Stredwick

No Tears for Sonya by Austin Mitchell Sonya Brown was getting ready to go out with her boyfriend, Mickey Reece when her cell phone rang. Her boss, Chester Guthrie, was on the line. They talked for two minutes before he ended the call. “Who was that?” Mickey asked. “Chester, he wants me to come to the office tomorrow at ten o’clock. He says it’s an emergency.” “That fool, what does he want that can’t wait until Monday?” “You’re still bitter at him for firing you after that detective told him about you and Rosita.” “That guy was lying.” “Why did you have to go out with her when you know that she was Chester’s woman?” “She begged me to go with her for a drink. We never went to any hotel.” “I still want to know why you did it? I was calling you while you were with her and only getting your mailbox.” “That was six months ago and we’ve gone over it many times before. We don’t know why Chester wants you down at the store tomorrow.” “Maybe he’s doing some stock taking bu...

Willis’ Lucky Escape by Austin Mitchell Willis woke up with a headache. He knew that it was after midnight because he had heard the National Anthem being played on the radio in an adjoining room. The room was dark and his hands and feet were bound. As he lay in the darkness he recollected what had happened earlier in the day. He had been driving his taxi on Molynes Road in Kingston, after dropping off a female passenger in Queensberry when two men waved him down. The men wanted to go the Papine. His first instinct had been to drive on but he remembered that he hadn’t made Bydie’s money yet and this was Friday and the man would want his money first thing tomorrow morning. One man came to sit beside him while the other sat in the back. They were on Molynes Road when he found a knife sticking him in his side. “Hey guy, we are going to show you which road to turn in. My brethren has his gun with him so don’t bother try anything.” “It’s not my taxi this, brethren. It’s a man I am running i...

I’m Back From The Hills Now Sort summary of Stories: Jack Deland’s Disappearance-What could have made the old tailor do a disappearing act like that? Read further in Jack Deland’s disappearance. A Suspicious Death- Todd was dead. Most of the villagers believed that he was poisoned, but did the authorities share their suspicions. Read further in A Suspicious Death. A Case of Mistaken Identity- A man was dead, hit down by a bus, but everybody went home when they realized that it was a case of mistaken identity. Read further in A Case of Mistaken Identity. One Good Turn……-They say that one good turn deserves another. Apparently, Jacqueline didn’t think so. Read further in One Good Turn……. The Infatuated Teenager-Why did my friend Elroy decide to stick around Leila and her friend, Greta, when he knew that he wasn’t wanted? Read further in The Infatuated Teenager. An Honest Driver- The driver was indeed honest despite being persuaded to do otherwise. Read further in An Honest Driver. ...

The Highflyers a short story by Austin Mitchell I knew Tony Dillon. That was when we lived in Allman Town on a road called Gresham Road. He had a car, I believed it was a Morris Oxford motor car. He was a taxi driver and sometimes coming home from the movies at the Carib Cinema I would take his taxi home. He had a sister, Charmaine, and my friend, Bobby Chen used to be friendly with her. I was at a café on Port Royal Street when I spotted this waitress and sure enough it was her. There were quite a few cafes and bars dotting the waterfront going all the way up to Slipe Road and all the way across to Rae Town and to Marcus Garvey Drive. Kingston had really changed. There were so many vehicles on the streets and people were moving freely about. At this time of night seven years ago you would only find a fraction of the people now on the streets. I ordered a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll. The café was a small one. I was parked on the other side of the street from the cafe. The wai...

I attended a dead man’s Wedding by A.G.Mitchell “Repeat what you just said, Roscoe,” I challenged my old classmate. “Duckie is in prison in the United States, serving forty years for attempted murder.” “That can’t be true. He 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, he 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 m...

The Crab-tree Gang by A.G. Mitchell The crab-tree gang was at lunch. They numbered five youths all under eighteen except Bryce Deans who was reported to be nineteen. Naddy had ridden a mile to the nearest fast food outlet to buy their food. This was his payment to the gang in lieu of hard cash. The gang had been operating at Mc Clellans’s High School for the past fifteen years. Leadership and membership of the gang had been passed down among families.“We nearly didn’t collect enough money to buy our lunch,” Bryce told them as he bit into a piece of chicken. “It seems as if those youths don’t want us to protect them anymore,” Welton Bright declared as he bit into a huge piece of chicken. He was seventeen years of age and in his last year at school. He had come into membership of the gang through a cousin. The gang protected children from Nixon, Norton, Waste Land and Big Leaf districts numbering about three hundred in all. “If they don’t pay us they’ll have to pay the Deuce gang and...

The Forgiving a Short Story by Austin Mitchell Alton Daniels was all ears as his boss came up to introduce the new Chief Accountant. “I’d like you to meet Stan Strachan, your new head of the department,” Mark Findlay, Managing Director of Dennison and Sons, addressed the accounting department staffers. There were cheers all around as staffers welcomed their new boss. Stan came up and said a few words. “I’d like to thank the staff for coming and am asking them for their cooperation. I’d also like to thank Mr. Findlay for giving me this opportunity. I wish to assure him that I won’t let him down.” There was loud cheering before a senior staffer came up and welcomed Stan on behalf of the staff after which everybody returned to their posts. Mr. Findlay also told them that Stan wanted to meet with each of them. As Chief Accountant, he could after reviewing their files and job performance, advise him if their work was up to the standard required by the company. “My new boss is a man, whom ...

EXAMINATION BLUES Examination Blues a short story by Austin Mitchell Cora was in her room crying. Her mother was in the living room also sobbing. The final results were out and she had failed her examinations for the third time. Miss Rhinella wasn’t going to blame the young girl. She felt that the she had done her best. Her neighbor, Miss Augustine’s daughter, Amelda, had passed all her examinations at first attempt. As a matter of fact, Amelda would soon graduate from teachers college and return to teaching at Nugent Hill All-Age School, where Cora was struggling to get through her First Jamaica Local Examinations. Her eldest son, Floyd, and her other daughter, Glynis, had to be sent to schools outside of Nugent Hill in order to get through their examinations. Miss Zephinella had known for a long time that something was wrong in Nugent Hill. Her younger brother, Selly, was wandering about the place like he had lost his mind. He claimed that Mister Bald...

The Breadfruit Feast a short story by Austin Mitchell Nanko dipped his spoon into the bowl of cornmeal porridge and took up another spoonful. He ate it and then put some more ackee and saltfish onto the hard-doe bread. He made a sandwich with it and bit off a huge piece. Their cornmeal porridge was made of grated corn with coconut milk. They had used wet sugar to sweeten it and grated a nutmeg in it to give it some more flavor. Butty, Dedco and Bully were also eating their porridge. “You think we’ll find him today?” Butty asked. The men were casual workers on several properties around the Mc Kenzie Lands area and they were looking for Berbice Morgan reputed to be a great eater. Stout eaters themselves, they were no match for Berbice. A feast was coming up and they wanted somebody to bet on. Wimple, one of the best eaters in the village, had withdrawn from the contest because his elder brother, Bam, a man with a fierce temper, had threatened to give him a terrible beating should he dar...

The Young Shoplifters by Austin Mitchell Syd Bethune was into his third day of work at the bank as a trainee customer service representative. Suddenly he looked up from his desk and immediately his hand went to his mouth as in walked Reds Bryan, his former branch manager. He immediately spied Syd and came over. “Syd, you are working here again? I can’t believe it. You know that I live abroad now. I just stopped by to greet some of my former colleagues, but it seems as if most of them have left the branch. But one day you can tell me how you got re-hired.” Reds shook Syd’s shaking hand and disappeared upstairs. Syd kept a nervous eye on the stairs until he saw Reds descending them and disappeared out of the bank. He said a silent prayer that he hadn’t said anything about him. But that Friday at about two o’clock he got an urgent call summoning him to head office. “Mr. Bethune, you didn’t tell us that you formerly worked with us and of the circumstances why you had to leave,” Mrs....

Uptown Lovers Austin Mitchell •Brad Newman returned home and fell in love with Morgana Simmonds, who is engaged to the cheating Stewart Brown. Realizing just how hopeless his love for her is, Brad drops his longtime girlfriend, Dania Reid, and pursues Jenna Marsden only to realize that all that glitters isn’t gold. •Rick Graham returned home to work in his father’s firm. He falls for Morgana’s equally beautiful sister, Beverly, but his longtime and strong-willed girlfriend, Celia, will have none of it and is prepared to fight for her man. •Morgana Simmonds thought she knew her fiance’, Stewart Brown, only to realize that he’s a cheater. She is caught in a quandary, should she stay and fight the competition, in the hope that he will change or should she move on? •Stewart Brown, engaged to Morgana, but having affairs all over the place. He just loves to play the field. But the girls are waking up and they’re making the right kind of moves and he suddenly realizes that ...

Undercover ‘Soldier’ Austin Mitchell Copyright © 2016 Austin G. Mitchell All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such a case, neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.” Published by Austin Mitchell ISBN-13: 978-1500586324 ISBN-10: 1500586323 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, institutions, places, and incidents are creations of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual or other fictional events, locales, organization or persons, living or dead is entirely c...

I will be putting out excerpts from my blog over the coming days. These might just be the first two or three pages of the story. I will then give readers instructions if they want buy the story.

My new collection of short stories is now out. I urge readers to go out and get c copy. If you buy this book and enjoyed reading it, why not send a review to Amazon. Writers are encouraged by what readers have to say about their writing. We can't improve if readers praise our writing when we know that the writing didn't deserve and praises. I'm not afraid if readers tear my writing to shreds. This will only strenghten my resolve to be a better writer.

I notice the amount of medals Jamaica is picking up at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. I'm disappointed that we treated the games as a second glass tournament. Why did we not have a trial? It would seem to be that we are discounting the medals our athletes are winning but they are up against some of the best in the World. The only big named country not at the games is the USA and to a lesser extent China.

I am shocked to know that this school has a population of 280 students on roll. I was minded to say that students were probably going to other schools in the area to get better teaching. But then I said wait, in my days of going to school the average family had seven children. Nowadays the average family is just having two children. Also migration out of the area has affected the school population. Score if not hundreds of people have left these rural communities to look better opportunities in the cities.

My two plays are The Freeloaders and Life at 21 Lane. In the first play the theme is really about Jamaican politics. It shows how easily people are influenced by food. For as long as can remember people have always complained that Jamaicans were voting with their bellies. The other play is a very complicated one. However it tells of a man's efforts to trick his two step daughters out of their house.

Bad Man’s Woman A short story by Austin Mitchell My friend, Elroy Reid, was relating to me what had happened between him and his longtime girlfriend, Carline Weston. They had been friends from high school. They lived just a kilometer apart in Keswick. It all started when Carline decided to go to a commercial school in Kingston. “I told her to take the morning bus and come back with it in the evenings.” “So what did she say?” I asked. “Said, that she wouldn’t get any time to study.” “Maybe she’s right. She would have to get up too early in the mornings and come home too late at nights.” We were sheltering under a shopping plaza as it was raining cats and dogs. I was getting the impression that maybe Elroy didn’t want Carline to go and live in Kingston. Maybe he feared that she would find some other guy down there. Anyway, above strong objections from Elroy, Carline went to live with her aunt in Kingston. Elroy swore that he wouldn’t have anyt...