The Other Hand

smiled but Yevette did not.
    “We should stick together, darlin. Why yu no come to London wid me? For sure we gonna find some of your pipple down dere.”
    “But I will not know them, Yevette. I will not know I can trust them.”
    “What, and yu trust dis man?”
    “I met him once.”
    “Scuse me, Bug, but dis man don’t look like yo type. ”
    “I met him in my country.”
    “What de hell was dis man’s business in Nye- Jirrya ?”
    “I met him on a beach.”
    Yevette threw her head back and slapped her thighs.
    “ WU-ha-ha-ha-ha! Now me see. An dey tole me yu was a virgin !”
    I shook my head.
    “It was not like that.”
    “Don tell me it wasn’t like dat, Lil Miss Sexy-Bug. Yu mus ofdone someting to de man, make him want to give yu dis vall-able dockerment. ”
    “His wife was there too, Yevette. She is a beautiful lady. She is called Sarah.”
    “So why he give yu his driver license? His wife be so beautiful, he be tinking, Damn, me won’t be needin dis again, me lady so pretty I ain’t nivver gonna drive nowhere no more, me jus gonna sit home an stare at de wife ?”
    I looked away.
    “What, den? Yu stole dis dockerment?”
    “No.”
    “What, den? What happen?”
    “I cannot talk about it. It happened in another lifetime.”
    “Mebbe yu bin spending too much time learnin yore fancy English, Lil Bug, cos dat is crazy talk. Yu only be livin one life, darlin. Don’t matter yu don’t uh- preshie -ate part of it, cos it don’t stop bein part of yu.”
    I shrugged and I lay back on the bed and I watched the nearest chain dangling from the roof. Every link was joined to the one before and the one after. It was too strong for a girl like me to break. The whole chain swayed back and fro and it shone in the sun from the skylights. Like you could pull on the grown-up end and sooner or later you would get to the child, just like pulling a bucket out of a well. Like you would never be left holding a broken end, with nothing attached to it at all.
    “It is hard for me to think about the day I met Andrew and Sarah, Yevette. Now I cannot decide if I should go to visit them or not.”
    “So tell me all bout it, Bug. Me tell yu if dey sound good fo yu.”
    “I do not want to talk about it with you, Yevette.”
    Yevette put her fists on her hips and made her big eyes at me.
    “Well get yu, lil miss Africa!”
    I smiled.
    “I am sure there are parts of your life you do not like to talk about, Yevette.”
    “Only so yu no get jealous, Bug. Me tell yu some of de tings me done in me life of ease an luxury, yu be gettin yu self so jealous you gonna explode, and den Sari Girl over dere gonna have to mop up de mess, an she looks tired enough, yu ask me.”
    “No, I am serious, Yevette. Do you talk about what happened to you, to make you come to the United Kingdom?”
    Yevette stopped smiling.
    “Nah. Me tell pipple what happen to me, dey ain’t nivver gonna believe it. Pipple tink Jamaica be all sunshine an ganja an Jah Rastafari. But it ain’t. Yu get on de wrong side of de politics, Bug, dey gonna make yu suffah. An dey gonna make yore famly suffah. An me don’t mean suffah, like no ice cream fo a week. Me mean suffah, like you wake up in you chillen’s blood, an suddenly yo house is very very quiet, fo ivver an ivver, amen.”
    Yevette sat completely still and she looked down at her flip-flops. I put my hand on her hand. Above our heads the chains swung to and fro, and then Yevette sighed.
    “But pipple nivver believe dat about me country.”
    “So what did you tell the man from the Home Office?”
    “For me asylum interview? You wanna know what I tole him?”
    “Yes.”
    Yevette shrugged.
    “I tole him if he arrange to get me release from dat place, he can do what he want wid me.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    Yevette rolled her eyes.
    “Well thank de lord de Home Office man was a lil bit smarter dan yu, Bug. Yu nivver notice dey interview rooms didn’t have no windows? Me swear to yu, dat man’s ooman mus of kept her legs cross for de las ten year, de way he took me up on me offer. An it wasn’t jus on de one day, mind. It took de man four interviews fore he was certain me papers was in order, yu know what I’m sayin?”
    I stroked her hand.
    “Oh Yevette.”
    “It was nuthin, Bug. Compare to what dey do to me, if I be sent back to Jamaica? Nuthin. ”
    Yevette smiled at me. The tears flowed from the corners of her eyes and around the curve of her cheek. I started to wipe her