It was extremely warm during the night so we slept with the fan on all night and
with no community alarm to disturb our sleep we had a lay in. For breakfast I had breadfruit and a couple of green-gauge mangoes. About 10am Andy arrived and we were soon on our way to what would be one of the high-lights of our trip to JA.
We had one stop to make on the way and that was in Yallahs to see Heather one of Jackie’s friends. She gave us some ice-cold drinks, which we drank as stood in the shade of a mango tree watching the JA police in action, stopping taxis and speeding cars, I was advise not to take pictures, because the may confiscate my camera and even arrest me. When we finished our drinks Heather gave us directions to St Thomas and said, “I will you see on Tuesday, I am coming to Hopewell to see Ms Lena.”
We thanked her and said goodbye.
Upon reaching St Thomas, we stopped at local shop and Andy asked a lady sitting outside the shop, if the knew where Roy Campbell lives,
The women said, “we have a couple of Roy’s who live a round here, I need some more information.”
Andy called me and said, “The woman needs more information about your dad.”
I walked over and said, “He is married and his wife’s name use to be Ms Brown.”
“Oh you mean big Roy and Ms Brown, them live just down the road, go round the bend and take the second left,” she said.
We thanked her and left, as we drove Andy said, “Whatever you got to say to him, you better plan it now, are you sure you will recognise him?”
I assured him I would,
We turned left on to a track that went up a hill. About half way up we stopped and asked another lady if she knew where he lived, she looked us, up and down and only answered us, when I told I was from England and had come to see my dad.
“Your right here, that his house there,” she said pointing towards it.
We parked and tapped on the gate and shouted, “Hello.”
A lady came out, whom I didn’t recognise; I asked her if Roy was there,
“No, them gone out” she said,
I said, “I am his son from England”
She replied, “You look like him, you want to come in and wait, they will only be about hour,”
I asked the others if they where prepared to wait, they all agreed.
We sat on the veranda and bantered a little about the shock that was now awaiting my father. The lady called him from the house phone and said, “You have some visitors, I not telling you who it is,” and put the phone down.
Andy urged me to ask her some questions, to find out who she was, but we only received one syllable answers,
Every time a car came past we looked up in anticipation of it being them, about 35mins later a white Corolla drove past,
I said to Andy, Crécy and Jackie, “that’s him.”
All eyes were fixed on the gate, within a minute or so, dad walked in, followed by Mrs Campbell aka Ms Brown and her sister.
I stood up and walked over to him and said hello
He said “hello” and stared at me.
I said, “This is my wife Crécy, this is Jackie a lady from my church and this is Andy a friend from Kingston.”
He looked round at everyone and said hello to them and then turned back to me, with blank look on his face. Again I introduce all the others.
He muttered, “Yes, yes, but who are you?”
I paused for a minute and said, “I am Eddie, but you call me Edward”
“Edward, Edward who, I know a lot of Edwards.” He replied
“Edward Adolphus,” I said,
Hoping to jog to his memory, but only his expression changed from a blank look to one of confusion. Mrs Campbell (snr) passed behind him, smiled, and nodded.
“Edward Adolphus Campbell.” I said,
He repeated my words back to himself; I could hear his brain ticking, as his eyes moved side to side and puzzlement written across his face,
“Yes Edward Adolphus Campbell, your son from England.” I said
He paused for a minute and said, “You mean Claudette’s brother,”
“Yes dad, Claudette’s brother” I replied,
“So how are you?” he asked,
“Have a seat,” he said, looking very surprised and bewildered.
Mrs Campbell (snr) came out and gave me a hug and whispered in my ear I knew it was you. I was surprised that dad hadn’t put two and two together considering all the clues I had given him and our likeness in appearance. We sat and spoke over neasberries (a very tasty fruit, fresh picked from his tree) and ice cold drinks.
I asked about grandma, he told me she was in Morant Bay hospital because she had a stroke and wasn’t too good. I asked if I was possible to visit her.
“Oh yes, between 4-6pm,” he replied.
I asked Andy, Jackie and Crécy if it we could stop at the hospital, they said, “Yes.”
Andy asked dad for directions, dad said he would come with us, which we thought was a good idea as I had never met Nan before. Dad said we could stop on the way to see my three aunts that lived close by, if we left very soon. But before we left dad gave us a tour of his house and told us about his land at the top of hill, which is now rented out to some local. Before leaving we posed for some pictures, Mrs Campbell gave us each a breadfruit and some neasberries, we hugged and said we would stay in touch.
About fifteen minutes later we all piled into the people carrier and drove one kilometre to Aunty Rose’s home. Dad called her and introduced me as Claudette’s brother, she hugged me and said
, “You are the only one; we’ve never seen and only heard of, but now is our time to meet, it’s great to see you.”
She then asked if Crécy and Jackie were my daughters, I laughed and explained who they were. I guess Crécy looks so young because of my tender loving care. She then introduced us to her children and husband, Chloe her daughter from Canada asked if we would like a jelly coconut,
“Oh yes please” I replied,
So she took a coconut from the kitchen, along with a machétti, headed to the garden and retuned with it decapitated, the coconut water was delicious, she then asked Crecy, Jackie and Andy if they would like one and received various replies. We all went out into the garden to enjoy some of the sunshine and views, Crécy and Jackie went up on the roof of the house to see some breathe taking views of St Thomas. Chloe told me, she had done a family tree, which has over two hundred family member listed and would now add my children and grand-children. Seeing I had enjoyed the coconut water,
She asked “Do you want the jelly; it is the best part,”
“Oh yes,” I replied.
She took the coconut, placed it on stone and wielded the machétti at it in a wild manner, as her sister and daughter pleaded with her to be careful and the rest of us cringed. The jelly was fantastic, we all posed for pictures and promised to keep contact and said goodbye.
Another two kilometres and we arrived at the home of Aunty Nelly; dad explained who we all were, it was a short visit because she was unwell. Dad then directed Andy to a local supermarket where three of my cousins worked, in fact there were five cousins (I can’t remember their names),
Dad said “this is Claudette’s brother Eddie from England.”
One of cousins replied, “If he is your son, why don’t you say so, instead of saying he’s Claudette’s brother,”
A bold and true statement I thought to myself, remembering my dad’s temperament
“Yes your right” he replied to my shock.
She then look at me and said, “how comes your white and if you’re my cousin how comes I never seen you before?”
Before I had a chance to answer her questions, they were answered by one of the other cousins. We spoke for a while, as I took some pictures, dad reminded that us we needed to be on our way to the hospital.
We said our goodbyes and left for the hospital, as we drove through the parish it became apparent that dad was well known, as he shouted to people and they refereed to him as dragon, Armin and big Roy.
As we walked towards the hospital, the porters and a number of men were gathered around the porters office watching the cricket and Andy paused to check the scores, As we were about to go up to the wards, we were stopped by the security officer because the ladies were in appropriately dress according to hospital policy and had to cover their shoulders and arms, which they did. Dad led us to Nan’s bedside and we stood around her bed. Her eyes looked around at us all, she tried to say something, but her voice was very faint. Dad told her who we were and said, “Look see your grandson Eddie there,” pointing, “Look at him, this is the only you have never seen until now.”
I stood holding her hand and talking to her, as I fought to hold back the tears, I expected to meet her, but not like this. The wards and equipment were very basic, iron beds, with a thin mattress and pieces of wood as side rails; it was all something you and I would see in period drama.
Dad said, “She looked a lot better today; two days ago they thought she was gone,”
We praised God and said our emotional and tearful goodbyes, knowing we may never see her again. It was solemn journey to my Aunt Sarah’s house, even though the West Indies’ lost by two runs.
Aunt Rose (dad’s eldest sister) lives just off the high street, down a cul-de-sac which has a small and narrow makeshift footbridge across a gully to several homes. As we approached her house dad called out her name,
“Yes, brother Roy, I am here,” came they reply
“Come here, I want you to meet Eddie,” he said
We were now standing at her front door, which burst open and out came Aunt Sarah with her arms raised, she gripped me with what can only be described as a full nelson,
Saying, “Eddie, Roy’s son from England, Eddie me nephew, the only one I have never seen?” as her grip got tighter and tighter and she danced with joy. I can’t ever remember, receiving such a welcome.
“Lord, thank God you come to see us, we always wonder if we would ever see you?” she said.
After a couple of minutes she glanced over my shoulder and asked who the others were,
“Are these your daughters?” she asked.
I introduced her to them, as she released her grip of my body and applied it to my arm. We walked around her garden together looking at the variety of fruits, plants, and a small lizard perched on a tyre. Aunt Sarah showed us around her home and gave us a freshly picked pineapple from the garden, when it was time for us to leave, she walked us back to the people carrier, still latched on to my arm and not letting go until I promised to keep in contact with her.
On our way back to dad’s house we stopped at a roadside restaurant and had roast fish, fried chicken, festival, rice and peas, please sir can I have more? It was so scrumptious, recharged it was time to drop dad off and head for Kingston. Dad insisted we drop him off at the bottom of the hill, he said goodbye to Crécy, Jackie and Andy and hugged me, and we exchanged telephone numbers and agreed to stay in touch.
As we drove back Andy said, “You’re the spitting image of your dad, only he’s darker, but he seems alright and a big chief in St Thomas.”
I replied, “He was ok because Jackie was with us, he liked Jackie. Did you see the way he remembered her name and introduced her, cared for her by holding open the car door, helping her in and out the vehicle etc,” we all laughed.
We all teased with her about my dad’s response towards to her, causing her to blush.
“I asked Mrs Campbell (jnr), what she thought of her father-in-law,”
“He’s ok” she replied.
It was quiet a day, exploring my roots, meeting dad again for the first time in thirty five years and trying to judge his reactions, meeting relatives for the first time, stirred up lots of different emotions, but I praise God for them all. We made quick stop at mega-mart to buy some cake, so the girls could have cake and custard, their favourite desert.
with no community alarm to disturb our sleep we had a lay in. For breakfast I had breadfruit and a couple of green-gauge mangoes. About 10am Andy arrived and we were soon on our way to what would be one of the high-lights of our trip to JA.We had one stop to make on the way and that was in Yallahs to see Heather one of Jackie’s friends. She gave us some ice-cold drinks, which we drank as stood in the shade of a mango tree watching the JA police in action, stopping taxis and speeding cars, I was advise not to take pictures, because the may confiscate my camera and even arrest me. When we finished our drinks Heather gave us directions to St Thomas and said, “I will you see on Tuesday, I am coming to Hopewell to see Ms Lena.”
We thanked her and said goodbye.
Upon reaching St Thomas, we stopped at local shop and Andy asked a lady sitting outside the shop, if the knew where Roy Campbell lives,
The women said, “we have a couple of Roy’s who live a round here, I need some more information.”
Andy called me and said, “The woman needs more information about your dad.”
I walked over and said, “He is married and his wife’s name use to be Ms Brown.”
“Oh you mean big Roy and Ms Brown, them live just down the road, go round the bend and take the second left,” she said.
We thanked her and left, as we drove Andy said, “Whatever you got to say to him, you better plan it now, are you sure you will recognise him?”
I assured him I would,
We turned left on to a track that went up a hill. About half way up we stopped and asked another lady if she knew where he lived, she looked us, up and down and only answered us, when I told I was from England and had come to see my dad.
“Your right here, that his house there,” she said pointing towards it.
We parked and tapped on the gate and shouted, “Hello.”
A lady came out, whom I didn’t recognise; I asked her if Roy was there,
“No, them gone out” she said,
I said, “I am his son from England”
She replied, “You look like him, you want to come in and wait, they will only be about hour,”
I asked the others if they where prepared to wait, they all agreed.
We sat on the veranda and bantered a little about the shock that was now awaiting my father. The lady called him from the house phone and said, “You have some visitors, I not telling you who it is,” and put the phone down.
Andy urged me to ask her some questions, to find out who she was, but we only received one syllable answers,
Every time a car came past we looked up in anticipation of it being them, about 35mins later a white Corolla drove past,
I said to Andy, Crécy and Jackie, “that’s him.”
All eyes were fixed on the gate, within a minute or so, dad walked in, followed by Mrs Campbell aka Ms Brown and her sister.
I stood up and walked over to him and said hello
He said “hello” and stared at me.
I said, “This is my wife Crécy, this is Jackie a lady from my church and this is Andy a friend from Kingston.”
He looked round at everyone and said hello to them and then turned back to me, with blank look on his face. Again I introduce all the others.
He muttered, “Yes, yes, but who are you?”
I paused for a minute and said, “I am Eddie, but you call me Edward”
“Edward, Edward who, I know a lot of Edwards.” He replied
“Edward Adolphus,” I said,
Hoping to jog to his memory, but only his expression changed from a blank look to one of confusion. Mrs Campbell (snr) passed behind him, smiled, and nodded.
“Edward Adolphus Campbell.” I said,
He repeated my words back to himself; I could hear his brain ticking, as his eyes moved side to side and puzzlement written across his face,
“Yes Edward Adolphus Campbell, your son from England.” I said
He paused for a minute and said, “You mean Claudette’s brother,”
“Yes dad, Claudette’s brother” I replied,“So how are you?” he asked,
“Have a seat,” he said, looking very surprised and bewildered.
Mrs Campbell (snr) came out and gave me a hug and whispered in my ear I knew it was you. I was surprised that dad hadn’t put two and two together considering all the clues I had given him and our likeness in appearance. We sat and spoke over neasberries (a very tasty fruit, fresh picked from his tree) and ice cold drinks.
I asked about grandma, he told me she was in Morant Bay hospital because she had a stroke and wasn’t too good. I asked if I was possible to visit her.
“Oh yes, between 4-6pm,” he replied.
I asked Andy, Jackie and Crécy if it we could stop at the hospital, they said, “Yes.”
Andy asked dad for directions, dad said he would come with us, which we thought was a good idea as I had never met Nan before. Dad said we could stop on the way to see my three aunts that lived close by, if we left very soon. But before we left dad gave us a tour of his house and told us about his land at the top of hill, which is now rented out to some local. Before leaving we posed for some pictures, Mrs Campbell gave us each a breadfruit and some neasberries, we hugged and said we would stay in touch.
About fifteen minutes later we all piled into the people carrier and drove one kilometre to Aunty Rose’s home. Dad called her and introduced me as Claudette’s brother, she hugged me and said
, “You are the only one; we’ve never seen and only heard of, but now is our time to meet, it’s great to see you.”She then asked if Crécy and Jackie were my daughters, I laughed and explained who they were. I guess Crécy looks so young because of my tender loving care. She then introduced us to her children and husband, Chloe her daughter from Canada asked if we would like a jelly coconut,
“Oh yes please” I replied,
So she took a coconut from the kitchen, along with a machétti, headed to the garden and retuned with it decapitated, the coconut water was delicious, she then asked Crecy, Jackie and Andy if they would like one and received various replies. We all went out into the garden to enjoy some of the sunshine and views, Crécy and Jackie went up on the roof of the house to see some breathe taking views of St Thomas. Chloe told me, she had done a family tree, which has over two hundred family member listed and would now add my children and grand-children. Seeing I had enjoyed the coconut water,
She asked “Do you want the jelly; it is the best part,”
“Oh yes,” I replied.
She took the coconut, placed it on stone and wielded the machétti at it in a wild manner, as her sister and daughter pleaded with her to be careful and the rest of us cringed. The jelly was fantastic, we all posed for pictures and promised to keep contact and said goodbye.
Another two kilometres and we arrived at the home of Aunty Nelly; dad explained who we all were, it was a short visit because she was unwell. Dad then directed Andy to a local supermarket where three of my cousins worked, in fact there were five cousins (I can’t remember their names),Dad said “this is Claudette’s brother Eddie from England.”
One of cousins replied, “If he is your son, why don’t you say so, instead of saying he’s Claudette’s brother,”
A bold and true statement I thought to myself, remembering my dad’s temperament
“Yes your right” he replied to my shock.
She then look at me and said, “how comes your white and if you’re my cousin how comes I never seen you before?”
Before I had a chance to answer her questions, they were answered by one of the other cousins. We spoke for a while, as I took some pictures, dad reminded that us we needed to be on our way to the hospital.
We said our goodbyes and left for the hospital, as we drove through the parish it became apparent that dad was well known, as he shouted to people and they refereed to him as dragon, Armin and big Roy.
As we walked towards the hospital, the porters and a number of men were gathered around the porters office watching the cricket and Andy paused to check the scores, As we were about to go up to the wards, we were stopped by the security officer because the ladies were in appropriately dress according to hospital policy and had to cover their shoulders and arms, which they did. Dad led us to Nan’s bedside and we stood around her bed. Her eyes looked around at us all, she tried to say something, but her voice was very faint. Dad told her who we were and said, “Look see your grandson Eddie there,” pointing, “Look at him, this is the only you have never seen until now.”
I stood holding her hand and talking to her, as I fought to hold back the tears, I expected to meet her, but not like this. The wards and equipment were very basic, iron beds, with a thin mattress and pieces of wood as side rails; it was all something you and I would see in period drama.
Dad said, “She looked a lot better today; two days ago they thought she was gone,”
We praised God and said our emotional and tearful goodbyes, knowing we may never see her again. It was solemn journey to my Aunt Sarah’s house, even though the West Indies’ lost by two runs.
Aunt Rose (dad’s eldest sister) lives just off the high street, down a cul-de-sac which has a small and narrow makeshift footbridge across a gully to several homes. As we approached her house dad called out her name,
“Yes, brother Roy, I am here,” came they reply
“Come here, I want you to meet Eddie,” he said
We were now standing at her front door, which burst open and out came Aunt Sarah with her arms raised, she gripped me with what can only be described as a full nelson,
Saying, “Eddie, Roy’s son from England, Eddie me nephew, the only one I have never seen?” as her grip got tighter and tighter and she danced with joy. I can’t ever remember, receiving such a welcome.
“Lord, thank God you come to see us, we always wonder if we would ever see you?” she said.
After a couple of minutes she glanced over my shoulder and asked who the others were,
“Are these your daughters?” she asked.
I introduced her to them, as she released her grip of my body and applied it to my arm. We walked around her garden together looking at the variety of fruits, plants, and a small lizard perched on a tyre. Aunt Sarah showed us around her home and gave us a freshly picked pineapple from the garden, when it was time for us to leave, she walked us back to the people carrier, still latched on to my arm and not letting go until I promised to keep in contact with her.
On our way back to dad’s house we stopped at a roadside restaurant and had roast fish, fried chicken, festival, rice and peas, please sir can I have more? It was so scrumptious, recharged it was time to drop dad off and head for Kingston. Dad insisted we drop him off at the bottom of the hill, he said goodbye to Crécy, Jackie and Andy and hugged me, and we exchanged telephone numbers and agreed to stay in touch.
As we drove back Andy said, “You’re the spitting image of your dad, only he’s darker, but he seems alright and a big chief in St Thomas.”
I replied, “He was ok because Jackie was with us, he liked Jackie. Did you see the way he remembered her name and introduced her, cared for her by holding open the car door, helping her in and out the vehicle etc,” we all laughed.
We all teased with her about my dad’s response towards to her, causing her to blush.
“I asked Mrs Campbell (jnr), what she thought of her father-in-law,”
“He’s ok” she replied.
It was quiet a day, exploring my roots, meeting dad again for the first time in thirty five years and trying to judge his reactions, meeting relatives for the first time, stirred up lots of different emotions, but I praise God for them all. We made quick stop at mega-mart to buy some cake, so the girls could have cake and custard, their favourite desert.
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