Mistaken Identity

My two older brothers moved away from home in their late teens and settled in  Trinidad, the larger of the two islands of Trinidad and Tobago. A few years passed and they both got families of their own. They were living in different parts of the island of Trinidad, but there were times when they will return home to Tobago to see the rest of the family and talk of old times.

At the age of eight, my mother took me to spend part of the summer vacation in Trinidad, with my oldest brother, who is nineteen years older than me. I traveled on one of the island ferries that transported people and goods between the islands several times a day.  At that time, it took six to eight hours to get from port to port.  I believe they now have faster boats that take less time. It was not my first time traveling by ferry since I previously did that with my mother at a younger age. I am not a good sea traveler. I tend to get seasick. The journey was not a good one for me and was relieved when the boat came to port.

We started traveling from the Scarborough Wharf,  in Tobago,  at 10:30 pm and arrived at the Port of Spain docks, in Trinidad, at 4:30 the following morning. My brother was there to meet us and my mother returned on the next ferry to Tobago. My brother hired a taxi since he did not like driving, and never will. As we traveled along the winding road that leads to his home, the windows of the car were down, and I can feel the cool morning breeze on my face. I can see the early rays of the morning sun in the clear blue sky, which was a beauty to behold. It was a pleasant ride considering the past night.

After a twenty-minute drive, the taxi stopped beside the gate of a large house.  The house was enclosed by a four-foot wire fence. There were two apartments on the first floor and one of them belonged to my brother. As we entered the apartment, his wife met us at the door. I was a bit tired and since I was still feeling a bit queasy from the boat ride, I drank some tea and decided to take a rest. After such an awful night on the ferry, I slept for about two hours, which refreshed me.

Later in the day, I realized there were other children around my age that were living in the same compound. We became fast friends, and for the next two weeks, we took part in different activities. A couple of my friends were grandchildren of the owner of the house, who lived on the second floor. There were times when we would play and visit the grandmother on that floor.

One evening, during the last week of my vacation, at about eight o'clock, we were jumping on the bed in one of the bedrooms that were facing the street. As I stated earlier, this house was surrounded by a fence with a gate that was always locked. We were considered safe. There was a commotion on the outside. Some men were calling out the name of my sister-in-law's brother. He was not in the other apartment and no one at the time knew where he was. Apparently, the men at the gate were members of a gang. They came to collect the money that was owed to them. No one from the home was going out to talk to them and they could not get in. The light was on in the bedroom where I was and I innocently drew the curtain to see who was on the outside. Suddenly someone said, "Shoot the woman at the window." The person who spoke did not know it was a child at the window. At the same time, a family member came into the bedroom and switched off the lights, simultaneously a shot was fired. I dropped on the bed and shattered glass was all over me. I thank God that I was not hurt.

The following day, the police were searching the area for these gang members but without much success. They questioned the adults in the home to get some information on the happenings of the previous night. I am still determining what transpired next since I was leaving the following day to return to Tobago.

Looking back, I can truly say that I was protected by the unseen hand of God. Those gang members were angry and they just did not care who got hurt.  I believe it could have been worst and I would not have lived to tell this story because life is like that.