Jude's mother Mira ,was now, back living with him and his younger brother at their Grand Mother's house after her third , failed, live -in-house relationship; with both their Dad's plus her last boyfriend Kwan . Kwan was exceedingly physically abusive due to always being 'pressure' (a term used when one was exceedingly drunk in St. Lucian slang terms) on the weekends. Mother would try to put him out of his own room and his own house. Kwan often used his two fists and feet to show his disapproval always saying " This is my house! no woman eh ruling me in my own house!" Jude and his younger brother always wished that they would have been around the weekends when their stepfather pulled his stunts of being drunk and out of order. Every time they would return from weekends at their grandmother's place, Jude would normally go to the room his mother shared with Kwan, where that beast of alcohol would be curled up in the corner of their king sized bed and hibernating from his past wrongful acts against a good woman's dignity . Jude would stand over him staring him down, seeing his slim frame and face dented from the over use of alcohol and cigarettes , rapidly contemplating one million ways to kill this five foot six inched peasant of a man, in spite having to spend a lifetime incarcerated , after his act of murder . Miraculously, Jude's mother always caught him in his premeditated act. She usually ushered him away and persuaded him and pleaded with him , not to do anything rash. Jude always believed these long two days of sleep ritual of Kwan was also Kwan's mechanism to escape any mischievous retaliation from him and Hayden his younger brother. Most people knew that boys and their mothers had a very strong attachment to each other. Yes, because it was usually 'Denis the Menace' times two for Kwan whenever they were back . "Any revenge is revenge ! " Kwan and Hayden would say holding they hips and waists like cape wearing superheroes to the rescue, whenever they did sneaky dirty little things to pay back Kwan for his wickedness ; like pouring kerosene oil in his alcohol and leaving the bottles close to each other so Kwan would believe it was his own doing , taking of he spray heads off of all his expensive perfumes , replacing his good car battery with an old one , the list of ways God's punishment through Jude and Hayden were too numerous to mention. Obviously they chose sanctions that would not implicate their mother Mira or themselves . Jude and Hayden would often look at each other and burst out into mimicking fits of laughter , with no sound but shaping out their mouth in the expression of the actual sound thereof , every time they heard Kwan cuss out of rage and anger in expressions of anger due to his damaged , missing and broken goods. They had even stolen Kwan's last hundred dollars to send their mother flowers and wine paid for at the flower shop to send to their mother , to cheer her up , once when he had beaten her very badly and they still bought a KFC special for them selves with the change . The lady Mrs. Jules expressed how sweet for doing this for their mother. Mrs. Jules even gave them two small packs of Ferrero Rocher as a reward to their kind gesture to their mother. Jude and his brother held hands together in prayed fervently against this act of wastefulness and uselessness in their mother's life every morning and every night , for the past two months , for the break up to happen between their mother and Kwan , like they did for all the past toxic relationships. Yissa Yah Kongo the Messiah had to show up and do something. Boy, did mother know how to magnetize the ones who were first Prince Charming at the beginning but good for nothing at the end of the day. Well , when Mother was in her younger days , she was usually extremely rude to their grandmother. Mira wanting to do things her own way had not worked out for her, always thinking that , her mother's good words of instruction and advice, when her mother spoke to her, was because her mother did not want her to ' live her life' in peace. Their grandmother Mariel , usually re-welcomed their mother with open arms every time, her relationships hit rock bottom. Mariel would argue saying "Mira why you don't take time to know people uh ? You see men you think they playing , yawl father left me when I was pregnant with your sister plus still had your brother in preschool and you were just seven , you don't see I remained single after your father left me ? Mira the men of this world are wicked and very deceitful , they don't love God so they cannot show a woman love, and they only after one mission ! " . To which Mira always just summoned Jude and Hayden to come to help her carry the rest of their things out of the taxi to her mother's house and then paid the Taxi man that delivered their things , with her head lowered . Nevertheless Mariel would usually continue her argument saying " Mira, the next time , my babies , my two precious angels, are staying with me, when you leave off on your rendezvous , you Indiana Cruise you ! ". Mira would just walk off into her room , like a famous celebrity , trying to escape the paparazzi mystically , then she would close the bedroom door behind her , not having patience to hear the words her mother were saying to her . Nevertheless , Mariel would still continue on a voice level that she knew Mira could hear her clearly saying " You were going to church well , every time when you hit problem is back to church then another sweet words of love or marriage or they flash you money and nice ride you done shacking up wit a man already like your mother doesn't have a house . I self always say is an evil they do you ee Mira and if so I am a praying woman God will surely judge whoever it is .Give your life to God , you want a good man and a family pray and wait on God focus on you and your job and your two children. I know I let you have your way too much, I spoil you too much when you were younger ." Their Grand Mother's words of reasoning would always come to a halt , by the words and hugs of her younger grandson Hayden who always interrupted saying " Mhum Mhum you being too hard on Mother just please leave her give her a little break uh ". Then Mira's brother and sister who still lived at home with Mariel , would prescribe her not to give herself head ache over Mira's usual irrational choices. Deep down inside , Jude haboured a sort of inner hatred towards his mother , he often wondered if his mother was not aware of her beauty and ambition as a woman , now no longer working for anyone , running her own shop and all . Why is is that by this age was his mother constantly wanting to be in toxic relationships ? This separation from Kwan was what Jude and Hayden had prayed for and they had gotten it ; to be back in the safe comfort of their grand mother's peaceful home , her prayers and to finally be away from that drunken and disrespectful pot , Kwan .Tomorrow was the first day back to school and this was the perfect , balanced setting for them to be in. Their Uncle rubbed his knuckles on their heads and playfully pushed them as they passed him by as he asked them if they good to which they replied 'Yes'. Their return would always be complimented with their favourite dish of green fig salad and barbecue chicken as if to say I am sorry for your mother's foolishness. The next day came and the remainder of this Sunday dish would still be breakfast ...' YaY ' . After breakfast and getting ready for school , Jude assured his mother that he could drop his brother to school , especially as much attention would be drawn to a black eye on such a pretty face on a Monday . How could a man ever hit the same woman he kisses and hugs Jude wondered , this must truly be the work of an evil spirit as his grand mother always says . Jude wondered always about this. " Don't worry Mother , one day ,one day I will get him , promise me , this is it, for you and Kwan Mother , have you deleted his number and blocked him on socials ? " Jude inquired sternly . "Jude go to school make sure you pick up your brother one time from school " was his Mother's reply . Jude and his brother received heartfelt kisses , prayers and blessings from their mother and grandmother and they left for school . As usual for the first subject of the day , of the first day of school reopening , the subject teacher surely was not going to be showing up and this was being announced to them by the school Secretary over the class PA system . Leaving the brat prefect Becka in charge . Becka was now enforcing ' Mandatory study time ' , which Jude and his friends completely forgot were one of the new rules implemented by the Principal Mr. Blackman at the ending of the last school term . They ignored every attempt of Becka to get them to comply with the study time rule whereby , students study along with the class prefect , whenever the teacher for the subject was away , absent or delayed. Jude was the one who pulled out the bottle they used for their games of 'Spin the bottle mix with Truth or Dare' .They even gave the bottle a name...Silvie , as it was painted and decorated in silver and silver glitter which they properly designed , once in an arts and craft class sometime ago . Silvie had been around for one whole year. Jude and the gang were loud with laughter , jokes and giggles . Jude had just finished his turn of spinning the bottle and daring when Principal Blackman and his three henchmen ; the science teacher Mr.Brown , the maths teacher Mr.Jaroop and the Vice Principal Mrs. Beausoleil marched in , only twenty-five minutes into their exhilarating game. Now Jude was finally in for it. This was not like other times when he could use clever words or excuses to get out of it , due there clearly being no evidence at all against him. He finally realized what Cherry the student from Vieux Fort said in creole , as they were playing their game. "Pah worry Teachahah Kai fun bodayoh !". Students from the south were more fluent in speaking creole whilst others mostly just understood or could barely speak it . He couldn't understand the other words but he knew Bodah meant buttocks or 'gluteus maximus'. Therefore, Jude and his younger brother often used this learned term, to address that part of the human body , ever since learning this term , whilst watching an episode of the cartoon 'Sponge bob square pants '. Jude was very or too handsome for his age . He had nice , hazel brown , bright eyes with a dash of grey . Jude was light skinned or what they call 'Shabin' in St. Lucian creole terms, as his skin had a golden ray appearance and fair tanned tone in complexion. By now , in his form four Grade, he towered above all the Male teachers of the Entrepot Secondary School. His tall frame was accompanied by a slender but muscular built as from form two, he had taken up lifting weights and body building very seriously for his age. He even had his own bench and small gym station and all this his uncle who worked on the cruise ship gifted him two Christmases ago. Jude , wore his school uniform comprising of a grey long polyester pants and baby blue shirt- jack bearing the school lotto and Motto 'Character is Power ' extremely decent , clean and well groomed , to which Mr. Blackman was now saying ,they lacked that very ' Character ' because instead of following the rules of ' mandatory study time' when teachers are delayed , away or absent ' they were indulging in a game of spin the bottle mixed with truth or dare - (to make it more exciting). Principal Blackman grabbed Silvie from their presence and they could hear Silvie passing away and falling to a fatal death with crinckling and breaking sounds as Silvie most likely collided with other bottles in the garbage bin at the exit door of the class room . This action of Principal Blackman had specifically caused Clara and Julie to go into mourning briefly and secretly , as they were the ones who designed Sylvie but they were already in too much trouble right now to protest. Since they all had been caught breaking school rules , they avoided protesting against the disposal of Silvie so that they wouldn't make matters worst for themselves . Principal Blackman was specifically shocked to find Jude , to be as if the ring leader of this distasteful event .Well distasteful to these education police but enjoyable to them. The look of disgust on Principal Blackman et al 's faces , as if, the caught gang had become the disgrace of all humanity was priceless...a true kodak moment.One super power teenagers possess, is being able to hold a laugh very deep within the soul. Especially when parents or adults gave austere looks to discovered wrongs of their children . Specifically during the times that they caught their teens or children committing the very acts that they had warned them 'Not' to indulge in. At this time Jeffy Jeffers Aka Just Jeff was making this super power very difficult to manifest . ' Just Jeff ' was very slyly without a trace of being unnoticed by this discipline crew , mimicking the stance, the stern face and head notions of Mr. Blackman et al whist scolding them . Jude looked to his crush's face and could see that at any given moment like the rest of their gang , might have burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter but in an under note they all , were like telepathically communicating ; bursting out into a chorused uproar of laughter was not worth the extra curricular punishment that it would come with. So they collectively resorted to holding it in and this gang was doing it well. The other students who didn't take part in their rule breaking events, were now pretending as if the Principal et al didn't just pounced into the room and busted them. This good bunch were giving them the authentic , occasional 'We told you so' look especially the prefect 'Becka de Ville'. Obviously , every one in the classroom knew that this was the 'snitch work' of none else but Little Miss Sainty Prefect Becka Glasse. Jude always promised to get her in a slackness that would be a compensation for all her busts and he always thought this one, Becka , is definitely going to go into law enforcement after graduating Secondary School . 'Snitch!!!' he wanted to shout out loud but when he remembered his Dragon ...or who we normally term Mother or 'Queen' here in Saint Lucia and the what added implications this word could cause him , he held it back . Especially now, what Mother had recently gone through with Kwan was not the time to add pepper to soup pot. The most dangerous thing about Caribbean Queens or West Indian Mothers is that you never know what sort of torture their species would prepare for their offspring in cases like these. Sometimes it would be the kneeling down and carrying two big stones whilst repeatedly reciting Psalms 51 , or giving you the good old 'bar finnette' (which mean curtain rod/wire) in their St.Lucian creole language . Or it would be for you to hotly clap your own ears together , whilst they shouting "Listen !" and still having to write the words of the 'Good Book' of Ephesians Chapter 6 verse 1 to 4 , a thousand times. Jude thought to himself that he had undergone most of the many tortures of discipline and this was for different reasons like 'beising' (which means skipping in St.Lucian slang terms) . Jude would 'beis' church with his younger brother Hayden when his grand mother and mother would send them to church on their own , for Sunday school service . Contrary to the purpose of his guardians , going to Sunday to school service to Jude was solely that he could be able to save the offering money , given to him by his grand mother, mother,uncle and aunt to place in the church offering so that the works of their hands could be blessed, to be able to get his crush Layla nice things such as as chocolates , hair bands , nike marked socks (even though not allowed in school) , earrings that all pretty girls deserved. These gestures of his kindness were starting to show promising signs that Layla and him would be boyfriend and girlfriend by first term Form Five . Like Tupac sang 'What you won't do for Love ? '. Additionally , Jude thought if the purpose of church offerings was to help the people of the church , Layla was certainly of the church as she and her family also attended that very same church as him and his family . Jude cleverly devised that he might as well use his portion of money given to him by his guardians to place in the church offering basket , directly towards getting good things for this particular angel from heaven called Layla. Or at other times , it would be Jude doing things like packing all the dirty dishes under the kitchen sink cupboard to make it look as if he had done them ; wiping clean the kitchen counter and stove and whisk of a mop , made this illusion more believable . After all this was the time of his important football practice and the school Captain Lawson had finally favored him and gave him his striker position because he had proved lately at practices . Also his Mom and Grandmother would often come home way after he had finished practice and be too tired to notice that until now the dirty dishes that he nicely tucked under the sink were still unwashed or only now going to be washed. Jude's mechanism was that if he did not succeed to wash them before their arrival , when Jude was sure that they had both dozed off and his aunt and uncle were also out of his hair , he would quickly go grab the dirty dishes from beneath the sink and wash them . After washing them, he would dry them and put them safely away but his plans were sometimes eventually discovered by his mother or grand mother . What type of advanced device did they use to find out his tricks and his schemes out all these times ? He did not know . Jude was convinced it could never be information from his side kick and younger brother and partner in crime as he always well candied that one with bribes . No this little innocent boy could never betray the receipt of such delicacies as 'tootsy pops, cotton candy, large pack skittles and m and m's, marsh mellows' and the list goes on...Never!

Right now, the babbling of Mr. Blackman had reached the part where they were being asked to position themselves to receive their good corporal discipline from the Principal, even though , this practice of punishment had been banned years ago from the Caribbean from schooling institutions. Like with all things in the St.Lucia, citizens followed their own rules and ignored legislation passed nation and world wide, even the whole 26 articles of Human Rights and all. In Jude's opinion, whoever said that the United States of America was the land of the brave and the free , definitely had never heard of or visited our 'Simply Beautiful' island of St.Lucia, 'The Helen of the West Indies'. This was the only country in the world where humans and vehicles could cross the streets using their own personal pedestrian crossing system of ; pedestrians crossing half way into the road, nodding , waving or signalling to the motorist or just running quickly pass the paused motorist or motorists , after his or her nod of approval , in order to get to the other side of the road and too many other brave and free things to mention. Jude could not bear to watch the Principal , lay strokes of that cane whip on his precious Layla. He now felt a pinch of what it felt like for his slave ancestors to watch their loved ones undergo merciless beatings innocently the days of the slave plantation , sometimes to the extent of having their flesh flayed from their body . After all the days of slavery were abolished many many years ago ! It was 2016 for Christ sake ! Layla used her discretion accordingly and turned away from Jude's sight. " How discreet of my buttercup Layla " thought Jude . The glass frame of the glasses that he wore, that his mother had to tell him of all the benefits and coolness of wearing glasses to aid vision so that he would be convinced to wear them for his own good , was now a little hazy from his eagerness on the bridge of nose . Jude wanted this whole thing over with. What on earth would his Mother and Grand mother do to him when he got home, only heaven or hell knew . Jude's portion of beating , was deliberately excruciating as Principal Blackman felt very disappointed to see , this boy he took as a son , that he even sat with as his father on Father - Son - day for students due to Jude's father being absent from his life , was the ring leader of this gang . At that time the request of Jude to Mr.Blackman the Principal to sit in as his Dad would be too tormenting of Mr. Blackman's conscience to decline Jude's request. This and also the fact that Principal Blackman had no children and no other ever in his history of being a Principal had even thought of asking this privilege from him touched his heart and he felt and considered. Principal Blackman would be up for retirement in the next three years . His personal career goal was to leave the teaching service on a high note just as when he entered the game forty years ago as a principal . A very rear entrance as one usually had to serve for years as a subject teacher before acquiring that position . Back then , he had landed the Entrepot Secondary School , number one in CXC school passes that time and now he wanted to accomplish high grades at his learning institution once again. Not only did he want to leave with them having the highest passes on island for the next three years but to also land his school in being one of the top five schools attaining the highest CXC passes across the Caribbean region and he wouldn't allow , broods of hoodlums, like these, to break the rules he had put in place to achieve his three year goal, such as "Mandatory Study Time' whenever the teacher is away,absent or delayed. Boy were the teens before this time easier to work with and set educational goals with when he just entered the Teaching Service. Principal Blackman was of the strong inner opinion that just as Prime Ministers and Nero Surgeons , teachers deserved the same pay amount and incentives because God made these souls but it was the job of teachers to groom them. At the last blow of the cane whip by Principal Blackman to his lower thigh , Jude used every ounce of 'macho' he could muster up , to prevent even one tear drop from escaping his eyes , as he literally felt his thighs receiving livid and huge injections of hot molten lava every time the stroke of the cane whip descended , wheeled by the strong arm of the Principal. Jude refused to have Layla see such the prestige man he was in such a lowly state. ' Man up ' were the words Jude was telling his every fiber in encouragement which was also his habitual phrase in the mirror before Jude left home for school on mornings . Even his crew on their arrival and departure after meeting each other , used this phrase before jamming each other's fists and pounding their fist slightly on their chest as an ancient bond of respect , love and peace. He had always promised himself to research the roots of this ancient old greeting that his fellow local ans Caribbean regional residents used of jamming fists which they used as a greeting whenever they met. In all this ,the first time kiss he was rewarded by Layla when it was his turn to spin the bottle and choose truth or dare, by the deliberate spin of bottle by Clara to him and Layla, was cushioning the intense pain he felt below his thighs . He had just retrieved his lips from hers and took a deep sigh in disbelief before the barging in of Principal Blackman and his strict gang . As for Jeffy Jeffers , through all this , he ceased not to perform his unnoticed facial gestures even through this pain..." You go soldiers" , Jeffy shaped with his mouth as the busted gang smiled in code . Immediately after they were ushered by Principal Blackman , whose 'et al', only remained him and the Vice Principal, to The Principal's office for letters to their parents notifying of their seven day suspension which had included detailed chores which had to be video taped and sent for them each via whatsapp . " Don't you Gang even think of not submitting these letters because your parents have been emailed and a whatsapp has been sent as well. In the next seven days, make sure you are reporting in your uniform in great attire accompanied by your Parent , with every detailed task of book work completed , if you have any interest in completing what you started at this learning facility" dictated Principal Blackman . Jeffy Jeffers mindlessly uttered "What the?" Principal Blackman returned "What Mr. Jeffers !" in a super serious tone which silently meant ; 'Yo even if I am the principal, I will charge you directly into the book case like an angry bull cow and still have you arrange every single one of them in order before you leave.' Jeffy Jeffers now slyly smiled and said "Nah sir, Essieur I was saying WHAT'S THE return date on that letter Sir , I couldn't see it properly" and this response caused the other students who received their letters , to break out in a chorus of gigles along with the Vice Principal who was also shaking her head. Jeffy Jeffers replied to their giggles "Essieur laow me uh mhun" which meant he was asking them to take it easy on him, he was saying so with the biggest grin on his face. Pricincipal Blackman reaffirmed direct orders "Off to your Homes ,Your Homes,Your homes! now and do not go on to break the any after school rules either !". Principal Blackman had specifically arranged them in a way that Jude would be the last to exit the office. As Jude reluctantly positioned his bag pack on his back , thinking what life would be now with his mother and his grandmother getting to know of his crime to 'schoolanity'. There came the voice of Mr. Blackman calling out his name firmly "Jude!" the rest of the gang looked back and paused to which Mr. Blackman said " It's like there are more than one Judes here , correct me if I am wrong ? "

These words , led to them exiting more quicker , out of his office . Jude came closer to Principal Blackman, with his head hung in embarrassment and to show apology . Jude responded "Yes Sir" Principal Blackman went on to say to him "I speak to you as a father and one I hold dearly to my heart , I do not want to have cause for you to end up in my office or under my cane whip ever again under any circumstances , you hear me boy ?!". Jude respected his concern , then smiled and responded "Me too Sir" withholding his laugh ..." In fact I won't disappoint you after today Sir .' Principal Blackman cautioned him with this phrase as he was exiting "Never mess up your great things coming for the foolish things at hand, do not settle for being an Essau"..."See you in seven days Sir" Jude said faintly and left as Principal Blackman was leaning on the office desk.