Jamarella

Once upon a time, on the island of Jamaica in the West Indies, lived a man named Meldon, his wife Marimee and their three daughters Sugaree, Wateree and Jamarella. Jamarella was Meldon’s daughter from his first marriage. The other girls were his new wife’s daughters. Jamarella loved the things of nature. In Spring, she loved to watch birds making nest, flowers blooming, ants taking food for their grubs and mice scampering under the coffee trees. In the Summer, she often got stung by bees as she competed to pick beautiful flowers such as roses, hibiscus, bougainvillea, zinnias and others. She also caught crayfish in the river. Those were happier days before her mother, Vanilla, migrated to the United States of America which the island people called “Foreign”, to seek what many said was a better life. Jamarella always wondered what could be better than playing in the garden, eating sugar cane, roasted corn, having jelly coconuts and cooling off in the river. She was six when Vanilla left her dad and her, twelve years ago. Vanilla’s promise to take them to America, was still on hold. After pleading with Vanilla to return home, Meldon gave up, divorced Vanilla and married Marimee. Marimee, had lost her husband in an automobile accident. She was very poor and was happy to marry Meldon as he was a hard worker who had achieved much. Plus, he always got barrels of things from Foreign. His house was a palace compared to the hovel she shared with her girls. Meldon and Marimee’s romance began when he employed her as a helper. He often gave her some of Jamarella’s new clothes for her daughters Sugaree and Wateree. They were close to Marimee’s age, so the clothes fitted them well. Every day, Marimee would doll herself up to get Meldon’s attention. She also found out that his favorite foods and made delicious meals with nutritious drink for him. As time went by, Marimee and Meldon began to spend lots of time together. Jamarella, Sugaree and Wateree also became inseparable. They went to school, did their homework and watched TV together. Meldon was a truck driver and often worked long hours. Sometime when he got home the girls were asleep and Marimee would be there waiting for him. She would make sure that he had warm food and a warm bath. Eventually, she began staying over. People began whispering and soon Vanilla heard rumors about Meldon and Marimee’s romance. At first, Meldon denied it but over time he decided to divorce and marry Marimee. When Jamarella heard about the divorce she was very sad, but her father promised her that things would be better for everyone. He said she was very lucky to have two mothers that love her. In Addition, he would work longer hours and save enough money to buy a farm. Meldon also said that Vanilla agreed to the divorce as she too would be free to marry and become a citizen in America. This meant Vanilla could visit Jamaica whenever she wanted to. Jamarella was happy to hear that. After the wedding Meldon took a month from his job to spend time with his family. They went all over the island. When they returned home, Jamarella was very happy. Whenever Meldon was around Marimee always fussed over her so that her own daughters became jealous. They also had to do most of the household chores. “Why are we treating Jamarella like a princess?” They would ask, and Marimee would whisper, “Trust and follow my lead and soon you’ll be the princesses around here.