THE GUN TOTING SHOPKEEPER A SHORT STORY BY AUSTIN MITCHELL

The Gun Toting Shopkeeper by Austin Mitchell Wes Freeman kept shop in the Keswick mountains. His bar was adjoining the shop. David Daniels had a bakery, grocery shop and bar a hundred meters down the road. All of us knew just how dangerous Wes was. He was in his middle fifties and was living with a woman twenty years younger than him. She had two children for him, a boy and a girl. Annette helped him run both the bar and the shop. We knew that Wes was more comfortable with her running the shop rather than the bar because of the number of men coming to the bar to drink and to chat her up. Why I said that he was a dangerous man was that he had shot and injured a number of men, four of whom died. One of these men was Albert Binger. Wes caught him breaking into his shop one early morning. He had challenged him. Albert responded by attacking him with a crowbar, Wes fired several shots, three of which reportedly caught Binger. He died on the way to hospital. His three sons swore to get revenge as they believed that Wes had murdered their father. “My father was no burglar. Wes planted that crowbar on him after he shot him. He was very friendly with Annette,” Willis, Albert’s youngest son told me. Albert was known to be popular with women. He was a very talkative and jovial person. I too didn’t believe Wes’ story. Neither did I believe that Albert had been fooling around Annette. Annette was something else. She was not a tall woman but she made up for it by having broad hips and firm breasts. She had a pretty face, loved dressing up and going to parties, stage shows and football matches. Sometimes she would attend parties alone. Whenever any of us young guys approach her for a dance, she would refuse. We always saw her dancing alone or with friends. I remember once I approached her at this party we both attended. “Annette, Wes won’t say anything if he came here and saw me dancing with you.” “I’m okay, I’m enjoying myself. I don’t have to dance with anybody.” “Can I buy you a drink?” “I’m okay, Kirk.” I walked away, disappointed. One of Wes’ other killings occurred a year after the first one. One late Saturday night as he was locking up his bar, two men, Linford Rennals and Las Howell jumped out of trees opposite the bar. They had attacked Wes with machetes. Wes had fired shots, killing Linford on the spot. Las escaped unhurt and has not been seen to this day. Rumor has it that he is hiding out in Kingston. Of course Wes got off all the charges as the police claimed that he had shot in self defense. Wes’ third killing occurred in Clarendon when his vehicle developed a puncture. He had stopped to fix it when two men came out of the bushes. They pointed guns at him and demanded money. Wes had whipped out his gun and opened fire at them, hitting one of them. The other man fled into the bushes, but the man shot, died a few days later. His fourth killing occurred in the heat of the political battles in the 1980s. He was in a bar in Montego Bay drinking when a man accused him of being on the wrong political side. The man and his friends had attacked Wes with all sorts of implements. He had drawn and fired his gun injuring two of the men. One of them died in hospital a week later. Wes’ lawyers got him off the charges as he was able to prove that he had fired in self defense. Nevertheless, Wes wasn’t all that innocent. It was rumored that he was receiving stolen goods. Sometimes he would drive into Kingston, Spanish Town or Linstead to buy goods. But we all knew that some of those goods were stolen goods. He got these at a bargain. Sometime there would be some hard looking characters hanging around his establishment. “They are up here because Wes owes them money,”Odel Brown, a local mason told me. We were in Las Chung’s bar in Jackson, five miles away from Keswick having a beer. “Most of the guys who come to him are armed,” I stated. “Annette has a gun too, but I don’t know what type of gun it is. All I know is that it’s a handgun,” Odel declared. What the hell was happening? I knew that Wes was always on edge. This was especially so after Danny Reid came back into the area. Danny was the son of the headmistress of the local primary school. He was a reputed gunman. He had spent time in Kingston but was now back home, nursing a broken foot. Some persons said that he had been in prison. His mother, younger brother and sister had all denied it. Then some of Danny’s friend’s started passing through. Like the guys visiting Wes, these were hard looking characters. Some persons were even saying that Danny’s foot had been broken by a gunshot. We don’t know why these guys were visiting him, but Wes was fearful as were all the local merchants that Danny would set his friends on them. Wes was also a dance promoter. He had a huge lawn at the back of his premises. Sometime he would rent it out to other dance promoters. There four other lawns in Keswick where dances were held. They were probably a half a mile apart so there was no chance of one sound system interrupting another sound system. Danny got around on crutches. His friends were in and out of the community. When a man called Sully lost his bike, Danny’s crew were the main suspects. Sully had parked his bike by the side of the road and was at a woman’s house making love to her. When he returned the bike was missing. People also said that it could be some of Wes’ confederates who had stolen Sully’s bike. Matters nearly came to a head when one of Danny’s friends tried to force Annette to dance with him. When she refused he threatened to wet her up with some of the beer he was drinking. He also taunted her. He told her that that old man was no use to her and that she needed a young man like him to satisfy her. Annette left the dance and went and complained to Wes. Wes was in fact just getting ready to come to the dance to join his woman. He put his gun in his waist and along with Annette drove down to the dance. I was outside the dance when he arrived. “Bindy, I heard that a man was threatening Annette. Where is he?” he asked the gateman. The gateman pointed down the road. “Shortly after she left to call you, they rode away on their bikes.” “Those fuckers, I must catch them one day,” he swore. *** Things returned to normal in Keswick. Danny’s foot had healed and he had in fact left the community. We were rid of his crew for now I thought, although Wes’ confederates were still loafing around. Two weeks later Danny resurfaced. A few days later his crew began passing through again. Then he disappeared again. *** One night two months later two men attacked Wes and Annette. Wes and Annette fired shots at the men who jumped on their bikes and sped away, but not before warning that they would be back. Wes swore that the men were members of Danny’s crew. He said that Danny had sent them to get him. He also said that Danny was trying to extort money out of him. Wes made a dance on Christmas day. Attendance was overflowing. Both Danny’s crew and Wes’ confederates were there. Several crews from Kingston were there too. The next day Wes declared that it was his most profitable dance. A week later I was in the square when a man, Dave Johns, drove into the area. He immediately went to Wes’ establishment. He wanted back his daughter who was staying with Annette’s mother in Bath, St. Thomas. We didn’t know that Annette had other children apart from those she had for Wes. He behaved in a threatening manner, forcing Wes to draw his gun on him and in the process chase him from his establishment. But things were coming to a fruition. “He isn’t paying us anything for the work we do for him.” I heard one of his confederates, Garth, complaining. “What the hell, we rob people for Wes and all he does is threaten us when we ask him for our money,” another man, Max agreed with him. On Easter Monday, Wes held an even bigger dance than the one he held on Christmas day. The lawn was packed to capacity. There was a sound clash and several top dancehall artistes performed. The dance ended at four o’clock that morning. At about six o’clock that morning we heard gunshots, followed by shouts. “They’ve shot Wes! They’ve shot Wes!” It was definitely Annette, who was shouting. I raced into the village square to see some men putting Wes into the back of his car. Annette was around the steering wheel. A man named Charlie got in the front passenger seat and a woman named Gloria got in the back seat to hold Wes. Annette sped off with the car for the University hospital. Unfortunately, Wes never made it and died on the way to the hospital. Immediately, rumors started flying that it was Annette, who had set up the whole thing. Other people said that it was Danny’s crew who had done it because Wes refused to pay them protection money. Yet others said that it was Wes’ confederates who had done it because he wasn’t sharing the money right. Police swarmed the area looking for Wes’ killers. Wes was a popular promoter. Persons closer to Annette than I was, said that she was grilled by the cops. Three weeks later Wes was buried in the Keswick cemetery. Then all hell broke loose. Wes’ adult children, descended on Annette. There were three of them, two girls and a boy. The two girls were both teachers and the boy, a young lawyer. They were resentful of Annette. Wes had taken up with her, thus ill treating their mother. They felt that she was responsible for their mother’s untimely death. I heard that Annette sat them down and told them that she had to be paying off Wes’ confederates. She refused to take any more stolen goods and they threatened her. Wes’ will was read and Annette got half of his property and his children the other half based on the reports I heard. The matter went to court and the court agreed with Wes’ stipulation in his will. His children threatened to take the matter to a higher court. Six months later the police held a man, Bertie Reid, with Wes’ gun. The man denied being Wes’ killer and instead fingered a man named Louis Brown. Annette successfully pointed out both men as being the ones who had shot Wes. At the moment, both men are in jail waiting to go on trial. Annette has told me that the police said they found stolen goods at the establishment. She claimed to know nothing about it. She was able to provide invoices for the goods bought by her. She denied knowing that Wes was receiving stolen goods. At the moment the case in ongoing. The End. Epilogue: Wes’ establishment was sold a year later and the money divided up between Annette and his adult children. Annette is now living in St. Thomas with her three children and has a new man in her life. She was able to start a wholesale near her home. Annette said that the police have dropped stolen goods case for obvious reasons. They have since arrested Danny and several of his crew members. They are being held on various charges, including the theft of Sully’s bike From the collection of short stories: The Worst is Over Now Pleade check out my stories on Amazon, payhip, book fusion My email:glengoffe1@cwjamaica.com If you have any querries about this story or about my books please call me at 18765680692.