LONG TIME WALK ON
WATER by Joan Barbara Simon
Summary:
Emily Thompson, Rose to her friends, emigrates to the motherland, England,
in search of a better life. It will be hard work for the young mother in this
rich man’s country; above all she must also come to terms with this unknown
phenomenon; di Hinglish dem.
James Dunbar. Jack is what he answers to. Picking his way through the
mucky incidents of life, he consoles himself that things will get better.
They happen to meet at a bus-stop, Emily and Jack.
A tale of how the
humble live whilst waiting for their dreams to come true.
*
Behind closed doors
with sausage and mash: Jack and The Better Life?
“Hello,
love.”
A peck on the cheek, “Nice day?” She wipes her hands on her
apron. Pushes her hair into place. She had been beautiful once.
“Same as
usual.”
Jack sits down at the kitchen table in the hot, small,
cluttered place so hard to air on cold days such as these. The paint blistered
on the wall around the cooker.
“What’s for
dinner, love?” He picks up a crayon. Colours, absent-mindedly, with daughter,
Nina.
Jack’s wife stands over the sink peeling potatoes. “Police
were round. Door-to-door questioning. Some old lady in Havelock was mugged
coming back from the post office this morning, I dunno... Ben got a gold star
for a story he wrote at school, didn’tya, darling? Go’n show daddy your gold
star...” she dunks the peeled potato into the sink of cold water then plops it
into the pot on the cooker. Leaning against the cupboard, she begins to clean
the juice and mud of the potatoes from her fingernails, looking, every now and
then, out of the window. Nothing ever happened out there, but you look out of
the window just the same, like a fish in its bowl doing the rounds.
Jack looks at his wife. How many times had he told her it
drove him up the wall the way she kept fiddling around with her fingernails
like that.
“What’s for
dinner, love?” he asked once more.
“Oh!
Sausage n mash. Got a little baked beans left over from yesterday. You can ’ave
those.
‘There are no losers in Long
Time Walk on Water. I see the vulnerability caused by need and I honour those
who seek a way out. Harsh at times, Long Time Walk on Water is ultimately
uplifting and life-affirming.’
(Joan Barbara Simon,
interviewed by Lucy Walton for Female First)
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About the Author
Dr Joan Barbara Simon divides her time between researching children’s literacy development and writing fiction. Having obtained her first Ph.D. in educational studies, she’s dared to go for her ultimate challenge: a Ph.D in Creative Writing. Of herself, she says: ‘I’ve made it my mission to look more closely at undefined spaces as the best way to resist the temptation and comfort of easy answers. I’m interested in a broad range of language issues. Currently wrapping my brain around the political properties of words as polysemic, liminal entities and the nature of their common borders with the visual arts and gendered realities. That said, I’m a nice girl, so talk to me.
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