Uncle Judge

This is a short story about a foolish man who destroyed his own life.

Chapter 1

The Businesses

Part 1

 

      A certified electrician lived with his common-law wife in a rural area. His name was Mr. Bernard, and the name of his common-law wife was Marie. A distant relative of Mr. Bernard gave him the pet name Uncle Judge. Marie was a fat woman, so everybody called her Fatty. She had a daughter named Swelen and two sons. Uncle Judge was not the father of her children. The youngest son lived with them, and the other two children lived with their grandmother Miss Chambers in St. Catherine.

      Uncle Judge was an alcoholic, and he smoked ganja. Sometimes he mistreated and physically abused his common-law wife. They often fussed and fought over trivial matters. Uncle Judge could not get along with other people because he was a bad-tempered man, and he had a bad attitude. Furthermore, he would utter a string of bad words whenever he curses people.

      Mr. Bernard and Marie ran a business in the country. They had a bar by the sea, and the business was successful. Their home was less than one mile from the bar. Marie used to prepare home-cooked dinner and take it to Mr. Bernard in the evenings.

      During the summer, Miss Chambers took her grandchildren to the country to spend the holidays with their mother. All the children were at the bar one afternoon, and they heard Mr. Bernard grumbling because he was hungry, so they planned to play a practical joke on him. “Uncle Judge, we’ll go home and bring your dinner for you,” Swelen said. “Okay,” he responded.

      The children went home together. Swelen put three stones in a Pyrex dish, covered it, and tied a tablecloth around it then she took it to the bar accompanied by her little brothers. They went inside, and Swelen gave Mr. Bernard the Pyrex dish. “You’re such nice children, I’m so hungry, thank you,” he said. The children knew what was about to happen, so they went outside and hid themselves.

      Mr. Bernard picked up a fork and sat down at the counter to have his dinner. When he untied the tablecloth and opened the Pyrex dish, he was so surprised to see the stones in it. He threw down the Pyrex dish in a rage, and he began to curse the children. “Look what those wicked children did!” he shouted. Swelen and her brothers laughed and ran home.

 

Part 2

 

      The business closed down in less than two years because of Mr. Bernard’s disgusting behaviour. Furthermore, he squandered the profit on smoking and drinking, thus Marie broke up with him. In the early part of 1979, Mr. Bernard moved to Kingston to live with his aunt Annie. He somehow persuaded Marie to take him back, and she went to Kingston to live with him.

      Uncle Judge and Fatty rented a place in Cross Roads and started another business. They operated an all-in-one bar and restaurant. The business was prosperous in the beginning, but they later lost customers because Uncle Judge was not a good businessman. When he got drunk or when he was in a bad mood, he would curse the customers and tell them to get out of his business place.

      Uncle Judge went to the business place one Saturday evening. He was stoned because he had been drinking white rum at a nearby bar. Nobody in the bar provoked him, yet he began to make noise and use abusive language, and this offended the customers. Fatty said something to him about his behaviour, and he responded with many expletives. Consequently, the customers ignored him and left the business place.

      A few minutes later, Uncle Judge used a sledgehammer to destroy the fixtures that he had installed to the building to spite Fatty. While he was smashing the counter and the showcase, he said, “I make, and I destroy! I make and I destroy!” A regular customer entered the bar and saw what was happening. “Why are you doing this?” he asked. “I built this business, so nobody can stop me from tearing it down, I make, and I destroy!” Uncle Judge replied. He was destroying himself, but he did not realise it. That was the end of the business, and they lost everything.

 

Part 3

 

      Fatty separated from Uncle Judge again, and she rented a place on the same road and started a business by herself. It was a bar, and she named it Fatty’s Pub. She was a progressive entrepreneur, and she knew how to interact with customers. The business was booming as a result of her hard work and the support that she received from the people in the community.

      Uncle Judge decided to restore his business. He cleaned up the place, rebuilt the fixtures, restocked the bar, and then he placed a signboard at the front of the building that read, “New Management.” When people went to the bar and saw him, they realise it was the same manager, so they did not support the business. Furthermore, his behaviour did not improve; he was still an ill-mannered person. The bar closed down two months after he had reopened it because he alone could not run a successful business.

      Uncle Judge begged Fatty to take him back, but she did not make up with him. This time the separation was permanent. He turned against her as a result of her flat refusal to take him back. Furthermore, he coveted the progress that Fatty was making at her new bar, so he decided to make trouble for her. On two occasions, he went to Fatty’s bar when he was intoxicated. He cursed her and threw empty glass bottles in the bar. The second time he did this Fatty called the police, but he left the scene before they came. Fatty told her friends what he did, and they devised a plan to deal with him in case he bothered her again.

      Three strong-armed men were having a drink in the bar one afternoon when Uncle Judge went there to make trouble. The men met him at the doorway and chased him away. Furthermore, they gave him a harsh warning and threatened him. “Leave the woman alone, stop making trouble for her,” one man said. “Stay away from this place or else we’ll kill you,” another man said. Uncle Judge was afraid of the muscular men, so he walked away hurriedly, and he never went back to Fatty’s Pub to make trouble. Fatty later moved to another location in Kingston and started a new business.

 

Chapter 2

Work

 

      A gentleman named Mr. Gauntly hired Mr. Bernard to wire a house. Mr. Gauntly agreed to pay him weekly on a Friday depending on the progress of the work. Two young apprentices were working on the job with Mr. Bernard, and he had the responsibility to pay them. The first three working days of the week Mr. Bernard left the apprentices on the job and went to various bars to drink white rum.

      The boss went to the worksite on Monday afternoon, and Mr. Bernard was not there. He went back there on Tuesday at midday, and Mr. Bernard was not at work. When he went back to worksite on Wednesday evening, he did not see Mr. Bernard, so he asked for him, and one of the apprentices said that he was not there. Mr. Bernard went to work on Thursday and Friday, but he did not do much work because he was drunk.

      The boss went back to the worksite on Friday evening to inspect the work that the men were doing, and he saw that they did significantly less work than he had expected. Mr. Bernard came up with some unacceptable excuses when the boss spoke to him about it. The boss brought the money, but he refused to pay him because he did not do enough work on the wiring.

      Mr. Gauntly stormed out the house and headed towards his car, and Mr. Bernard quickly followed him. The apprentices were watching from a window of the house. They could not hear what Mr. Gauntly and Uncle Judge were saying, but they could see the gestures. When Mr. Gauntly got in the car, he said, “You didn’t go to work on Monday or Tuesday, and neither did you go on Wednesday, but you went on Thursday and did a little work, and you came today to collect money from me, that can’t work, Mr. Bernard.”

      Uncle Judge tried to reason with him. “But I have to pay the men,” he said. “I don’t care,” the boss replied, and he started the engine and drove off. Uncle Judge took off his cap, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it then he raised his hands to the sky. The apprentices were angry because they knew that they would not get any money that evening, but they could not help laughing at him.

 

Chapter 3

Karate

 

      On a night in winter, Uncle Judge wore a pair of slippers to a popular bar, and he had several drinks with his friends. When he got drunk, he went outside with a glass of white rum in his hand and stood beside a utility post. He began to curse and speak senseless things. Furthermore, he performed karate foot manoeuvres. “Skow! Skowah! Mek a bwoy feel di pain!” he said. The spectators were enjoying the entertainment. “I didn’t know that he knew karate,” one of them said. Uncle Judge had forgotten that he was not wearing shoes, so he kicked the utility post forcefully and broke his big toe.

 

      When it happened, you could hear a pin drop. Ten seconds later, he cried out loudly. The men could not stop laughing. He instantly became sober. Furthermore, he dropped the drinking glass from his hand, stooped down, and held his big toe that had already started to swell. He was in great pain. Someone took him to the public hospital in a taxicab. The doctors attended to him and discharged him on that same night. His big toe took a few months to heal, and during that time, he had to use a crutch.

      Things had been going badly for Uncle Judge since Marie left him. He realised his mistake when it was too late, and he knew that he had lost her for good. Furthermore, he did not start a new relationship with another woman in Kingston. His aunt died, and he went back to his home in the country less than one year after the funeral. Fortunately, his favourite niece who lived in Toronto filed for him, and he migrated to Canada in 1984.

 

The End

Author's Note

Have fun, readers.