Page 19 - DAPHNE HART - MY MAMA STORY (AUDIO VERSION)

the morning and come back very late at night. I was left at home with
my brother and my stepfather. They treated me pretty good most times.

Other times, it was like —who the hell are you?

Sometimes she would take me with her to the market because she said

I gave her good luck. But I think she was nervous, leaving me at home

with my stepfather and brother. When it's a good week, she would make
some money. On bad weeks, she did a lot of exchanging of goods.

For example, some yam she would exchange for a garment of some
kind or a breadfruit, she would exchange for mangoes, and so on. Once,

she exchanged some vegetables for me and got me a set of jersey

underwear. They were nice and soft on my skin because I was
accustomed to wearing only cotton. With those on, I couldn't stop

rubbing my butt. It felt so soft and silky. I would say that was their
version of the stock exchange.

So most times, she would take back a heavy load, almost like the one

she left home with. One Saturday, someone put me to ride on a donkey
because the journey was long, and I was very tired. But suddenly that

beast took off at a high speed. I could only hear people shouting for me
to hold on.

Someone finally caught it, with me hanging off to the side. It was only

by God's mercy that I didn't fall on the road. I could have been killed
or hurt badly because the road was not paved and there were stones on

it. Later on, I was told that the Donkey that I was on was a male chasing

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