This gave me time to rehearse some poems I took the time to remember - hand movements and all. Interestingly enough I discovered that talking to oneself does make one appear crazy. Man! So many people stopped and stared at me from their cars. But who's crazier, the person talking to him/herself or the person paying $50 to hear the same thing they could have for free? Anyways, as I was walking back to the rendezvous point two people were waving at me so I stopped and wondered, "who are these crazy people? And why are they waving at me?" Then I realised they were my friends.
As we sat and ate in jovial banter the sights and sounds of Uncle George's stall light up as the grill burned under the fish and potatoes. Everyone was happy and the smell of grilled food clearly is distracting me from my blog. The food was good, the sauce was a bit on the unhealthy side but mmm...mmm...mmm! I left about 6 inches from the edge of my bench when a rasta showed up in the area. He had on a black sweater with ites, gold and green stripes and a Trinidadian bandana around his locks. As his breath pervaded the atmosphere with rum, he sat on the 6 inches of space I had left for...myself...leaned over and took up our drinks. "Wait b we ain't done!" We screamed. He stopped and put back my Plus. Taking this as an invitation he again sat down and leaned over me and my food and with his mouth so close to my face that I could hear his thoughts and his arm on mine he asked us "So what's the vibration of the sajnfioasns...tion?" Say what?!?! We were all puzzled - even his thoughts were confusing. So he said it slower. "What is. The. Vibration. Of the alsfhkajsdh...ation?" All this time he's still leaning over my food with his arm on mine.
I closed my container. "Man," he assured me, "You don't have to stop eating...I don't want any. Go on. Eat." At first I thought he was homeless and hungry but after that I didn't care. I somehow managed to swallow my pride along with other germs I don't even want to think about when I continued my contaminated Plus. The guy, Guy, continued with his speech mentioning Selassie I, dog - I assume in connection with him - love, peace, world, a couple curse words, more words ending in "-ation" and of course many unintelligible words. Then he asked us about the fishing disagreement between Trinidad and Barbados. Alfred, who is not Barbadian, didn't know about that so Guy changed the topic to Japan and nuclear weapons. I told him that no one troubled Japan because they can blow you up very easily - I think that's what he asked. (I was trying to get him to starve off of my disinterest but that wasn't working.) Alfred began to laugh because "he was happy to see Guy." Well, Guy wouldn't buy...*sigh*. Guy got agitated at the peace and love and laughter which had settled on the table and since he began to grow edgy we sadly left him.
We thought it would end here but we were wrong. We sat by another stall relaying our story to a friend we met who was talking about the races earlier that day, when we heard a baby crying - at least that's what it sounded like. On stage, walking around with a mic, chest puffed, eyes probably closed was Ozzy the great karaoke star. T.O.K. was clearly wrong. As Ozzy belted/scream/screeched "I Believe" I do believe I heard a couple of eagles crying - or at least he was how it sounded like when they did.
It was 3 minutes of pure yet painful entertainment, climaxed with roaring screams of those scattered around the dance floor. We caught Ozzy as he took his coronation walk around Oistins. He wore a gold tropical shirt, tucked inside his two-sizes-too-big army green trousers hitched up at the third or fourth last rib by a brown belt. He squeezed his diet coke bottle and sucked the life out of it as he smiled at his witnesses. This gladiator, now emperor paraded as if to say "Ye, you know how we do it!" Then he disappeared.
Many tried to accomplish what Ozzy had that night but they were all pathetic "also rans", auditory nuisances, the rungs Ozzy clearly stepped on to the top. Ozzy was so...Ozzy that the VJ had to pull up and run the track again! The crowd clearly missed him as others filled the time. They asked for him. They chanted "Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!". And so, they sent a search party. We decided to leave after Ozzy sang a second time because it was late and we had our fill. If it wasn't for the lyrics showing up onscreen not many people would have imagined that he was remixing "My Heart Will Go On". His walk caused nothing but a smile on my face. I was truly in awe of this character. As he got to the part "my heart will go on and on" his voice gently rolled down at 'on' like a collapsing iceberg and the crowd erupted like the water underneath.
Of course all of this is recorded on camera and phone and probably uploaded to every social network around. Barbados is truly amazing. I'm proud and pleased to know that this is my home. It is one crazy place and only snippets bleed out to the rest of the world. Entertainment knows no bounds in paradise.
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