Satiricus sighed. If only… That’s what a little voice inside his head was telling him. The little voice spoke often to Satiricus nowadays. It was the season to be jolly and Satiricus was not one to miss out on any jollity or jollification that might be going on.
He was jolly often and he was jolly long. And the little voice was telling him, “If only prezzie had taken GrainJa to South Africa.” The problem was that the little voice would say no more. So Satiricus had to fill in the blanks. He lay back in his hammock, closed his eyes and saw the two leaders in the plane jetting across the Atlantic Ocean.
Too bad it wasn’t the plane Kamra had chartered for her contingent. That one had a real Trini atmosphere… rum flowing like water, chutney and kaiso blasting from the speakers, with the captain as the DJ and fellas running around screaming, “Doan hold me back!!! Doan hold me back!!!” Nope.
Here was Prezzie, with wide open, outstretched arms walking towards GrainJa. “How ya doin’ Grainj??”
“What business is that to you?” replied GrainJa brusquely. “You know I’m a military man, and my health is a military secret. If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you afterwards.”
Prezzie had moved back defensively. “Hey, Grainj… I only asking, boy!! Making conversation, you know?”
“Listen, Mr President. I don’t make conversation, even with my wife,” GrainJa snapped. “She refuses to call me Brigadier.”
“Boy, you real serious,” noted Prezzie. “Don’t you ever smile?”
“Smile? Well, if you tell me some good news, I might,” promised GrainJa. “Like if you tell me GreenBridge stop running for PNC leader.”
“Well, I doan think GreenBridge giving that up for nobody,” said Prezzie.
“But listen, man, we gon be flying for eight hours to London and then 10 hours to South Africa. How about if we sit down?”
“OK,” said GrainJa as a concession, as Prezzie looked at him.
Finally, Prezzie couldn’t hold it in any longer, “Man, is how you back so stiff even when you sitting down,” he marvelled.
“Well, don’t tell anyone. They think is because I was in the army,” confessed GrainJa. “But I’ll tell you the truth. One time I was parachuting in the jungle, I landed on a tree. I still have a stick up my a55.”
Prezzie’s eyes had opened wide, “Sheesh! That must be painful,” he said solicitously.
“Not as painful as that pain in the ass, GreenBridge,” noted GrainJa with a sigh.