PIPER-THE MYSTERIOUS SEER

Hi folks, Here is the first and second part to Pipers story. If you have read the first part already, I urge you to read it again as I added some much needed back story to it. Please enjoy, but I must tell you, hers is a hard story to write. However the story needs to be told. Happy reading!

Piper Part 1

Piper Laurelton sat in school as the boys jeered her friend Peter. Peter was born an Albino and so he had a hard life of people taunting and jeering him all his life. Tommy Mecca aka Tom Tom was the worst of them all and he was the leader of the boys who called themselves hang dem crew. Mrs. Walker had gone to the principal’s office and had set the class to read until she returned, but as she walked out, Tom Tom a sturdy boy with features older than his age, went and slapped Peter in the back of his head, as Peter turned around, Milton slapped him from the other side, all the boys and some of the girls laughed, Peter squinted beneath his glasses and hung his head.

Moses Abeng, spat in his hands and smacked Peter across his face, Peter made a small noise, he was scared but he prayed for it to be over soon. Peter had made up his mind that he would only endure one more day of this life, he had planned to kill himself that day after school. His mother loved him, he knew this and so did his little sister, but everybody else saw him as ugly, stink and just a plain ole duttie dundus, as albinos are called in the Jamaican dialect.

They said he smelled like raw onions, and that he was blind, and asked why did he skin hos teeth like a dead dog, the humiliation and pain was just too much, Peter wanted to end it all, and he would. He did not care about going to hell as people said of those who committed suicide. Hell could not be any worse than this life he was living, he hated it!

If there was a God, then why did he deserve this, Peter had this thought every day and night. Piper did not know how, but she felt Peters words as he thought them, and she felt pity for her friend as she watched the boys torture him. Like Peter she too was an outcast and often made fun of because of the old uniform she wore to school and the hole in both her shoes. She had no Gym clothes and had to borrow the schools own, which had the schools name written on it, so everybody knew.

She had befriended Peter when she would see him sitting by himself under the school mango tree at lunch time, and at first he did not trust her motive for wanting to sit with him,but after a while he accepted her friendship. It was a good friendship because they had each found some one to talk to. Unlike her however, Peter had a loving family, it was at school where he met hell.He would often share his lunch with her as she did not have lunch money most days. She was grateful for his kindness.

It pained her to watch and see what was being done to him at the moment and she was afraid for her friend, as she somehow knew his thoughts. Pipe felt a single line of sweat run down her face, and her heart raced, she could not bare to watch this bully-ism being displayed on Peter.

She felt her arm tingle, she jumped up from her seat and ran over to the boys, who were now all hitting Peter collectively ganging him with painful slaps and even more cruel words. Peter hung his head and took the blows, Miguel even spat on him. Piper jumped into action and picked up a chair and swung it, and again, and again, and again and again! The room was in a frenzy and Piper felt crazed, she wanted to kill them all for hurting her friend, she had no idea of the damage she was doing. Somebody kicked her in her back, but Piper only swung the chair into the direction the hit came from, she heard thuds and screams, but she continued to swing, she felt strong, and she saw her foes as soldiers and herself on a battlefield, there was blood on the chair by now, but Piper kept swinging, she had to, she did not fear death if it came, for if it did then she would welcome it.

Piper felt strong arms grab her, and she bit the arms and shouted “Let me go, oonuh let mi go!

The arms that held her lifted her out of the classroom, Piper foamed at her mouth, she had no idea what was happening, she did not even know where she was, or what was happening, as the strong arms carried through the school’s courtyard. Piper tried to breathe, she did not know how to breathe, she felt s if she was suffocating, she tried to scream and found she could’nt and then she passed out.

Piper woke up, to find herself laying down in the nurses office. She had no idea what had occurred, she looked up and saw Mrs Wilson the big breast nurse at her desk, she sat up and groaned at a gash she had in her head which was bandaged. Mrs. Wilson looked around,

“Yuh decide fi wake up missy, is about time” breast the nurse said, Breast was the secret name the children called Mrs. Wilson. There was a nickname for everybody in Jamaica. Piper nickname was Pip, for all who liked her, there was only a few, two people to be exact.

“What happened to me” asked Piper

“You blocked out and was brought here”, answered Mrs. Wilson, looking at Piper over her silver rimmed glasses, and her extra large nose which were riddled with large open pores and a wart at the end.

“Yes”, said Piper “but why mi have a cut pon mi head and scratches on mi arm, did someone attack me? Piper was puzzled, she had no idea what happened, she was frightened as she looked at breast the nurse’s face which had a curious look, a look of almost disbelief.

“Piper, you seriously do not remember? asked Breast silently doubting the girl.

“Remember what? asked Piper who was now a bit worried and was biting her lips, which was a nervous habit she had. Piper was always nervous and afraid, she felt alone in the world, her story was a horrible one.

Mrs. Wilson looked at this small whip of a girl, and she remembered the ambulance which came for the boy in the classroom, the blood and the damage done to the room, and the boys there, all done by this tiny thing..

“5ft flat or there about and no more than a 100 pounds wet! Piper was 14 years old and all the boys who she had almost killed, yes killed had all been injured very badly. The story of what they did to that little dundus boy was bad but what Piper did to the boys themselves,, it was manic, very brutal…well it was a waiting game to see if one of the boys lived, his condition was critical and he was in a coma, he had gotten a very hard hit from the chair she used, Piper had brutally beaten him in the head” thought Mrs. Wilson. although according to what she heard the boys had it coming, bu Lawd God< thought breast, de beating was bad!

This feigning memory thing was this a ploy of some sort, Mrs. Wilson looked at Piper quizzically, “Hmmmm”, she thought “let me call the Principal over”, and she said as much to a wondering Piper.

‘But Miss, is wha happen? Piper pursued

“Hold on Piper, the Principal will talk to you”

Piper watched as Breast walked over to her desk and whispered on the phone, she came back over to Piper and asked her if she wanted water, Piper declined the offer and attempted to sit up, her whole body hurt.

“Nurse” said Piper, where is my friend Peter

Mrs. Wilson, looked at Piper with a smirk on her face, “Ohh suh yuh conveniently remember Peter but not what happened?, Piper, Tom drunk but Tom huh fool!

“Is what yuh mean miss? asked Piper

“Mi ask fi him caws he is my friend and I had a dream just now that he would kill himself that is why I asked for him” Piper did not like this woman’s attitude to her, what was wrong? why was she acting as if Piper had done something wrong!

Mrs, Wilson Kissed her teeth turned her back and thought “Lickle bitch, dem yah nowadays pickney tink big people bawn behine cow!

‘I am not a Bitch mam! is what mi do yuh mek yuh ah call  mi suh! asked Piper in a strong tone. This outburst caused Mrs. Wilson to turn around and look at Piper astonishingly, wondering if she had said the word out loud by accident

“What? exclaimed Mrs. Wilson, while thinking how did she know what I said in my mind?

The Principal chose that time to walk into the nurse’s office, she was with two men who seemed like policemen, in plain clothes.

‘Piper! said the principal, who was a white Jamaican woman with a thick  Jamaican accent who resembled famed lesbian tennis ball player Billy Jean King in looks and built, without the awful glasses, she was however married with five children.

“How are you feeling” asked Principal Scott nicknamed Man Royal Scottie, by the students behind. her back.

“I am not feeling well ma..ah mean Principal Scott”, said Piper, who almost slipped and called the principal the unflattering name

“Yes, Yes, Piper, today was a very hard day and the nurse told me that you do not remember anything, is that true?

Piper, balled her fist and answered “no, principal, I don’t, please tell me what happened”

Principal Scott, looked at the two men and an exchange happened between them, she seemed to have gotten from them the go ahead to talk.

“Piper, there was a huge  fight today, and many students got hurt”

“Including me” asked Piper, “did someone attack me? asked Piper

‘Not exactly, Piper”, answered the principal,”It was you who attacked a group of your classmates and as we speak one is fighting for his life in the hospital”

There was a sudden commotion outside, a woman’s voice could be heard screaming on top of her lungs

“Is whey she deh? Is whey dah lickle blood claat viper deh? she mek dem call mi offa mi job, oonuh watch me an har! is whey she deh!, shouted the woman, Pip!! yuh duttie gal yuh, mek yuh ah create disgrace inna mi life, fi police come haul an pull mi, dranco whey yuh deh!

Piper recognized the voice as her Aunt, with whom she lived, she began to shake with fear, her Aunt had made her life a living hell, ever since her mother had left her to baby sit her and had never came back. Piper was reminded of this everyday. Piper was frightened, she was so frightened that right in front of the Principal, the two officers and breast Piper began to wet herself!

Piper Part Two

Piper sat in her yard as she remembered that dreaded day ten years ago. She was the most frightened she had ever been. As she peed her pants in front of all those people at the sound of hearing her Aunt Selma’s, voice, she felt as if she would pass out with shame. The police men turned their backs but not before she saw pity for her in their eyes. Principal Scott looked at her with shrewd eyes, as if she had gathered something in her mind as she walked out of the room, beckoning the men to come with her. Breast seemed to have soften a little, and told her to go to the bathroom and tidy up, she had an extra set of uniform she could borrow, and new undies. Piper opened her mouth to say sorry, wanting to apologize for her accident, but Breast held up hand and pointed to the bathroom while giving her a new wash cloth and a small bar of soap, “Go Piper, get cleaned up”

The softness of her tone did something to Piper and her eyes watered as it did now as she remembered that day. It was not feeling sorry for herself which made Piper so sad, but life had not greeted Piper well from the moment she entered it. As far as she remembered,no one had ever shown her kindness, not even the woman who bore her. Piper had gotten up and went to the washroom, she took her time as she tidied herself, she dreaded facing Selma her aunt, the woman hated the sight of her, and Piper did not know why.

She still could not remember what happened, and now she did not know what she faced from school and from her aunt. The principal had said she attacked her classmates, but how? she thought, she could not even fight. She was afraid of everything, she worried so much, at times she felt as if she would pass out. She had once heard her aunt told someone that when she was born she cried the whole day. This revelation had come about after Aunty Selma had beaten her with an electric cord when she was wet and Piper cried the whole day from the pain the cords had made into her delicate flesh, she was eight years old with hardly any flesh on her tiny body. Someone had asked the aunt why she had to beat Piper, who was a quiet and at times skittish child, so badly and this was her explanation,

“She too bawly bawly, she ah mek it more dan what it is, ah just two lick mi gi di gal! From she bawn she love bawl, dats why har wuklis mumma run whey leff har. Piper heard all this and she cried even harder. The suffering with her aunt was too much. The beating had come about because she was sent to the shop to buy her Aunts cigarette and had lost the money, when she came home and told her aunt, she had gotten the beating of her life. Her aunt had stripped her and then thrown water on her tiny body, while she trembled and cried before the switch hit her. Piper did not know how she survived the beatings. That night she went to bed without food, as she often did, and when she did get food from her aunt, it was mostly what her aunts children did not want in their plate, that the aunt scraped together and gave some to the dog and some to Piper, who ate it gratefully. She slept on the back porch, in the back of the house, on some old cloth on the ground. The dog also slept there, Piper felt comforted by his presence.

Her aunt owned the house but had rented two rooms to to two different people. An older man named Mr. Joe and an Indian woman named Sharlene. People treated Piper with pity, but some still used her situation against her, and some even tried to violate her…..Mr. Joe was old and nice. He would sometimes save food for Piper, and waited until he aunt and her children had gone to sleep before he would go on the back porch and give Piper Yam wrapped up into cloth. He had told Piper he did not give her plates, because he did not want her to drop it and alert her aunt. She would give him notice, and he had no where to go. Old Mr. Joe also gave her at time a dollar or two and told her to hide it.

“Pickney gal”, he would whisper to her those times, “God nah guh gi yuh more dan wha yuh can bear, an de stone de builder refuse will be de head corner stone one day, yuh nah guh undastan mi now, for yuh ah baby,but on day yuh wi remember mi words”

“Now repeat afta me, yuh must learn fi pray” and Ols Joe had taught her this prayer, “Genkle Jesus meek an mild, look upon this lickle child, pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to thee!

“always pray, pickney gal, this too shall pass, yuh deh grow, and sooner advantage nah guh tek ah yuh, just put yuh head to yuh book yuh hear!, and he would hobble away.

Other than Peter old Joe was one of two who was kind to her.

Piper shook her head, not wanting to remember those unpleasant times, tears welled her eyes and spilled while they burned, she tried to wipe them away and shake herself back to normal but often times memory of her childhood would come up and she was forced to deal with it, the pain, the pain!. She looked down on Brandon, her son who slept in her lap, he was two years old going on twenty two, an old soul an her only true family, she sighed and patted his back softly. She would kill for him, she certainly would! Her mind went back to that day……

She had cleaned up and gone back into the office. Nurse was not at her desk and she could hear voices outside, among them was her aunts. Piper felt numb, she knew she should be worried, but somehow she had calmed down and now she felt nothing but numbness. The door opened and the officers along with the principal came in followed by Her Aunt and Breast, the school nurse.

The principal had gone right over to sit beside Piper and she also held her hands, she felt the need o comfort this little girl. The officers had asked Piper questions about what happened, but she did not remember. Her Aunt had made an exaggerated sigh as Piper struggled to remember, but was given a stern look by principal Scott, who seemed to have warned her of any outburst before hand. The officers had looked at the principal when they became exhausted with trying to get Piper’s side of the story, and so Principal Scott rubbed her hands and gently spoke to her.

“Piper my dear, let me tell you what happened. It seems like shock has gotten the best of you and it is natural in circumstances like this, so do not feel bad my dear”

Piper heard her aunt’s thought which was “a duppy ah ride de duttie mad gal”, and her eyes welled up with tears, but she quickly blinked them back, the numbness was wearing off now and Piper was scared.

“Piper”, continued the principal,”today you were involved in a very bad fight”

Piper opened her mouth to protest, she wanted to say, “Me?, but ah cannot fight miss! The principal patiently held her finger to her lips, telling Piper to calm down and listen. She explained what happened to Peter and that Piper had beaten the boys badly according to eye witness report and the injuries which the boys all suffered, after which she had blocked out. She told Piper that the boys had been beating Peter Chauncy, and that was when Piper went into action.

Aunt Selma, made ah ‘Hrummph!, grunting sound and tapped her hands loudly and impatiently on the wall, but said nothing, her anger was written in her face. Piper knew what she would face when she got home!

“Are the police going to arrest me”, asked Piper who was trembling softly.

She was told, no she would not be arrested, but was to remain in the strict custody of her parent or guardian, pending the outcome of the injured children, especially the one in the hospital, and also she would be suspended from school for a while.

Piper, felt like Peter in that moment. She wanted to die. Death would be a release from the terror she faced with her aunt, and the fact that she had no one, fear taunted her, she wanted to just die.

Her Aunt’s voice chimed in at that time and asked, “We can go now? caws mi haffi guh back ah markit to pack up mi stall! ” Ehmm, excuse mi Principal, mi can talk to you outside please?, said aunt Selma

So the principal went outside to speak with Pipers Aunt. She had a bad feeling about the woman, who seemed to despise the child.

“Teacher” said Aunt Selma, “is what dem gwine do wid har?

The principal studied Selma for a moment before answering her,

“Well it depends on the out come of the case, and some parents may want to press charges against her, she was defending her friend who was being bullied, but it was her who attacked them, and now one of the boys is in a coma because of a head trauma, it is a sad case and Piper is well behaved child, she give no problem” said the principal.

The last part of her sentence earned the principal a cut eye from Selma who said, “dem fi prison har an mek me get rid ah har, or put har inna some home, mi nuh want har again man she ah trouble, har madda run whey gone and leff har pon me from she small, an mi already have four pickney, mi doan want har again Principal, wuss dis yah now!

Her voice had risen and so Piper had heard, and she lowered her head against the pitiful looks she received from all in the office with her. She made up her mind then and there that she would not go back home. She would run away, and pray to have the courage to kill herself, but that thought was weak as Piper feared she did not have the heart to do it.

Breast, looked at the small girl, she was an abused child judging from the aunts behavior and also Piper was undernourished for her age, her boy was extremely thin and she was frail, where did she get the strength to beat those boys? wondered Breast. She probably reacted this way today out of pent up frustration and rage. Oh God, Breast thought to herself,what a shame. She stepped out and entered the conversation.

“Excuse me Principal and You Miss, I could not help it, but I overheard what you just said , and with your permission I will take Piper home with me tonight, because you seem frustrated,and I know you did not mean what you said, we all heard you inside! finished Nurse.

” Mi neva did ah hide wha mi sey, mi mean it, Yuh can keep har forever, and mi mean every word! said an angry aunt Selma who stormed off without looking back.

Both the principal and the Breast looked at each other, the principal asked Breast if she was sure of her decision, Breast said yes quietly, and a silent understanding passed between the two women. They both went back into the office.

Piper’s son heaved a heavy sigh, and she picked him up and hugged him to her shoulder as he rested his head there, he smelled like a nice clean baby. There was a reason for her reminiscing, she had heard that her aunt was very ill. Piper had not seen the woman since that day, but today she had gone into town and had seen a friend of her aunt, who Piper had tried to hide from but the woman was quick. She had greeted Piper and Piper had been polite. It was her natural character, she was a gentle woman, quiet and also a loner, she listened as the woman told her that the aunt was admitted at the hospital and the doctors were puzzled by her illness. Piper had said she was sad to hear, and had wished the woman well as she walked away.

This chance meeting had stirred those unpleasant memories, which Piper tried to forget. She wanted nothing to do with that woman, nothing!

She had gone home with Breast that night, who had kept her for a month, the woman treated her very good, and Piper had slept in a real bed for the first time in her life. It was so unreal, that for the two weeks, Piper would come off the bed and sleep on the floor, where Nurse would find her in the mornings. The boy with the head injury had recovered and the parents who threatened to charge Piper were faced with Peters mother wrath who also threatened to press charges against the boys who had beaten her son that day. It was a stand off until all was neutralized. When Peter’s mother who was grateful to Piper for defending her son, spoke to Piper, she questioned her about her parents and home life. Piper was too ashamed to talk of it and so Peter’s mom did her own investigation and found that Piper had no one and was living with Breast the school’s nurse.

Peter’s mom had made up her mind to have Piper live with her,and so she eventually did. Piper had a real family for the first time in her life, but deep within her mind she waited for the rejection, she never relaxed. It never came,never had she met a finer set of people and Peter was the brother she never had. He had gone off to college in America, he would study law, and Piper had gotten a job at the bank. School was on hold for now as she had Brandon to care for, although she had the help of Peters mother who lived in the main house and had given Piper the smaller one bedroom on the same compound to live.

Why was she allowing thoughts of a sick woman who hated her to taunt her, she thought, and the answer came to her in her head, because you have unfinished business with her Piper. She sighed and kiss Brandon,as she laid him down to sleep. She would pray about this! This needed ah whole heap ah prayer!