“Chile, you remember my Cousin Muttle from North Side?”

“Ti would be hard to forget Muttle. I kin hear er now, sayin’ ‘How sweet it is, ’ an I miss er.”

“Well yer got more to miss er cause I jus hear that Ijahnya ain writing Heartically Yours in The Anguillian next year. Ah only hope dat when she stop, Codville will start to write again.”

“If dah is di truth, den Ijahnya got lousy timing. Here we is right smack bang in the season for givin an she tekkin away.”

“Don’t worry bout she. She somewhere in Africa right now talkin wid the Rastas in Africa an the African Union and Gawd knows who else. Dis year she goin get two Christmases cause she spending the regular one in South Africa and den she going back Ethiopia fuh dem one on January 7”.

“Yuh betta don’ lef Ijahnya hear yuh say she going ‘back’ to nowhere. She would be quick to tell yuh that Rasta don’ go back. Rasta does go forward. She tell me dat she actually goin’ dere to live.”

“Yuh know, when I was a lil chile, I always remember my grandmother talking bout Marcus Garvey. How she was in St. Kitts when he did go dere to talk and how she never forget how he mek Africa sound like a place where all a we should go.”

“Well he dead long time and Africa neider look nor soun to me like ti all dah good. Anyway mi dear chile, wha I here wonderin’ is who goin do all dem tings Ijahnya does be involve in. Ti got the Stingray Programme and all dem cultural tings dem does have in di yard every year. Then she always doing all kind a tings to do wid protekin chilren and reasonin wid youts, wukkin wid womens and parents, and wid mental health, HIV and AIDS - an yuh know how she does always watch whichever government in power with her two eyes wide open.”

“Gyul, Anguilla got all kindsa bright people – the trouble is that some a dem ain’ wan to do a ting if yuh ain got di money to pay ‘em.

“I wonder if Nat would lef somebody else write something else. I know ti ain’ goin be bout Rasta and Africa business but ti got all kinds a other business people want to know bout so I hope somebody else will tek up di space in di paper so dat we don’t miss Heartically Yours too much.”

“Tis twelve long years since we been reading Heartically Yours and sometimes yuh could tell Ijahnya really ain’ had nuttn much to say but come hell or high water, yuh coulda look forward to readin whaever foolishness she write. Sometimes ti would mek yuh laugh, sometimes yuh want to cry and sometimes ti would mek yuh just tink bout tings.”

The telephone rings.
“Hello, Hello. Who yuh say ti be? Aya looka wuk! Gyul me an Maisie was just here calling yuh name. Yuh gon live long."

"No no, we wasn’t exactly chattin yuh behin yuh back. We was talkin bout Heartically Yours an how we gon miss it."

"So where you is right now? Where? Uganda? Maisie want to know if ti true dat yuh goin Africa to live an if yuh ain’ fraid a all dem wile animals."

"Maisie, she say she plannin to go, and she more fraid a di wile animals in Anguilla, and that right now she livin in a real luxurious hotel jus like dem we got down in di West."

"Tell me something Ijahnya, ti got anything nice like Crocus Bay in Africa?"

"Hello! Hello! I can’t hear nuttn. I wonder if she could hear me. Hello! Hello. I tink I lost di call but I coulda hear er as plain as day.”

“Mi chile, all I gots to say is Gawd bless her. I only hope she don’t go tek up wid one a dem men who got a whole set a wives. Dah is how dem African men is yuh know.”

“Hey Heyyy! Den it look like Anguilla full a African men an I hope I get di last good one for Christmas.”
“Talkin bout Christmas. Yuh know in di last newspaper for di year Heartically Yours does give us a short story. Dah mus be di only place yuh see anybody writin di way we does talk. But yuh know wha, Anguilla got some real good story writers – Maris Edwards and Rita Celestine Carty an a host a young people up in di Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School. I wonder if Nat could offer dah space for stories and poems and dem kinda tings.”

“If he was to do dah, not a soul would miss Ijahnya, an even she could get on di computer from wherever tis she be and read wha other people write. Ti sad dat she goin yes but if we could get Teacher Patsy an dem others to tek it up, ti wouldn’ be such a blow.”

Goodbye note - To my Editor and Staff at The Anguillian and all avid readers and fans of Heartically Yours, I say thank you for the opportunity I have had to share my thoughts and dreams, hopes, aspirations and frustrations. Thanks also for your constant feedback. The last 12 years have been some of the best years of my life and, without your support, I could not have done it all. Have a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year."

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