Coward Man by Austin Mitchell

The Coward
by Austin Mitchell
It is said that a coward man keeps sound bones. Pablo Morris bones might have been sound, but his body certainly wasn’t. He had cuts all over his face, body, hands and legs. What had happened was that we boys from Nelson and the boys from Goffe Springs were always fighting. Pablo was from Nelson but unlike the rest of us he refused to carry a knife or any type of offensive weapon. So that if we went to a dance in Goffe Springs and a fight broke out he would be the last one to get away. The men from Goffe Springs would beat and stab him up before they let him go.
We didn’t feel at all guilty at not defending Pablo. We reasoned that he was a grown man and sometimes he caused some of the trouble on himself. There was one time when we were at a dance and he threw his cigarette butt which caught and burnt a Goffe Spring’s woman. Her boyfriend promptly draped him up and had his knife at his neck. There was another time when Pablo was slapping a girl around and her brother crashed a bottle into the side of his head.
Maybe this time it wasn’t Pablo’s fault. Gully, a man from Nelson had cursed and threatened an old bad man from Goffe Springs , Cal. When Gully left the scene, Cal drew his knife and cut Pablo in his face.
There was another time when Pablo and a man from Goffe Springs, Stan, were gambling. Pablo had cleaned out the man when he pulled a knife on him, cut off his pocket and went his way with Pablo’s money too.
These incidents didn’t stir the men from Nelson to start defending Pablo. We did corner Stan and made him pay back Pablo his money. We also did him another favor. Pablo had won hundreds of dollars off a Crown-and–Anchor man, Tanny. As the bank had no limit, Tanny was owing Pablo five thousand dollars, which he promised to pay in a week’s time. He was packing up to ride away on his motorcycle, while a bewildered Pablo stood staring at him. Some youths came to call us and we immediately seized Tanny’s motorcycle. He turned up the next day with Pablo’s money and was able to retrieve his motorcycle.
Perhaps the lowest point in Pablo’s life came when he went to sell juices in Goffe Springs and got into a card game. A man called Bing accused him of cheating and stabbed him. Pablo had to abandon his cart and run all the way home to Nelson, a distance of about five miles. A month after Pablo left hospital, he and a man, Renkis, had a dispute over marijuana and the man nearly severed Pablo’s right hand.
We were all glad when we heard that Pablo had gotten a farm work ticket. That was four months later. He had big plans to save up his money and buy a taxi. We didn’t think that Pablo could run a taxi as most of his passengers would refuse to pay him.
Six weeks later, Pablo was back in the island. Most of us were holding our heads. What was wrong with Pablo? We soon found out.
Apparently Pablo had gone up in another man’s name. He fell sick and the authorities asked him to fill out a form. Paplo did so using his right name. He was immediately sent home.
The short time in America seemed to have changed Pablo. The next month he stole a woman’s car and hit down a little girl with it. He got time in prison. We don’t know how he did it, but as soon as he left prison he was in the States.
Then we heard the news about Pablo’s brother, Blue. Blue had just been in the States over two weeks when men came looking for Pablo. Pablo had been in the States for over two years then. It was a cocaine deal gone wrong and since they couldn’t find Pablo they filled Blue full of bullets.
A year later, Pablo was back in Jamaica, deported.
“About a million dollars pass through my hands, Clunis,” he told me.
“So why you never set up yourself out here. Yuh know you’re not legal over there,” I told him.
“I wasn’t over there a long time. But you see this time when I go up, I am going to send some money for my mother to bank for me.”
Three years seemed long to me but maybe he had wanted a longer stay.
“So how did Blue die ?” a man called Washbrook asked.
“Washy, it’s pure rumors they have as to how Blue died and they are blaming me. Blue caused his own death. As he come over there he started going around with certain men from out here. I warned him about them but he wouldn’t listen to me.”
It was true what Pablo was talking about. People had changed once they came to the States. For one thing there was more money to be made.
The years in America seemed to have hardened Pablo. At dances, men gave way to him. It was even being strongly rumored that he had a gun.
We were at a picture show one night. During the intermission I don’t know what was the trouble between him and Cal. Pablo suddenly drew his machete and threatened to chop up Cal.
Then a young policeman fired into car car mistaking one of the passengers for Pablo. Instead he shot a young schoolboy.
I don’t know what Pablo had done to make the police go after him. After that he disappeared and it was being strongly rumored that he was in Kingston.
Pablo’s youngest brother, Knox, told me six months later that he was in the States. Two years later I saw Knox driving a car. A big house was also being built on lands adjoining them. It was strongly rumored that it Pablo’s money.
A deportee named Dillon told us about Pablo.
“I was over there and Pablo got stabbed after men tried to take away his stash. It’s a big cut he got. A woman told him what to buy to put on the cut. He couldn’t go to any hospital.”
“Pablo surprise me. Men out here used to send go shop. Now he’s in the States and is a big gangster,” a man called Duch remarked.
“Over there you can’t be soft. You have to be rough, especially if you are running drugs,” Dillon reiterated.
Pablo running drugs in America. We all knew that it was a different Pablo.
Nobody knew what happened to him after that. His family was tight lipped.
They all knew that if Pablo returned to Jamaica, we were the people he would link up with.Eighteen months later and Pablo was on the island again. He wasn’t deported this time and he had a woman with him.
“Clunis, I’m just cooling out for a few months.I might go on the the North Coast with the little girl you see me with.”
We were drinking stouts, me, him, a man called Nully, Washbrook, Dutch and Dillon.
His girl’s name was Serena. Over the next few weeks that we got to know her most of us guys liked her as she wasn’t snobbish and was generous with her money. She would buy us beers, stout, food and soup at the dances.
About three weeks later I was in Kingston when I hear the news. The police found Serena’s naked body on a river bank in our district and Pablo had disappeared. A man from our district told me about what had happened.
“Clunis, the girl have something over Pablo. She see when him kill a man. He had to a pay her off or else she would go to the police.”
“I thought she was his woman, that’s why she came out here with him.”
“I don’t know why she came out here with him. He paid Gap Teeth to kill her.”
I still found it curious that she was blackmailing Pable and still made him bring her to his homeland. If that wasn’t asking for trouble I don’t know what was.
“They found her naked body, as far as I hear she wasn’tr molested. I understand that the police are looking for Pablo.Do you know where he is?” I asked.
“Who, Pablo? Based on what I hear, he could be in England, America or Canada, because he has papers for all three countries.”
That didn’t stop us guys from swearing to get Pablo for what he had done to Serena. The police soon caught up with Gap Teeth. He confessed to the murder and fingered Pablo.
We understand that the Jamaican police have contacted the authorities in the three above mentioned countries to help them look for Pablo. His relatives remained tightlipped but many persons are praying that he will one day be back home to pay for his crimes. The End. Please visit my blog at http://stredwick.blogspot.com