The Freeloaders-Two men who came near the abyss
THE FREELOADERS-PROLOGUE-TWO MEN WHO CAME NEAR THE ABYSS
to be his last night in Happy Valley. He was
sleeping in a room assigned
to him as an employee of Rapley Rowe, a man
whom he had previously
detested for being a miser. Rapley had been
cursed all over the village for
hoarding his money. But reflecting now,
Beville realized that Rapley was
wise for had he followed all those taunting
him he might have ended up
like him. He had lived here for the past three
moths as they tried to rustle
up enough money for his plane fare back to
the United States. Beville
could remember the first day he came to
Happy Valley with fifteen
million dollars in his bank account. The
villagers were friendly and the
girls, young and beautiful. Very soon people
realized that this was a man
to be around as he spent money freely. Whenever
Beville was around, the
bars were always full of freeloaders. He
was the main celebrity at most of
the dances and parties. When his wife
joined him he was already half way
through his fortune. Then those two men whom
he thought were his
friends had done an unpardonable act. Recovering
from that first
treacherous act he had tried to put his
life back together only to be
betrayed once again by another false
friend. In frustration he had tried to
spend off the rest of the money and when it
couldn’t finish fast enough
he had withdrawn it all, put it in a crocus
bag and emptied out the
contents in Spring Mount just to spite his false
friends. He could still
remember the mad dash people made to grab
all those notes. Drivers
parked their cars and got into the melee. He
could still see the looks of
amazement on his false friends’ faces when
they saw him pass by and
did not enter the bar for the first time
since he had come to Happpy
Valley. They knew what he had done. Those
two old men’s heads were
bowed and Maisie was staring at him as if
she had seen a ghost. True, she
had called to him at least thrre times but
he had ignored her. He had no
doubt that his actions would leave many of those
free loaders in debt.
It served them right to be always sponging
on him. He soon became
a despised person as many of them claimed
they had ordered liquor and
food knowing that he would pay. They were now
being pressured to pay
or else spend time in debtor’s jail. Even those
who had grabbed some of
the money he had thrown away began to taunt
him. Realizing that he
would not be able to service the mortgage, he
had given it up then got
this out-room to live in from Rapley when
he became one of his
employees.
By taking this job, he knew that his pride
had reached rock bottom,
imagine him doing menial jobs for Rapley.
He had to take the room as no
one else would have given him lodgings in
Happy Valley. Beville thought
that he should have returned to his native
Old River, in St. Mary but
when he went there the place was as he had left
it thirty years ago, to go
to the States. There were no roads, water
still had to be taken from a
nearby spring and the houses were in poor
condition. He had treated the
villagers to several cook-outs, buying out
the nearby bar on each
occasion. His building society had in the
meantime shown him the
picture of a property in Happy Valley and
he fell in love with it. After his
first visit there he couldn’t wait to get his
hands on the property. But for
his financial advisors he would have paid
cash for it. One month later
and he was living in the mansion. He later
learned that the house had
been built by Walton Green, a man who later
ruined himself by his
riotous living and had to seek refuge with
his relatives
down in St. Elizabeth. That would not be
happening to Joshua Beville’s
son, that was a promise he had made. The
house had passed through
two other owners before it came into his possession.
Four years later and
he knew that he had not kept that promise.
That was the time it took him
to blow away ten million dollars, not
counting what he had paid down on
the property. He had lost two
good women in that time. He couldn’t blame Megan. After a year she had joined
him and couldn’t understand what was
happening to him. She wanted to know where
all the money had gone. She tried to straighten out his life for him but he
wanted to party and enjoy life. Then she got involved with Brenton Raymond
after finding out about Jacinth. Then when he went up to get a divorce from her
he got the news about Jacinth and Corporal Johnson.
At forty four years of age,
Beville knew that time wasn’t on his side. He had thought of suicide, especially
after the betrayals by his false friends. But he hoped to ride his luck by
probably selling his brother a story that his wife had tricked him out of most
of the money he had given him. It was he who had given him the money out of his
lottery winning, telling him to make a man of himself. He got up and looked at
the clock. It was now two o’clock and the taxi would be coming for him at four
o’clock. He sighed as he remembered those two old men always calling down a
crowd whenever he was in the bar and drinking. Then there was that woman,
always willing to serve them bbecause she knew that he would pay up. He got
back into the bed and drew the covers over himself. He would try to get some
more sleep before he was shipped out.
John Thomas Redmond, known as John Tom to
his friends, had fallen in
Love with the property after seeing it from
the pictures his building
society had shown him. It was on fifteen
acres of well fruited land and
had ten rooms. He was thinking of returning
home especially after the
breakup of his marriage to Jheanel. At
fifty two years of age, John Tom
thought that it was time to return home.
Their three children had all
grown up and were on their own. He and
Jheanel had separate quarters
and lived separate lives. After the
children left they began to drift apart.
Jheanel wanted more spiritually, while John
Tom, with the weight of
taking the children around off his back,
thought that he could spend
more time with his friends and especially
the young ladies. Jheanel had
spoken to him about the young ladies who
kept calling the house and
about the rumors she had heard. Finally,
frustrated, she had filed for
divorce. John Tom would not be contesting
the suit. Although he was
leaving before the proceedings started, she
would now own the house
and the car. She would rent out a part of
the house. So John Tom had
left for home, hoping to settle in Happy
Valley. He was hoping to
probably marry again and live off the
interest from his savings and the
income from his property.
On arrival in Jamaica, John Tom did not go
to Happy Valley but
stopped with friends in Mandeville. They
felt that he should have settled
there like a lot of them. However when they
saw his property thay said
that it was a good buy. He had returned to
his hometown, visited with
friends and caught news about others. He
had also met a few young
old friends and caught news about others.
He had also met a few young
ladies who told him that they were from
Happy Valley. He told them that
he was also from there and would look them
up once he arrived and was
fully settled. One month later when his
things arrived he was ready to
move in.
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