Because of unwanted circumstances…the begining

All of us are subjects to unwanted circumstances, but often times the unwanted turns out to be a blessing. As it is said : « il ne faut pas blâmer une contrariété »

such is the case with the twins.
Most parents don’t plan to have twins. The order in which they « come out » is surely not their choice. One could be big and healty, the next could be small and « sickly ». One is often dominant over the other…

One of Uncle Guillaume’s brother, also known as « Ti paï » was a well respected carpenter. His friends, Etienne Barry from St james and Parro’ from Red Gate were other expert builders of those days. And these are the people who helped Ti paï to build and finish his house in concordjun just before Dona gale in 1960. I want to believe that our architect of the days was Robert Arrondell, from Cripple Gate who, I think also designed Dany Hodge house on the corner of the road to Spring, as well as the dwelling of the methodist minister lil’ higher up the main road, on Gallisbay side.

Ti paï wife, bless their souls, was carrying this twin. In those days a local midwife (like miss elo) would help the lady to « bring her choil to life in shey house ». But a twin was a lil’ complicated to deal with. So it was decided not to take chances and have the « delivery » take place in a hospital.
So somebody had to go to french quarter to get one of the very few cars on the island, to pick up the madam in mar’gut, and take her to Great Bay St Rose Hospital, where Dr Tjon Sie Fat exercised his great talents. It was safer to perform this special operation in that place… And delivery went well… the second,10 minutes after the first.
One was brown, dynamic and dominant, the next was a lil’ fairskin, sickly and shy.
Soon it was known that the latter had severe chronic asthma.

Well, this asthmatic « choil » could not go out and play ball nor marbles, less again go in the sea. He was never bare back no bare footed, and this lasted untill he was 11 or 12. His parents tried all kinds of medecines to keep him alive and free from this impressive syndrome. They used stinging thyme bush tea, lizard in hot milk, or putting his back against a banana tree and cutting it with a cutlas just one or two cm over his head. Somebody from up the island had gave this « radical » cure for asthma. No one knows how much they paid, but we know now that they paid in vain. Once, this boy almost died because someone thought it a good idea to rub him down with vicks… to which he was allergic… he eventually survived.

And because of that sikness (the unwanted circumstance) he took to one occupation that was not dangerous for his health. There was no TV, no internet, so no social medias, but there was some books… big books.
So he read plenty and eventually got a certain mastery of the french language. He read :
les mémoires du général De Gaulle (3 tomes) which gave him great insight on WWII
Les misérables de Victor Hugo (Where he got his first hand knowledge of the 1789 french revolution.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo from Alexandre Dumas (whose father was Alexandre DUMAS, one of Napoléon’s generals who served in Haïti, His mother was a slave…)
Tom Sawyer from Mark Twain (life in the early United States)
huckleberry finn from mark Twain
L’île au Trésor (adventures…)
Paul et Virginie(Adventures…)
and so many more

At the same time the « healthy one » outspoken and dynamic, could play (and played very well) such sports as foot ball, volley-ball, base-ball, cricket… and marbles.

The primary school years of the sick one went very well because he was a good reader. he even skipped a class (because of unwanted circumstances).
and then his first years in high school went well also because of all the useful infos he had gotten from his readings . Good also to note, his catechism years went well from first communion to confirmation and renewal of baptism vows, but this was true for all of the children, being in a household where going to church or to cathechism was not questionnable.

Around 11 or 12, miss Tancee from Saint-James was working as a maid for the family and she introduced a new solution to this asthma. I don’t think she explained anything to the parents. Only when they where out that the method was applied… and it was simple : on hot sunny days tek off yo shoes and socks and walk on the hot ground… she was sure that would help.
The fact is that around then the asthma disappeard for good