Ruin

74

Sunday: 6:05 P. M.
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"Mummy, yuh nuh have no needle and thread?" I ask, walking in the living room, holding the two ends of my blouse together to prevent my breasts from falling out.

The blasted fool-fool sinting waited until I put it on for the buttons to pop.

I inwardly roll my eyes.

At my question, my mother looks up at me from where she's sitting on the couch, making notes from her bible.

Her eyes scan my body, taking note of my current predicament. "Yuh a get to blinkin' fat, a that."

I smile. "Nuh worry yuhself, mi a go gym come tomorrow. Mek mi see what you'll have to say when mi slim and trim."

She hisses her teeth. "Yuh nuh have no slim and trim a slim and trim."

"'Cause we a natural thickaz nuh true?" I tease.

Well, it's true, the women in this family were all naturally curvy. Only, she and Tia got most of the ass and hips.

But it's all good. I'll settle with the bit that I did get. It's more than some people...

Mummy pauses as if thinking up a clapback, only to come with a sassy, "When yawh go a yuh yard, lil gyal?"

I laugh at her remark and the tone she says it in.

"When mi nuh deh yah yuh beg fi see mi, and when mi come now, yuh run me! Wah can go so?" I say, walking over to the whatnot.

I pull out the baking tin from the top draw and open it, pulling out the case of needles and the zip lock bag containing rolls of threads. "'Cause look how long mi stand up a wait pon the likkle needle and thread."

"So a me yuh really did a wait pon fi get up and go look fa?" she asks, pointing the pen at her stomach. "Yuh nuh know weh it keep?"

"So yuh couldn't pass it for me, Lady? A so yuh stay?"

And she see say mi hand full.

"A me have yuh hand dem?"

"Hear yah..."

"But must! Because it seems like yawh handicap all of a sudden."

This makes me roll my eyes. "I'm a guest."

"And me a wah?"

"The host..."

Duh.

"Host yuh face."

"So a who fa house?" I say with an endearing smile.

She hisses her teeth again and adjusts the glasses on her face, without a word.

With the smile on my lips, I quickly string the needle and position the button to sow it back in place.

"Wah yuh hear 'bout sewing things pon yuhself? You a dead?" she asks, as I pull the needle through the first hoop.

"Mummy, man!" I say with a pout.

"Tan deh 'Mummy, man' mi! Yuh must know."

Despite her objection, I continue to sow the button onto the fabric. "Mummy, a you alone believe inna tha myth deh eno."

Plus, I'm too lazy to go look for something else to wear.

She nods. "Hmm. Yuh gwaan..."

I look at the bible on her lap and back to her face.