But all Philip wanted to do was get out of there, meet his sister in the bushes and informed her about what people were saying on the streets. Hoping that they could somehow build their alibi around the rumors of their mother’s incident.

But Philip wasn’t far gone from his friend or from the premises of the company’s gate when he overheard, Mr. Marshall, calling him from the upstairs window of his tiny office.

“What the fuck he wants now?”

Philip mumbled to himself.

“Are you rushing off to go and see your mother?”

Mr. Marshall shouted with both hands at his mouth while still standing at the window of his office and looking down on the fresh link in his company.

“No Sir, I can’t do that today… too much work at the house to be done!”

Philip shouted back with his hands surrounding his mouth as well.

Hearing the young lad response, Mr. Marshall saluted him and then shouted; “Take it easy and I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Philip returned the salute and soon, he was marching one foot before the other on his way home.

Away from talking to his sister about what was being said on the streets, he also was very set in his mind on preparing someplace more comfortable to sleep on, than he had done the night before.

Entering the yard, Philip bothered not to stop at his parent’s house. But instead, he went straight to the hut where he and his brother and sisters had spent the night out into the bushes. And there, he fund all three of them lying on the makeshift mattress which they had spent the night, bitterly weeping.

Falling to his knees and pulling his sister by the shoulders, trying to have her sitting in an upright position, Philip worriedly ask;

“Ella, what’s the hell is wrong now?”

Choking with hurt and pain, she could hardly speak!

But minutes after comforting his sister, Philip finally received the answer to his question.

“Lillian is going to be put in the ground Sunday!”

Ella said fighting back tears.

“Who told you that?”

Philip ask with a surprise look covering his face.

She was so distraught, she was unable to remember the name of the police man who had been so very good to her and her other siblings.

Minutes later, Ella recalled his name and began telling her brother that Corporal Banks along with a man from the hospital morgue had come by the house earlier on that day, and they were discussing and finalizing plans for Lillian’s funeral. And her father along with the hospital undertaker, asked her to gather up some of Lillian’s clothing, preferably her Sunday’s Best – formal wear, so they could have them for dressing her up for her funeral on Sunday.

But since their mother had set ablaze so many of their best clothing, she went into her mother’s closet and took from it, a beautiful white suit she had outgrown and had been holding onto it for whenever her figure changes; preferably from stout to slim. And handed it to the undertaker along with her sister’s church shoes and a pair of her socks.

For a moment, there was only dead silence in the hut, except, for the sporadic or infrequent moments of snorting, coming from their wet nostrils.

But instead of wallowing in tears and sorrow, or the sudden and dreadful loss of his sister, Lillian, Philip quickly raise himself up from off the ground and shouted loudly;

“Ride on Lillian ride on… where you are going has to be fucking paradise, because our paradise here, is nothing but a fucking hell!”

“You are the strong one! You have the courage to go! You have gotten out of here before these two slimy fucking reptiles, have you spending the rest of your precious days in a jail!”

Philip continued to declare passionately.

But, his show of ego – resisting the hurt, and his manly boyish strength wouldn’t last for too long, because soon, he began feeling, whatever Ella and Dion were feeling.

And few minutes afterwards, Philip’s voice box began cracking, his forehead began forming a cluster of wrinkles while the tip of his nose became extremely red, then, the tears began dropping from his eyes one by one, like a partially tightened facet.

Moments later, he too was back on the hard surface of the ground, pressing on his knees, weeping away just like his sisters Ella and Dion and baby brother Devon. Although, Devon wasn’t too sure of what the hell he was crying about; but was only doing so, because, he had seen his elder siblings, sorrowfully weeping away.

Consumed with grief and tears, all four relatives went off sleeping that night without preparing their last meal of the day.

Or, without even lighting their bottle torch so they could see around the hut in the dark, in case they had gotten up during the night for whatever reasons.

Hence, the break of dawn on that Thursday morning, had greeted the Bradshaw’s children with an empty stomach, unclean skin and no torch light around their place of dwelling.

However, the full moon was out glazing the leaves of the trees, giving them a shimmering effect, and the favor of good weather was also upon them; allowing a peaceful night’s sleep.

Hours later, when the fullness of daybreak had come with bright sunlight beaming across the stretch of the land; all four Bradshaw children were up and began gathering dry sticks to start preparing their morning meal.

Philip wanted to bathe, eat his morning meal, and then leave for his work early; so he could reach work in time and receive a reasonably amount of money on the upcoming pay day at the end of the week.

Sitting on two dry unhusked coconuts which had fallen from one of the trees, eating up the yam and chicken Ella had gotten up early and cooked, Philip called Ella to his side and began relating to her what her had heard persons were saying on the street about their mother’s attackers.

“My boss and others are talking, saying that it was four men who had beaten Mama and try setting the place ablaze!”

Philip informed his sister.

“Well, that’s good, let them keeping saying that!”

Ella responded without an ounce of fear, remorse or concern in her voice.

“We stick to what we know; and that is nothing!” Ella lashed out brushing both hands together; “Even if, that woman arises from her sleep, we know not one single thing that happened to her, except, that we had found her at the standpipe fighting for her life!”

Hearing how adamant, compelling and straightforward his sister had spoken, Philip agreed with her, but he said not another word to her about that matter. Meanwhile, Ella was juggling with a lot of stuff on her mind.

She desperately wanted to abandon her two younger sibling for a while and get back to her school with the little money her brother was putting in her hands. Because, almost the whole of three weeks had gone, and yet still, she hadn’t seen inside any of her classrooms. And what was even worse in her situation, was the fact that three pairs of her school uniforms were in ruins.

But she thought, they probably could be salvage, if they had gotten some thorough washing and then ironing. And for the rest of the day, after eating her breakfast and feeding Dion and Devon, Ella focus on washing whatever she could of the clothing that her bother had rescued from the fire.

Therefore, she and her three others siblings could have something decent to wear for the rest of the week, and she could have some uniform for going back to school, if the opportunity came along.

However, another pain in the ass was on her tail. Because as soon as she had left from the hut and came by the standpipe to start with her laundry; her father immediately began calling out her name. And her decision to answer to his callings, after several utterances involving her name, allowed him to start asking her to prepare him something to eat, drink, and also to assist him with the taking of his medication.

Which, Ella wasn’t quite reluctant about doing.

And for hours, she sat at the standpipe, washing away the smoke, ashes and mud out of her school clothing and other garments as well while her father blaze all the profanities that are found in hell and everywhere around hell’s kingdom.

She being filled with resentment towards him for the treatment he and her mother had handed to her and her other siblings; made her not want to even look at him. Because, the hate in her heart for him was too bloody strong.

And now, he was too afraid to come running after her with machete or a heavy duty piece of stick; because, he had had enough of his interaction with the law… the cops beating him. And neither did he care for them dragging him off to the jail house once again. Or, even to the hospital for that matter, especially, since he has now learned his common-law wife was now there on the hospital ward, fighting for her life.

Ella, and her siblings, had the pity of the law on their side, but there were no known implementation of the law protecting the rights of children and their well-being such as those penned into law books in these modern times.

The warnings of any law enforcement officer was straightforward in those days, in many parts of the world, especially in undeveloped countries. Anyone disobeying those warnings of an officer were certain to expect some time in jail. And if one, should obey those warnings, then one would surely be considered a good man, and would likely be given a second chance whenever shit hits the fan the next time around, or any actions disturbing the peace would be present at ones doorstep.

However, it wasn’t until Ella was done with doing her laundry and had them partially dry on the clothing line that she entered the house and paid any attention to her father.

Filled with scorn and demised in her soul, she walked up to her father, still sitting on the living room couch with the hospital sheet wrapped around his shoulders and rudely asked;

“What the fuck you want from me now?”

For a while her father, Christopher, sat there in silence with fire blazing inside of him and temper rising to a point of striking out at her in a fatal manner.

“If I could manage the fireside, you think I would ever call you?”

Ella’s father finally responded.

“Check what your mother have inside the refrigerator and cabinet and put it on the fire for me!”

Reluctantly, Ella stood there giving her father the evil-eye before attempting to move from the spot and do as she was told.

Suddenly, it then came to her that Dion, Devon along with herself were going to need dinner for the stomach, and whatever money her brother would be putting into her hands, she could then safe it towards her schooling.

Ella’s reluctances had now vanished and quickly she entered into her mother’s refrigerator and freely began digging up for what to put on the fire for cooking dinner. Setting her eyes on a pack of pork lions in the freeze and brown rice down below, Ella’s decision was made for her delicious dish. Even though, it was her very first time cooking such meat kind in her life.

Her father was willing to give her some instructions and guidance on how to go about preparing the meat, but cooking the rice was easy for her. Because, she had seen her mother cooked it numerous times. And for the very first time in an extremely long while, Ella had calmed herself and would make herself listen to anything that her father was trying to say to her.

But would this moment of sharing culinary skills bring the broken family back together and forget all wrongs?

Obediently, Ella carried out the cooking instructions just as her father gave them to her until the food were done cooking and ready to eat.

Dion and Devon receive their plates first, the Ella prepared a large plate for her brother Philip, which she brought to the hut and rested it there. She then return to the kitchen and dished out two plates for herself, one for now and the other for later. And afterwards, she prepared a plate for her father. A plate which had him trembling in his boots or in his case, his house slippers.

Ella’s heart, still cold and dark as midnight towards her father, placed in front of him the plate of food she had dished out for him. She spat into it, and then, poured onto it the bucket of stale urine she had by the hut. Seconds later, she began yelling at her father while pushing his head towards the plate of cooked rice and pork loins;

“Eat it up now you mother fucker… eat it up now!”

Although, not in the best of health, Christopher got up from his seat and gave Ella one fist across the face… not a fist as though he was hitting a woman, but a punch in the face as if he was hitting another man.

“What the fuck you think you are doing?”

Ella’s father ask angrily with his fist folded to send her to the floor once more.

“I’m the one who fuck your mother and got you, you think it’s the other way around!”

Her father continued to lashed out with all his veins popping stiff from his neck, as if, they were ready to burst.

“Who told you to fuck her and get me?”

Ella retorted while trying to wipe away the blood from her busted lip.

But her question had only irritated her father, even more, and now he began landing kicks on her, as though, he was trying to score the football for the World Cup Games.

“You ungrateful dirty bitch! I fed you, washed you, and send you to school and this is the way how you thanking me!”

Christopher continued while he kept on stamping his foot, all over Ella’s body, again and again; leaving the large indentations of his slippers all over her beautiful skin.

Dion and Devon, who were out in the backyard waiting for the sister, heard the commotion inside the living room and stood at the entrance way, observing the cruel act being done to their sister.

Filled with fear, believing Ella was about to lose her life, little Dion called out tearfully;

“Dada, don’t kill my sister… please, don’t kill me sister!”

Christopher heard the screaming cry of one of his younger child; almost still a toddler, and vexingly barked at her saying;

“Shut-up! Everyone one of you in this fucking house, needs to die! Because, little from this, you’re going to grow up and do the same fucking thing to me or to your own fucking mother!”

The innocent souls of Dion, wasn’t quite sure of what her father was saying to her, but she knew it didn’t sounded good. Now, she only wanted to run into the living room and aid her sister from off the tiled floors. And filled with bravery, she started making attempt to walk towards her big sister folded up on the floor in a fetal position, her father screamed at her, causing her little shoulders to jump in fear.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going, pickney!”

Christopher lashed out asking.

But, little Dion was too afraid and shock to speak. So, she just stood still in the moment, folding one hand over the other while gazing up into her father’s face; the same way he was staring down into hers.

Ella, though, crippled with pain in her belly from the kicks her father had landed upon her, heard the way her father was talking to Dion and anticipated that he was about to do something very harmful to her. And she also knew for sure that there was no way, little Dion could manage one of the blows he intended on placing on her.

Fearing the worse, Ella gazed up at the large wooden vase, sitting on the center of the center table, in the middle of the living room. And swiftly she reached for it, held it as firmly as she could in her hand, and gave her father one massive blow to the temple area of his face; landing him to the hard concrete tiles.

“Why the fuck you don’t pick on people your size and leave us the hell alone!”

Ella shouted angrily.

“I’ll never forget or forgive you for all the shit you and that woman put me through… you hear me… as long as I’m still breathing and my brain is still ticking; I will never forgive you… you savage and rubbish of a think you call, man!”

Ella continued blurting out furiously, still holding the wooden vase in her hands and raising one foot for stepping over her father’s bleeding body on the surface of the floor.

“Whatever, I’s unable to do, I will certainly pay someone else, to do it for me; you mark my words!”

Christopher said to his daughter under his breath.

“The tables are fucking turning, and now, you are threatening me… shut your fuck up, you pickny beating psycho piece of shit!”

Ella fired back loudly, while heisting a hard kick to her father’s side before leaving the room.

Soon, she was grabbing onto Dion’s hand and leading her out of the living room, and then telling Devon to come along with her. And to the hut they all went for the rest of the evening, not caring if their heartless father was bleeding out his blood to death, or not.

The blows from her father’s hands, still had Ella buckled down in pain. And upon reaching the hut she had built with her own two hands, she entered the small entrance way and wearily stretched out on the cot she had design for them to sleep on. Moments later, she had her hand on Dion’s head, telling her to hurry and go by the ackee tree, and from there, bring her back a few of it leaves.

In which, Dion gladly complied.

Few seconds later, Dion came running back with around five or six of the leaves from this specific tree and handing them to her elder sister.

Not even caring about washing them, Ella quickly stuff them into her mouth and began throwing on them until her pain was no more. Feeling better, she sat up straight and then started lecturing to her baby sister, as if, she knew exactly what was instore for her in the future.

“Don’t ever let them win, you hear me!” Ella said sternly; “They might have tumbled in the shack together, push you out from their womb, but never let them decide to push you into a tomb before your tunes are ready to be demolish.”

Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!

Came a tremendously loud sound, startling Ella and her siblings, half to death, soon after she had completed her sentence and closed her mouth.