True Story - Allan Meets the Bermuda Governor: Sir John Vereker & his wife.

I could hear some people, in their little groups, as they discuss the incident that have happened less than hour before. They asked each other questions such as; what will be the management of the Bermuda Police Service response to PC Palmer and the incident they just witnessed on the Governor's premises? While others felt the need to abreast me of the situation: "Palmer," they said "that incident is going to reach the police authorities; the Commissioner of Police is going to hear about it, and they are not going to take it lightly." This was some of the sentiments that were being expressed on our return to the Bermuda Police Training facility at Prospect, in the City of Hamilton, the Capital of Bermuda.

While others expressed the opinion that, I was in big trouble; some went as far as to suggest, they may even send you back to your country even before you get started. This was the consensus, of all who were at the scene. "I am in trouble for what?" I asked, "for doing what is right? For doing something you guys should have step up and do?" Was my reply to the rhetoric of fear that was being propagated. 

I was on the island on Bermuda for five weeks, I left my Country, family, friends, all that I know and love, as well as, my old job behind; after providing nine years of service to my community, to take up a new job in the same field. My responsibility was to uphold and enforce the laws Bermuda an overseas territory of England. I was not alone in this new adventure; there were others from different Caribbean country and England; going through a six weeks assimilation training course, were we got a theoretical understanding of the culture, the people, the different races; the criminal climate and other related issue as well as the laws we were required to enforced. 

We were into the last week of the sixth week assimilation course. The The Bermuda Fire Service had completed a plan the Governor's office commissioned the Bermuda Fire Department, to carry out a general assessment of the Government house and create a comprehensive evacuation plan of the Bermuda Governor’s mansion and office. The Government house office, is located on the same property as the Governor's residence. This was not just an ordinary plan; but it was a detail operations plan; which, the police on duty at the Governor’s mansion were required to be familiar with, and be ready to execute in the event of an emergency. 

This, plan will aid in the quick evacuation of residence and workers at the Governor’s house; and see them quickly and safely usher to a designated safe zone on the property, until the appropriate arrangement is made to take them off of the property and away from the danger. This plan was designed and was being put into place, in order to prevent and or minimize injuries and death, in the event there was a real emergency such as a fire, a violent unlawful intrusion, or a terrorist attack, etc. 

The Bermuda Fire Service has some of the best-trained personnel there is on a small island, as a matter, of fact, the Bermuda Fire personnel are well trained and are just as qualified as any firefighter you will find in the USA or Europe. The Bermuda Fire Department follows the American model of response and operations. There are qualify fire investigators within their ranks, and a range of other specialist. They also have a medic core attached to the fire Department. And are the primary medical emergency first responders on the twenty-two square-miles island. 

The Governor on the other hand, is Her Majesty the Queen of England representative on the island. He or she is always a British citizen which all Bermudian are; however, in this case, the Governor to Bermuda, is always one who was born in England. Unlike most commonwealth countries that have since stepped from under the British Monarchy, the Governor of Bermuda has real power. Although his office does not get him involved in the day to day political and economic affairs of the island, he controls and gives directive to the Police Service, the Bermuda Regiment (The Army), the Fire Department, the Auditor General, the Accountant General and all of the major institution that are in place to ensure political and administrative accountability as well as, the continued good governance of the island resources. 

The governor of Bermuda is a very powerful man, at any time, during his daily briefing, from the key institutions heads, if he gets the sense from the reports that the government is involved in major corruption, he can order and commission an investigation into the affairs of government and if in his opinion it is needed; he has the power to, upon receiving the instruction from England; dissolve the parliament, put an interim government in place, until a suitable group is constitutionally elected, to once again administer the affairs of the island. In the same way that was done in Turks and Caicos in 2009. 

Assembled at the Government house, were groups of fire fighters, police officers and Government house staff awaiting the arrival of the governor and his wife Sir John and Lady Vereker. We were all gather there for a practical briefing and presentation of the new emergency response plan to possible emergencies. As expected the Governor must be waited upon and not the other way around. The Bermuda Fire Chief was responsible for making the presentation; he was aided by two other senor ranking firefighters, who had all who contributed to the completions of this project; all using their several expertise. 

In their introduction, they clearly explained that they used a lot of scientific calculation, their experience and world trends and extensive research to completed this plan. One of the clear example they give to help us to understand what they were speaking of the spoke about the ten (10) hundred pounds’ propane tanks that is stored on the premises for domestic use. They give the scientific calculation of the force and the velocity of an object that was propelled from an explosion of one such tanks, or the tank itself as well as the damages that may occur from such object being propelled. 

While we were taking a tour of the house, Madam Vereker objected, "why do they have to go into our home and into our bedroom" she said. The Fire official patiently and professionally explained to the Governor’s wife, in the event there is an emergency a split second can make the different between life and death. If the officers know where your rooms are then they can go directly to your room, and alert you of what is happening and safely escort you away from the danger. 

It was only after some urging of the importance of the exercise that she consented to having the party of police and fire fighters into the house and up to her private quarters, not for an intrusive look but for a location identification view. Every decision the fire fighter came up with Lady Vereker shot it down like a notorious marksman on a shooting range with a loaded gun. She managed to make the hard work of the fire department useless. But what was overwhelmingly surprising, no matter how outrageous or how irrational her comments were, everyone agree with her and change their sound scientific plans to accommodate the untrained governor’s wife irrational suggestions. I was shock at the way things were proceeding. I could not believe what I was witnessing. 

There were senior members as well as some junior members of the Bermuda Fire Service present. There were also an inspector and several None Commission Officers (NCO) of the Bermuda Police Service present among the people that assembled at the Government house in Bermuda. Yet, everyone stood by helplessly, while Lady Vereker ripped the Plans of the Bermuda Fire Department apart with her forcefully objections which resulted in the Fire Personnel reluctantly changing their well thought-out and well put together plans; that was gear to saving people’s live; to accommodate the Governor's wife. Lady Vereker, slowly and intentionally decimated the esteem of the Bermuda Fire Service, objections after objections, and their plans were also decimated with their esteem and their ego. 

The continued objections resulted in the public obliteration of plans the Firefighters spent many hours, of research, the employment of skills, expertise, and experience to put together. A plan that was designed to help save life and prevent injuries in the event of an emergency. A presentation the fire personnel spent many hours preparing to make. In the process, the Governor’s wife were unknowingly, endanger her life, the life of her family, Government house staff, the police that work on the premises and were responsible for executing the plans and the life of the first responders who respond to any emergency that may occur there.

By this time, we were all out on the large grounds of the Governor’s house. There were four distinct groups congregated in the premises standing closely together in a circular position that gave each person a view of the presenters. There were the presenters who were standing with their backs to the north eastern position, there were the Governor and the Governor’s wife standing on the immidiate left of the presenters, the government house staff were on the Governor’s left, there were a small group of firefighters standing immediately opposite the presenters and to the left of the fire fighters there was a large contingent of police officers.

The Fire Personnel had a designated area on the property that was consider a safe zone in the event of a fire. The Fire Personnel explained why they selected the area, which was the lowest point on the property; and because smoke rises, this area is safe from the effects of smoke inhalation and smoke related effects on the body. It was away from the road and provided some shelter from visibility from the street; the area was also out of the reach of missiles which may resulted from an exploding propane tank, that may be propelled at high velocity from an explosion they explained. 

Lady Vereker put up her hands once again, as she has been doing although the presentation and she was acknowledged as she was several times before. Then she declared, to my disgusted surprised; “why does the safe area have to be all the way down there; why can’t it be over there.” She pointed to a spot on the property that was not too far from the building that housed the Governor’s home and office, a place that was within the drop zone of missiles that was launched by the explosions and was in the line of smoke for the area was on the same level of the house and the strong wind that come up from the sea. 

One would have thought that the Governor’s wife was not listening to what the presenters was saying. It was clear that the area that the Governor’s wife was suggesting, without considering the danger that her suggested location posed; they were just about to change the safe zone to once again appease the Governor’s wife, ignoring the potential dangers of their decisions they were about to make and have made since the presentation begin. 

I put up my hand and waved it so it will not be overlooked, when the presenter acknowledged my hand, I said I do not have a question about the presentation because the information is clear, however, I will like to address Lady Vereker, I said Lady Vereker, you have got to understand, that the member of the Bermuda Fire Department are trained men in their field, they clearly said that they used, their training in the several related field, they did research, and they used their experience in coming up with a scientific report and everything in their report and presentation was are based on sound scientific calculation. 

You are not a trained person in any of the sciences, be it fire technology or the science of explosion or any of its related field;" I continued, "when you object to the firefighters recommendations, which is based on sound, practical and scientific calculations, what you are actually doing is, endangering your live, the life of your family, the life of Government house staff; the life of the police who work on the premises, who are expected to execute the altered plan and the life’s of the other emergency workers who will attend any emergency. You have to allow the train professionals to do their jobs to the best of your ability.” Then I respectfully said that is all I wanted to say.” 

By the time I was finished speaking, I did not realize a hurricane blue over the Governor’s property. When I looked around, I realized that everyone had moved from around me. I was left standing with one other person; A St. Lucian police officer by the name of PC Peter Charlemagne, who is currently and inspector of police in the Bermuda Police Service.

Charlemagne was a young man who have served the people of St. Lucia for 10 years in the capacity of a police officer before taking up his new post in Bermuda with the Bermuda Police Service. At the tine of the event Peter had been serving in Bermuda as a police officer for about two years before I arrived to Bermuda. He refused to move and stood with me, because in his words, you were not saying anything wrong, you were not rude in you speech and what you said made sense. I got the impression, I beat Charlemagne to making the same remarks. 

Contrary to what most of the people who were present thought and expressed, nothing came out of the harmless incident, I was never asked about it, I never spoke about it. This incident made the authorities took me serious and therefore, it gave me some leverage; when I discovered that the white police officers were treated differently from the black police officers. One day I brought up my observation of the racial disparity with regard to the treatments of the white police officer who came from England and the Black police officers who came from the West Indies. As a result, I informed my supervisor that I expected to be treated as if I am white and I will not accept anything less. As a result, I was treated with the utmost respect by all from the junior as well as senior staff of all rank. 

The incident that occurred at the Government House, was kept alive within the Bermuda Police Service and within Bermuda by a Dominican Senior Police Constable by the name of: Kenrick Shillingford. Kenrick was the permanently assigned to duties at the Governor’s house, because of an injury he sustained. It was my good friend Mr. Shillingford’s self-appointed responsibility to jokingly remind me of that incident everywhere he saw me.

It could be on the job, when we were out on work social, at visit to his home or on the streets. It matters not where Kenrick sees me, he automatically sticks his hands into the air, then he will recite my little speech verbatim, in a distorted voice that mimics the way I speaks. Kenrick had a hell of a time sharing this story with his friend and family especially when I was around and he will literally die with laughter each time he share it. You would have though Kenrick have just heard this for the very first time. 

True Story: Teacher Lewis - A tyrant or a man who care?

I was a normal seven years old, and to my mother’s satisfaction I was progressing well in School. I was just promoted to Infant 2, when my world came into contact with the pendulum of life. The momentum of the pendulum, although only slightly tipping my world, was great enough to send my world into an uncontrolled spin, causing it to settle upside-down. Even at that age, many of the things I took for granted, had drastically changed.

My mother took the time to prepare me mentally to deal with the physical aspect of her death. As a result, when everyone in my family was all broken up, searching for answers and means of dealing with my mother’s death; I had a very interesting prospective of mother’s death. My attitude, my reply to question about mother’s death, even my conduct at the funeral, was not in keeping with the solemnity that was expected and associated with death.

I was very casual and although my behavior and answers to questions met the common but unpracticed beliefs about what death is, and the manner family and friends should behaved at the death of a love one; everyone, though I did not understand what had happened. I could hear family members, family friends and other members of the community saying, poor child he just don’t understand. Interestingly, Mother told me to expect everyone to say the things that was being said; so I was fine with their remarks, which I ignored.

Of course, I understood what death was, I understood that it was the last time I will ever see my mother as I knew her, I understood that she will be buried and the decomposition process. My mother took the time to put death; especially her death into prospective for me. Of all of her children, I was the youngest; therefore, knowing she was going to die, she was most worried about me, and daily; Mother took the time to prepare me for her death.

She know that as a child, I was an idealist, I was also too trusting, and she knew that I may not be able to deal with her death and therefore spent a lot of time to shape my perception of death especially her death.

Although my mother’s efforts was instrumental in making sure I was prepared to deal with her death and understood what death was, She could not see far enough into the future, and therefore was unable to adequately prepare me, to deal with life without her presence. Although I was prepared to and was able to deal with the physical aspects of death, and all of the things that was expected when one die; it was her absence that really toppled my world.

Some of the singes that made it evident that something was wrong, and therefore alerted my family that something was desperately wrong was; I no longer enjoyed and no longer wanted to go to church, I did everything in my power to avoid going to church. It took a while but very soon it became a full time job to get me to go to church. I did not hate Jesus of his father; however, going to church was no longer fun. The second thing was, my schooling suffered, I slid to the bottom of the class.

I fell into a daze, and I just could not get out of it. Everything fell apart and they all lost its value. I no longer knew why I was doing all the things that I was required to do and I did not see why I should do them. Before that, I did them because it was fun, I was contented, I had a child's perfect world my mother and my father, big brothers and big sisters and being the last one I was the center of all their attention and affection. But then, the prolong absence of my mother changed it all. I did not knew what it was like to miss someone; So when I was asked, I always replied no. However, I fell down in every aspect of my life; my ability to read declined; and my attention span also declined; as well as my ability to interact with others.

My family, with their limited knowledge of what was happening to me, took every step to see if they could help me. There effort ranged from the purchase of things, a child my age may want, they also thought there was a problem with the school, so I change school, It was also suggested and I was taken to the eye specialist, to have my eyes examine. It was thought, I may have had a problem with my vision, which a glasses may correct, and therefore help me overcome my reading obstacle.

They did not want to take any chances; Dr. Cyrus had opened his hospital, In St. Vincent and the Grenadines and to the locals Dr. Cyrus was the best at everything. According to my family, if there is anything wrong, the only person who could figure it out and deal with it, was Dr. Cyrus and he was also an eye specialist (etymologist).

Keeping the appointment to see the preeminent doctor; My sister explained what was wrong, then Dr. Cyrus examined my eyes, he discovered, that one of my eye was 20-20 vision and he discovered that the other eye had extremely good vision which may be better than 20-10 vision, unfortunately the standard chart was limited to the examining up to 20-10 vision. The difference in the vision in his eyes, should not affect his ability to read he declare. This declaration put us back to square one. There was no solution to my academic problems.

It was suggested to my father that I may have some form of retardation, but he was not hearing it. I was now enrolled in the Kingstown Preparatory (Prep) School, and all I wanted was to be left alone. A good day at school was; when I was not required to participate publicly in the class. I developed a system that saw me barely passing on the final exams and ensure that I moved from grade to grade as was required. I developed a good memory, and I remembered most of what was said in the class along with paying attention and remembering the answers to the questions I got wrong in the test. As a result, when it was most important, I managed to pass the promotion exams.

I refrained from voluntarily answering questions that was asked in the class, even those questions I knew the answer to. This was my way not to bring any unwanted attention to myself in the class; as a result, most of the teacher though that I my presence was just a waste of space, and they ignored me, which was what I wanted.

One day, the class teacher while teaching science, asked a question, no one that she asked to answer the question knew the answer. Then she began to call upon the more brighter of the students; after exhausting all her options, she got angry and began to lament, I am wasting my time in this class; she began to speak of what she was going to do. If she was going to do as she say, that mean, I will be required to participate. I could not have that. I put up my hands. And she said in an angry tone. Palmer what do you want?

I said I want to answer the question; the teacher sulked; tensing her face and sucking back her lips, while rolling her eyes, as if to say, yeah right! If the others cannot answer the question how can you. However, in disgust and expecting some foolish answer; she said what is the answer. After I answer the question she looked at me with a strange look on her face. I did not know what to make of her facial expression; then she exclaimed that is the correct answer; she still had that funny look on her face; she was not please with the occurrence.

When she rarely realized what have happened she asked, Palmer how do you knew the answer to a question that no one else in the class knew the answer? I answered: I don’t know I just know the answer. The teacher immediately left the class and return to the staff-room and she did not return to the class until after the lunch period. We had about two hours of free time, everyone was happy just for the opportunity to do nothing but to talk; we even switch seats because we were totally unsupervised. Some of my classmates said Palmer you must answer more question and we will get more free time.

I was due to write the national Common Entrance exams in 1979, but I did not get the opportunity to write the secondary school placement exam. This was so, because my father saw it fit to send my sister and I to Trinidad and Tobago to escape the danger of the erupting La Soufriere volcano. Three months later, when my sister Andrea and I return to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Common Entrance exam; the exams that determined if a child was going to a secondary school or not was done and all the children knew which school they were going to attend. There were a few schools that had an entrance exam, like the Emanuel High Schools Kingstown and Mesopotamia as well as the Intermediate High School also knows as Timmy School.

By this time, all of the school with entrance exams had already held their entrance test and already made their selection. By big brother Albert who was a pass student of the Intermediate High School and who was a teacher and who knew the value of an education went and spoke to Mr. Timmy Richards; after whom the community called the school. He explained the circumstances of my situation and one teacher to another asked if he can make an exception and allow me to take the test even if the time has pass. Mr. Richards decided to do my brother whom he had taught and who was a model student in his school a favor.

My academics did not improve, not even my brother Albert who had developed a reputation in reaching hard to reach children was able to reach and help me. However, by this time, I have stop reading except for the fact, my father said he was unable to find his glasses, and therefore needed me to read various things to him. On Friday however, I had a paid assignment. I was required to read the weekly newspaper to him; after which, he paid me twenty five cent or more depending.

Daddy knew of my reading problem and was trying to get me into the habit of reading, I will mumble over the words as he sat there listening to me bumping into invisible obstacles. After which he will give me twenty. However, in High School, I still used the system I developed and used in primary school; the system that helped me to pass just when it meant the most; at final exams; which resulted in promotions. I just barely managed not to be thrown out of school.

Apart from all of my academic difficulties, I had some bright spots. There was a shapely teacher by the name of Mrs. Williams who got my attention. Mr. Williams was a science teacher; I always did well in her class. And then there was Ms. Kirby, the daughter of the well-known Pharmacist Kirby who operated a pharmacy in the capital city of Kingstown. At that stage of my life, this young women who was responsible for preparing me academically was the most beautiful woman I have every laid eye on.

The first time I lay my eyes on Ms. Kirby, she was a student, fresh out of Girls High School, a teacher with the responsibility for teaching the business subject commerce. I have never seen this lady before she came to teach at the school and immediately; I fell in love. There was no way I was ever going to fail the subject she was responsible for providing instructions. I can still hear Ms. Kirby’s melodious voice, explaining the then complex law of Diminishing Returns. She only had to say it once and I got the concept. I only understood the concept because it was coming from the most beautiful woman God had created.

All this time, I was trying to drop out of school, but My Sister Clare was not having it. She had invested lots of money and time in my life since my mother died. And she wanted the best for me and in her opinion there is nothing like an education. She insisted that I go to school and out of respect for her and all that she had done for me I reluctantly complied. She knew better and she used rational in keeping me in school.

One day during assemble, Mr. Richards the principal of the Intermediate High school had and made a big announcement. Like a professional sport team owner today, he made a big acquisition. He managed to lure a prominent, experience English teacher by the name of Mr. Lewis to join his staff. He said, Mr. Lewis was at home doing nothing all that talent was just being wasted.

Mr. Lewis was the type of the teacher who held his students responsible and accountable. He wanted maximum participation from each student and expects to see results; some type of improvement from every student. I was in big trouble, this was the type of teacher I spend my whole life resenting. In the pass, I burn the other teacher out and after a while, they just ignored me. Mr. Lewis was relentless in his pursuit to get me involved, he held me accountable and responsible for assignments and my academic development. There was never a day, I did not have an encounter with Mr. Lewis.

I did not do homework when it was given, I did not revised for test, and I did not take anything that was taught in the class serious, unless it was being taught by Mrs. Williams or Ms. Kirby. After Mr. Lewis started becoming overbearing, I took some time and I did my homework. Mr. Lewis made a big deal in front of the class. He said class Palmer actually did his homework assignment. Then he said to me: "Palmer; you see what you can do when you apply yourself." He continue: "you can actually do the work but for some reason you do not apply yourself.

It was not too long that I went back to my old ways; however, Mr. Lewis was not taking my in activity lying down. I just could not see what Mr. Lewis was making this big a problem of. No one else has ever made all this fuss before. I thing this man just don’t like me, I concluded. Each day I had to mentally prepare to deal with Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis needed to know, we were making an academic effort, even when we were not in school and homework was his evidence of that. Every day it was a constant battle between Mr. Lewis and I. Mr. Lewis tried everything in his power in order to get me to apply myself academically, but nothing he tried worked.

In his never ending battle to get student participation in the class, Mr. Lewis said: "from today, I whenever we are reviewing a story, I am going to have everyone reading out loud. I said to myself, this man is really out to get me. I have not yet overcome my vision problem and therefore did not read much; I was an extremely poor reader. The next day Mr. Lewis began his new student participation exercise. I was happy, because he started at the back; I prayed that by the time he reached to me, the time that was allotted for the class period would have ran out. And everything was going good. There were people with different level of reading skills, in the class.

Then it came to my turn, I became nervous, my palm sweat as I began, I began to chew up the over words, as stumble through the selected passage of literature. At the end, Mr. Lewis said, in a serious authoritative tone “Do you call that reading? How did you make it this far in school reading like that? I have a nine year old son at home, who reads much better than you!" I was totally embarrassed, but I played it off, after all, it was not the first time I have heard those sentiments.

I became fascinated by my sister Andrea's newly developed penmanship, and she took the time to teach me how to improve my hand writing. She said, it will not happen over knight, it takes time, but after a while, it will come natural. Each day I practiced with the objective of improving my penmanship. One of Andrea's instructions was simple, she advised me to get a book and start writing the words; she further said, I had to take my time writing the words exactly as they appear in the book. I wanted to improve my hand writing, as a result, I follow her instructions. Before I knew it, I had a beautiful hand writing. When I write all of the letters were all the same size, they were well formed and they had fancy hooks and curves.

There was also an added perk; without realizing it, by copying large volumes of words from different books, I began to relearn a skill I did naturally before my mother’s death; a skill that the average person never had to worry about. I began to retrain my eyes to focus in harmony on organized words. My father was the first to notice there was a change in my reading. He said “your reading is improving,” I did not even notice that I was reading better even though the focus problem persisted, I began to get some level of control over reconciling both eyes to the task of reading.

By this time, I have left school after a serious conversation with My sister Clare, promising her that I will continue my secondary schooling by going to evening classed. Clare reluctantly said, I cannot give you permission to drop out of school, if you choose to stop going to school that have to be your decision and it will be your lost.

I had stopped reading the newspaper for my father and he stopped asking me to. He found his glasses which he claimed, was lost and he began to read the paper for himself, as he did before the mysterious disappearance of his reading glasses. I will volunteer to read the paper for my father when I wanted something from him.

One Friday afternoon, while I was reading the weekend Newspaper to my father, I saw a well written letter to the editor, at the bottom to the letter the name Aubrey Burgin appeared as the writer. I knew this fellow; I said to myself, we are friend and my sister Andrea was dating his brother Elliot. I did not know regular people can write in the newspaper. I always had an opinion and I wanted to be heard. So I took my time and I penned a letter to the editor of the Vincentian Newspaper Ms. Nora Peacock. At that time, The Vincentian newspaper was the more popular of the two newspapers on the island; the other one being the Star Newspaper.

I was all excited when I saw my letter appeared in the Vincentian Newspaper, I did not have to tell anyone about my accomplishment, for it seems that everyone saw it. At that time reading was the most fashionable form of entertainment and the newspaper was read by everyone. Back then, one newspaper moved from house to house in the same way Santa Clause was believed to have done, each year on the night before Christmas.

About a year or so after leaving school, I return to the Intermediate High School for proof that I attended the school; and evidence that I had attained form four. I need this in order to gain employment with the vector control unit. I did not care to see any of the teachers, except for Ms. Richards who was always respectful and kind to all of the students. I certainly did not want to see Mr. Lewis and I was sure that he did not want to see me either; was I wrong.

I was waiting in the small corridor outside, Mr. Richard’s office, which was also the main entrance into the staff room. While I was in the corridor waiting, I saw Mr. Lewis sitting at his desk, reading as usual, or maybe he was devising some way of making some helpless student life a living hell. My efforts to remain conceal from Mr. Lewis failed, when he heard my voice speaking to someone in the corridor, where I was standing with some students who were defaulters and were probably awaiting Mr. Richards attention; most likely they were to be flogged. Mr. Lewis quickly lifted up his head, taking his attention from that which he was so keenly focused upon, and then he laid eyes on me. He focused, to ensure he was seeing correctly; after which, a big commotion erupted in the staff-room.

Mr. Lewis got up from where he was comfortably seated at his desk and he began to shout at the top of his voice “there he is, there he is” he said. I began to look around to see who he was speaking to, by this time the students recognizing that Mr. Lewis was speaking to me, they all shifted away from me, not wanting to be implicated in whatever I have gotten myself into. I said to myself, Lord have Mercy! I have left this school more than a year ago, and he is still having problems with me; I searched my mind to see how I could have offended this man in the pass year of so; but I could not find an incident that could have provoked his anger.

Mr. Lewis quickly grabbed a fold up piece of paper from his desk and began to wave the piece of raggedy paper in the air somewhat over his head in his left hand; as if to be directing the attention of everyone to that which he was holding in his hand; while he shouted at me. His tone was not one of anger; but more one of frustration. I looked at Mr. Lewis as he made his way nearer to where I was standing, still waving the paper around and still shouting the same three words. I whispered to the students who were now looking at me strangely and with some measure of relief that they were not the center of this kind of attention. “I hope he realized that I am no longer a student here.”

By this time, Mr. Lewis had the attention of the entire staff-room; he also had the attention of the defaulters who were awaiting their flogging; as well as, those students who were in the yard. He walked down aisle of the staff room as the other members of the staff that occupied the teacher office with him followed his movements with their eyes, while others turn in their chair following his movement along the narrow aisle of the staff-room curious as to what the whole commotion was about. When Mr. Lewis got about three quarters away down the passage way to one of the teachers who knew me, he stood up at her desk and violently slammed the fold up piece of what appeared to be a newspaper, which was neatly fold to a particular area onto her desk and declared. There he is, I knew this child is a brilliant child, I knew he had it in him to produced good work, I tried all I could to get this guy to apply himself and he never made an effort while he was a student here.

Take a look at this, he said pausing only to take a breath of air before he continued, he is now writing in the newspapers. Look at the quality of his writing, I knew he had it in him but I just could not get through to him. He look at me he said it is a good article and he encourage me to continue to write, then he retraced his steps back to where he was sitting, and went back to what he was doing; leaving the shabby newspaper on the desk before the teacher who then took up the shabby newspaper and began to read the article. I watch her as she raising her brow with surprise as she read.

I felt good to be recognized and to be complemented by Mr. Lewis. All this time, I thought Mr. Lewis hated me; however, he recognized the abilities I had and he tried to get me to apply myself, so I could have develop that which I did not know I possessed.

Today I have encountered another Mr. Lewis on Facebook. When he read my post, articles and he sees some common error, he will shoot me an inbox, "Palmer pay attention to your writing you may lose the meaning of the thought you are conveying." He will direct my attention to the error, which I will correct. I take this time to publicly say thanks to My Regimental Sergeant Major in the cadet force: Dr. Alwayn Leacock. As simple and as infrequent as Dr. Leacock took the time to hold me grammatically accountable, I have used his actions, to developed an accountability on my own; and in the process I recently developed a love and an appreciation for a practice I once hated: that is the practice of consistently reading over my writing until I am totally satisfied with the end product.

Previously; I only took the time to read over random paragraphs, and edit the particular paragraph. In my lazy mind the odds were with me but they were against me. For I learn that there is only one way to edit or to proof read writing and that is to take it line by line and when you are finished do it again and again. As a result, I can see my writing is getting better every day but I have a long way to go.

ASoccer Drama - Ali Monroe Vs. Raymond Ballantyne A test of Power and Courage.

The greatest unexpected encounter that took place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines football history was between Ali "Bice" Monroe at the time one of the national goalkeepers. Ali was a tall well-built young man that played the goalie position, for a young upstart team of skilled dreadlocks players called Superstars.

Superstars were a top, first division team, on the island. On the other side there was Raymond "Ballie" Ballantyne. Ballie was a short fair skinned young man, from the popular sporting family the Ballantynes. He also played on the St. Vincent and the Grenadines national football team and was a key player in the famous 1979 Soccer squad.

Raymond had a pair of big, well-developed thighs, which were pack with power. Bally was capable of taking a spot kick, from the penalty spot, and send that ball flying into the penalty area on the other side of the football field; Raymond was a powerful freak of nature. He played the full-stopper (defender) position on the national team and for the first division team Frenches, which he also led.

A week before; Frenches played one of the bottom teams, for which a young Mouth-Champ, called Maurice was the Goalkeeper. Raymond Ballantyne, the full stopper broke through the team's defense; which left an encounter with him and Maurice.

Maurice, understood the type of Striking power Raymond possessed and did not want none of it. Instead of defending his goal, as is his responsibility; Maurice ran out of the goal and left, the gold to Raymond. Raymond had the opportunity, to just place the ball gently into the empty net, but instead; he struck that soccer ball so hard, it broke the net and went flying into the foreground, in front of the Player provilian at the Victoria Park in Kingstown.

When Raymond, Kicked that ball with such velocity, it was a part of his strategy. Bally was a player, who knew and understood his strength, he wanted the big name goalkeepers to know, I am the monster that goes roar in the night when you sleep. You truly don't want none of this.

Alwyn "Ali" Monroe was in the Western Stand where the soccer fans from Bottom Town congregated, when at a soccer match. Ali being a season and well rounded National Goal keeper, began to tell us what Maurice's mistakes were. Ali said if I was in that position I will not run. I will face Bally and eat the shot. I did not know what Ali meant when he said I will eat the shot.

Ali's utterance, was mighty big talk from a man sitting in the stand. In my mind I said Ali I love you and you are my favorite in a lot of things, but you were not in Maurice's position, you did not have to contend with the power of Raymond Ballantyne; with no defenders to help you. I did not want to believe Ali would have ran from Raymond as Maurice did, but as the old saying goes it is who in the kitchen, that feels the heat; and clearly Maurice did not want to feel the heat.

It was two or so weeks later, a Sunday afternoon; Victoria Park was packed to capacity with soccer fans from all over the country. All of the hardcore soccer fans came out to watch. Two football titans Superstars vs. Frenches was about to clashed. At this stage of the game, Superstars were defending the north goal, while Frenches had responsibility for defending the southern goal. In the same way it was when Maurice, forgot he was in a soccer match but took part in a one hundred Meters dash.

Super Stars was a different caliber team, then the one Maurice played for. I cannot remember the circumstances that lead to the particular play, that give birth to the memorable event that had stuck with me, all of my life; however, Bally caught the Superstars defenders napping, in Frenches half of the field and he broke through their defense.

It was happening again, it was the Maurice Saga happening all over again, however, there was only one difference. Maurice was not in the goal this time it was a Ali Monroe. Ali knew exactly what to do when Maurice became afraid and ran from the power of Raymond Ballentyne.

Raymond got the ball at the half line; there was no Stars defender in sight. It was Ballie in full control of the ball, moving at full speed ahead, Ali still in the goal, desperately shouting orders trying to get help from his defenders, but they were too far away from the play to slow down or to provide any type of interception to Raymond steady advances; Ali was on his own.

By this time the entire stadium was on its feet, you could felt the tension of the superstars fans, as their hopes of a victory evaporate right before their eyes. Some hopelessly put their hands on their heads; as their facial expression melted from optimism and disappear into disappointment; while others bit their lips hoping, what they were looking at was not happening; while still others stood, with open mouth, slightly bend at the knees, with hands in the goalkeepers defensive position trying to miraculously will Ali into some unperformed action. They all watched helplessly concerned about losing the game while others were concerned about Ali's safety.

The Frenches fans on the other hand, were in victory mode, as they jumped to their feet, in an eruption; as optimistic voices shouted deafeningly cheering Ballie on. Some overly ecstatic fans, ran along the side lines out of the view and out of the way of the officials, confident that their powerhouse Raymond Ballantine was going to leave a hole in the net that was at the back of the goal, designed to contain the ball that had made its way past the goalkeeper; or if the opposing goalie try to stop Raymond's shot, the ball will leave a hole in him.

It was not a matter of hoping, it was a matter of when he (Raymond) was going to capitalize on this opportunity to put Frenches team one goal up. In everyone's mind; it was a done deal.

Ali Monroe was like my big brother, he was always by us hanging out with my big brothers. Because of my closeness to Ali, I had a vested interest in Ali's success and his safety. I knew the danger that confronted my friend and big brother; because previous to this encounter, I have seen men on the ground rolling, whimpering and whaling in pain, like a kids, who had just received a good parental trashing; after they have had an inadvertent collision with a bull-wood (a ball kicked with tremendous power that moved with jet fast speed) from Raymond.

The raucous in the park was still momentarily, while everyone tensely awaits the outcome of this confrontation. Raymond was known for his frequent overlapping, and I have seen goalkeeper Dorian Philips comes to mind, briefly abandoned their goalkeeping responsibilities.

I have seen many Goalkeepers become so afraid when confronted by an overlapping Raymond Ballantyne, leaving the goal open for Raymond, to have his way, rather than to face the power that he possessed. You can hear the odd voice of prediction predicting he is going to run, Ali is going to run they said.

Running away from the approaching Raymond Ballantyne, out of fear of Ballantine's kicking power, would have made Ali a laughing stock and the butt of jokes for the rest of his life. There is always that one guy, who never forgets, and who thinks it is his only mission in life, to make sure you never forget a bad or negative incident that made you look weak, or stupid.

Raymond was still quickly advancing, and there were still no superstars’ defenders in sight. Just then, I saw Ali began to run out to meet the quickly advancing Raymond Ballantyne. Ali"s movements forward to meet Bally reduced the visibility and striking option to the goal that Bally had. Ali followed the same defensive technique, he spoke of when Maurice ran a few weeks earlier.

This was a move of experience; As he said a few weeks earlier; If Ali had stayed in the gold, it would have been impossible for him or any other goal keeper to stop a shot coming to the goal from the powerhouse Raymond Ballantine. Not even if that goal keeper flew, full length, out stretched in midair at the ball.

With the power Raymond Ballantyne possess; that ball would have made its way pass the goalkeeper before he could have reacted it. Ali’s decision took a way most of Raymond’s options, it also hamper Raymond ability to properly attack the goal. The added pressure also increased Raymond's chances of error and therefore, gave Ali a good opportunity to make a save if the ball was kicked. But who is going to risk injuries in confronting the power of Raymond to prevent him from scoring a goal.

By this time; Ali and Raymond were about 15 feet apart Ali had stopped his advancement, and somewhat reduce Ballies’ speed and progress. This gave the superstars defends and midfielders a little more time to get back on defense, but by this time most of Ali team mates had lose hope and had retired to the fact that there was nothing they could do. There were two guys that were making a futile but desperate effort to get back on defense.

Raymond Ballantyne realizing the quickly changing situation decided he was going to strike while the iron was hot. It was time for the show down and the two titans were just outside the 80 years box. Raymond Ballantyne struck the ball, with so much force you could hear his foot colliding with the ball. The sound was so loud, it echoing around the entire park.

One would have thought that the police were on parade and had fired a round from the old British 303 rifle. The ball was traveling at high speed, straight and at about three feet off of the ground; much like a torpedo would. Everyone including the man at the other end of the quickly moving missile knew there was no way to put hands to the quickly moving missile that may have had a nuclear warhead attached.

This was serious business and as far as I can see, Ali Monroe had but one option, that was to get out of the way of the oncoming rocket, after all it was only a game, no one was being paid if they win the match, the special efforts were not going to be rewarded, there was no victory parade for the winners, it was not even a finals or a qualifying game; and he was not going to get the key to the city for being a hero and risking injury to win the game.

This boiled down to pride, bragging rights, a compliment from some one that you may never see again; the accolade of friends nothing else. There is also a respect for the game and healthy competition.

The missile was on its way and Ali was yet to make a decision, it seems like time froze only for a moment, and when time restarted, it went into slow motions.

I was standing in the grandstand lost in the moment, when I saw Ali dropped to his knees, as if he was about to call upon God in prayer to send help or to take him out of the predicament in which he had found himself.

But now, it was much too late for praying. As soon as Ali's knees collided with the ground Ali pulled his head back and turned his face to the left, as he braced his body to observed the oncoming and expected blow, he was about to received. Like Superman Ali stopped the incoming missile with his chest saving his team, and his reputation.

The collision of the ball to Ali's chest was even louder that when Raymond foot make contact with the ball sending the ball at high-speed ahead of him. The collision of the ball onto Ali Monroe’s chest sounded like the burst of a cannon gun. This was so because the impact surface of the oncoming missile to Ali Monroe’s chest had a much greater contact surface than the surface of Ballies’ foot to the ball.

The spectators waited to see if Ali was going to fall off of his knees from the impact of the collision of the missile to his chest. But instead of falling to the ground rolling in pain, he sprang to his feet, without using his hands, now crouching and alert with both hands in front of him, in ready defensive position; Ali was immediately ready for any further attack that maybe oncoming. The ball after ricocheting off the chest of Ali went over Ballys' head and fell about 15 feet behind him. By this time the Superstars’ defenders were back in position and the game continued.

I have never seen such a drama packed minutes in any sport before that event before that time or after that event. I was blessed to have witnessed what happened when the unstoppable force meets the immovable objects.

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True Police Story - Mrs. Quow: I am going to break Constable: Allan H. F. Palmer

It was an uphill road in my short struggle to becoming a police officer. If I was a man, who did not have a fight in me; I would have never been awarded the wonderful opportunity and the esteem privilege to serve the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the capacity of a police officer and thus make a contribution to nation building in this area. The training program was an easy one and it posed no physical or intellectual challenged to me. In that I excelled in every aspect of the police training program. 

One afternoon, I was summoned to the commandant of training: Mr. ASP Christopher’s office, because he discovered, I did not want to and I was not making any preparatory effort to participate in the finals of the events I qualify for. To make and participate in such events increases ones chances to be the best recruit to whom the commissioner’s baton is awarded. I qualified for the self-defense finals, best kit finals, best Jill finals and I was always in the top three or four students academically. I did not want to participate or compete for the top spot, because I knew; the police authorities, were not going to give that spot to a Bottom Town man. and it would not have mattered if I actually won that award by a landslide. 

This was evident by what Superintendent Osborne Quow said, when he came to visit and speak to the class of which I was a student, at the Police Training School. Mr. Osborne Quow was a Superintendent of Police (SOP); he was the most feared senior officer within the police force. By his actions, he was the self appointed chief disciplinarian in the organization.

There were tow side to Mr. Quow's disciplinary actions: on one hand, it was good for maintaining a high standard of discipline to Safeguard the order that was required to ensure the institution be effective and the community is properly served. On the other hand, it was unfortunate because, SOP Quow, took the disciplining of the men and women, to the point where, he literally became a bully to some of the men; and in some instance could have be categorized as a blatant abusing his power. 

The police force is an adult organization, which is also a male dominated organization. It was a shame to see grown men; fathers and husbands and a lot of the police officers, who pretended to be bad men on the street; were literally struck with fear and trembled at the mentioned the name of Mr. Quow.

The superintendent literally had his own police force within the force. Those people who were closely associated with Mr. Quow, could not do any wrong; they did and said as they liked and they were above the supervision of their supervisors and there was nothing anyone could have done about it. His men were also assured of quick promotion and in some case, they had to contribute financially, and on a monthly basis for the unjust promotion they were given.

I will attempt to give you an idea of just how fared Mr. Quow was and the level of fear he instills in the members of the force. Once there was an incident in the community of Barrouallie, where a violent mentally deranged man bearing a machete in his hand, ran into an occupied house. When the occupants of the house saw the crazy man whom they knew, they all run out of the house, leaving a sleeping six months old baby behind asleep and undisturbed by the commotion which brought the police to the scene. When the police arrived to the scene, the police recognized the man to be a violent man when he was in a mentally declined state. From the looks of things, the man have already reached to that state where he was violent. 

Sergeant (Sgt.) Walker was the senior officer on the scene and an assessment of the scene; it was concluded by all involved that the situation was too dangerous, for the local police in the community to handle. This was because of their limited training and the limited resources they had access to. As a result, Sgt. Walker called his unofficial Commandant SOP Quow, and he updated him on the state of the affairs and requested that he (Mr. Quow) dispatch the Special Service Unit to deal with the matter. 

Mr. Quow said to Mr. Walker whilst on the phone, using his unique pitch and voice: “Walker Get the child! Walker I say to get the child! Mr. Walker said ok Sir! Sgt. Walker hanged up the phone and even though he was untrained in such art, the Sergeant functioned with greater skills than a tactical specialist. Immediately, the petrified Sergeant found a means how to and got into the house undetected, once in the house, Mr. Walker crawled on his belly to where the child was, he retrieved the sleeping child from off the bed on which the child lay unaware of the danger that had forcefully became a tenant occupying the house where he so peacefully lay. 

After Sgt. Walker retrieved the sleeping child from the bed on which it peacefully lay. Sgt. Walker then retraced his crawl, this time he was carefully carrying the precious package in his hand: the six months old baby. It is only God alone that knows, why that child did not wake up during the whole event, of being moved and carry, or why he did not cough, sneezed, cry, or just say gu-gu as most babies does even while the sleep. Thus, alerting the mentally deranged man of Sgt. Walker’s helpless presence. But thank God the baby did not make a sound to betray his rescuer’s undetected presence. As a result, Sgt. Walker exited the house, unknowing to the mentally deranged man who was in the same bedroom. 

When Mr. Quow showed up to address the class at the Police Training School, the entire training staff was on edge. He did two things, that made it clear to me that I was not wanted and therefore, will not be given the top award upon completion of the program. The first thing he did during his speech, was to looked at me, pointed me out, asked me my name and declared, your eyes look like you smokes Marijuana.

When Mr. Quow said that, I looked at him with a tense smiled that distorted my lips and I shook my head from left to right in sympathy for the man and his remarks. I wanted him to get a message, that I was not afraid of him and his prejudicial remarks. Then he went on to say, I know most of you have set your hopes on going to specific department, but that is not how it is here. You will be placed where you are needed not where you want to go. I suspected that his reason for visiting and his little pointless chat was aimed at me. 

Such remarks, like the Marijuana smoking remark, when made by Mr. Quow, took on a life of its own and normally follows a police officer throughout his or her entire career. It was also the beginning of a police career with a target on one’s back. As in the case of Maxwell Springer, an intelligent young police officer, that most of the management of the police though was an intellectual threat to their existence.

A target that exposes one to suspicion and ill treatment, by all especially the members of Mr. Quow’s force. Later an instructor at the training school tried to use Mr. Quow’s remark against me, starting the expected trend. I quickly, put that to rest by telling the instructor, who cares what Mr. Quow say, is Mr. Quow God. Unknowingly I struck a chord of reality, that put that instructor in check. That was the last time I have ever hear that remark again. 

After a lengthy debate with Commandant Christopher, he rationally, went against my suggestion, which was to let one of the other guys who really wanted to participate in the various competitions, get the opportunity too, by taking my place. Mr. Christopher said, you have to remember this is training, I have to follow the rules, so you can get an idea of what will be expects of you in the police world, and another thing he said in sticking to his decision. The other people who will like to be in the finals did not qualify for the finals; you did! 

I was correct in my assessment, because even after a stellar all round performance in training school, qualifying for all of the competitive finals, and placing 3rd or 4th overall academically, I was sent to the transportation division where my responsibility was to be a police driver. While there were a few people on the program who have never passed a weekly test or the final exam; were sent to specialized department. 

I graduated, and I left the Police Training School and I was now assigned to the Transport Division at the Central Police Station in Kingstown. Across the yard from the Transport office in the second floor of the Victorian building that is a part of the police compound at the Central Police Station was Mr. Quow’s office. From his office he can see everything that goes on in the common area. Every now and then you can see him opening the window to his office, where he will call someone of shout some order to someone. 

Grown men sitting on the bench in the yard will get up from their seat and literally run because they did not want to be seen by Mr. Quow. Because to be seen by him, may mean some form of punishment, a day off or a weekend forfeited, even an instantaneous transfer. In my mind it was demeaning to see my colleagues so afraid of a man. I personally never felt the urge to ran at the presence of Mr. Quow and I did not run; I will just walk away after everyone have speedily abandon me or I will remain sitting were I was. 

My lack of reverence for him annoyed My Quow, and he opened his book of intimidator tactics, and began his little game to instill fear in me. In the morning when Mr. Quow arrived to work, there was a police officer already waiting to meet him in his assigned garage, to open his car door for him, take his flask and Brief case from his car and take them to his office.

On such a mornings when he knows I was working, as if he did not know who is working at the transport division; he will slyly ask who is working at transport this morning, he will summon me to the vehicles that was assigned to the transport division and complain about something and instruct me to get it done. 

If he sees me in the yard he will quickly leave his office to accost me in the yard, and find something to criticized, because I was always neatly dress and clean, there was hardly anything about my appearance for him to attack. If he did not see any pen in my pocket, he will say Palmer where are your pens; and if I did not have any pens on me at that point and time he will make a big deal out of thing like that. 

I was determined to stop this regular accosting and foolish nagging was getting too overbearing and a lot of people noticed it. At the time I did not know what was happening and what was hoped to be gained by Mr. Quow’s attitude towards me. This had became a trend and I accidentally overheard some NCO's speaking about what Mr. Quow was doing and why he was doing it.

However, what I did know was; I was not going to be washing any police officer personal car, I was not going to be demeaning myself by running like the others whenever they saw Mr. Quow, and I was not going to become one of Mr. Quow’s errand boys that spend their days off on his farm or running other errand for Mr. Quow. 

I was getting teed off at Mr. Quow’s behaviors toward me, I needed a solution and I needed one quickly. And then I got an idea. It was the only course of action I could have think of. The following morning, I got up early, I complete all of my responsibility to hand over to the next shift. I began to clean a transport right in the area of Mr. Quow’s assigned parking space. I was cleaning that transport for almost an hour. No one knew what I was up to but I was there waiting patiently for Mr. Quow to get to work. I did not intend to leave that spot until I have executed my plan. 

While there, I saw one of the officer on duty at the Fire Department, sprang to his feet and hurriedly open the gate to the fire station; the entrance where Mr. Quow normally enter the police premises. This could only mean one thing, Mr. Quow have arrived to work. He was the only senior officer who demanded such, service. Mr. William Harry did not demand such reverence and he was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, and neither did Mr. Randolph Toussaint who was the Police Chief. 

I was still keeping a visual on the gate; I wanted to know the exact time of Mr. Quow’s arrival. Still pretending to be washing the vehicle, I saw a familiar car drove slowly into the drive way passing the gate that gives access to the police compound. Mr. Quow was in love with the accolades of his post. As a result, he stopped his car, to ensure the police officer who opened the gate in order for him to enter on to the police compound, pay him his tribute with a salute.

After which, he drove his car slowly up to the area of the reception desk of the Fire Department and stop there, to ensure the None Commission Officer on duty there, called the men at the fire department to the attention position; while the NCO offers him a tribute in the form of a salute. The initial tributes was important to the superintendent to begin his day. If one thing does not go as Mr. Quow expected it to; everyone was going to have a bad day especially those who messed up. 

I watch as Mr. Quow car drove up the little incline that lead from the gate, then across the yard and into the parking area that was reserve for him under the over hang of new Criminal Investigation Department building. By this time, his orderly was on his way over to collect his brief case and his Termus; Whose responsibility it was to take them to his office. This morning I beat the orderly to Mr. Quow’s Car, I politely open the door to his car, as his orderly would have down. I saw a victorious smile erupted on my Quow’s face, as if to say, I think Palmer is actually coming around to how we do things here. 

I stood at the side of the car that leads out of the parking garage while Mr. Quow existed the car, there was nowhere from him to go; there was a concrete column that blocked his way and I was standing in the only way out of the area. Looking at him directly into his eyes with no sign of weakness, I said "Mr. Quow I want to have a word with you." 

Mr. Quow was still wearing the smile of victory on his face; then said, "what do you want Palmer." Still maintaining eye contact I said to him, ever since, I came to work here, each time you see me, you have something negative to say to me. I want you to tell me what have I done to you or what have I done wrong. Mr. Quow was taken aback, and the confident smile he had on his face, immediately disappeared and it was replaced with a look of shock and disbelieve, at what he was hearing. He looked at me confused. 

No one was ever been brave enough to confront Mr. Quow about such things before. For the first time since I got to know Mr. Quow, the always loud, always vocal Superintendent, who struck fear into the hearts of grown man was at a loss for words. From his reaction you could see Mr. Quow look for words to justify his behavior toward me but his mind betray him. 

By this time his orderly observing the confrontation, quickly grab what he came for and disappeared. He did not want to be a witness to what was taking place. Mr. Quow was still stumbling over his tongue, trying to find the right words to justify his behaviors towards me. His lips were making efforts to move but they were only quivering; they were froze, leaving his mouth in the open position and they did not really move; and nothing come out of his mouth. 

Then suddenly I saw movement of his lips and I actually heard words. the words said "Palmer just do what is right and fear no man”. I quickly reply: what is what I was doing all the while but you were still picking on me for no reason at all. Then Mr. Quow said to me well continue to do what is right and fear no man. I quickly reply Ok Sir, I will. I moved out of his way, then Mr Quow, reached into his car took out his cane and cap proceed to walk to his office as if nothing have just happened. 

It was not my last encounter with Mr. Quow, but it was the last time, Mr. Quow ever picked on me for absolutely no reason. This was the beginning of a wonderful experience in the police force. This is what happens when you beat the bully.

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True Story: Kevin John AKA "Bram-Bram" - Saved a life, my reputation and my Program

I was about 10 years old, when a young man by the name of Dalton Weeks, who resided in Rose Place, which is also knows as Bottom Town, a suburb in the capital Kingstown, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; unknowingly did, what is termed, in today's psychological world as: an Intervention. Dalton was always in trouble with the law, and most of the time, he came up on the losing end, of his struggle, to be a law abiding citizen. 

As a result, he often found himself, locked away, behind the bars in the local prison. However, one day Dalton Weeks did a little act, that positively impacted the life of many of the youths of Bottom Town, including my life. Although he frequently got into trouble he was loved by all. 

One summer day, school was on summer break and the children of Bottom Town were out of school. My friends and I had done all of the fun things that was there to do. It was still morning, and although we had a long day ahead of us, we were out of ideas and activities. We were just sitting around; in an unfinished wooden cargo vessel doing nothing. This Cargo Vessel was being built on the bay-side, close to the Baisden's residence. 

While we were there, Dalton came into an unfinished vessel carrying two bird guns, and he took it upon himself, to teach us how to safely use the gun and how to shoot and hit targets. In this case the targets were small empty tin cans. Strangely many years later when I became a police officer, and was going through weapon training and target practice, using the M-16-A1 rifle. I discovered that the science of shooting, Dalton Weeks taught us as children, so many years ago; was the same science that was being taught in the police training school. 

The next day Dalton took us on a little hike in the castle area. We were out in the wooded or forested area, doing military crawls, which strangely Dalton knew by name. This was the best vacation I ever had. As kids, we always looked forward to summer and desperately hoped, Dalton will not be locked up; because we looked forward to summer with Dalton. 

I recognized the value of what Dalton Weeks give to me as a child and I wanted to ensure that as many youths were exposed to the same thing. As a result, I organized Adventurers Hikers: a hiking program. This was a program that took Vincentian children on hiking expeditions along the many hiking trail in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. On a regular, I did weekend hikes with selected group of children from my neighborhood: Bottom Town, my friend’s children, my kids and my sister’s kids. However, I had daily hikes in the summer. 

This was the beginning of the summer and the official beginning of the daily Adventurer Hiking program for the year. We began with an easy hike and every hike after that became more challenging, required more determination, and much more stamina. We had a good relationship with First FM, which was managed by Bernard Joseph (B.J). 

Each day Bernard Joseph give us the privilege to go on air live, on First FM, from out hiking destination. In this show, the hikers were interviewed by B.J as to the day activates, the challenges, what was learnt etc. This was a hit with the radio listening audience; especially, the parents of the hikers who turned into the station to hear their child name and voice on one of the most popular radio station. 

Bernard Joseph, First FM and the Adventurers hikers created a first in radio history in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Bernard Joseph facilitating the hiking program, give us the opportunity of being the first to have ever do a live broadcast from La Souffriere, the remote Volcano, high in the dense mountain of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

It was the second day of the hike; on this day, I took the hikers on a slightly harder hike than the day before. I took them to Castle and Bath. Castle and Bath is that vast area of land that is below the southern cliff of Fort Charlotte; which is perched up high, on the top of the mountain that is due west of the capital Kingstown, on the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

The large forested area at the base of the heugh, which descends from the historic structure; you finds Bath and Castle; the abandon location of a leper hospital, a leper colony and the primitive system that was set up, for the patients of the leper hospital; to cleanse them selves. These structures have deteriorated over the years and the unforgiving elements the make up nature played a significant role. The harsh weather, the sea blast, the constant beating of the wave against the rocks and the high winds etc. this area is constantly exposed to, all contributed equally to the process. 

It was important that the hikers followed the instructions when they were given. It was in their ability to follow instruction that prevented accident and ensure that everyone was safe. There were many youths on this trip and the more people one has to manage only increase the changes of accidents. Added to the danger the area presents, which consisted of gravel on the rocks and loose rocks that looked like firm ground, which had the potential to make walking difficult; increased the potential of an accident. 

It was the appearance of danger that make this place a hit with the kids. After being told of how dangerous this palace was, getting a view of the place and an understanding of the risk one take when they did not follow the instructions given; results in the a generally compliance with and to the instructions. 

No one wanted to be that person who fell off the cliff and for the most part all the hikers followed the instructions that was given. However, if the children follow my instruction the place pose the same amount of chances of an accident as a play ground. The big difference was; here, the price was higher. I have taken many kids to that place many times before, but those were children who knew how to follow instructions; they did as they were told and they complied with instructions given. 

On the hike was a twelve years old young man by the name of Kevin John; also known as Bram-Bram, he was a simple young man, easy to get along with. Bram-Bram is the son of one of my childhood friend Dale John. Bram Bram’s father: Eddie was also my very good friend and one of my mentors as a youth growing up. So it was always a privilege to have him on the hike. He was a courageous youth who was comfortable in his own skin. Also on the Hike was Delano and his sister they were my closest neighbors. 

Like most children Delano’s age, he had a tendency to look for attention, of his peers. One of the way such people find attention is to rebel against authority and I was the authority on the hike. When my back turn and I was not paying attention to Delano; he did his own thing, going contrary to my instruction. 

We were all sitting chatting after the kids got an opportunity to go somewhat into the bath area, Delano became, dissatisfied with his seat and he decided to move from his spot on the rock, once again going contrary to my instructions. He was walking dangerously close to the edge of the cliff; in order to show the other hikers how brave he was. Ignoring the fifty feet drop either in the rough water or on the sharped rocks below; depending on your location on the base above. 

I warned participants to stay away from the edge because the rocks closer to the edge were loose and may give away under the feet and cause a serious accident. We were deep into the bushes, the only way out was a long walk up hill, along a two feet track, with razor grass on both end of the track. We were a far cry from medical help if there was a serious accident. I made the situation clear to the hikers, before we left for the hike, I reinforced it again before we began the descent and I make it clear to them again, when we arrived at our destination. 

All this was explained to the participants, most of the participants understood the consequence of an accident and they all took caution to ensure they were not a victim of an accident. Delano seeing the caution of the other hikers, used it as a tool to make a name for him as the only one who was not afraid and his constant moving from position to position persisted even after continual caution from me and the other hikers. 

We were all sitting around safe enjoying the view as I explained to them the man made features of the Bath and how and why it was used. while I answered any question, the hikers had. 

It was then I notice Delano once again, got up from his seat on the rock, while he was in the process of changing position once again, the young man stepped on some gravel, which rolled from beneath his feet, causing him to suddenly slip and fall. Delano was unable to stop himself from slipping uncontrollable down the short incline before he fell from the cliff. Unfortunately, the place where Delano fell was about fifty feet drop from the top to the sharp unforgiving rocks that waited beneath to received him or anything that fell from above. 

When I saw what was happening, there were no time for panic or even emotions, I knew exactly what had to be done. As a result, I immediately rushed over to where the accident was still in the process of taking place, but I was too far away to prevent Delano from falling, from the safety of the top of the cliff; even with my best efforts. My heart move within me at the thought of the outcome of what was about to happened right before my eyes. 

How was I going to explain to Delano’s parents who trusted me with their two children, that he had an accident under my supervision and care. I cringed even at that thought. Another thought that popped into my head was: how was this accident going to psychologically affect the other members of the hiking party. The purpose of the program was to help the youths develop strong bodies and mind, not to destroy these young mind with such trauma, of the graphic experience that was being played out in full view of all; an event that had no positive end that I could see. 

I was still rushing to the immediate area where by this time Delano was in a free fall, he was about to have an unplanned meeting with the waiting rocks beneath. I foresee a broken back, head trauma, broken limbs. I could not see this child surviving this fall. Mentally I was prepared for the worst. 

Just then; without warning and out of the thin air, A miracle happened. I saw a black, long, skinny hand popped out of no where. It went out and caught hold of Delano’s right arm in the area of the wrist. There were no sound of amazement, no cheers, no applauds only the whistle of the wind and the smashing sounds of angry wave, beating against the rocks that gives the indication of its willingness; to wash away all evidence of the tragic accident that was moments away from happening. Nature did not stop her centuries old routine to sympathized with the dangerous scenario that was being played out in her presence. 

This unexpected intervention immediately halted Delano’s fall. Now Delano was swinging in the air bouncing off the rock face. At least for the mean time, his fall was delayed but he was still dangling in the air, and the sharp rocks beneath, patiently awaited his arrival. The dangling young boy was not safe. By this time the other hikers were all on their feet, bathing in helplessness, quietly and in shock, as they tried to get a view of the terrible scene that was being unfold before them. 

It was the hand of an angel, that interceded and cut short the fall of the falling kid. At this time, I saw Bram-Bram, spread out on the rock like a crab, in a 110 degree angle. He was using his left hand and his left foot to grip into the rocks, which was on the safe part of the base, while his right foot, which was on the incline, barely hang on to a small stone, that was sticking out of the cliff face; that look as if it was about to break loose from the weight that it was suddenly asked to carry. 

Bram-Bram tightly held the wrist of the falling victim and was struggling with the weight of Delano who without words, but with the fear in his eyes looking up at Bram-Bram and with his facial expression which was covered with fear, begged the skinny young man not to let go of his grip on his arm. 

Bram-Bram was found in a position he did not asked or bargained for. His own safety was at risk, yet he refused to release the grip he had on Delano. Bram-Bram was not strong enough, to hoist Delano to safety; and I was not sure, how much longer Bram-Bram could maintain his hold on Delano, before his grip broke from the excessive weight the youth was carrying; while in such an awkward position; or before he lose his hold upon the rock, in which case, will only result in both youths, plunging helplessly and smashing on to the rock beneath. This new dynamic drastically changed the complexion of the situation. Instead of an accident involving one child, the situation have now escalate into a case where the accident may now involved two children. 

I was still in the process of rushing to the immediate scene where the dangerous fall and the dramatic save were being made. When I got there, I quickly climbed down to where I can take hold of Delano’s hand and I did just that relieving Bram-Bram of the heavy weight he was carrying; the weight of Delano, who was probable heaver then Bram-Bram was. I then pulled Delano to safety. 

The moments immediately after the incident, everyone was extremely quiet. Even I could not believe the dramatic scene that had just played out before our eyes. A scene that put on public display a valiant demonstration of quick thinking, sharp reflexive, and the mustering of unknown strength from an unassuming hero. We were all witnessed to a scene that is often seen dramatized in a Hollywood block buster movie. Such scenes are filmed in a controlled environment, with stunts men, protective gears, and all of the precaution to ensure the safety of actors, stuntmen and film crew.

But on that day, we all got to see hero in the flesh in action, we were all privilege to have witnessed, an emergence of courage from Bram-Bram's in full actions.