00:00
Washed by gentle waves and surrounded by cotton-blue skies, in the parish of St George, there sits a tiny little hamlet village called Greens. It is here that I grew up.
00:22
I wasn’t actually born in Greens. I was born in an even tinier little village, a stone’s throw away, called Prerogative.
00:36
There is only one road leading in and out of Greens, and it’s a place where the odd sheep or goat wanders freely to eat the hedgerow on the opposite side. And where, in the distance, you can hear dogs barking lazily.
01:03
Occasionally, a mother shouts, “You kids, get yourselves in here out of the hot sun!”
01:12
Halfway down the road is the house of Ossie Brooks. Now, this is a tall, imposing house of the chattel style, with red French shutters and a gable roof. Ossie has ten children, and times are hard
01:38
Nights are long, dark and humid in Greens, and it frequently rains. Long ago, on one such night, as us kids huddled together, suddenly there came a loud knocking at the door.
02:05
We all froze, wondering who it could be at this time of night Again, there came that loud knocking. “Ossie, you there?” Slowly, my dad got up and opened the door.
- Storyteller
- Heather Davi
- Recording date
- 22 Jul 2026
- Location / community
- Greens, St George, Barbados
- Duration
- 06:31
- Card label / subtitle
- A true family story from Barbados
- Themes
- Morals & Lessons, Trickery & Wit
- Language / dialect
- Bajan/Barbadian dialect, English
- Cultural / community context
A story based on Heather’s childhood memories of Greens, a small village in the parish of St George, Barbados. She also recalls being born in the nearby village of Prerogative.
The story describes village life through wandering sheep and goats, distant dogs, mothers calling children out of the midday sun and the family’s chattel-style home with red French shutters and a gable roof.
Food and communal storytelling are central to the memory. The family prepare the visitor’s fish with pepper, ginger and thyme, cooking it in several different ways while sharing stories, music and rum.
The story combines family history, humour and suspense before closing with the warning to beware of strangers bearing gifts.
- Archive permission
- Consent given by Heather Davi
10 Sep 2026, 10:51
