There was nobody around except a dreadlocked man in short pants who kept grinning and nodding his head. He wouldn't say anything. He just stood there grinning and nodding. I looked around again and saw nobody else, so I decided to go say hello to the smiling bloke and ask him where exactly I had found myself this time around. It was a hidden community somewhere in Clarendon. That much I knew. Other than that, I was pretty much lost. The last person I saw as I was driving along the unfamiliar, lonely road that took me there was a farmer on his way home, who told me that I should "just gallang straight until you reach di main".

"It nuh far, just up di road!" he had said. Some help he was! I had been 'gallanging' up the same road for at least half an hour since I saw him, and still no main road. Now, I was at the mercy of this giddy dreadlocked fellow and his hope-fully better direction-giving ability.

"Guidance!" he shouted, I suppose in greeting. "Guidance!" I responded. It didn't sound the same coming from me. I asked him what was the name of the place we were standing in. "Well, this is where dem really call Comfort, you know. Yeah, you know. Give thanks," he said, grinning. I asked him if he lived there. "Yes man. I rest right here. From a longer time, I rest right here." Where was everyone? I wondered out loud.

"Well, you have a whole heap a farmer live around here, so you find dat dem gone a dem bush and ting. I do mason work, so mi a work pan deh house deh fi a woman.Yes man!" he grinned, pointing to an unfinished structure behind him. "Yeah man. Me do everything. Even dig di foundation. Mi a do all di window dem. Mi a go mek dem round so dat dem can look more lookable."

One family

Roy and his latest creation.

He told me his name was Roy and that the people in Comfort all lived like one family. "Well, we nuh have nuh crime or nothing like that you know. No man, and mi like that you know. Yes man. As a Rastaman mi like the whole vibes. Wah sense it mek fi a fuss and fight when di whole a we a human being? Right here nobody nah go faas wid you. Everybody know everybody," again he grinned.

Roy said he was born in Comfort but spent some time in Kingston in the '80s. He hopes he never has to return. "Well, me was a pretty bwoy dem time deh. Di first thing town man greet you wid is a screw face. Rasta wouldn't do that though. Is just di bald head dem. Dem deh living deh nuh right. Inna Comfort di people dem more friendlier and thing," he said. By the looks of the house behind him, Roy had a lot to do, so I asked him for directions back to the main road and bid him farewell.

"Just gallang up straight and you will find it. It nuh really fur." Great.

As I was walking back to my vehicle, I was surprised by move-ment behind some bushes. I peered behind them and noticed a woman moving around some pieces of wood in a pile. The stack of wood was already quite big and the woman continued to add more pieces. "Who go dung deh?" she shouted upon spotting me.

I quickly identified myself and told her I was curious about what she was doing with the pieces of wood. "Well, mi a build a skill fi burn some coal," she responded. I asked her what that meant. "Eh eh! Den you never see coal inna fi yuh life yet?" she quizzed, cheekily.

Making a living

Debbie and her stack of wood. - photos by Robert Lalah

"This is how you get coal. First you stack the wood a then you pack it with grass and dirt and then you burn it," said the woman, who told me to call her Debbie. I asked her how long it would burn before it turned into charcoal. "Well, it depend pan the size. This one will burn for about a week or so," she said. I asked her what she did with it then. "We sell it man. We sell it for about $400 a bag, depending on the size of it. We can mek a living off it man. Plenty people round here sell coal," said Debbie, pointing to other stacks of wood behind her. I asked her if she agreed with Roy that Comfort was a nice place to live.

"Yeah man. We nuh have nuh crime and violence right here. You have some trouble maker likkle pickney, but other than that, it all right man. You will find true comfort in Comfort!" she chuckled.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com