I tossed and turned in restless agony as the incessant beat of rhythmical drums echoed through the silent night. Drumbeats ignited the will and re-established the bond with ancestors long past. Drums, drums and more drums!
Drums like the Big Drums of Carriacou. Drums that came alive in the dead of night and awoke the soul. Drums, drums and more drums. Drums that could not be stilled.
... Drums that spoke with brilliant clarity, too profound to define. Drums that tugged at my yearning soul and lifted me from my slumber by its constant beckoning.
I could rest no more. Myriad spirits dwelled within the beat. Countless divine animating influences undimmed by horrors of the Trans-Atlantic plight. spoke to me of unearthly rhythms that sprang from my motherland. Spirits tugged at my soul.
I rose to the call and followed the rugged path to the spot in Lagoon Road. I made my way to the talking drums.At last my soul was at rest.From RecollectionsGrandcharge and GrandmoveMost Grenadians are familiar with the word grand charge. Some have been good practitioners of the grand charge at one time or another.
A grand charger is one who likes to bluff. He pretends to do things, but never actually follows up on his pretence. The move is sometimes meant to frighten someone and the word grandmove is often used to describe the actions of the grand charger.
Even policemen were known to be good at the grand charge. They often go through all the motions of making arrests with loud talk and gestures, but usually ended up arresting no one.
Some people have been such masters of grand charge or grandmove that the nickname stuck to them for their entire lives. There were many Grand moves all over Grenada. A certain Grandmove fellow in Carriacou had his own slogan.
“Grand is the word,
and move is the action.”
Once Grandmove made ah bunch ah fellas from the mainland duck for cover when he grabbed ah piece of wood and pretended he was about to fight. The man began flinging his hands in the air and making idle threats. But he was only pappyshowing. Those who knew him well laughed because they knew all the big voose he was making was simply grand charge.
A grand charger would buss your head with an imaginary stone. He would even pretend he has one in his pocket, but the action is only meant to scare you off. You call his bluff and he does nothing. All he wants to do is frighten you with loud sounds and words. He puts his hands in his pockets as if he has something in there, but all the man is doing is playing pocket pool and looking to see if you would run away.
Never worry about the dog with its grandmove. Dogs are good at that too. The grandest move is usually made in front its master’s gate. It remains a truism that "All dogs are bad in their own backyard"
"Woof, woof, woof" they bark in the streets, but that bark turns into a lion's roar in front their owner's house. Then you make your own grand move by grabbing ah piece ah wood or big stone, and both you and the dog run away in different directions. It is a case of big grandchargers running for cover.
The silent dog is the one to watch. It sneaks up on you without even barking. It never wastes time barking or making any grand move. Then you have scamper away to escape its seething anger after it sinks its teeth into your kajam. It is a fact that “Barking dogs seldom bites.” Barking people too!
I vividly remember the story about the man in Grenville who heard cutlass pelting in his land. Someone was obviously stealing his crops. The man wanted to protect his yams and green fig. He crept close to a mango tree, knocked his cutlass against a stone and shouted,
“Who dat?”
The thief, hitting his own cutlass on a stone replied,
"Who dat, dat say ‘Who dat dey?’”
The landowner, angry, but scared, bawled out:
“Who dat who ask ‘Who say ‘Who dat dey?’
Come out— Leh me buss yuh tail.”
The thief in a gruff voice answered:
“Who dat who say ‘Who dat,‘ who ask ‘Who say ‘Who dat dey?’”
Bring yuh rass here! Yuh go see who dat!”
It was pure grandcharge on both ends.
“Who dat? Who dat dey?” was their battle cry. None was brave enough to make ah real move. Well, except the grand move.
Both were frightened as the woman called Muffin who pretended to be ah tess, but then flew into the arms of her friends after a serious confrontation with ah badjohn woman in Bluggoe Cottage. She resorted to threatening words -
"Allyuh hold me before ah cripple she backside. Ah say hold me!”
She said those words as she pressed hard against a man standing nearby. She was grandcharging, actually praying for the man to hold her.
And one must not forget the man who drank up his tania log, sea moss and boise bande. That was his aphrodisiac. He went home to his wife contemplating his intended superb marathon bedroom performance.
In the still of the night the telephone rang. His wife picked it up and listened as her girlfriend inquired,
“How is yuh tiger doing?”
Her reply was the perfect description of a grand charge man:
“Yuh talking about the grandcharge man, dat big maco? Lawd, ah never see ah man like dat. He told me he drank up some boise bande, sea moss and tania log and he was ready for action. Then he kissed me and held me tight. And BRAPPS! He fell asleep!”
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Andro and DemAndro used to take ah whole leaven bread and push it in his mouth. Then after two bites, the bread quickly disappeared. He then washed it down with ah Solo, Red Spot or Fanta sweet drink.
Next, he took up the lard pan filled with pickin' and placed it on his head. He then made it down the cobbled steps of Cooper Hill, balancing the pickin’ pan with considerable ease. He balanced it in the same manner as Miss Charles. She used to carry baskets of food on a tray placed on her head to feed the policemen stationed near Fort George. Miss Charles was a strong woman.
The pickin’ was made up of all kinds of leftover foods. Pigs were never particular about what they ate, so green fig and dasheen skin and even rotten mangoes were thrown into the pickin’ pan. The pigs also ate bluggoe leaves and coconut husks.
Cocoawood was unlike the pig. He cared about his diet, but dat ungrateful man used to make his wife ketch she royal tail. He hated breadfruit soup and every time he drank his grog and blew all the pesh in the rumshop, his wife got vexed and retaliated by putting breadfruit soup in his bowl.
That was the signal for him to launch into a foul-mouth tirade. He cursed his wife, her mother, her father and everyone he could remember. He even cursed the deceased and the neighborhood dogs when he was angry. When he was drunk and walked up the hill people used to shout, "Look out Castro coming!" The name “Castro" was a reference to Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader.
Mr. Mickey was another character. He vowed never to eat lambie. He devoured callaloo soup, oildown, cook-up rice and he even put ah licking on the back and neck chicken his wife bought from the Cold Storage Store. He used to cut all kind ah style on the lambie. That was until his wife prepared a wonderful dish of stewed lambie with rice and peas
She set a tempting plate before him and he immediately dived into it. In a few seconds the plate was as clean as ah bam bam. Mr. Mickey knew what he had eaten, loved it and wanted to ask for more, but he was too ashamed after cutting so much style over the years. The lingering taste tortured him. He could take no more:
"Woman!
Yuh ha more ah dat blastid ting dey?"
"Blastid ting?" she replied.
"Wha happen? Yuh playing you cyan remember the name?
It's lambie, Mickey, the name is lambie!"
Mickey's days of cutting style on lambie were over.
Moosch's eating habits was similar to that of the pigs that Andro droged the pickin’ to feed. He ate anything. He loved to cook and eat the heads of animals. His friend Shorty from Woburn was always hesitant to eat at his house because he was never certain what kind of beast head Moosch would prepare. Moosch lived in Brooklyn for sometime and he was known to travel all the way to New Jersey to buy goat head and deer head.
When he got drunk, he snatched anything and ate it. He sat in his house one day and bit into a Vienna bread packed with corned beef. He did not realize or seemed to care that he was also helping himself to the reds ants that were crawling around in the corn beef. He thought it strange, though, because he knew he did not purchase all that corn beef. That day he got a sober awaking when he felt the sting of the red ants on his lip.
And now we tell the story of Big George. He loved his food, but the neighbor's cat named Johnny loved his food even more. No matter how much care he took to secure his pot, the cat always found a way to uncover it and sink its teeth into his fried jacks, corn fish or stewed beef.
Big George decided to end the cat's tiefing ways once and for all. He set up one night and waited for the unwelcome intruder. As Johnny jumped on the stove, he grabbed it by the tail. He carried the animal all the way to the Fall Edge near Grand Anse and threw it over the precipice. He walked home a relieved man, sensing that his troubles with that cat were over.
He placed his hands in his pockets and merrily whistled a Sparrow calypso tune as he walked up his gap. To his dismay, Johnny was sitting on his step peeping at him and licking its lips. Johnny was peeping like ah Grenadian. He had just devoured another big jack.
Big George had only succeeded in depriving Johnny of one of its lives. It had eight more lives to steal his corned fish, fishcake, big jack and smoked herrings.
Back then, Grenada had all kinds of interesting characters. George Beard, who pushed his bike from Belmont to True Blue during the time of Expo ’69, was a curious individual. He once said that the sun was so hot, he felt sorry for his bike, so he decided not to ride it in such blistering heat.
That was the same George Beard who cut a branch off a tree while standing on the same branch. When he shouted, “Miss Margaret, look out, it’s coming down,” he was going down also. Daddy-O, that jovial individual, looked on and laughed. And when someone told George Beard his house was burning as he sat in the cinema, his reply was,
"How the hell me house could burn when ah have the key in me pocket?"
Walter Dunn was a man with more than a touch of intelligence and he proved how efficient a thinker he was when he was charged with walking around naked. He won his case because he convinced the judge that since he was wearing a tie he was not naked. I can still see him as he made his stately strides on the streets of St. George's.
Dummy James was a fearless individual. He was once charged with an offense and as he stood in court, the judge asked him if he was guilty or not. Dummy James calmly told the judge,
"Ah cyan talk now.
Yuh doh see ah eating me Rock cake?"
I cannot forget Joe Bain. He claimed that the government stole his land and that was all he spoke about when you met him. I met him on Pandy Beach once, wearing his short blue pants and big waterboots. I never got to swim because by the time he was through talking about his land, it was time for me to go home.
Many Grenadians will always remember Carriacou Sparrow. I see him still in his Bermuda shorts and over-sized straw hat as he sang and entertained the crowds in St. George's. His favorite tunes were "Banana Boat for England" and "The Lizard Jump Up." He was a lively and energetic individual who made all kinds of fancy moves as he sang the songs.
Mushay, another eccentric individual, tried to convince people that he was a “damn millionaire.” He spoke in a serious tone about all the money he had in the World Bank. He really believed that, but school children only laughed. Another fella called “Now Now” used to ring a bell announcing the latest sale bargains in town.
I must not fail to mention Father Paul. He was a priest who hailed from Malta and was noted for visiting women to pray with them just as they were taking their shower. Once while he entered a woman's house, as she was changing her clothes, he placed his hand with the fingers ajar in front of his face and uttered the famous words, "Father Paul can't see!" He said the words as his eyes peered through his fingers.
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