The Uncle.

My mother has a brother named Ian. In all of the years that i lived in Trinidad i had never met him. I visited Trinidad after we moved in '98. And again when i was in between year 11 and 12. That was the first time I met him.
I dont really know why it had taken this long for me to see him. When i saw him he was nothing like i had imagined. He didnt even look at me or my sister. We got in his car and drove to our house from wherever i was with my cousins. (Thinking back, im not sure why he picked us up-he was usually too busy or...)
Along the way i realised he was drunk, my aunt joked that she would be more worried if he wasn't drunk, because that's what he's used to.
My uncle started driving at 9. He's the 2nd oldest and at that age, the only living male in their family. I guess he made things easier for my mum and her sisters by being able to drive that young. He is also a mechanic. He is also always drunk.
The 2nd time i saw him was when we left. He came to our house to give us stuff. I was always around Alex when we were together so he started talking to me. For the whole trip, i had become so interested about him i hadnt stopped asking my aunts about every detail.
He kept looking at me and laughing, saying that he saw something of him in my eyes (which isnt a good thing, but it felt like it was at the time) I dont remember our conversation apart from that-except the feeling of being very happy I finally talked to him.

2007- Visiting Judy the 2nd time, we saw him outside her house (he lives with them) fixing a car. He looked at us, and i have no idea what he said.(O apart form calling my sister "whatless" that was hilarious though. "why did you bring whatless?" Sorry Anielia!)
We (My sis, mother and i) went inside to see the others. When he came inside he talked about alcohol for a while, was saying something about punch and punching (i know realise he meant puncheon rum) and then walked out.
A while later..."Hey, confederate." I had no idea who he was talking to, but my mum turned around and he called her outside to talk.
Then my cousin Jade came round. Another while later, my mother and Ian return and he says, "hmmm mana hmmm mana" (i have no idea what he said) pointed at Jade, muttered something about Satan and then walked out.
"Did you hear what he calls me?"
"no?"
"Satan"
No one found it as funny as i did, i just couldnt imagine why he'd call my stay out of trouble cousin satan. I then asked what he calls Alex:
"Asshole." I had to hide my laugh as Alex decided to notice i was in the room.
Blah blah blah, Ian came back in the room and i asked what my nickname was. Didnt have one. So i asked him what my name was. "You know me guuurl, im not good with names."
I pointed at my mum, "Do you know her name?" He swore at me and left the room.

After a nice evening with other members of my family on my mums side, we decided to get a taxi home. Judy came with us. The whole night i didnt feel comfortable with her sitting away from us or not being in the conversation. Sitting next to her was hard. I tried to imagine what she was thinking, and kept looking at her hands. I couldnt understand where Judy was. It just seemed like she had no emotion, apart from being scared or sad. (My sister had told me that she had smiled/laughed when i was messing around with my cousins before, but when i turned to look she just looked the same.)
When we arrived to her house, she got out the car without a word or a look at us. That was the last time i saw her. My sister and mum got out, but i couldnt. The taxi driver turned the car around. My uncle walked up to the car with my mum. He asked me why i didnt get out, and i faked a smile. When he saw i was crying, he opened the door and hugged me, and he called me a name (i just couldnt make it out, im so dissapointed)

In my last post, i said that i felt like i hated my cousins. This wasnt for nothing. My aunt has high blood pressure. She recieves free tablets to help control this, but it needs to be collected. I dont know how long it was, but her kids did not collect them. So she became ill just before we arrived. She was meant to spend a week in Tobago with us, our last week, but this had to be cancelled.
I couldnt understand why people who did nothing all day, could allow her to get ill, for no reason.

When i asked, my mum told me that she told Judy it was the last time she was seeing us this trip. I cant remember her reaction. I just felt sick at myself that i was selfish enough to not say goodbye.

My cousins, Adriel and Damian, were waiting for me when i got home to talk. Man, i miss them.


I miss Alex too.