Stredwick

                                                    The Body in the River                                                                by                                                    Austin Mitchell                    Fuzzy pushed Carlene’s body into the river. He had hit her in the back of her head with a hammer. He then dragged her body across the road. It was a pity that the river wasn’t flooded. In such a case it might be days before they found her. He had thought of burying her body but couldn’t find any tools with which to dig a hole. This was a lonely place but he didn’t expect that her body would stay long without being found. He had taken cash and other valuables from the house. He had made sure to wear gloves as he didn’t want to leave any finger prints.               Denzil Barned drove up to Carlene’s house that night at around nine o’clock. He wanted to talk and probably have a few drinks with her. They had a two year old relationship going but he didn

The Incident at Mc Alpine Street                                                                                 by                                                                                                                                                   A ustin Mitchell               Kent Garwood had known Markland Richards since their high school days. They hadn’t seen each other since graduating ten years ago. Kent was therefore quite surprised to be standing at the corner of Lester Lane and Mc Alpine Street   in Central Kingston, when two cars turned onto Mc Alpine Street and the car on the outer lane squeezed the one in the inner lane to avoid hitting a truck. They went a few yards up the road before stopping. One was a Toyota Corolla and the other a Rover. Mark was driving the Toyota and the three men in the Rover got out all dressed in blue denim. Mark came out the car very slowly and his steps were faltering while the three men were steady on their feet.

The recent tour of the West Indies team to Australia(2015/16) underline a lot of things that is wrong with West Indies cricket. That the team under-performed is an understatement. Australia scored 1,489 runs in four innings. They lost 12 wickets at 124 runs per wicket.Those runs were scored off 320 runs at 4.7 runs per over at 26.7 overs per wicket. The West Indies scored 1,254 runs over five innings losing 48 wickets. They lost a wicket ever 26 runs scored and they scored at 3.1 runs and lost a wicket every 8.5 overs. So the Australian batsmen and bowlers were far ahead of the West Indies. One wonders if the West Indies had a plan, did they know how to bowl to the Australian batsman? Did they have somebody analyse the Australian batsmen's weaknesses against pace and spin. No batsman is perfect but I think the Australians only lost three wickets each time they batted. The West Indies bowling was simply not penetrative enough.So where do we go from here? I've heard talk that we&

I am no expert on writing. Creative writing is something I've wanted to do. Because Jamaica is a vocal community it is very difficult to succeed as a writer unless you are based overseas or affiliated to some university. For example where do you go in Jamaica to be trained as a writer of fiction. I know that some preliminary courses are taught in the schools but I don't know what is taught at the University level. I wish that they would offer a course in it if even at the Associate degree level or even a diploma. There doesn't seem to be any department of government showing any interest in creative writing. For example I hear all the time about creating a film industry in Jamaica but where are they going to get material from. Putting on a one week training in various creative writing genre doesn't cut it. I have seen several online courses being offered but I'm not sure how genuine they are. There are a lot of stories to tell, we have lost a lot of our history. It i

Right now I'm unemployed from December 1, 2015. I have two interviews lined up for next week. I hope I can land one of them. I feel that the fact that I've never worked with Quick Books or Peachtree  might be a disadvantage. During the time I was employed between 1992 and  2012 I tried to get Quick Books introduced to do the accounts but was turned down. I was using Excel to do the accounts. In my last job it was Excel again using two English programs, Sun and Vision. One of my friends told me that I need to a full set of accounts using both Quick Books and Peachtree. Before I lost my job I closed my two credit card accounts. I am not really under any financial pressure so I'm okay for the time being but I do need to find a job. I was made redundant in October 2012 and didn't pick up a job until mid July 2013.

We normally took Mr. Thames milk truck to school in the mornings. If it was down we had to walk through Ashley district and then through Cudjoe's Hut until we hit the mail road and then we'd walk the rest to school. It was approximately a three mile journey through Ashley and Cudjoe's Hut. From the end of Cudjoe's Hut to school was about a half a mile. On the way home from school we would walk around Zion Hill if there were heavy rains because we had to cross two rivers in Cudjoe's Hut.

                                                                                                                   Uptown Lovers                                                                     a synopsis                                                                 by Austin Mitchell            Morgana Simmonds wrings a promise out of her boyfriend, Stewart Brown, that he will be faithful to her. They are at her sending off party. With that promise, firmly in her head, she leaves for three years of studies in the United States. Within a year she is back home to attend her father’s funeral. She breaks off with him when she hears about his cheating with her arch enemy, April English. She and April have had many fights over Stewart. She finds a new boyfriend in the States but they break up after nearly a year. Stewart hears about their break-up and calls her to put out some feelers. They agree to rekindle the relationship. They have been lovers for more than five years

                                                                                          The Story Ben Cox I met our Headmaster, Ben Cox, when I first attended primary school at Grateful Hill. He wasn't the glad to meet you kind of person. He was a real rough and tumble fighter. I knew of one female teacher who left because she said he was too rough for her. He was known to stop his car on his way home from school, drink rum and behaved quite rowdy. But despite these transgressions he was well respected and feared by us boys. Ben was an institution because it was said that wherever he went education improved. Many persons who had given up studying suddenly saw the value of it and took up their books again under Ben's tutorship. I remember on at least two occasions Ben had to be absent from school as he was running for parliament. A retired teacher came to act for him and the children behaved very rowdy. This man was so soft but when Ben returned everybody knew that they ha

                                                                                         The Professor I'm glad that Barry Chevannes Day was held over in Woodside, St. Mary. I heard about the event on a radio talk show. I started to wonder if subsequent celebrations could include a tour to his ancestral hometown of Big Roads in Glengoffe, St Catherine. It would be nice if  a trek through Cudjoe's Hut could me made to his former alma mater, St. Mary's College. There could also be a visit to his former primary school at Grateful Hill.