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Ti John shrieked with delight, as he jumped up and down and whooped like a child at Christmas.\u00a0 His Grandmother Ma Rose who was busy frying titiwi accra rushed out of the kitchen to see what the fuss was all about.<\/p>\nTi John shrieked with delight, as he jumped up and down and whooped like a child at Christmas.\u00a0 His Grandmother Ma Rose who was busy frying titiwi accra rushed out of the kitchen to see what the fuss was all about.<\/p>\n
\u201cMama I made it.\u201d he shouted as he effortlessly lifted Ma Rose and did a victory dance up and down. In his sweaty palms was an official looking letter embossed with the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force\u2019s insignia, accepting him as a candidate for basic training in Barbados for 2 weeks and upon successful completion he would be stationed at Morne Bruce where he would undergo another two weeks of\u00a0\u00a0 rigorous physical training.<\/p>\n
This was Ti John\u2019s dream come true and before too long everyone in Loubierre got the news. Some expressed pride and joy, but there was of course the haters as usual rolling\u00a0 their eyes and sucking\u00a0 their teeth with major attitude.\u00a0 One lady, Ma Cany stated, \u201cwell is now self Ti John will show off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHmm show off eh,\u201d responded another. \u201cDe big loogawoo by the courthouse will show him who show off.
\nshe continued, \u201cWell corfey di mati at least he made his Grandmother proud\u201d interjected Ma Paul, a usually quiet and soft spoken lady.\u00a0\u00a0 They were all by the river doing their weekly washing beating and cho choing their clothes and \u2018ponging beff\u2019 (gossip).<\/p>\n
Uncle Ferdie, Ti John\u2019s uncle was an old retired police officer, pulled him aside and told him that he needed to be prepared, since the hardest and final part of the police training was to guard the big court house opposite DBS for one week.<\/p>\n
After completion of the crucial 7 days, \u201dthen and only then you can call yourself a police officer and wear your uniform with pride\u201d, he informed his nephew.<\/p>\n
Ti John could not imagine why this was such a big deal especially since he now considered himself \u2018The Man\u2019.\u00a0 To him nothing could be worse than running through Roseau in the rain in white tees, khaki shorts and those\u00a0 heavy black combat boots that pinched his toes and gave him blisters and on top of all that, Sergeant Dell his training officer was known to be a complete and miserable asshole.\u00a0 Rocking a permanent scowl and a serious overbite Sarge had more teeth in his mouth than a set of triplets. He demeaned and insulted his rookies and they feared and hated him with a passion especially Ti John who in turn wasted no time hitting him up with smart remarks about his teeth\u00a0 \u201cHey Sarge no more room in de garage?\u201d The other recruits tried very hard to suppress their laughter.<\/p>\n
Although Sarge bore a strong resemblance to Brer Anansi, his wife\u00a0 and young daughter were beauties and Ti John took great pleasure secretly messing with the man\u2019s wife.\u00a0\u00a0 The other guys thought that he had to be both mad and reckless.\u00a0 Everyone waited for Sarge to explode but that man\u00a0 was slicker than oil\u00a0 and he never let on that he\u00a0 knew about the affair.\u00a0\u00a0 He appeared neither worried nor angry, but he planned on dishing out his own special\u2018don\u2019t mess-with-me\u2019 brand of payback.<\/p>\n
The dreaded day came along with the dark and mysterious task of guarding the Court house on Victoria Street. The first three nights came and went without a hitch, but by the fourth night the venomous stench of evil lay heavily in the atmosphere and as Ti John leisurely strolled around the building, he became aware of a prickling sensation at the back of his neck as if someone was watching him.<\/p>\n
He walked faster as clouds obscured the light of the moon, casting eerie shadows around the big yard. Ti John felt the cold hands of fear clutching tightly at his heart\u00a0 and filled with a terrible superstitious dread decided to break out into a panicked\u00a0 run.<\/p>\n
As he jetted around the back corner of the courthouse, he was confronted by\u00a0 the biggest and ugliest dog he had ever seen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It stood a few feet in front of him snarling and growling.\u00a0 The dog was actually a loogawoo and there\u00a0 was something sinister and evil coming through its eyes, a hatred so deep and\u00a0 intense swirled around its massive body.\u00a0 This time around\u00a0 Ti John
\ncouldn\u2019t run, his legs were like lead.\u00a0 Every bone in his body seemed to grow cold. His insides like ice water,\u00a0 and he just emptied his bowels and soiled his nice crisp uniform.<\/p>\n
He never felt such fear and humiliation in his life before. Whimpering like a small child, Ti John wished he had heeded Uncle Ferdie\u2019s warning. The dog inched forward menacingly, sat on his haunches and a low mournful howl erupted from deep inside its throat.<\/p>\n
Ti John felt the hot breath against his ear, the hoarse whisper \u201cAhah say pa coparwayzor ou coparwayzor? Ou ka ka a sou-w.,\u201d the frightful gleam in the dog\u2019s eye said it all.<\/p>\n
Ti John could not even scream, the insides of his mouth and\u00a0 tongue felt like sandpaper. Just as he was about to give up, to his relief\u00a0 he saw the headlights of a car coming up the road, but his heart sank when the driver appeared to take a different turn.\u00a0 The big dog crouched low ready to pounce.\u00a0 Ti John knew he was destined to become a distant memory, but as if In answer to his prayer Uncle Ferdie dashed out of the bushes with precise timing armed with a thick stick\u00a0 (a bator wajay) in one hand and a brown bag in another.<\/p>\n
With\u00a0 a voice of authority he shouted \u201cWaitay la! Dell!\u00a0 Pa mem borday nuh\u201d.The dog halted in its movement, stunned for an instant.\u00a0 With the element of surprise on his side, Uncle Ferdie swung the stick aiming straight for the dog\u2019s legs\u00a0 and using his left hand, forcefully threw a handful of salt at its eyes.\u00a0 The dog yelped in protest
\nit was a blood curdling\u00a0 almost human scream.\u00a0\u00a0 Angry and full of rage the dog leapt forward and hurled its massive body against Uncle Ferdie, who missed his footing and fell over backwards.\u00a0 The dog was on the old man\u2019s chest in a heartbeat ready to tear him to shreds, but Ferdie reached into his front pocket and in a desperate effort at self defense\u00a0 stabbed the dog on its side with his French penknife.<\/p>\n
Ti John still in shock could only look on in amazement.<\/p>\n
So many questions, and did he just hear Uncle Ferdie refer to the big ugly dog as Dell?\u00a0 Then It meant that Dell was the big Loogawoo that all the recruits had to face?\u00a0 But Ti John knew by then that Sarge had a different plan for him, and\u00a0 he would have been killed if not for Uncle Ferdie, who was now battered and bruised.<\/p>\n
The old man struggled to his feet and held on to his chest,\u00a0 the loogawoo was wounded but still had a fighting chance,\u00a0 it crouched low getting ready to attack\u00a0 Ferdie, but Ti John mustered up enough courage just in the nick of time and grabbed on to the loogawoo\u2019s hind legs in an effort to abort the attack.\u00a0 The loogawoo was dragging Ti John all over the place like a rag doll trying to shake him off.\u00a0 Ferdie pulled out his pipe filled it with tobacco and started to smoke, and scattered some pyay poule and zeb cowesse. Loogawoo and soucouyan are afraid of those things, Ti John always heard people say.<\/p>\n
He watched fearfully as the loogawoo seemed to be losing strength.\u00a0 It was painfully dragging itself away from the courthouse.\u00a0\u00a0 Uncle Ferdie and Ti John threw a handful of salt and some tobacco over their left shoulders, before they jumped into Uncle Ferdie\u2019s old pickup and hightailed it out of there never looking back.<\/p>\n
The next day Sergeant Franklyn Dell was found at his home in Pottersville in a critical condition.<\/p>\n
He was taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital where he died the next day. He had a great turnout at his funeral.\u00a0\u00a0 Ti John and Uncle Ferdie kept quiet for the time being but went to the Funeral armed with some garlic bulbs sewn in between for protection, to prevent the loogawoo from coming back to wreak havoc.<\/p>\n
As for Dell\u2019s wife, Ti John left well enough alone.\u00a0 He was all set, he had learnt his lesson.<\/p>\n
EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Persons are asked to submit stories about real-life ghost experiences, folklore, and anything related to dominicanewsonline@gmail.com Submissions are strictly confidential, so do not worry. The column appears every Tuesday when available.
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