The Adventures of Ludiboy

Ludiboy goes visiting

     Red Boar community, was none like no other. Of course, there was the local market, the church the Deacon never far away, the banana, yam and coffee fields farther away from no man's house, yet closer to none. There was the old cricket field, down by the old school, that had been abandoned for eons.
The little rustic boys would play 'Marbles' on the street corners, and always disagree on who's tae was the closest to the billy. On Sunday evenings, the older residents of Red Boar community would dress up in their godly wears. The old women with their sprawling church hats-- like Teacher Gordon's wife, who no one could sit close to, without having her hat poke them on the jaws.
     
       The Saturday was just like any other: the air was fresh and clean; the sky was bright and the sun was shining . It was days like this that Ludiboy liked. He liked to take his walks and visits to people all around the community. He would walk from his board house, 'round 'Donkey Brae' river corner.
How he got the name, folks weren't sure. Some believe that it was because of the 'Ludi' game he was playing when his mother first found him gambling with some boys when they were all expected to be at school.     
      His house was just like the rest: made entirely of plighs of wood, except for the roof, that was made of thatch and had a little patching up here and there, wherever holes could be found. His water system was just like any other throughout the community: a few barrels at the end of the gutter that were only filled whenever rain fell, or as Ozzy would say: 'when Jah-Jah blessings pour down.'
    
    The thing about Ludiboy was that he didn't work like the other men. he didn't plant the Yam sticks or roots, nor did he watch over any banana shrub in any field and sell it whenever it was ready down by the market. No sir! Ludiboy made his way in life, through some, not so honest livings. Ludiboy was a gambler. He often went about whether day or night calling to his local gambling friends like Capeverde to come and play with him and that they were to bring a table so as to put the cards or Bingo sets or Ludi board on. A gambler like that could be found anywhere gambling as long as there was a board and a few flasks o' rum there, there was no doubt that Ludiboy was either there, or on his way; he never took long either.
 
    "Yes! Is days like these ones I like!" said a smiling Ludiboy, peering out of his freezer-like window. "

Maasa God, look pan that deh sun deh!" he coninued to say.

 "No doubt Renggae or Capeverde dem holding them 'meeting'. If so, a-better go an' join them. Let me go an' keep them company as they play."

So an excited Ludiboy shut his windows, jumped into his usual water boots and began trotting around the corner of which he and his neighbour lived.
That neighbour was Mr. Francis, a small, bald-headed man who lived alone and was fond of Ludiboy to the fact that he usually went over to greet him and offer  his assistance in any way possible. This he had been doing for years and over that time, Ludiboy had grown irritated of him and without exception, tried to avoid encountering him, usually by walking through his back door and into the small woodland behind his small house.
    
    Ludiboy lived alone and didn't mind at all. He always believed that a woman was just another word for stress and 'botheration' and always told those 'common-law' married men that they should send their 'botherations' back to their mothers and go out and live life as a man (most likely to join the usual gamblers and their gambling).

      He trotted quickly, smiling as he observed the woodlands and the farther away houses up the road to 'Breadfruit Hill' district, another community that was not much bigger than Red Boar. It seemed impossible for him not to pass by Teacher Gordon's house and not stop to admire it as if he had never seen it before. The same house which he had seen hundreds of times again and again. Teacher Gordon was a firm and well-honoured man of the community, who they would say lived a much humbler life than most others as his house was made of concrete and red roofs. He had visited England innumerable times and had captured the the accent and the lifestyle. He always walked with a cane and a top hat, of which he lifted a little whenever he was to greet a lady. He got the name 'Teacher Gordon' because he would always tend to teach the young boys something whenever he could.