Page 26 - Daphne Hart - 89 and Feeling Fine

disappear. They were always so nice to me, I wish they
would stay forever, but it was like they were there

overnight and gone the next morning—without saying

goodbye.

My mother worked really hard. Always sad and

sometimes crying. On Saturdays, she would carry a
huge basket of ground provisions on her head to the

market far, far away. She would leave in the wee hours

of 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 makes some
money. On bad weeks, she did a lot of exchanging of

goods.

For example, some yams she would exchange for a

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

25