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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Pain / Problems / Adversity
- Published: 12/24/2020
Living in The Bahamas - Maid and Plumber
Born 1954, M, from Cocoa Beach/FL, United StatesTHE MAID AND THE PLUMBER
Hurricane Jeanne circled through The Bahamas in September 2004, damaging our house and causing roof leaks in subsequent storms. Water dripped in many places, and especially aggravating, onto my side of the bed. With major storm damages to homes throughout Florida, no building supplies would be shipped to Nassau any time soon. Our landlord, Dominique, couldn't secure roofing material, not even blue tarps.
A bigger problem in Treasure Cove was low water pressure caused by undersized water pipes. Although water trickled out our faucets, our dishwasher and washing machine were mostly decorative. A shower became a distant dream from the past. Instead, a slowly dribbling faucet took twenty minutes to fill our bathtub. Most homes in Treasure Cove had additional water tanks with pumps to boost their water pressure. Despite constant complaints from Annie, Dominique wouldn't make those improvements for us. After many frustrating months, Annie finally gave me an ultimatum.
"I can't stand this anymore. We're either finding another house, or I'm moving back to Florida. Some of these harbors might be idyllic, but Nassau is not paradise."
"OK, we'll break our lease and move to Cable Beach. They have high water pressure for tourists in hotels over there. Go find another place you like."
Near Sandyport, she found a gated unit in a new triplex close to my work. More importantly, she could shop safely in a nearby shopping center. Annie spent weeks packing, moving, and unpacking her household in slow motion. Months of stress and moving had taken their toll, robbing her of energy and enthusiasm.
After we moved into the new house, she told me, "That's the second time we've moved since you took this job. I don't want to move again until we leave for good. I knew it would be a back step coming over here, but I had no idea it would be this far back. I like our new landlord, Kingsley. I hope he's not a problem like Dominique."
"Don't worry, things will be better now."
A few nights later, I grimly told Annie, "You're not going to like this, but our upstairs toilet is broken. Call Kingsley and tell him to send over a plumber tomorrow. I can't deal with this; I have a lodge meeting tonight."
"Oh my God, here we go again," Annie moaned as I left.
When I came home after work, she eagerly told me, "I reached Kingsley right away. What a surprise for a Friday. He'll bring a plumber over in the morning, along with a special present. He wouldn’t say what."
"I'm sure you will like it."
Kingsley showed up early Saturday morning.
I greeted him, "It's good to see you. You sure responded faster than our last landlord. We've got to keep Annie happy, you know. Here she comes now."
"Good morning Miss Annie. I brought a plumber, Klevon, to fix your toilet, and this is Sasha. She's a maid, just in from Haiti. She doesn't speak much English, but she'll clean your house.”
With raggedy clothes, flip flops, and a scarf over her head, boney Sasha looked more like a slave than a maid. Her shoulders drooped forward and she looked downward in subservience.
“I also brought Najac to mow. I'll leave them here for you today. I pick them up at five-o-clock. Tell them whatever you need done. They will take care of you. I gotta go."
"One more thing, Kingsley."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"We need a bookcase. Do you know where I could buy one?"
A brief pause. "No, ma'am."
"There are no bookcases in Nassau?"
He shook his head. "Not too many."
With an 80% illiteracy rate, people did not read books.
He smiled. "How about I make you one right over there next to the TV?"
"Wonderful. What about a filing cabinet?"
Another pause. His eyes momentarily looked down. "My cousin's in Customs. Maybe he can find something for you. I gotta go now. See you tonight."
With a cash society and no income taxes, no one kept paperwork.
Away he scurried before Annie asked for anything else.
She told me, "He sure showed up fast. Maybe we'll be happier in this new house."
"I'm sure you will be. I think Kingsley will take good care of us."
She turned to Klevon and explained, "Our toilet upstairs won't flush."
"I know what to do. I go check that septic tank we put in last week."
"Good. I hope you know what you are doing."
When he left, Annie turned to Sasha. "You're from Haiti?"
"Yes, ma'am," she replied with a heavy Creole accent.
"How long have you been in Nassau?"
"I comes over last week," she mumbled. "Mr. Kingsley, he be real good to me."
Many Haitians snuck into Nassau illegally to do manual labor that Bahamians wouldn't perform. Haitian women obtained citizenship by becoming pregnant from Bahamian men. "What's you wants me to do, ma'am?" Sasha asked.
I was uncomfortable with her submissiveness.
"First, sweep and mop this kitchen."
"Ma'am?" she asked with a blank look on her face. Annie pulled a broom from a closet, gave it to Sasha, and pointed at the floor.
"Yes, ma'am."
Annie went outside on her morning ant patrol. Ants big and small infested our house when we moved in. While an exterminator helped reduce the ant count, bugs continued to stream over, under, and through our compound's walls. She sprayed every day with a special witch's brew of roach powder with canned Sweet Carnation milk. She looked like Sherlock Holmes, creeping around our outside walls with a magnifying glass looking for flea-sized crazy ants.
When Sasha finished sweeping the kitchen, she turned to me, "I's done. What's I do now, sir?"
"Now, you mop." I showed Sasha a closet with a mop and bucket. I walked outside to check on Annie.
I asked her, "I wonder why I don't hear a weed whacker?"
"Let me go see." She disappeared around the corner of the garage. A moment later, she walked back with a look of dismay on her face.
"Gordon, you gotta see this." She motioned to me to follow her.
She took me to our front yard, where Najac crawled on his hands and knees, cutting grass with a pair of scissors!
"I can't believe this," Annie shrieked with dismay. "What are you doing?"
"Kingsley, he leaves me no gas for my whacker.” Najac shrugged, holding up the scissors. “These be all I have."
"You stay away from my garden. Kingsley’s last mower cut down all my flowers and vegetables. This garden is my only way to have fresh vegetables."
"Yes, ma'am."
I told Annie, "You better go check on Sasha. I'm going for a swim."
I finished ten minutes of laps, then laid out next to Annie on a chaise lounge to work on my tan.
She looked at me with a grimace. "What did you tell Sasha to do?"
I shook my head, "Mop kitchen the floor. What's she doing?"
"She's on her hands and knees cleaning with a scrub brush instead of a mop."
"I guess they don't have mops in Haiti. At least our floor will be clean."
"Maybe you should see what that Klevon's up to," Annie suggested.
"Yes, I guess I should. This could be interesting."
I found him in the driveway with his head inside our septic tank.
"What's did you find out?"
"I think it's plugged up."
"Where's your tools?"
"Kingsley, he leaves me no tools."
"Don't you need a snake to clean out a sewer pipe?"
"Don't worry, I'll fix it." He stood up and walked down the street to a dead tree, where he inspected branches. He grabbed a long rotten limb and broke it off, then removed all the twigs, leaving a straight stick.
He returned with a smile and proclaimed, "I'll fix it now."
With disbelief, I looked inside the septic tank.
"There's no pipe leaving that tank. How does this work?"
"It's a soakaway. Water goes down into the rock."
Reefs pushing out of the sea formed this island. With no dirt or sand for a typical septic tank drain field, dirty water slowly soaked into porous reef rock. Septic tanks often failed in Nassau. No wonder Nassau had polluted groundwater.
"Don't stick your branch up that pipe. It'll break off, then you'll have a bad problem."
"Don't worry, man. I'll fix it."
He carefully threaded his branch through the septic tank manhole and into the blocked pipe. As he hung upside down, stroking his stick in and out of the pipe, I heard a snap. He stood up from the manhole, holding his broken stick with a sheepish grin.
"Don't worry, I'll fix it."
I didn't want to see what happened next, so I retreated to relax at the pool with Annie.
"I can see why you're tired when I come home from work. It's a chore keeping up with this place."
She laughed. "Now you understand why I drink wine at night. I thought retiring here would be easy. I have two more years of keeping an eye on Kingsley’s help. They're going to drive me crazy. They act like slaves. It’s creepy having to tell them every little thing to do."
"What's Sasha up to?"
"She's on lunch break, so I'm chilling." She rolled over, fading away under tropic sunshine.
I went to my boat to prepare for my next fishing trip. Boat Tales required never-ending TLC. Salt insidiously ate away at obvious locations like trailers and chrome, as well as not so obvious wiring connections hidden behind panels and under floors. With no boat rescue service in Nassau, I had become paranoid about being stranded at sea. I constantly checked every circuit and electrical device, especially critical bilge pumps and GPS units.
I returned to our pool an hour later after finishing my checklist. I didn't see Annie, so I entered our house. I found her with a shocked look on her face sitting on our couch, staring at a crossword puzzle.
She looked up, saying, "You're not going to believe what happened."
"What now?" Problems never stopped.
"I woke up by the pool and searched for Sasha. I didn't find her upstairs or downstairs, so I checked outside, but still didn't find her. I noticed an open door at the next-door unit, so I went inside. I heard a noise above, so I crept up the stairs. Then I heard a moan from a dark bedroom. When I turned on the light, I almost passed out. I saw Klevon's black butt bouncing between Sasha's legs pointed at the ceiling. Sasha looked over at me but didn’t stop moaning. I ran down the stairs and came back here."
I laughed uncontrollably.
"It's not funny! I've never seen live sex before. These islands are not at all like Florida. I don't want to see her again."
Our front door opened. Sasha shuffled in, her head hanging low, a smile on her face.
"Ma'am, what's I do now?"
"Do you know this plumber?"
"No."
"Do you know his name?"
"No."
"Go scrub a toilet."
"Yes, ma'am."
Living in The Bahamas - Maid and Plumber(Gordon England)
THE MAID AND THE PLUMBER
Hurricane Jeanne circled through The Bahamas in September 2004, damaging our house and causing roof leaks in subsequent storms. Water dripped in many places, and especially aggravating, onto my side of the bed. With major storm damages to homes throughout Florida, no building supplies would be shipped to Nassau any time soon. Our landlord, Dominique, couldn't secure roofing material, not even blue tarps.
A bigger problem in Treasure Cove was low water pressure caused by undersized water pipes. Although water trickled out our faucets, our dishwasher and washing machine were mostly decorative. A shower became a distant dream from the past. Instead, a slowly dribbling faucet took twenty minutes to fill our bathtub. Most homes in Treasure Cove had additional water tanks with pumps to boost their water pressure. Despite constant complaints from Annie, Dominique wouldn't make those improvements for us. After many frustrating months, Annie finally gave me an ultimatum.
"I can't stand this anymore. We're either finding another house, or I'm moving back to Florida. Some of these harbors might be idyllic, but Nassau is not paradise."
"OK, we'll break our lease and move to Cable Beach. They have high water pressure for tourists in hotels over there. Go find another place you like."
Near Sandyport, she found a gated unit in a new triplex close to my work. More importantly, she could shop safely in a nearby shopping center. Annie spent weeks packing, moving, and unpacking her household in slow motion. Months of stress and moving had taken their toll, robbing her of energy and enthusiasm.
After we moved into the new house, she told me, "That's the second time we've moved since you took this job. I don't want to move again until we leave for good. I knew it would be a back step coming over here, but I had no idea it would be this far back. I like our new landlord, Kingsley. I hope he's not a problem like Dominique."
"Don't worry, things will be better now."
A few nights later, I grimly told Annie, "You're not going to like this, but our upstairs toilet is broken. Call Kingsley and tell him to send over a plumber tomorrow. I can't deal with this; I have a lodge meeting tonight."
"Oh my God, here we go again," Annie moaned as I left.
When I came home after work, she eagerly told me, "I reached Kingsley right away. What a surprise for a Friday. He'll bring a plumber over in the morning, along with a special present. He wouldn’t say what."
"I'm sure you will like it."
Kingsley showed up early Saturday morning.
I greeted him, "It's good to see you. You sure responded faster than our last landlord. We've got to keep Annie happy, you know. Here she comes now."
"Good morning Miss Annie. I brought a plumber, Klevon, to fix your toilet, and this is Sasha. She's a maid, just in from Haiti. She doesn't speak much English, but she'll clean your house.”
With raggedy clothes, flip flops, and a scarf over her head, boney Sasha looked more like a slave than a maid. Her shoulders drooped forward and she looked downward in subservience.
“I also brought Najac to mow. I'll leave them here for you today. I pick them up at five-o-clock. Tell them whatever you need done. They will take care of you. I gotta go."
"One more thing, Kingsley."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"We need a bookcase. Do you know where I could buy one?"
A brief pause. "No, ma'am."
"There are no bookcases in Nassau?"
He shook his head. "Not too many."
With an 80% illiteracy rate, people did not read books.
He smiled. "How about I make you one right over there next to the TV?"
"Wonderful. What about a filing cabinet?"
Another pause. His eyes momentarily looked down. "My cousin's in Customs. Maybe he can find something for you. I gotta go now. See you tonight."
With a cash society and no income taxes, no one kept paperwork.
Away he scurried before Annie asked for anything else.
She told me, "He sure showed up fast. Maybe we'll be happier in this new house."
"I'm sure you will be. I think Kingsley will take good care of us."
She turned to Klevon and explained, "Our toilet upstairs won't flush."
"I know what to do. I go check that septic tank we put in last week."
"Good. I hope you know what you are doing."
When he left, Annie turned to Sasha. "You're from Haiti?"
"Yes, ma'am," she replied with a heavy Creole accent.
"How long have you been in Nassau?"
"I comes over last week," she mumbled. "Mr. Kingsley, he be real good to me."
Many Haitians snuck into Nassau illegally to do manual labor that Bahamians wouldn't perform. Haitian women obtained citizenship by becoming pregnant from Bahamian men. "What's you wants me to do, ma'am?" Sasha asked.
I was uncomfortable with her submissiveness.
"First, sweep and mop this kitchen."
"Ma'am?" she asked with a blank look on her face. Annie pulled a broom from a closet, gave it to Sasha, and pointed at the floor.
"Yes, ma'am."
Annie went outside on her morning ant patrol. Ants big and small infested our house when we moved in. While an exterminator helped reduce the ant count, bugs continued to stream over, under, and through our compound's walls. She sprayed every day with a special witch's brew of roach powder with canned Sweet Carnation milk. She looked like Sherlock Holmes, creeping around our outside walls with a magnifying glass looking for flea-sized crazy ants.
When Sasha finished sweeping the kitchen, she turned to me, "I's done. What's I do now, sir?"
"Now, you mop." I showed Sasha a closet with a mop and bucket. I walked outside to check on Annie.
I asked her, "I wonder why I don't hear a weed whacker?"
"Let me go see." She disappeared around the corner of the garage. A moment later, she walked back with a look of dismay on her face.
"Gordon, you gotta see this." She motioned to me to follow her.
She took me to our front yard, where Najac crawled on his hands and knees, cutting grass with a pair of scissors!
"I can't believe this," Annie shrieked with dismay. "What are you doing?"
"Kingsley, he leaves me no gas for my whacker.” Najac shrugged, holding up the scissors. “These be all I have."
"You stay away from my garden. Kingsley’s last mower cut down all my flowers and vegetables. This garden is my only way to have fresh vegetables."
"Yes, ma'am."
I told Annie, "You better go check on Sasha. I'm going for a swim."
I finished ten minutes of laps, then laid out next to Annie on a chaise lounge to work on my tan.
She looked at me with a grimace. "What did you tell Sasha to do?"
I shook my head, "Mop kitchen the floor. What's she doing?"
"She's on her hands and knees cleaning with a scrub brush instead of a mop."
"I guess they don't have mops in Haiti. At least our floor will be clean."
"Maybe you should see what that Klevon's up to," Annie suggested.
"Yes, I guess I should. This could be interesting."
I found him in the driveway with his head inside our septic tank.
"What's did you find out?"
"I think it's plugged up."
"Where's your tools?"
"Kingsley, he leaves me no tools."
"Don't you need a snake to clean out a sewer pipe?"
"Don't worry, I'll fix it." He stood up and walked down the street to a dead tree, where he inspected branches. He grabbed a long rotten limb and broke it off, then removed all the twigs, leaving a straight stick.
He returned with a smile and proclaimed, "I'll fix it now."
With disbelief, I looked inside the septic tank.
"There's no pipe leaving that tank. How does this work?"
"It's a soakaway. Water goes down into the rock."
Reefs pushing out of the sea formed this island. With no dirt or sand for a typical septic tank drain field, dirty water slowly soaked into porous reef rock. Septic tanks often failed in Nassau. No wonder Nassau had polluted groundwater.
"Don't stick your branch up that pipe. It'll break off, then you'll have a bad problem."
"Don't worry, man. I'll fix it."
He carefully threaded his branch through the septic tank manhole and into the blocked pipe. As he hung upside down, stroking his stick in and out of the pipe, I heard a snap. He stood up from the manhole, holding his broken stick with a sheepish grin.
"Don't worry, I'll fix it."
I didn't want to see what happened next, so I retreated to relax at the pool with Annie.
"I can see why you're tired when I come home from work. It's a chore keeping up with this place."
She laughed. "Now you understand why I drink wine at night. I thought retiring here would be easy. I have two more years of keeping an eye on Kingsley’s help. They're going to drive me crazy. They act like slaves. It’s creepy having to tell them every little thing to do."
"What's Sasha up to?"
"She's on lunch break, so I'm chilling." She rolled over, fading away under tropic sunshine.
I went to my boat to prepare for my next fishing trip. Boat Tales required never-ending TLC. Salt insidiously ate away at obvious locations like trailers and chrome, as well as not so obvious wiring connections hidden behind panels and under floors. With no boat rescue service in Nassau, I had become paranoid about being stranded at sea. I constantly checked every circuit and electrical device, especially critical bilge pumps and GPS units.
I returned to our pool an hour later after finishing my checklist. I didn't see Annie, so I entered our house. I found her with a shocked look on her face sitting on our couch, staring at a crossword puzzle.
She looked up, saying, "You're not going to believe what happened."
"What now?" Problems never stopped.
"I woke up by the pool and searched for Sasha. I didn't find her upstairs or downstairs, so I checked outside, but still didn't find her. I noticed an open door at the next-door unit, so I went inside. I heard a noise above, so I crept up the stairs. Then I heard a moan from a dark bedroom. When I turned on the light, I almost passed out. I saw Klevon's black butt bouncing between Sasha's legs pointed at the ceiling. Sasha looked over at me but didn’t stop moaning. I ran down the stairs and came back here."
I laughed uncontrollably.
"It's not funny! I've never seen live sex before. These islands are not at all like Florida. I don't want to see her again."
Our front door opened. Sasha shuffled in, her head hanging low, a smile on her face.
"Ma'am, what's I do now?"
"Do you know this plumber?"
"No."
"Do you know his name?"
"No."
"Go scrub a toilet."
"Yes, ma'am."
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