Green Grass
This week, Jim, who is just out of a coma, after surviving being hit by a train, speaks.
JIM
And, there is Sonny who had a good life, but who has so many unanswered questions, and who just realized that the world is not as perfect as he would like it to be.
The poor boy actually confided in me what had been paining him for the past months – just a couple days after I was out of my coma, and even before he told his mother.{{more}}
It seems that one mid-morning, Sonny, realising that he had forgotten an important assignment at home, that was due for Biology, that very day, had decided to return home to get it. On entering the house, he had heard noises; they were coming from the den. Thinking that the house was being burglarised, Sonny, who had never been a coward boy, calmly proceeded to his room and deftly removed his high powered pellet gun from its case and loaded it – his dad had given it to him for his thirteenth birthday – if he wanted it to, it could be lethal, and Sonny happened to be a crack shot like his father, who frequently took him hunting up north.
Initially, his mom had not approved of the idea, but, his father had reminded her that Sonny was quite responsible and that every young man should have a hunting gun – it builds manly character, he had said.
As Sonny approached the den, the noise became louder. And, to quote the boy verbatim, âit sounded guttural, like the burglar was experiencing some discomfort trying to lift something heavy, like the safeâ.
Sonny was actually thinking how swollen with pride his dad would be, and how stupid the burglar would feel, to be caught red handed by a mere boy. He might even make the newspaper, he had smiled. Peering through the door, which he had just cracked a notch, Sonny was dumbfounded by the ignoble scene. It was no burglar, but his father and the gardener in a wickedly contorted position. The boy, who damn near vomited, right there and then, said they never saw him. He left feeling quite betrayed by his father who he had really looked up to, and who he had been so close to.
Now, I understand the boyâs disgust. Because where I come from, a sexual relationship is between a man and a woman; the church says so, our laws say so, and anything else could result in a seriously heavy beating. In Canada, on the other hand, the people are more tolerant, thatâs the word they use, and they even allow these people to marry and to adopt kids; could you imagine a kid raised by a dad and a dad, instead of a mom and a dad? At least, thatâs one good thing about the Caribbean; we donât go meddling with Mother Nature – not yet.
Anyhow, in the end, the boy finally opened up to his mother, with a little nudging from me, and as painful as it was, he explained to her what was eating way at his inside. And what do you know? Sonnyâs mother had suspected all along and had already warned her husband that he should keep that stuff away from the house or she would leave him.
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