As written by Reginald (Marcel) Henry, USA
SCREEN III
At Bun Hill the close neighbors were, on the east, Brother Oscar Houslin, and his wife Loretta; and on another radius Missa Mais (Sidney Mais, with the friendly nickname, Tiddy). West of the Henrys were Maas Iety and his wife Rhoda, with about half a dozen children. Whenever the Henry children were coming back from Big River, a three mile trip each way, with their buckets, cans, wash pans of water on their heads, or water gourds hanging from their shoulder by a vine harness, they had to pass this home’s bad dog. His barking was so fierce that many times one or so of the water carrying children, in fear, would spill the precious container of water which then became a surface stream on the foot path! The gourd would fare even worse—when it dropped it would be busted or would roll away down the steep hillside, gone forever!
At Wilson Field, the family was near two of Pappa’s brothers. To the east the closer one was Uncle Ben who was blind in one eye and lived alone. He often showed his kindness by giving the Henry children leftovers or something from his fields, like a piece of sugar cane to eat right away or a breadfruit to be roasted or boiled. He proudly boasted the fact that he had travelled to Cuba: he called his donkey Deciocho. The name meant the 18th, the date it was born. For his Cuba experience Pappa had an expired passport, which was hardly ever seen. Next to Uncle Ben were Maas U and his wife, Miss B (Beatrice). Maas U was severely hard of hearing and always talked loudly. One could hear him from afar when he was quarrelling with Miss B. He was not as generous to the Henrys as Uncle Ben. Near to them was Miss Yota (Iota Moodie) with her grown daughter, Esther Pinnock, who had two young children. To the west was a sizeable fenced around compound occupied by three generations of Lindsays, and several fierce dogs. In this compound lived Cousin Tim, the first of the generations. He was a distant cousin of the Henrys. He used to scare the Henry children, not by intention, when he shot off his gun to kill fowl hawks. The second generation was his son Maas Edgar, who was married to Miss Doris. The couple had a bunch of boys and girls, forming the third generation. The Henry children were more than a little afraid of the two Lindsay families as well as of their dogs! And Pappa did not seem to have any special relationship with any of the surrounding families and neighbors. He was quiet and so was his household; unlike the neighbors who were in constant brawls. Wife and husband would quarrel and fight with each other; parents would bawl out their children; children would fight among themselves. All with air-renting loudness.