01/01/2024
For my Friend Junior Lawrence. That all ah we ah one fambly in Tobago may not be literally true, but if you count real friends then Sing Nello Sing! In Tobago it is possible to inherit friends from your family, and so went I and Junior Lawrence. I first met him in Basketball and along the way found out that he was the son of the man my parents called admiringly,“the very same fellow!” Surely, it is a story, even now, that is worth telling. Mr Simon, John Lawrence was a famous Tobagonian School master who was given to use his own struggles and those of his parents to inspire others. He told of a young fellow who had one suit of school clothes that he wore to school carefully from Monday to Wednesday when it was washed overnight by his mother to be worn on Thursday and Friday to be fully laundered, on Saturdays for church on Sundays! At the end of of that description, with considerably more detail, he would draw himself up to his full height, I approximate 5’ 7” and ask rhetorically, “Do you know who was that young fellow?“ After an appropriate pregnant pause, he and at least some of the audience who knew the story, would chime in, “the very same fellow that is speaking to you now!” I could never tire of recounting that story with Jumbo. We met on court at the peak of the legendary Bouncers/Uprising rivalry and no quarter was given. Junior’s game was to occupy significant space under the hoop and snare as many rebounds that came his way, pivot away from the hoop and shout for Dexter Balfour or Quarkle to take the ball almost directly out of his hands as he rumbled to the other end of the court to unleash untold mayhem, all of the time never losing his cool! I was a lil different, I recall once, almost bestride my non-vertically challenged horse, about to unleash a tirade on some hapless official, Junior walked by me and said, “Why don't you you leave the man alone, you said you could play, the stands full, prove it!” Full-pitched battle and Junior decides to have a logic rant. Admittedly, even now, shut up and play was a very good idea! I do not think that he played more than one season then he became the leader of Uprising and represented them at league meetings. His style was to listen then speak, and he was always profound and saw the bigger picture. His positions will always sound like ‘Well if we are trying to encourage youth participation, why are we administering fines that they can’t pay?! I disagree very strongly with that, no no no-no no not at all, give the young fellows a chance.” Junior was very committed beyond measure to the Montgomery Moravian Church, I was invited to an anniversary function of some sort that they were having and I would have likely forgotten, except for Junior calling me to remind me that I must come, “Remember your old man did all of the engraving and the baptismal font for us?” So I went, I was pleased, amazed and proud of the work that he did on developing that book on the history of the Church, I was so glad that I went, and I told him so! The most difficult interviews that I ever have to do are when one Captain Lawrence shows up at the studio with young gifted and black airline pilots that he has corralled from around the world to interface with young Tobagonians to prove to our fellows and girls that everything is possible. Hard for me because while he was speaking his DNA, I was trying to choke my heart out of my chest looking at the manifestation of three generations of unwritten Crime Plans. Some people just get it! When I was responsible for the project to light the basketball court in Montgomery, I asked Junior if the lights would disturb the visitors at his guest house over side. He laughed at me “George, tourists come here for a while, we will always have young people; if they could handle Redemption steelband and football, some lights… not a problem man, not a problem!” Every time I see a reel or FB post about a pilot flying his family, I spend at least half an hour trying to think up how they could trick him into going on a flight with the Captain Son, in hindsight, Captain Lawrence, the infrastructure of the aircraft, could probably not contain a fellow bursting with so much pride.
God had it that we had car problems on the same day, so we got to blag by Yardie, our first time since the award, we talked Tobago basketball and I made some promises, children, tourism, crime, our shared inability to eat a whole roti and a whole lot of politics, in other words, normal, normal, Quarkel came to pick him up and he was gone. I get to talk, he can't anymore, but I have a screenshot as a reminder of what friendship really means. Pivot and screen hard Junior Lawrence, say hello to the two seniors and Battlements until we meet again!
