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    Yardies: A Jamaican Love Story
    Yardies: A Jamaican Love Story
    Yardies: A Jamaican Love Story
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    Yardies: A Jamaican Love Story

    By Kelly Papyrus

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    About this ebook

    Since childhood, Kaya has always known Daniel as the most annoying and intriguing boy on her parents’ campground. He's also the one boy her parents warned her to stay away from, claiming their families have hated each other since long before they left Jamaica. But as Kaya and Daniel get older, they start to suspect there is more to the story, answers they can get only by investigating the past together.
    When she and Daniel head off with a group of friends on a secret trip to Jamaica, Kaya finally sees an opportunity to get to the real truth… until she and Daniel find themselves kidnapped by a mutual enemy of both families. Only by working together — and learning to trust each other — will they be able to get away and confront the real truth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBryant Street Shorts
    Release dateSep 16, 2020
    ISBN9781094413723
    Author

    Kelly Papyrus

    Kelly Papyrus is a writer whose stories feature diverse characters and people of color. She loves learning about new cultures and writing about them. She lives in Florida and loves dogs.

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      Book preview

      Yardies - Kelly Papyrus

      Chapter One: ’Til Shiloh

      The screaming was urgent and primal, intense enough that Kaya dropped the hose without turning the water off and ran into the house to see what was going on. It was loud enough that she could hear it over the old reggae songs her father had been playing on his sound system for over an hour, the melody of each one fading into the other over the ever-present beat. The heat in the kitchen smacked her in the face as she ran in, pushing past a couple of the older ladies who lived in the community.

      Sorry, Aunties! she said, surveying the room for her mother. With one hand extended and the pot spoon trembling, Pearl pointed to a tropical frog who had sneaked his way into the house, his whole body no longer than a few inches, but his presence offensive enough to trigger Pearl into a full panic attack.

      I’ll get him, Mom. Calm down, she said, edging past her and cupping her hands around the small creature.

      Nasty thing! Like the ones we used to see on the roadside back home. Oh my god. Pearl’s voice was loud enough to carry through the whole house, her accent thicker than usual thanks to the audience in the kitchen. The frog was tiny and fit easily inside the cage of Kaya’s clasped palms, holding still as she moved around the crowd and out the back door. Kaya walked slowly out to the end of the back dock, where her parents’ old boat sat waiting for them to get around to fixing it — something Kaya had heard them talk about as far back as she could remember. She slipped the small frog back into the water and watched him dive under the surface, his kicks pushing him farther down, before stripping off her shirt and diving in herself.

      From under the water, the shrill cries of her mother and the other ladies and even the mellow beats of the blaring music were no more than a muffled whisper, the weight and sound of the water filling her ears. All thirteen… no, fourteen, tomorrow — all fourteen years of her life, she’d lived at Charles Campground and Marina, where her parents had moved from caretakers and chefs to owners-in-residence over the last decade. She could sketch a map of the inlet from memory, detailing every rock jutting out into the water and each pathway leading from the docks to the attached campground.

      Technically her home was the old house at the front of the campground that connected to the check-in office, nestled between the little inlet at the back where they went for swimming and the public docks where boats tied up, but she’d grown up calling every inch of the outdoor space her own. From the earliest days she could remember, she’d been allowed to run barefoot down the concrete paths and dirt tracks on the property until the sun went down. She knew every cabin inside and out, the twists and turns of each footpath, and exactly what to expect on any given day. A day like today, when her mother and father were caught up in throwing her a big birthday bash, brought more people and noise than she liked to be around, even if she had to admit she would enjoy the party once it started.

      She dove down, past the edge of limestone that jutted out, to the bottom, where a new layer of water bubbled up out of the ground from a spring. Her mother said it was spooky and weird to look at the hole that led far down into the middle of the earth. But she loved looking at the seagrass fluttering in the bubble, the expansive dark leading to worlds beyond the surface that she couldn’t imagine. She let out a few precious bubbles of air, staying low down so her mother couldn’t see how far out she’d ventured if she came out onto the dock. A lifetime on and under the water had made Kaya fearless, and given her the ability to hold her breath longer than any of the other kids who lived aboard the boats that populated the marina. She relaxed her body, letting herself float up just a little, when she felt something grab at her leg. It wasn’t the brush of an animal swimming by or the sensation of seagrass tickling her skin, feelings she knew well. This was the grip of a human hand. She gasped, letting more precious air bubbles out, and snapped her head back to see what was going on.

      Grinning back at her was a familiar face; warm brown skin and white teeth standing out against the muted tones of the seawater. She pointed up toward the surface, and he released her so they could meet above the waves.

      I hate you, idiot boy, she said, slapping the water so the spray caught him in the face. He laughed again, unperturbed, and she felt infuriated.

      Gave you a good scare, huh? He laughed again, and she felt a spark of rage as she swam away from him, toward the far side of the inlet. Oversized rocks lined the edge, where a little sandbar kept boats and sharks from getting through. Pulling herself up onto the surface of the largest, flattest rock, she ordered herself to calm down and get her breathing under control. It was bad enough to let any of the boys around here catch her, never mind Daniel with his cocky, superior attitude.

      As he reached the rock and pulled himself up to sit beside her, she felt her breathing return to normal and tried to make her face neutral, like he hadn’t succeeded in frightening her. Beyond the sandbar, you could see nothing but the brilliant blue of the water, spreading out in every direction. The crisp turquoise waves, the uniform way they came in, was the most calming thing she knew.

      Your face when I grabbed you and you looked back, he said, laughing as he wiped his face with one hand. I wish I had taken a video.

      "I wasn’t even scared, just surprised. It

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