Ditta Sylvester, Contributor

"Mi cant believe it!" Edna Wilson cried as heavy globules of tears flattened out into shiny streams on either side of her nose. "Mi cant believe say Justin woulda really do a ting like dis!"

Justin was her husband. They had moved from Banana Walk into this urban housing scheme almost 12 years ago.

It was when their children - Dawn and Richard - were still in primary school that Justin decided that he would earn more by working at the new factory which had just opened up near the town of Marnock. In less than two years he had secured a house in the scheme and he moved his family into the new house. In time, Justin improved on the house and it became quite a showpiece. He sent Dawn to college and Richard to trade school.

He had just finished paying off for the house when Justin said to his wife one day, "Wha you woulda say if mi decide fi turn one a di room dem into a shop?"

Edna gazed at her husband in silence before she asked:

"Is wha you a chat bout now?"

Justin rubbed his arthritic knee.

"Me can't too manage di factory work again you know," he told her. "Di pain man! But I coulda manage a little shop easy."

"But a wha dis God!" Edna exclaimed. "You want teck wi nice, nice house turn inna shop, Justin? A wha dis now!"

"Aright!" Justin cautioned, looking nervously around him. "Everybody don't have to hear wi business."

"But dat a foolishness!" Edna continued. "Wha Dawn nice, decent friend dem woulda say? A shame you want shame wi off?"

"Aright, done!" Justin said. And he never dared to raise the subject again.

Dawn had graduated from college and Richard had got himself a steady job, when the factory bosses decided to make their father redundant. He wasn't 'keeping up' with the other workers on the assembly line, they told him. So Justin took his severance money and went home. But what should have been a time of blissful contentment for him was not.

He felt uncomfortable and out of place, especially when his daughter's friends visited. They never acknowledged his presence with even a 'how-di-do' and he knew that they regarded him as the dregs of the Wilson family. Richard had by then moved his girlfriend and her children into the only empty room in the house and Justin felt sure that his plans for the shop would never materialise. He felt like a useless outsider and decided to visit his aged mother in Banana Walk.

Miss Gertrude was overjoyed to see her son. When he told her of his family's new attitude, the elderly woman encouraged him to stick around and do a little planting to take his mind off his worries.

Justin was enjoying country life again when Miss Gertrude got a severe stroke to which she eventually succumbed. Edna and the children and grandchildren dutifully attended the funeral. But to Justin, who was truly mournful of his mother's passing, his wife and family acted like people on a happy, exciting adventure. He was insulted and embarrassed by their behaviour and was relieved to see them go.

Life in his mother's house became painfully lonely as the weeks passed, so Justin felt compelled to get closer to the only relatives he now had - his family in Marnock.

Edna was sitting on the verandah when he turned up one Wednesday evening.

"Justin!' she exclaimed getting up hurriedly. "You come back?"

Her husband mistook her reaction and nodded, smiling.

"You glad fi see mi?' he asked.

"But but why you nevva tell mi say you a come?"

"Mi nevva feel say mi did have fi tell you," Justin answered, beginning to sense that he was not welcome.

"How long you stayin'?" Edna asked.

"Why?"

"Well ... ," Edna hesitated. "Dawn did put up some a her friend dem inna your room."

"So you a tell mi say I don't have a place fi sleep inna mi own house?" Justin asked.

Edna said nothing but she was visibly put out. That night she slept with Dawn and told Justin to sleep in her [Edna's] room. [They had stopped sharing the same room years ago at Edna's suggestion.]

Dawn hated the present situation which had compelled her friends to leave. Justin got his room back but he was even more uncomfortable now than before. Nobody in the house spoke to him and he had to cook and wash for himself. In less than a fortnight he had come to a final decision about the house. Edna and the others were delighted to see him packing. He took everything he owned and moved back to Banana Walk.

Edna was busily sweeping up outside that morning when a car stopped at the gate. A personable looking young man smiled, bade her good morning and handed her a letter. She opened and read it and nearly fainted. The young man helped her on to the verandah where she sat shaking her head in disbelief.

"Mi cant believe dis!" Edna said again.

"As his wife you are entitled to your share of the cost of this property," the young man told her. "But you have to believe it, Mrs Wilson; your husband sold this house and the new owners want to move in."