Angela was sweaty and breathless as she ran barefooted through the neighbor’s backyard. She had been stooping behind the fence playing with the ants as they tried to carry bits of crackers into their hole. Watching them she wondered how they got to be so strong, the thin pieces were so much bigger than them. Her 7 year old mind was always drawn to the tiny creatures that moved around beneath her feet, her tiny toes red with dirt pulled and pushed the loose soil making little grooves.

The sun was “scalding hot” as granny always said. The cotton dress stuck to her back and her chubby arms glistened with moisture. As she shifted her position she heard a distant sound, it was a motorbike, it was THE motorbike! She threw the tiny stick she had been using to poke the dirt into the air and started running. As she jumped over a cardboard box, she heard the faint voice getting louder as the tinny sound of the S90 entered the side road, it was the fudge man! “Fudgieeee, Iceeicle!”

She grabbed the trunk of the lime tree to keep from falling as she scooted around it and saw Michael and Sandra break for a run from the yellow house across the street. There, at the top of the road the little red bike came pop pop popping with The Ice Cream Man yelling “Fudgieeeeee, Iceecle!” Her favorite was the grape flavored Icicle, even though she liked the red one and the green one too…she liked them all.

The morning had started off rocky for Angela, she had gotten in trouble with granny because when Mr. Wright the Milkman came by, he didn’t leave any milk because she had forgotten that granny had asked her to put the cleaned and empty bottle on the step so he could collect it. He wouldn’t leave your milk if he didn’t get his bottle back. Granny was very angry with her and for a while she thought she wouldn’t be allowed to go outside and play.

“Angie! Come here!” Granny was yelling from the backyard 2 houses away…she wouldn’t climb through the fence to find her…it’s as far as she’d ever go to look for her. She wasn’t supposed to be further than she could hear her name being yelled. “Coming granny!” She ran quickly back past the lime tree, around the corner, past the cardboard box to find granny at the fence in her green and yellow plaid apron. “Come back in di yard, me going to get piece a yam and 2 tomato from Missa Johnson. Me no want you out on di street. Me neva hear when him pass till him reach roun’ pan di boulevard, so me haffi run go round deh” Me hear him a bawl out “Yellow yam and white yam, fresh tomato” so me soon come back. Stay in di yard!” Angela, walked through the house and out to her front steps where she sat and finished her grape flavored icicle.

Granny came back with her plastic bag of yam and tomatoes and went back to the kitchen. Angela began to feel sleepy sitting in the shade of the verandah, so she stretched out on the cool red tiles and drifted into a warm haze. Suddenly it sounded as if everything was falling apart around her! She jumped up to the sound of pans clanging and granny yelling “Nancy, the soldering man come!” Nancy was the single mother of 3 who lived next door. Granny had 2 pots in her hands and as the sleep fled her head she saw that a cart drawn by a single donkey was parked on the corner under the lignum vitae tree. There were a few women gathered there, all with pots needing to have holes soldered shut. The pots were being very noisy, and Angela giggled…maybe they were just excited.

The day crawled into afternoon and children, exhausted from playing had gone quiet. The sun wasn’t as hot as earlier in the day. Wondering what granny was making for dinner, she wandered into the kitchen and saw the white yam nicely pealed and the tomatoes cut up with carrots and shredded cabbage in the glass bowl. She began to ask if it was chicken for dinner since there was no sign of anything in the frying pan when granny jumped up and said “Run go stop the fish man!” Angela heard the high pitched voice of Mr. James as he rode his bicycle yelling “Fiiiiish, fresh fiiiish!” She scrambled to the front door and ran down the steps yelling “Stop stop stop!” With a wide grin he stopped at the gate, the brakes screeching noisily. “Granny want fish today?” “Yes sah, she coming” The wooden box anchored securely behind him above the fender of the bicycle had freshly caught fish packed in ice. As he opened the box, the fresh salty smell came out accompanied by a puff of cold grey mist and Mr. James grinned toothily at the women, “Unno see how dem look nice?” Granny chose a lovely pink Snapper and with Angela in tow, they went back into the house.

“Mama mama!” Angela seemed to be coming back from a long tunnel. Junior was tugging at her skirt, his round face looking concerned. “Mama, what you doing?” The fog cleared. She looked around at the neatly stacked shelves and the shiny tomatoes, damp lettuces of all types, oranges and apples in the middle aisle and the fat grapes in plastic bags. Those days of sweat, heat, smells and toothy grins were decades ago. She pushed her cart forward and with a sigh she smiled at her son. “Come on, let’s go home and make dinner”