"I don't think that I will ever have a freshly squeezed OJ/vodka..without thinking of Dennis and his goats. Respect.." Thank you Yetta I was beginning to think that I was the only one taking vodka with my juice
When he re-thatched the last time we brought a cooler of beer in in the afternoon and shared with the thirsty crew, a touristy couple walks though the the gate wire - past the pick up truck full of fronds - around the home made ladder and machetes up to the shirtless bedraggled crew and orders a drink,,,,, his reply was Dennis classic
2 Octobers ago he was doing a lot of farm work and understood by us didn't want to open in the slow season, we laughed and with his approval brought the oranges, ice, appletons and vodka and opened Chetoopies, it was such a nice conversation with him being the guest, his wife even came over for a while
I'll share a conversation I shared this morning with a group of guys some I've known since kindergarten and some of which have joined us in Negril...
News of his passing was one of the first to bring tears to my eyes in many a year.
He was old school, one of the original Negril Cliff families that had witnessed kerosene lamp to todays technology transition through his 70 years. On one side of West End Road was his beautiful green energy before green energy block home and orchard, on the other a thatched roof bar facing west perched on lava rock cliffs 30 feet above some of the most Listerine blue sea your eyes have ever been burned by. He was old school, my grandfather born in the 1880’s, husbander of every plant and creature domesticated and wild on his property and Dennis would have gotten along famousely. He was old school, when you rebuild thatch after a storm you don’t take the quick and easy nail it to a beam way out, you pull down the 3rd & fourth frond on each side and tie them to the frond beneath, time consuming back breaking, but the right way. He did not suffer fools well and I imagine to some he seemed harsh, to me and mine he was gentle protective and soft. He was old school in music, but through his clientel was well schooled in the new, he loved a certain crooner style and jazz, oh how I loved sitting and sharing as the distant waves and tradewind swept thatch played background to his deep low melodies. He was simple, smooth, easy by culture, but quick to grasp the deepest of theories on subjects from brain function to technology advances.
The luxury I afford myself in driving in Ja is that many a morning I would drive to the far end of West End Road get a drivers breakfast of pattie and shot of overproof from Dennis’s brothers shop and wander back down to sit and share with Dennis as he raked grape tree leafs and counted the goats making their way to day pasture interspersed with conversation and a smoke. Often to roll Coleen back up and spend mid morning sipping on orange juice and vodka.
Each trip I take a light to Jamaica with me, million candle power rechargeable spot, a 4 c maglite, different each trip, light is good in a 3rd world country where current can be shaky, trips to the hills in the night contain no street lights and sea ray walking in the dark is an experience to be witnessed. The morning on the travel out day each trip I would take one last drive up and my light would become Dennis’s. Last seen was last day in in October last year, little said during the exchange, but in that understanding comfortable contract between friends we knew that we will be the same tomorrow as 6 months from now and the agreement though unsaid was I will see you again brother you are part of my life.
40 trips many memorable moments.
Coleen and I got the Mustang (64 1/2 convertible) out today and did a little 100+ mile jaunt on farm to market roads over to the Des Moines River valley and floated dowm through Keosauqa, Bentensport, Bonaparte and Farmington, our 289 horses competed with amish 1 horse buggys during part of the trip, new portable i-pod lithium battery technology in a 50 year old car let us share some of Dennis's favorites and the tissue did appear a couple times,,,,, good man lost
