Stredwick

Readers can now find some of my very short stories on typotic.com. These stories will in most cases, be less than four hundred words. They will range from comedy to true stories. Some of them have been shown on these pages before. Some of them will be entirely new stories. My blog is at : stredwick.blogspot.com. Please check out the Austin Mitchell pages at Amazon.com

A few weeks ago I was at a bookshop on King Street. The had put up some slow moving book in a bookcase and had it outside the store. These were being sold at a discounted price. A well dressed guy came on the scene and was looking at the books. He was asking after the price of some of the books which had not been displayed. He showed interest in a few of them. Suddenly the guy grabbed one of the books and raced down King Street. The attendant made no attempt to pursue him or to alert the security guard who was inside the book store. He merely said that the book was of no use to the man as it was a science book. It got me thinking if the thief was righted as why would he steal something that was of no use to him.

I thought most pickpockets in Kingston had disappeared or moved on to other professions. However there were pictures of two pickpockets in one of our daily newspapers this week. Some evenings ago I was coming off a crowded Coaster bus in Half Way Tree when I felt a man's hand in my pocket. I calmly drew it out and came off the bus. I had looked around at the man's face. The man was a middle aged person. I'm sure that the man I caught going into my pockets was one of the pickpockets shown in the newspaper. Persons shopping for back to school items for their children should be careful. I think these men operate all over Kingston and St. Andrew and it could be several of them.

Somebody has just given me a great idea. Instead of my book, Uptown Lovers, being one book consisting of 432 pages why not have a Book 1 & 2? So that a reader could read Book One and then decide whether to go on and read Book Two. I''m dying to hear from readers.Frankly I think I will have a two part book. Sometimes I wonder how I got the inspiration to write such a big?

I don't agree with the new parliament building being sighted in Heroes Circle. I think the building should be built on Kings House lands. What would look lovely at Heroes Circle would be a botanical garden. The people of Alman Town should be left to determine their own future. Who to tell in  a few years time they might build some very modern houses in the area. I also do not agree in any concrete structure being put up on the open lot opposite the Portmore Mall. I believe a structure like Emancipation Park would be ideal for that location.

We shall call him Wedge. He was another man who was a fixture at the library most days. Wedge changed his name because he said that at least two notorious murderers had the same name. Wedge was lucky as a young lady fell in love with him and they got married. The young lady was an American citizen. As soon as she was back home she started filing immigration papers for him. I don't remember how long the process took. A few years later after Wedge got his citizenship he started complaining about the size of his wife as if she wasn't fat when he met her. They eventually separated. A couple of years later, he was back in Jamaica. He was stone broke, me and several other friends had to be giving him money. He was in the process of suing his partners in a nursing school, who he claimed had tricked him out of thousands of dollars. Wedge claimed that he only needed to pass a few more papers before becoming a fully qualified herbalist. He left Jamaica quite suddenly. A mutual friend cal

We shall call him Lattie. He was a tall man of Indian descent, who always complained that because of his complexion he should be a bank manager. Sadly those times had passed. I first met Lattie at the library. He would buy all the morning papers and read them. My first impression was that he was an insurance salesman but to my astonishment he was unemployed. He told me that his passion for reading newspapers was due to the fact that he only learned to read when he was fifteen years of age. He had a voice like thunder and we had to be urging him to tone down his voice most times. He could hardly keep a secret. Once a mutual friend owed me some money and was using delaying tactics in repaying me. I told Lattie about it and the next day the friend could repeat word for word what I had told Lattie.

There is some discussions about the Independence and Emancipation days. Emancipation day was abandoned after 1962 and we celebrated only Independence Day. Emancipation Day was brought back several years ago. Now persons are saying that we should celebrate both days on successive days. But how could we do that since those days are set. I don't understand why we opted for Monday August 6, 1962 as our independence day rather than Thursday August 2, 1962. It wasn't that we had fought the British and finally liberated the island on August 6, 1962. People more familiar with the deliberations can enlighten me.

We shall call him Alden. Alden was at the library every day. On day he was reading the daily papers from 9.00 am, a guy checked him to borrow it at 12.00 am, but he told him that he wasn't finished reading it. At 3.00 pm the same guy came and grabbed the paper away from him. Incidentally that was how Alden operated he would spend the whole day reading the newspapers. Alden told us that he got an E in his examinations but turn ed i t into a B and got accepted into university.

I don't know much about the Constant Spring Market except that my sister used to sell there for a short time. My understanding that the authorities want to demolish the market to make way for the widening of Constant Spring Road. While the widening of the road is needed I am also wondering if the market is no also needed at its current location. I believe there is enough space at the current location and the widened road. It could be that the Uptown people don't want to see the market there anymore. They believe it is an eyesore. Dozens of people make their living from this market. To tell them to relocate to other markets is unfair. This is how we have always treated poor people in this country. I believe that the vendors should start a Go Fund Me Project to help rebuild the market right behind its present location. We can't just treat poor like rubbish.