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Jamaican Quest

by Gordon Roy

156 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0227; ISBN 1-55212-561-0; US$17.50, C$19.00, EUR14.00, £10.00

Misadventures of a Canadian service man in Jamaica during and after World War II.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book In 1944, Harry Boyd had never been out of the small town in Nova Scotia, Canada where he had been born, until he joined the Canadian Army. He had joined the army because he was obsessed with the ambition to perform heroic deeds on the battlefield which he did not expect to survive. Instead, to his great disgust he was assigned to a regiment which was sent to Jamaica, B.W.I, probably the safest and least demanding-of-heroism place in the world at that time. So he did not manage to find the martyrdom he sought but he did manage to create some excitement. He had never known a black person; there were none in his home town and he ended up in the city of Kingston which had an almost completely black population, a complete racial reversal. This required some adjusting. It was not the only thing that required adjusting. He had always been painfully shy, but Jamaican rum helped him overcome this handicap. He had successive affairs with a black girl, an oriental and a white girl. He fell deeply in love with each girl but managed to bungle each romance. However, he did finally manage to find love, from an unexpected quarter. Militarily, he went from escapade to escapade and was a constant trial to senior officers. He even had an unofficial feud with the British brigadier who commanded all the military forces on the island. It is a military axiom that you never win a disagreement with a superior officer but Harry managed to eke out a tie - barely. He had a successful tour of duty in Jamaica. He learned to love the island, avoided a constantly threatening court-martial, and finally found his true love.

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About the Author Gordon S. Roy was born in Nova Scotia, Canada and served in the Canadian Army for five years during World War II. During that five year period he was assigned to an infantry regiment that was stationed in Jamaica for two years. He was the youngest officer in the regiment so there were few survivors left to question the authenticity of this fictional tale. After being discharged from the army he attended university to get his Bachelor of Engineering degree. In 1954, he immigrated to the U.S. and became a citizen in 1959. After a thirteen year stint as an electrical engineer in Michigan, he went overseas and worked in developing nations all over the globe, which he circled seven times. In 1983, he retired in Arkansas where he now indulges in his passion for non-technical writing.

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Sample Excerpts

Mary

. . . 'I'm so happy,' she said afterwards. 'I'm going to spend the whole night with you.'

'We won't have to hurry,' he told her. 'It's not going to be rush - rush like it was last night.'

They lay together in perfect harmony. No conversation was necessary. Finally, she announced, 'I'm going to kiss your body.' What she meant was that she was going to kiss his chest. She never strayed below his waist but he got aroused and they made love again.

'What are we going to do?' he asked afterwards.

'What do you mean?'

'This can't go on. You know it as well as I do. We are doing something morally and racially wrong.'

'I don't care. It's so wonderful. I want to keep doing it forever. I don't care whether its right or wrong.'

'It's all right for you to close your eyes to reality but one of us has to keep his feet on the ground and apparently it has to be me. I've never been so happy in all my life as when we discovered each other, but it won't last. My company commander could burst in on us right now and our romance would be over.'

Indeed, they were in a very precarious position. There was a line of five rooms in the hut he shared with four other company officers and his room was the middle room. Mary had to walk along a veranda to get to his room and no matter which direction she came, she had to pass two rooms. Sooner or later she would be seen and then explanations would be in order. Maybe she had already been noticed and tongues were wagging.

'You do realize our time is limited, don't you?' he asked. When she didn't answer, he repeated, 'Don't you?'

She paused so long he though she wasn't going to answer. Finally, almost inaudiably she admitted, 'Yes, I know our love time can't last, but I don't want to think about it.'

'Neither do I,' he said, 'But we've got to face facts.'

They heard footsteps hit the veranda and walk past his room to enter the next room.

'We'll have to be very quiet now,' he cautioned in a whisper. 'Do you think you can be?'

'I don't know,' she whispered back. 'I'll try.'

They lay very quiet and listened as the other three occupants went to their rooms and settled down for the night. Then, the silence was only interrupted by an occasional snore, moan or incoherent phrase. They made love quietly and then fell asleep. They awakened in an hour or so, made love and fell asleep until day - light awakened Mary.

She got up dressed swiftly and then awakened him.

'I have to leave,' she whispered. 'You go back to sleep. I can't come tomorrow night. When can I come?'

He was still groggy with sleep and it was difficult for him to arrange his thoughts properly.

'I'll be on duty the night after tomorrow night,' he said, 'So, that means we can't see each other for three nights.'

'I'll see you then,' she whispered. She kissed him, slipped out the door and was gone. He fell into a deep sleep, slept so far past his normal rising hour that he missed his breakfast.

He was summoned into the company commander's office that morning. He had not made his mind up about Major Haliday yet. Major Haliday had been with the Rifles from the start of the war and he still looked upon Harry as a rebellious newcomer, which he was. The major had achieved his exalted rank more by seniority than ability. Harry did not think he was very intelligent but he was a clever manipulator and very careful to keep in good with the commanding officer of the regiment.

Harry marched into his office, saluted in the prescribed manner and stood properly and stiffly at attention.

'Stand easy and close the door,' the major said.

Oh, Oh, thought Harry. He knows about Mary. He did as he was told and went back to stand in front of the major's table.

'I couldn't sleep last night,' his tormenter continued. 'So at one point, I got out of bed and stood looking out the window and saw that seamstress, Mary, come down the veranda from the direction of your room. I think she came from your room. Did she?'

Harry stared woodenly at him without replying.

The major flew into a rage. 'Dammit, was that woman in your room or not? Answer me. That's an order.'

'Yes sir,' Harry said.

'I'm old enough to be your father,' major Haliday said, 'And I'm going to talk to you like a father. That's a beautiful girl you're playing around with and in some ways I don't blame you but there's too big a gap between you and her and I don't believe it can be bridged in this day and age. Am I getting through to you?'

Harry nodded miserably.

'First of all you're not being fair to the girl. I don't believe you'll ever marry her. You'll just break her heart. I don't care how you feel about her now. Your affair will come to a bad end. When we leave Jamaica, you'll just leave her behind.'

'You're not being fair to your family. What would they do if they knew you were involved with a black girl?'

'And what about me? The colonel would have my guts for garters, if he knew how you were carrying on.'

'And don't forget yourself. I understand you're planning to stay in the army. Your career would be finished before it got started if word of this got out.'

'We're going to Moneague for tactical training in a week so this is a good time to end this thing. I'm going to leave it up to you. You end this thing or I'll throw the book at you and end it for you. I can do it. What do you say?'

Harry felt a consuming hatred for Haliday, partly because he was destroying his love and partly because he knew he was absolutely right in doing so.

'Favor, sir?' he pleaded.

'Yes?'

'She's coming to me the night after tomorrow night. Let us have one last night together. Let me let her down easily.'

'You can have your last night together but she loses her camp pass the next day and she'll never be allowed in the camp again. And you're not to look her up. You're never to see her again. And if you do, I'll really throw the book at you. Understand?'

'Yes sir.'

'Another thing. This conversation never took place. If you say it did, I'll deny it. Now get the hell out of here.'

The next two days dragged by. He could think of nothing except Mary, her scent, her soft voice, her husky laugh, her exciting body. He went about in a daze, wishing the time away so he could see her and dreading the moment when he would and have to send her away forever.

When she arrived, he met her at the door and they kissed as passionately as usual but she sensed there was something wrong. She pushed him away.

'There's something wrong, isn't there?' she asked. He had already decided he would not try to keep the bad news from her. He didn't think he could.

'My company commander had me up on the carpet,' he told her. 'He saw you leaving the other morning. We've got to stop seeing each other.'

'Is there no way out for us?' she asked.

'There's no way, no way at all. Remember I told you it couldn't last but I thought it would last longer than this.'

'It isn't fair,' she cried

'I know it isn't,' he agreed, 'And they're cancelling your camp pass now. You're going to be cut off from your military customers. Will that hurt you?'

'No, I didn't need the military work. I've got plenty of other work to do. But can't you come to see me?'

'No, I've been expressly ordered not to. If I disobey the order, I could be court - marshalled.'

'Then its hopeless.'

'It's hopeless.'

She cried then, cried silently, cried submissively yet defiantly.

After a few moments, she dried her eyes and said, 'Let's not waste time in the few hours we have left.'

Their night was a loving, caring, tender time as though they were both intent on creating something they could stow away forever in their memories.

All too soon, it was time for her to leave. She dressed and stood with him in the doorway.

'They can separate us,' she said. 'it isn't fair but they can do it. But they can't take away our memories. They can never do that. And they can't touch my most precious memory of all, that I was the first to have you. I'll always treasure that in my heart.'

Her eyes were clear. She had cried her tears away. But he hadn't and he was close to tears himself. She opened the door and turned for one last look.

'I love you, Mr. Boyd,' she said.

'And I love you, Mary,' he replied and knew he meant it.

The door closed noiselessly behind her.

She was gone.

Forever.

The Interview

A feeling of unrest began to pervade the island, nothing definite, but the threat of trouble was in the air. The authorities took it so seriously that a British cruiser just happened to show up on maneuvers in the vicinity of the island, an example of gunboat diplomacy, which was effective because things quickly settled down. Still, it appeared that the Rifles might serve an effective role, might actually be needed, might justify their presence on the island.

It was at this time that Harry had an informal tete - a - tete with the colonel. This was not a usual occurrence; he normally tried to maintain a discreet distance between them because he was never sure what prank of his might have been brought to the colonel's attention which would necessitate his censure. They met in the mess because Harry had just finished cleaning up after a tour of duty in the internment camp and the colonel had just returned from a meeting with civilian dignitaries, consequently, they were quite alone.

Harry hastened to take advantage of their isolation.

'Sir,' he began. 'It seems that we might have some kind of trouble at any time. If there is some, I would like to volunteer my platoon to be used first in any emergency.'

The colonel put down the newspaper he had just picked up and stared at Harry whose knees began to shake uncontrollably as he regretted begin-ning the conversation. He had a horrible, sinking sensation that things were not going to turn out as he had planned.

'I may seem like a remote figure to you,' the colonel said, 'and that's a good thing because a certain amount of remoteness is essential to my job. It's better that I don't know about a lot of things that happen. However, you may think I really don't know what's going on but I know more than you think.'

'For example, I know that you don't like my regiment because you've been quite vocal in that respect. Between you and me, and this is very confidential, I don't like my regiment either. I was brought back from England to command it. I'd prefer to be in an active theater of war the same as you. But we're soldiers, we obey orders. and we go where we are assigned. Do you understand me?'

It had never occurred to Harry that the colonel could be as discontented as he. They had something in common of which he hadn't been aware. He nodded affirmatively in answer to the colonel's question.

'I've got enough problems without you,' the colonel continued. 'I don't know what I did to deserve you but it must have been outrageous. Let me list some of your escapades, just the ones I know about, I am sure there are others, many others.'

'You have only been with the regiment a very short time when you were providing tours to houses of ill repute which was prejudicial to the morals of my officers. I sincerely hope you were not charging admission for these clandestine activities?'

He looked at Harry questioningly and Harry shook his head negatively. He could have spoken up in his defense but deemed it unwise to do so. He could have mentioned that he had not asked to be put in a position where he could provide those tours and he had not promoted them. Officers had come to him asking if they could accompany him on his tour of duty.

The colonel went on.

'You consorted with a black seamstress. You're the only one of my officers ever to do that.'

That wasn't quite true but Harry was not about to debate the point. As the colonel had mentioned, he didn't need to know everything.

'You were involved in the shooting of a local person on a crocodile hunt.'

That was true but Harry had been instrumental in saving the person's life.

'You attended a top social function in Kingston, without an invitation I might add, and sat on the floor of the ballroom to eat your dinner. That would have been very embarrassing for me if the hostess hadn't joined you and thereby saved your skin.'

'You had an affair with a notorious oriental madam.'

Where did this guy get his information, Harry wondered, but the colonel wasn't through.

"You did your very best to shoot an unarmed prisoner of war. Fortunately, for you, the prisoner turned out to be a pig.'

'You had confrontation with a British officer about tearing down a temporary structure. Really, this was not enough to provoke a confrontation. Why didn't you just let the Brits do their thing?'

'I was obeying orders,' Harry said stubbornly.

'Obviously, you're not much of a diplomat. Anyway, last but not least by any means, you once damn near killed me by running me off the road. Are you innocent of any of these charges?'

'No, sir,' Harry said, grateful the list had come to an end.

'And you have the nerve to expect me to entrust you with a very delicate mission. Absolutely not. If there were no trouble to start with, you would create some. Now, do you have any more questions?'

'One sir. May I leave now?'

'Yes.'

His tormentor had a quick change of mind.

'No, wait one minute. You have done a very good job with your platoon. If we do have trouble that requires direct action, I would seriously consider using your platoon, but the trouble has to be in existence, I do not need you to create it.'

With that Harry had to be content.

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Catalogue Information

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