ANIL closed the umbrella as the rain eased to a drizzle, standing in wet conditions at the car park sourcing passengers travelling to Georgetown. He was one among the many hire car drivers parked since early morning at the old stelling road in New Amsterdam.

The consistent rainfall was bad for the workday, but it was his livelihood and patience was in his line of work. He had two passengers and needed two more almost an hour ago. The drizzle became heavier and he said to himself, “Maybe I should just move on with these two passengers, drop off the two packages I collected and cut my losses for the day. At least I will be able to fill up back my tank.”
He knew from experience that not all days were good days.

He was walking to his car when an elderly African woman alighted from a short drop car. All the drivers rushed to her but she wasn’t travelling. She just wanted a small bag dropped off at Plaisance on the East Coast. No one wanted to take it because of the bad weather, and added to that, she wasn’t willing to pay anything extra.

She stood there looking around a bit helplessly and as Anil began to pull out of the park, she raised her hand and stopped him.
“Please son, this box is very important for my granddaughter. She’s pregnant and expecting her baby soon but I can’t travel until next week.”

She had that kind of gentle motherly air and the worried look on her face was something Anil couldn’t say ‘No’ to. It was a teaching he grew up with, to always show care and lend a helping hand to those who needed it. He took the box and the directions and as she pulled out of the park, she said, “Thank you, son. God will bless you.”
“Yep,” Anil said with a little smile, “We all need His blessings.”

Not far after passing Rosignol he picked up one passenger and another at Bath Settlement. He now had a full load and said to himself, “Grandma’s blessings are working bai.”
On the way, he got into an interesting conversation with the passenger in the front seat, a stout guy who did business in the City. The man was an ardent cricket fan and an expert in betting on the game.
“So what yuh think about de Warrior’s team picked for CPL?” Anil asked him.

“Looks good to me,” he answered, “Not sure dem can mek it to de finals though.”
“Why yuh say that?”
“Is cricket muh fren, anything could happen.”
“Like de last five finals,” a passenger from the backseat quipped in.
“Ah man mek some good money on da last final,” the passenger who answered to the name ‘Fat Man’ said, “Because ah bet against the warriors.”

The conversation continued between the two passengers on the game until Fat Man settled down and started to snooze. One passenger stopped off at Enmore, one at Golden Grove, and the journey continued in silence until they reached Plaisance. Anil asked to be excused for a couple of minutes to drop off the box the elderly woman had given him. He followed a street that wasn’t quite good, turned at the third corner and stopped by a flat unpainted concrete house.
“Don’t tek too long,” Fat Man urged him, “Ah got people waiting in town fuh me.”
“Yeah man, just have to drop off this box.”

Anil called at the gate but no one answered until the third call. A heavily pregnant young girl, not more than 18 years came out of the house and walked slowly to open the gate. She received the box with a warm ‘Thank You’ and as Anil walked back to his car, he heard a loud gasp and the sound of the box falling to the ground. He turned around immediately and saw the girl bending over a little, holding her abdomen.
“Are you okay?”
“I—I think my water just broke.”

“What?!” Anil exclaimed and called for someone from inside the house but no one answered.
“Nobody else at home?”
“N-no,” she answered.
She tried walking back to the house but her legs seemed weak and she stretched her hand out for help.

Anil opened the gate to help her and Fat Man called from the car, “Wah you doing man, all ah we gon be late!”
“She water break,” Anil answered.
“What de…” Fat Man expressed.
Anil helped her to a chair on the veranda and asked, not wanting to delay his passengers, “How is nobody at home wid yuh at this stage?”

“My cousin gone to do some shopping.”
“Any neighbour you can call?”
“I don’t live here and don’t know anyone from here.”
“Damn!” Anil looked around, uncertain what to do because she was looking so scared and as Fat Man called out to him again, he said to the girl, “Call your cousin and tell her —”

The girl gasped in pain and said breathing unevenly, “I-I think de lab-labour pain coming on.”
“Okay, now is time fuh panic!” Anil expressed.
“Please,” she said, a plea in her eyes, “Can yuh take me tuh de hospital?”
Anil hurried to the gate and called to the two male passengers, “She gone in labour, ah gotta take her to the hospital.”

“Budday, you know what you’re doing?” Fat Man objected, “Yuh can get all of us into trouble.”
“How? By helping a pregnant girl to the hospital?”
“Yeah budday! You don’t know de girl or she family and if you do that and something goes wrong, how you gon answer for it?”
“I get what you saying,” Anil answered, “But she’s alone and scared, we can’t leff she.”
“Can’t understand why she home alone,” Fat Man grumbled, “Lewwe hope we don’t get into any kinda trouble.”

And they assisted Anil with the young girl.
The traffic was heavy, the lights seemed to take forever to change and she cried out in pain at irregular intervals. The three men in the car in silent panic mode knew not what to say to comfort her until they reached the public hospital. The two men hurriedly paid him their fare and left saying, “This stop good for us.”

Anil watched them go, wondering what kind of trouble they were afraid of. He couldn’t get a good parking spot and barely squeezed into one a little way from the hospital’s entrance. He had no help and there was only one thing he could do. He lifted her in his arms and walked hurriedly but carefully to the hospital.

As the nurses in the maternity ward got the girl settled to attend to her, her cousin called to say she was on her way.
Anil waited to make sure she was okay and one of the nurses noticing the concern on his face asked him, “Are you the father?”
To be continued