As we stare at the TV screen,
The lights go dark.
WAPA is at work again!
Our class and our professor have disappeared.
In the 7pm darkness, we cannot see,
But we hear each other’s frustration.
Generators kick in and lights turn on.
Now we can see clearly,
That we still have no signal.
We wonder what St. Thomas is learning,
As we stare at the frozen screen with muttered curses:
“Far site disconnected.”
Arige Shrouf, 2015
When the world was flat
So small and so vast
When you could fall off its edge
and plummet into the unknown.
When we thought we knew what truth was,
We knew our place in the world
We discovered truths and exploited them.
We were savages, mankind.
But something always changes
Now we know the Earth is round
So large and within reach
At its end, a universe
Waiting to be explored.
The only truth that matters is our own,
and our place in the world.
We preserve truths by using them.
Have we reformed, mankind?
For something occasionally changes
What of when the world is gone
How big will it be? How accessible?
When there is no end,
Only thoughts of what once was.
What truths will matter then,
When we have carved our place in the world.
We regret our actions for their consequences.
It is too late mankind!
Because nothing ever really changes,
Even though everything eventually does.
Arige Shrouf, 2013
I
One afternoon, Anansi was sitting under a towering palm tree just outside the UVI campus trying to take a nap. He was supposed to be looking for a job, but did not feel like working.
You see, Anansi was a trickster by trade, a free spirit. He could not be happy tied down to a job that involved actual work.
Why should I have to work when my neighbors are always so willing to do my work for me? he thought.
He had come to the palm drive at UVI because it was the last place Aso would look for him. He could finally get some peace and quiet. But try as he might, Anansi could not relax enough to rest.
He had to find a way out of getting a job. If he came home without one, Aso would lock him out of the house for good.
Bro’ Rabbit and Bro’ Chicken walked by. They stopped when they spotted Anansi.
“Why Anansi,” said Bro’ Chicken “why you look so sad?”
“Aso is making me get a job!” Anansi cried.
“You… working? said Bro’ Rabbit. His eyes widened and his nose twitched. “Why that is not a tragedy, it’s the funniest thing I have ever heard.” He and Bro’ chicken burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“I don’t find this funny in the least” Anansi grumbled as he got up from reclining against the palm tree.
“You would if you were in our shoes Anansi. You have never done an honest day’s work in your life” said Bro’ Rabbit while trying to catch a breath.
“Why should I have to get a job? I don’t need any money? I’m a spider!”
“Well,” said Bro’ Chicken “if you bought your goods instead of taking them from everyone else…”
“What’s the big deal about working anyway?” Anansi interrupted him. “It’s not like you have jobs.”
“We don’t have jobs because we’re full time students” said Bro’ Rabbit.
“And we have scholarships” added Bro’ Chicken. “As long as we keep our grades up, we don’t have to pay for anything.”
At this bit of information, Anansi got a huge grin on his face stretching from ear to ear. This may be just the answer he was looking for. The two were still talking, but Anansi ignored them. Anansi’s skin prickled a plan formulating.
Yes, this plan would work; now to carry it out…
II
Anansi made short work of enrolling at UVI. When he got home the next day, he told Aso that he was a full-time student and could not get a job.
He was surprised when Aso stared to laugh.
“I should have known you would find a way to avoid getting a job Anansi” she said, her eyes gleaming with mirth. “Oh, but this is just too perfect.” She looked at Anansi and doubled over with laughter.
“Why is everyone finding me so funny lately?” Anansi was starting to get annoyed. He expected Aso to get angry or even to admit his cleverness, but laughter? He never expected that.
“If I told you,” she said “it would ruin the moment for me. You will find out soon enough.” At that, Aso turned back to the hot stove and continued stirring the beans.
Shaking his head, Anansi went to sit in the living room and wait for dinner.
Everyone is losing their minds he thought with a dazed look on his face.
III
During his first day of classes, Anansi finally figured out what was so funny.
He had classes every weekday and his professors expected actual work. He took one look at the syllabus and his heart skipped a beat. Anansi broke into a sweat looking at all the assignments.
When he ran into Bro’ Rabbit and Bro’ Chicken that afternoon, Anansi was incensed.
“Why am I getting so much work to do?” He demanded. “I thought you said you never had to do any work because you were students?”
Brows raided, Bro’ Rabbit and Bro’ Chicken exchanged looks. They chuckled.
“No Anansi” said Bro’ Rabbit “what we said is that we could not work because we’re full-time students.”
“Yes,” added Bro’ Chicken “being a student is so much work, we don’t have time to get jobs.”
Anansi clenched his fists, his face turning red. “Well then I don’t want to be a student anymore” he said.
“You could always drop out” said Bro’ Chicken. “But you would still have to pay the tuition.”
“So you would still have to get a job to earn money” said Bro’ Rabbit holding back a smug grin.
Anansi screamed, his eyes getting wider and wider until they nearly popped out of their sockets. He collapsed, his legs falling out from under him.
When he woke, Anansi was still under the palm tree.
It was just a dream. I’m not really a student he realized. Anansi sighed and sagged against the tree.
When Bro’ Rabbit and Bro’ Chicken walked by and asked what he was up to, Anansi answered “I am never going to be a full-time student.” He jumped to his feet and took off, fleeing student life.
And so Anansi went out and got a job. Then he went home to tell Aso.
The wheel bends and the story ends…
Arige Shrouf, 2013
Written for a UVI Creative Writing Course
I
One night Anansi was walking home after spending the day with Bro’ Rabbit and Bro’ Mongoose. He was so proud of how his day had gone. It had been a successful day in the life of a trickster.
They had come across a basket filled with fruits and vegetables. Instead of sharing the treasure, Anansi suggested to his neighbors a race. The winner would get the basket all to himself.
Now Anansi was clever. He did not join the race. While Bro’ Rabbit and Bro’ Mongoose raced through the woods, Anansi hid in the bushes and ate every last fruit and vegetable in the basket. His belly full, he handed the empty basket to the winner, said his goodbyes, and went on his way.
II
Meanwhile Aso was at home waiting for her husband Anansi to get back from a so called errand. She had prepared a nice meal because it was there anniversary: the one day a year when she expected Anansi not to go about his old tricks.
The meal had been ready for hours, but there was no sign of Anansi. “Now where is that Anansi off to now” she wondered. “He better not be off playing tricks on our anniversary!”
For years, Aso had stood by as Anansi played trick after trick on their neighbors. Sometimes she even helped. A trickster is what Anansi was, what he always would be, she knew that. Accepted it even. But for once, she would have liked Anansi to put her first. Even if just for this one day out of the year.
She wanted him to care about her like he cared about himself and his tricks.
After waiting another hour, Aso began to get angry. She decided that when Anansi got home they would talk about his responsibilities as a husband. It was time things changed.
III
While Anansi was walking by the river, he passed by Bro’ Turtle. Turtle said, “why Anansi, Aso has been looking for you all day. I would watch my back if I were you. She looked spittin mad!”
“Well, I wonder what’s gotten into her?” Anansi mused.
“She didn’t say” responded Brother Turtle.
“I tell you, it’s days like this that make me miss my time as a bachelor, when I had all the pretty ladies after me” said Anansi. “Being a family man is hard work. I better see what she wants now.”
“Well good luck to you” said Bro’ Turtle with a smirk at Anansi’s retreating form. Aso would put him in his place soon enough.
IV
Anansi continued walking along the dirt road from the river on his way home thinking of ways to avoid Aso’s anger. She could never stay angry at him too long, he knew. Today would be no exception.
When he got home, he didn’t even notice the candles on the table. He was too busy looking at the bundle of contained fury that was his wife. “Hello wife,” said Anansi hesitantly. “What has got you all riled up?”
“Hello husband,” she responded calmly as she began to slowly rise of out the chair she had been sitting in when he walked in. “Have you forgotten what today is?”
“Well no” he answered confused. “It’s Saturday of course.”
At that moment, Aso lost all her patience. “After all these years, how could you forget our anniversary!” she yelled.
“Is that why you are so upset? We will just have another next year…”
“How dare you Anansi!” Aso interrupted. “I had a nice dinner planned, and for once I hoped you would put our family first.”
“Aso, worry not. We will have dinner and all will be forgotten. I am starving; I would hate to see this nice meal go to waste. Let’s just eat” he pleaded.
“No Anansi,” she said. “I have put up with your trickery but I will not be ignored. I want a Divorce…”
V
And so it went. Anansi and Aso got a divorce, the first couple in the village to do so. It was the biggest piece of gossip for some time, but that never bothered Anansi. Few things often did, and although Anansi was confused about the break up, he was enjoying the single life without a nagging wife.
Anansi played on the pity of his neighbors and got free meals and hospitality for weeks. All was good for a while and Anansi had no worries. He was free. But once the charity stopped, Anansi realized just how alone he was now.
He came home to an empty house. There would be no one to welcome him and no food on the table. He no longer had a family to tell of his schemes and his days’ exploits. Anansi was alone.
Anansi became sad, but he did not understand why. One day he asked his grandmother if she could explain the feeling to him and so she did: “my dear boy, you are lonely. You miss your wife. Is life without Aso not what you expected it to be?”
“No grandmother of course it is” he insisted.
“I should knock some sense into you child!” she countered. “Go talk to Aso and see if you are lucky enough to win her back.”
“How do I do that?” he asked.
“Show her that you do care. Tell her what a fool you are, get down on your knees and beg her to take you back!” she advised.
After thinking it over and deciding that he really did miss his Aso, Anansi decided to do just that.
VI
Aso had learned about trickery from the very best and she was not about to make it easy for Anansi.
For days Anansi kept coming to her and asking her to come back to him. Each day she would respond “Now Anansi, we are no longer married. You must once again prove your worth to me if you want my hand, for I am free to choose any man as my husband now.”
She had Anansi perform task after task reveling in his dedication to win her back. Some days the tasks were simple, getting her water, planting her garden, preparing her dinner, or doing her laundry. Yet other days, the tasks would be as difficult as finding a rare flower near a volcano.
As the days and tasks passed, Anansi began to win back Aso. And one night when Anansi came with an armful of rare flowers, got down on his knees and asked Aso to marry him-again- she said yes.
And so Anansi and Aso were married once more, and Anansi now had two anniversary dates to remember, but remember them he would.
The wheel bends and the story ends…
Arige Shrouf, 2013
Written for a UVI Caribbean Literature Course
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