by S M Mala
Hatty knew Gina liked her men rich and gifts expensive. She also knew Jake Logan had been messing about with her since his arrival on the island four weeks ago, which riled Hatty knowing he hadn’t had so much as looked over at her… until today.
Like clockwork, Jake walked towards the office and was met by a smiling Gina. Hatty didn’t understand why Delores never commented on Gina going with white, yellow, brown and black men but seemed to have an opinion on what was right for Hatty. She looked across at Jake and saw the pair flirting heavily, as they had done every time Hatty spotted them together. Jake put his arm around Gina and Hatty saw him squeeze her backside while he kissed her neck. She looked away and rooted around the full sack of corn pulling one out, tearing the husk away.
Hatty was getting rid of her frustration of letting Jake wind her up that afternoon.
Murray lit his cigar and walked around the gardens, taking in the beautiful scent of the flowers, before he saw her sitting on the porch making a mess.
‘My beautiful little Hatty, what have you done now?’ he said and smiled to himself.
He watched her throw corn and husks all around while heavily frowning. Approaching her slowly, he noticed her eyes kept darting over to his offices.
Then he realised what she was looking at.
Jake and Gina.
He let out a frustrated sigh, knowing his son had been up to no good with one of the employees, and shook his head from side to side. At that point he noticed an expression on Hatty’s face he hadn’t seen for a long time.
She was jealous.
There was a little turmoil in his gut.
Delores had told Jake and Hatty to keep away from each other. He wasn’t sure why she’d done that as he was still in two minds why Delores couldn’t stand his son. In all the time he’d known Hatty, she’d never had in interest in boys other than Gina’s late half-brother when she was a teenager and that was it. He wanted Jake and Hatty to get on but as he looked at his son, he gauged what Jake was doing to get Hatty’s attention.
‘Oh my,’ he mumbled to himself. ‘This doesn’t look good.’
‘Harriet,’ she heard the deep southern American drawl before looking up at Murray Logan smiling at her.
‘Good evening Mister Murray,’ she grimaced, forcing a smile. ‘Are you well?’
‘What’ve you done now?’ he quietly asked.
‘Nothing,’ she shrugged. ‘Auntie said she needed me but she didn’t and now she wants me to do all this before tonight.’ Hatty looked towards the large bag. ‘But I have an exam in a couple of weeks and me have to study.’
She looked at Murray Logan as he smiled at her. He resembled his son, other than his deep set wrinkles, long brown wavy hair down to his collar and a short goatee beard. The man was more muscular than Jake but Hatty could see he was still a very handsome person. He was wearing his usual surfer style outfit of baggy shorts, t-shirt and short sleeve shirt, topped off with a straw Stetson style hat. Hatty had hardly ever seen the man in a suit.
‘In September you’ll have a place to be a teacher’s assistant at The Spencer Academy to kick start you off to becoming a teacher,’ he said seriously. ‘Your aunt wants you to do well because, frankly, she’s worried you become easily distracted to avoid revising.’
‘I am revising.’
‘Harriet Harris,’ he hissed, leaning closer to her so no one could hear him as she narrowed her eyes. ‘I know you could’ve been a teacher two years ago but decided to throw your exams.’
‘I-.’ Harriet hesitated for a moment knowing she couldn’t really lie to him.
‘We made sure you went to a good school when you came to live here, got educated properly. Everyone knows you were a year ahead in your class but somehow, someway, you failed your exams. Don’t you think I didn’t investigate it?’
‘Me just not clever,’ she shrugged, avoiding eye contact knowing he’d caught her out. ‘Me stupid!’
‘You’re too smart, that’s your problem,’ he laughed and shook his head before sucking on his cigar. ‘I’d let you come and work for me but Delores is set on you becoming a teacher at private school.’
‘I don’t like children,’ she mumbled. ‘And I’m only doing this teacher nonsense to make her proud but I don’t want to do it. Why can’t I come and work for you and help build your hotels?’ Harriet watched the man shake his head before laughing. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Hatty,’ he said, stepping forward but making sure his cigar smoke was away from her eyes. ‘Your aunt took you to England to look after you when she found out your mother died and, as both she and your mother were teachers, she wants you to have the same career. She gave up teaching when she came here.’
‘She can teach now. Me not stopping her.’
‘She doesn’t want to do it now as she’s happy working on the estate.’
‘Working for you,’ hissed Hatty. ‘You’re very good to auntie, I know that and she listens to you so-.’
‘No Hatty, I’m not telling her you don’t want to teach as I value my life too much,’ he said sharply, shaking his head before sucking on his cigar. ‘You need to do this for her.’
‘Live her dreams?’
‘Get realistic dreams of your own,’ Murray replied. ‘To show her you care.’
‘I do care!’
‘Then stop failing your exams on purpose and pass. Delores thinks the world of you.’
‘Today me find me aunt talks a lot about me,’ sneered Hatty, wielding her knife again as she noticed Murray was trying not to smile. ‘She thinks me a child.’
‘I don’t know how Delores put up with you,’ he grinned. ‘But make her proud by speaking properly, passing the teaching exams and doing as you’re told. She does this because she cares.’
‘Me… I don’t want to leave here, it’s my home but I don’t want to be like those other women who cook and clean for their husbands and children, then take bad jobs to make ends meet. Or even worse, work in an office!’ He started to laugh which only spurred her on. ‘I want to earn my own money and stand on my own two feet. I want to be respected in the community not laughed at or gossiped about.’ She looked at her hand and realised she was actually flinging the knife around as Murray flinched a few times. Hatty put it down and was met with a face full of relief. ‘And I don’t want to be a teacher.’
‘Then what is it you really want to do, as if I didn’t know.’
‘You know Murray I love you very much, as much as I love Barney. I love him more than anything else in the world,’ she said sweetly, putting on her angelic smile. ‘And you’re like a mother to me and a father.’
‘You’re telling me you love me as much as my dog and you think of me as a woman?’ he said, shaking his head solemnly from side to side. ‘And you think this is going to win me over? What about Delores?’
‘I’m grateful to her,’ Hatty replied, not wanting to stretch it any further. ‘She looked after me and I’m not her flesh and blood.’
‘She loves you very much,’ he gently added.
‘Ya think? Sometimes Mister Murray I think you only see things you want to see,’ she said and scowled at him. ‘If she loved me then she’d let me follow my dreams.’
‘Oh god, I’m going to regret asking this,’ he said, rubbing his forehead. ‘Which is what this week?’
‘I want to be a creative carpenter, make things out of wood. Frames and stuff to sell to the tourists and your hotel guests,’ she said seriously. Murray started to smile. ‘I am creative and I like making things plus I’m very good and if you gave me the chance to-’
‘No.’
‘But-.’
‘I mean it!’
‘Listen to-.’
‘No!’
‘I can make a success of it! I just need some investment,’ she whispered, knowing her aunt might hear her at any time. ‘I’ll pay you back with my profits.’
‘I’d love to help you but if you want to make Delores happy, then become a teacher. If it does
n’t work after two years I’ll speak to your aunt.’
‘Really?’ she said smiling brightly, happy to get some support from him at long last, knowing it would sway Delores. ‘Ya do that for me?’
‘Speak properly.’
‘I-.’ Her eyes were distracted for a moment as she saw Jake and Gina cuddling. To her total amazement, she felt a real pang of jealousy. Murray turned to see what she was looking at before turning to her.
‘You don’t approve?’ he quizzed.
She could tell he seemed amused.
‘She’s a dirty trollop,’ Hatty promptly replied, disguising her green eyed monster for a disgusted one.
‘And there was you talking about it being a modern world.’
‘There’s modern and then there’s loose.’ She took a corn out of the sack and ripped off the husk while trying not to look back at the pair but feeling a sharp rise of envy in her soul. ‘You’re son’s a bit… you know.’
‘What?’ laughed Murray. ‘Young? Confident? Very good looking like his old man?’
‘You don’t mind him cavorting like that?’
‘He’s twenty one and if he wants to have fun then let him,’ sighed Murray, shaking his head. ‘I told him to be careful with the local girls ’
‘Why?’ Hatty couldn’t help but scowl for a moment. ‘We not good enough for ya son?’
‘I didn’t mean that.’
‘Aunt Delores said all the white boys who come here are looking for a bit of fun before they settle for dem proper women back home.’
‘She said that?’ scowled Murray, letting out a big sigh. ‘Well maybe she’s right.’
‘You turn this place into a tourist haven then what happens? All the girls get knocked up before you know it. And what about the children? What happens to them?’
‘That’s why you need to be a teacher to help them,’ he said sarcastically, as she frowned.
‘Or me create nice things to put in dem houses,’ she smiled. ‘Why can’t I-.’
‘I think mixed relationships come with a lot of problems,’ he blurted out, quickly glancing towards the kitchen then frowning at Hatty. She couldn’t hide her shock. ‘Two different cultures, two different ways of life then there’s people’s varied backgrounds to deal with.’
‘But if you love someone then the colour of their skin shouldn’t matter, let alone their background!’
‘Hatty it does matter to some people,’ Murray said. ‘I’d never want my son to be put in a difficult situation. He can bed them but not bring them home for me to see.’
‘You’re not a nice man Mister Logan but I put that down to the fact you were born in Klu Klux Klan territory,’ Hatty scowled, her face blushing at what she said, noticing him twitch with agitation. ‘Because love is love and if you love someone then it doesn’t matter about colour, class, race or religion, you face the barriers, the nasty opinions and get stronger together.’
‘And what if the person you love, who is different from you, doesn’t want you to be part of their life because of what people might say and it breaks your heart? What if they have something from their past which they’re afraid will be a great shame on you? What do you do then?’
‘Then they don’t love you enough.’
‘It’s not all black and white Hatty.’
‘Sounds to me, it is to you,’ she scowled, knowing if her aunt heard what she said to Murray Logan she’d get it in the neck. Hatty glanced over at Jake, who she realised was looking back at her as he canoodled with Gina. ‘What if he wanted to marry Gina Glory Glory? What would you do?’
‘I’d skin him alive, that’s what I’d do.’
‘What if it was me?’
She was met with a little laugh before scowling at the man.
‘I’d tell him to take a sedative and lie down in a dark room to think about it properly. You’d probably drive him mad,’ he laughed, shaking his head.
‘Me not good enough!’ she snapped, glaring at him. ‘Ya tink me too common?’
‘The problem is,’ he said solemnly. ‘I think you two might end up breaking each other’s hearts. I used to know a couple like you two before and it ended up in tragedy.
‘Why are you always saying these things to people?’ Delores snapped as Hatty sipped her tea at breakfast the following morning. ‘Murray told me what you said last night.’
‘He said people from different colour, race and backgrounds shouldn’t be together.’
‘He has a point,’ sighed Delores, sitting opposite her. ‘Sometimes it’s not meant to be.’
‘Why not? People everywhere else in the world do it. I mean they abolished apartheid in South Africa in the twentieth century. When we go to London, everyone’s doing it with everyone regardless of the skin colour and where they’re from, let alone a different sex.’
‘Murray Logan is a very nice man but he knows, as well as I do, that certain relationships are doomed to fail, especially on an old fashioned island like this. People talk and-.’
‘How would he know?’ she said, challenging her aunt and being met with a familiar glare. ‘I know he likes dark skinned girls because Louisa said-.’
‘Enough of what Louisa Isaacs says!’ shouted Delores, standing up and angrily looking at Hatty. ‘Keep your nose out of things that don’t concern you and stop listening to gossip.’
‘Fine,’ Hatty said, getting to her feet. ‘But if I’m lucky to fall in love with a man, I don’t care what he looks like, what the colour of his skin is and if his parents were murderers, I’d follow my heart first.’
‘And what if he minds about you?’ said Delores seriously. ‘Your past?’
‘He won’t. He’d love me.’
‘Are you sure?’
Hatty didn’t know how to reply to the comment and knew people didn’t like her because of things they’d heard. Some she still had no idea about. And some of it she did.
‘I never took you for being judgemental Aunt Delores,’ Hatty said, with total indignation.’
‘Are you wearing a bra?’
‘Why should I?’ Hatty said, stepping away from the breakfast table.
‘They’ll hang when they get older.’
‘Who’s going to see my bare breasts when I’m going to be locked up in a school teaching nasty snotty nosed children how to behave, when they’ll all be taking crack cocaine to alleviate learning!’
‘Harriet did you revise last night?’
‘I was too busy peeling corn and watching Jake Logan touch up Gina Glory Glory Morgan,’ she huffed, pulling at her bra strap. ‘And another thing? Why have you been talking about me to Jake Logan?’
‘He was asking,’ Delores replied, sipping her tea and eyeing Hatty suspiciously. ‘Have you been talking to Jacob?’
‘He’s been talking rubbish and I’ve been polite by listening.’ Hatty glanced at her aunt. ‘He said you told him to keep away from me.’
‘That boy is only out to get what he wants, you know that. He’s the worst type,’ warned Delores. Hatty shook her head from side to side. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Don’t you think I know that!’ laughed Hatty. ‘Now if that little white boy comes near me, me gonna chop off his dick with a cutlass and stick it in his mouth!’
‘I do think a lot of money was wasted on your education,’ sighed Delores. ‘Keep out of trouble and keep away from Jake Logan. I don’t want him to think you’re interested.’
‘He better not mess with me!’
‘You’re not interested in him, are you Hatty?’
Two
The morning sped past as Hatty weeded and checked on the plants around the grounds. She was hanging around the vegetable patch, which was looked after by Thomas, a man in his late forties who worked on the land since Murray Morgan’s house was built. Hatty was waiting for it to get to one o’clock so she could cycle to her old home.
‘Ha Ha Hatty, what ya day dreamin’ about?’ said Thomas in his deep voice.
Hatty looked at his t
hinning grey hair at the top of his head and smiled.
‘Life,’ she sighed.
‘When ya teach dem damn picknies, ya not able to tink your pretty toughts,’ he laughed. ‘Dey be wettin’ demselves.’
‘I don’t care,’ she grumbled. ‘At least auntie won’t be able to moan at me day in and day out.’
‘She does it cos she want ya to be a lady.’
‘Me owe her, dats de problem.’
Hatty was made to feel grateful for her aunt’s intervention and sometimes she got the impression Delores resented it.
‘Gal, ya not talk properly like me so stay wid ya English accent.’
‘Me not gat one.’
‘Ha Ha Hatty ya not like we locals. Don’t try to be cos it not workin’!’ laughed out the man as he hacked into the ground. ‘Ow many year ya been ‘ere an’ ya still got ya lardy dah h’english words.’
‘I don’t fit in, do I?’ she groaned and let out a sigh.
‘Ya educated, ya could do anytin’ ya want but ya stick aroun’ ‘ere. Me don’t understand what ya up to.’
Thomas stood up and cricked his back.
‘I’m not up to anything,’ Hatty said, dropping her false accent and speaking in her native London tongue. ‘I just don’t want to get old and regret my life which I think is what auntie does.’
‘Ya can leave dis island anytime an’ see da big wide world.’
‘I search the internet. I’ve seen all I need to know,’ she said, looking over at the office, noticing Delores walk into the large house. ‘Why doesn’t auntie go back to England?’
‘Cause she like it ‘ere.’
‘She doesn’t have to stay.’
‘Hatty, dere are some tings ya needn’t worry about,’ sighed Thomas, wiping his forehead. ‘Now carry your rass somewhere else, me busy.’
‘Fine,’ Hatty said, smiling at him as she ran to her bike, looking out to see if she was going to be spotted before riding off to her secret hideaway.
