Short Story: Ya’ Mon! Welcome to Jamaica!

I went to Jamaica, West Indies, about a decade ago when I was really young and clueless and stayed there for two years. I met so many beautiful souls who turned into lifelong friendships. So much so that I’m proud to call them my family today!

The sun was hanging down from the cloudless blue sky, and it was my very first sunrise in Jamaica. Just outside my window, I could see cruise ships docking in and tourists walking around. From a distance, I could hear loud Soca songs that go tock tick, tock tick.. tick tick tick…

In my mind, I could only hear myself say, “Ya’ Mon!” Welcome to Jamaica!

I was in the elevator, going down to throw the trash in the bin and, my mind wandered off for a bit while waiting to reach the ground level. The elevator stopped on the 3rd floor, and on auto-pilot mode, I started walking out of the lift, thinking that I had reached ground level.

When suddenly, this very tall and strong built Rastafarian man walks right in, with his long hair all curled up into one very long knotted string. I held myself back, and the lift jerked a little as I nearly bumped into him.

Now, I am a very short Asian girl, and he was triple my size.
Of course, I was scared!

In my years of age, I had never heard about Rastafarians or knew anything about their culture. I kept telling myself that I am in their country, so I better play cool! Be Nice!

But I tried to be courageous. So, I smiled and said:
“Hi, I’m sorry I nearly bumped into you!”
I smiled again and continued in a very timid jittery voice,
“Mister, did I scare you?”

He laughed loudly and said,
“Beauty, it looks like I gave you a big fright, instead!
I caught myself giggling.

In return, this man tried to calm me down.
“Hey, beauty, don’t worry!”
“I won’t bite you!”

My eyes widened.
I stayed silent, but my mind was running wild!
With thoughts of, wait, what do you mean?
Are you going to bite me?

He went on to explain, “Beauty, I’m your coconut man!”
Again, I kept mum. What does he mean, MY coconut man?

I just stared at him blankly. Like a child, lost in space!
My mind was going, ‘huh? Huh? HuH?’
‘What talking you? In my beloved, Singlish tone.’

He smiled and said, “Beauty, you Foreigner?”
“Don’t worry! You soon understand what I mean!”

By that time, the lift reached the ground floor. I stepped out of the elevator, turned back, smiled, and said,
“Mister, don’t worry, you didn’t scare me!”
I lied, and he knew that I did.

He gave me a broad smile and said, “Oh, Beauty, I know!”

I started giggling again, right there and then!

He let out a soft laugh and walked away while singing loudly,
“Don’t you worry… Bout a Thing!”
“Cause every little thing, gonna be alright!” by Bob Marley.

I sighed in relief the minute he walked away!
I threw my trash out and went back up into my apartment.
I was ready to lock all my doors and never leave my apartment again!

Later that evening, everything cooled off, and I forgot about the incident. The doorbell rang, and I went to open to see who it was.
It was the same guy, and this time he was carrying a coconut on his hand, with the top already chopped off.

I look at him, smiled and gently uttered,
“Oh, that’s what you meant!”
I paused, raised my eyebrow, and then continued,
“That, you’re MY coconut man?!”

He gave me the brightest sparkly white smile and said,
“Ah, Beauty! You do catch on quick!”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“So Mister, how much do I owe you?”
He laughed and said, “This time, Nothing!”
he paused, and he continued;
“It’s because I scared you on your very first day here in my country.”

“and, I can’t allow you to be scared of me, Sista!”

We became really good friends, and he was always around, especially on a very hot day!

Ya’ Mon! He was definitely, MY coconut man!