You can get almost anything you want in the Spanish Town Market. - photos by Andrew Smith/Photography Editor

Food prices are on the rise and it appears that in response to this, a handful of penny-pinchers at the Spanish Town market in St Catherine have stepped up their bargaining efforts.

It was with Miss Ivy, a tall, rotund vendor with wrinkled hands and a round face that resembled a cabbage, that one shopper, Dorothy of Old Harbour Bay, had her first encounter for the day. "Listen to me nuh Ivy, mi buy from you all di time and mi nuh waan mi and you have nothing. How yuh fi raise up di price dem so high? After banana nuh work off a gas!" yelled Dorothy, a middle-aged woman with a lean figure and pointy eyebrows. She gesticulated wildly as she spoke and may have inadvertently swatted a fly or two. I'm not sure.

"Miss Dorothy a nuh me! You nuh see dat banana still scarce? You will soon see di price dem come back down, but a just so it go," Miss Ivy replied, her hands clasped.

"Lawd Jesus my saviour. Tek di case and gimmi di pillow, for mi nuh know what dis world is coming to. You can't even buy food again!" said Dorothy in a less argumentative tone. "Mi soon a go haffi live off a rain water alone, for a it alone free," she said, before walking away.

With her encounter with Dorothy over, I approached Miss Ivy. "What you buying mi child?" she said, the second she saw me. She picked up a plastic bag filled with peppers and was trying to place them in my hand. "Here, see some hot pepper here," said she.

I tried to explain to her that I wasn't shopping. This didn't sit too well with her. "Den hello! You a block mi stall. Duh mi a beg you stand up one side so mi customer dem can pass," said she. A bit red in the face, I pursued my cause. I asked Miss Ivy how long she had been selling in the Spanish Town market.

Old Jezebel

"How long? Long time! Must be about 20 year or so now. Mi deh out yah since mi eye deh a mi knee," she said, looking behind me. "Hello please, sell you something right here?" she shouted to a woman passing nearby. When she got no response from that potential customer, Miss Ivy whispered "old Jezebel" under her breath, then redirected her attention to me. I asked her how things had changed since she first started selling in the market. "Well that was a different time you know. Is not like now. Di selling nuh nice like one time. People used to have respect for market woman one time, but not anymore. But anyway, mi can't complain, for di good Lord still gimmi health and strength fi come out here and provide fi mi family," she said, cracking a smile. She spotted another shopper behind me. "Miss Chung! Miss Chung! How you a walk pass mi just so? You nuh want nuh onion today?" she shouted. "No Miss Ivy, not dis week. Mi sister bring up some from di country fi mi. Next week again, perhaps," replied Miss Chung, a short, fair skinned woman with thick framed spectacles.

Baddaration

"Dem deh onion can't nice like dem here," said Miss Ivy, holding one of her own. Miss Chung just smiled, waved her off and walked away. "Old Jezebel," Miss Ivy whispered under her breath again. "Yes now, as mi was saying to you. Dis market nuh too bad, for mi used to sell a Coronoation one time and mi a tell you dat dis one nuh have as much baddaration. Nobody nah go faas wid mi for mi deh yah long time now. In any case, if dem faas wid me, mi have mi piece a plank under mi stall fi deal wid dem. But mi alright wid right here man. Mi just a gwaan tek it easy," she said.

"Hello, pumpkin right here!" Miss Ivy shouted to someone behind me. Another market vendor, who was sitting close to Miss Ivy, spoke up. "Ivy, is wah do you? You nuh see seh a pastor wife dat? She nuh buy from none a we. A Theresa alone she deal wid. When she come and nuh see Theresa she lef and nuh buy nothing," the woman said.

"Old Jezebel," Miss Ivy replied.

"Anyhow mi son. I give thanks fi di likkle talk. Tek care until next time," Miss Ivy said. "But next time you coming, walk wid some change fi buy something!"

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

Vendors in the Spanish Town Market gather for a chat.