I attended a dead man's Wedding-a short story by Austin Mitchell

                                            I attended a dead man's Wedding

                                                                       by
                                                              Austin Mitchell
             Repeat what you just said, Roscoe,” I challenged my old classmate.

            “Duckie is in prison in the States, serving forty years for attempted murder.”

            “That can’t be true. Duckie and I were working at the same agency for a year before he got a better job offer in Montego Bay. That was about eight months ago.”

            Roscoe put his hands on his head and stared at me.

            “Guys like Marvin, Eddie and Duffus know what happened. When I go up I’m going to let them call and confirm what I’ve told you.”

            We then had another drink in the bar before we parted.

             According to him, Duckie was ill-treating his woman since they were in Jamaica.  He continued the practice when they both migrated to the States. The girlfriend got fed up and left him for Jack Baldie. Infuriated, Duckie bought a gun, waylaid Baldie, fired shots at him, some of which caught him but none mortally.

        Although I knew Duckie’s cell phone number I decided not to call him about what Roscoe told me. I met several other classmates, some local and some from abroad and nobody mentioned anything about Duckie. He was not at our school’s fortieth anniversary celebrations.

            I first met Duckie in the first form at Mc Kinley High School almost thirty years ago. Roscoe was in our batch as were the guys he mentioned. He was probably three or four years older than most of us. He had a way with the women that before he left high school, he got two girls and an adult woman pregnant.

            Duckie nearly got expelled from school because of gang activities. He told me that most of the men in his community were gangsters. Duckie had formed a gang at our school and he was being paid protection money. He had to have counselling or be expelled when the principal found out.

            By my count Duckie would have spent over twenty years abroad.

           Two months later I met Reva Holland.

            “Reva, how are you?” I asked and we both hugged each other.

            “Delton, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to our school’s homecoming celebrations. I heard it went on great.”

            “It was good, you really missed something. Would you believe that Duckie is in Jamaica? Actually, he left to work in Montego Bay  about a year ago.”

            “Duckie is in Jamaica! I don’t believe it, he’s supposed to be in prison. You know that I was one of his high school girlfriends. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, least of all, Duckie.”

            According to her, Duckie and his girlfriend were having a heated argument and he started slapping her around when his aunt intervened. Duckie shoved her aside and she fell, hit her head and died before she could receive medical attention.

     As far as Reva knew, Duckie had received at least four years in prison. Based on her calculations, he would be just now serving the last year of his sentence. What the hell was going on?

                I didn’t hear from any of the guys whom Roscoe said would call me. Maybe he hadn’t gotten around to it as yet.

            A few months later I received a call from Duckie. He and his woman, Carline, were getting married the next month. I refrained from asking him about what I had heard from Roscoe and Reva. The wedding was to take place in Kingston.

            I called both Roscoe and Reva and told them about Duckie’s forthcoming marriage. Reva said that Duckie was a serial groom and she wasn’t sure that he had ever been married. I told her that she was bitter because of what happened in Grade Ten when Duckie left her for Rhea Creary. She denied it and said that she was now happily married with two kids.

             Duckie and Carlene came to see me. The wedding was all planned out. He wanted me to be his best-man, but I refused. He said that it was since he returned home that he met Carlene. He said that for his part he would have preferred a quiet wedding, but as it was Carlene’s first, she wanted it to be big.

            Duckie also explained to me that he was now carrying a gun as he had to evict some tenants from his two houses in Kingston and one of the men was sending him threats. Carlene said she was fearful and Duckie said that she was doing shooting practice and would soon get a gun.

            “I spent five years in the United States army so I had no problem in getting a gun license,” Duckie said.

            I was surprised as I didn’t know that he had been a soldier.

            “I killed two men over there, both legally. Both tried to rob me. Then I had to defend myself against a guy by the name of Baldie.”

            “Delton, you remember Amber, my old girlfriend from out here. We went up together. I did everything for that girl. I soon found out that she was cheating on me with this guy, Jack Baldie, so we broke up.”

            He drank some more of his beer before continuing.

            “A few months after we broke up, she went to live with Baldie. She still owed me money so one day I went to her house to collect some of it.”

          “Baldie thought I was trying to befriend her again and came after me with a knife. I fired two shots both of which caught him in his legs. I was not charged as the police said that I had fired in self-defense.”

            “There was another incidence, Carline knows about it too. I’ve told her everything. After Amber and I broke up I had another girlfriend. One day we got into a shouting match. My aunt whom we lived with got involved. I knew she had a bad heart.”

            “I honestly don’t know why she intervened and she knew her medical condition. She just collapsed and died right there. Everybody blamed me for what happened. That’s one of the reasons why I left and went to Cayman. The police couldn’t charge me or my girlfriend as there was no physical altercation.”

            I served him another beer and he continued.

        “I spent two years in Cayman. I was in business with some friends. One night a truck tried to force my car off the road. It was only because of my driving skills why I managed to keep the car on the road and not end up in some swamp. My three associates were very disturbed when I related what had nearly happened to me”.

            “A few days later I got a call telling me to leave the island. I knew that it was my associates who were behind everything. We were making lots of money and they wanted me out. The police were very unhelpful so they paid me off and I left and came home.”

            My wife and I left for the States. We promised Duckie that we would be back for his wedding, which was in three week’s time. We had the invitation cards and knew where the wedding would be held and the date and time.

            If we thought that Duckie had a bad reputation in Jamaica, he had an even worse one in the States. Mutual friends I met believed that there was a possibility of him being extradited from Jamaica to stand trial for fraud and other crimes including drug trafficking. He had improved on his considerable reputation among the women and had swindled several of them before fleeing to Jamaica.

            After our week in the States, we left to spend two weeks in London with family and friends.

            We arrived home on Friday night and I couldn’t get Duckie on his cell phone. We decided that the wedding was still on the next morning. That morning we dressed and left for the church at ten o’clock. There was an eerie silence in the churchyard when we arrived and we didn’t see the usual decorations for a wedding. As a matter of fact the church doors were open, but there was no one around.

             We sat in the car waiting for persons to arrive to find out what as really going on. About half an hour later we saw people arriving but some of them were dressed in black. Then to our surprise a hearse arrived. We got out of the car to find out what was going on as we had been unable to get Duckie on his cell phone. I got a program from a woman and it was Duckie they were burying! A hysterical Carline arrived and we sat behind her during the funeral service.

            Later, at a small get together we managed to get details of what had really happened. Carline had to leave that same night and go into hiding.  A policeman, I knew, drew me aside and gave me some details of what had really taken place.

          Duckie was really the leader of the Tributary gang. They were lotto scammers who had scammed millions of dollars from foreigners. The gang consisted of both persons in Jamaica and abroad. Duckie had only gone down to Montego Bay to become a scammer. There was a wild rumor that with a young wife, he had cleaned out the gang’s bank accounts and was preparing to flee the island. When the gang leaders confronted him with this accusation instead of denying it Duckie had tried to shoot it out with them. He had killed his deputy and wounded one other man before they cut him down in a hail of bullets. The End.