CHAPTER 2

Leroy held on to the memory of the daffodil bulb he was given at infant school. He had to grow the daffodil from a bulb, not on the land of his fore parents like yam in Jamaica, but on the tiny windowsill of their London room. Leroy had the responsibility of tending to a tiny flowerpot in a dish in which to meet the challenge of the bulb’s growth.  He covered the bulb in the pot with a few pebbles at the base and peat he was assisted by his father, they labelled the pot “Leroy Marriott.”

Leroy recalled the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and waited patiently for his opportunity to escape, just as Jack had succeeded to do. He looked out of the window every day for the stalk climbing to the clouds, but it never happened, he watered the bulb so frequently it became a soggy mess, since he was left alone frequently while his father worked on the busses and Aunt Mo. worked as a nurse.  His parents were more concerned about Leroy’s behaviour and conformity to Standard English and somehow becoming white, than his past living ‘wild’ in the Jamaican countryside.

Running away Leroy walked in the whiteness of the snow away from his home. He lifted one foot then plunged it into the snow. Then the next and so the journey continued leaving distinct footprints in the virgin snow. Through the park he progressed into the woodland area towards the railway track. He followed the wire mesh fence parallel to the rail line. This was his new found escape because he was a wild child. He did these what amounted to therapeutic walks as frequently as he could and as frequently the police brought him back.

As an inducement and prize for getting his haircut his father bought him a complete cowboy outfit complete with double holster and spurs.  Instead of showing excitement or pleasure Leroy cried an involuntary deep pain felt cry. The sort that starts off with a deep breath but instead of exhaling it becomes a sniff that becomes another sniff to then become a hick up and the shoulders heave and there is no control. The tears flowed leaving a white track down his black cheeks.

Leroy had always identified himself in the “game” of cowboys and Indians as the Indian a warrior brave who would one day defend his nation and become chief of the Cheyenne’s, Apache and Comanche.  Leroy was an Indian Brave not a singing cowboy, drunken cowboy or bank robber cowboy. This was yet another indication to his parents that Leroy was indeed backward and wild.

 “Most boys want to be cowboys” said Aunt Mo. Coming in to appease the situation. With a sense of humour Ivan did an Indian dance around the room with two fingers as feathers and the other hand patting his mouth to represent the sound “OOOHHH, OOOHHH,” as he war danced, He thought Leroy is not righted he always wants to be the underdog.

Leroy could not help but sniffle himself to silence and then to a smile. Leroy submitted to be scalped with his father’s brand new clippers. Kindness and understanding shown by Aunt Mo. evaporated.  She announces: “What a way him look like Bud Pinckney.”

The heaven gates opened and Noah had prepared for the flood. Not Leroy involuntarily the tears washed his face. He stood in his full cowboy outfit. As his face was a washed by tears. He felt the breeze he had not experienced for some time the coldness of a bald head. Aunt Mo’s words sunk in like an arrow he had made and shot at a tiny bird whilst in the bush as a child. He stared at the Bud Pinckney still pink with clear wriggly lines for veins. The rear end covered in a downy feather and he Leroy had lit a fire and set up a spit and roasted the creature and ate it in the ashes of his fire. He placed himself in the place of the ill fated hatchling, with the scrawny neck. Leroy felt openly vulnerable of everything. He had no cover. He had been truly scalped.

Ivan out of frustration shouted: “Shut up Shut up bwai,” he shuffled around to find a strap; Leroy exited to the garden without another word and stood under the tree in Dead Wood City. As he watched the back of the house, waiting. He plucked a long stem of grass and chewed the stork emitting a white sap. The psychological pain was too much for Leroy he was “a- mean- looking -bald- headed, bud Pinckney, Indian dressed as a cowboy.”

I iSangoma looked on the pathetic site from above.

They came back late one night laughing and happy. Leroy screwed up his eyes and pretended to be asleep. Overcome by a presence standing over him in the bed Leroy peeped to see his father dressed in his silk lapelled jacket and his frilly shirt complete with black bow tie. Ivan shook his head from side to side. 

“Boy, you asleep?”

“Yes.” Leroy could hear snippets of conversation “about “King Kong.” Leroy felt betrayed they had gone to Africa to see the “King Kong” and had not taken him.  They were guilty. Leroy felt betrayed they had gone to Africa to see the “King Kong” and had not taken him.  They were guilty. The greatest   representative of all of Africa and he was black and in the United Kingdom. Thousands of people were going to see him but they excluded Leroy. There was the Royal family headed by the Queen. And Africans had “King Kong”.

Eventually “King Kong” did appear on television in all his glory. Somehow caged like a gorilla and brought to the United States of America. That’s no way to treat a King Leroy thought. The world became more curios, but: “Wary is the head that wears the crown.” Leroy had often heard his father sigh. The television presentation of an African King represented just that. Very soon Leroy was to learn of other Guerrillas fighting in the African Bush one’s that refused to be captured.