Black and White Make Grey

By Edwin William Vizor

When Brendon arrived from Jamaica on the THS Windrush, all the streets were not paved in gold, but in snow. It took a few years to finally have his whole family with him including his youngest daughter Delphine, who succeeded against all odds, becoming deputy-head girl in school and representing her county in badminton. She met her first love, William, who was not only white but was also married with a daughter. Later they had a son, who they called Jack.
William’s work often took him away from home, spending lonely nights in hotel rooms. He found other ways to help his boredom. Tragedy struck in a horrific way. Families were split and the umbilical cord between mother and son was tested beyond belief. Will religion be the saviour?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398429215

Edwin William Vizor

Edwin Vizor was born in Birmingham (UK) in 1947. He grew up in a loving family having one sister, Lynda, who was two years older than him. She was always very protective of him and very much played the big sister, which up until his teen years he had no objections to. The majority of his working life was involved in sales and marketing on a self-employed basis. More recently, he trained and graduated as a Professional Hypnotherapist. This is his second novel. If Only, his first novel, was published last year. His background has enabled him to empathize with the public, offering a lifetime of invaluable experiences, which as an author has helped him to write this novel.

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About the Author

Edwin Vizor was born in Birmingham (UK) in 1947. He grew up in a loving family having one sister, Lynda, who was two years older than him.

She was always very protective of him and very much played the big sister, which up until his teen years he had no objections to.

The majority of his working life was involved in sales and marketing on a self-employed basis.

More recently, he trained and graduated as a Professional Hypnotherapist.

This is his second novel. If Only, his first novel, was published last year.

His background has enabled him to empathize with the public, offering a lifetime of invaluable experiences, which as an author has helped him to write this novel.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my handsome Grandson Bradley Carl Rollings who died in a tragic accident.

(20th May 1994 – 24th November 2015)

Copyright Information ©

Edwin William Vizor 2022

The right of Edwin William Vizor to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398429208 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398429215 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Chapter 1

‘Hasn’t she told you?’ I don’t shake hands with white honkies like you.’ William had put his hand out to shake the hand of Delphine’s brother-in-law, Khori. This was the first time they had met. To say he was shocked was an understatement. To say Delphine was shocked, angry and ashamed was a complete understatement. Khori stood up to leave the room. He was a tall, slim, good-looking guy, with a small goatee beard.

‘Come on, mate, don’t be like that, shake my hand,’ said William.

‘I am no mate of yours,’ said Khori, as he left the room. Within thirty seconds, you could hear the front door close behind him. William and Delphine just stood there facing each other without a word being said. They were both in shock. William was in more of a state of surprise, while Delphine was deeply ashamed.

‘Oh, William, I am so sorry. I have never seen him like that before.’

‘Well, how many more white guys have you introduced him to before?’

‘Well, none. I see your point.’

‘Tell me more about him.’

‘What do you want to know about him?’

‘All that you can. It’s not every day I get treated like that, and as well you know since you and I have been together, we have met with some prejudice, but none so blatantly in your face as that was.’

‘He has been married to my sister, Alyssa, for about four years and as a family, we have always got on with each other. My dad treats him more like a son rather than a son-in-law.’

‘Do they have any children?’

‘Yes, three boys and a girl. Joseph, Krishane, Kyle and the girl is called Amanda.’

‘Does he have a job?’

‘He is at college at the moment studying Sociology.’

‘So presumably, it isn’t an all black college, and therefore he has to shake many white hands,’ said William, with a smirk on his face. ‘There has got to be more than this that meets the eye. Having never met before and to take such an immediate dislike of me, doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Can we drop it now and change the subject? I am ashamed enough and I will make sure you two don’t meet again.’

Delphine was not the first member of her family to leave Jamaica and come to the UK. In fact, along with her sister, they were the last people to leave in the family. She had told William only quite recently what life was like for her in Jamaica before she came to the UK. What may have sounded idyllic from the point of view of the sun, sea and scenery, it did not make up for the poverty that could be seen within the majority of the population. It was for that reason that Delphine’s family became fragmented.

Her dad, Brandon, left Jamaica to go to England following on from the now historically famous TH SS. Windrush boat, which arrived at Tilbury Dock in June 1948. For the sum of £28 each, 492 passengers became the first wave of Caribbean West Indians, that came to be known as the Windrush Generation. The government of the day did this to bridge the gap of the depleted workforce, caused by the devastation of the Second World War. Brandon had left his family behind and decided that the answer to find good employment was to immigrate to England. Delphine had her own idea as to why her father went on his own. True yes, it was the right thing to do with regards to a better life, with possibly full employment paying good wages. In her head, she knew that the real reason for leaving on his own was that this was a chance to leave Delphine’s mother, Shanice. Many a night, she had hid her head under the bedclothes, covering her ears with her hands so as to block out the noise of the arguments and shouting that went on between them, sometimes culminating with violence. She hated her father for this and therefore was not the leased bothered when he announced he was immigrating to England. Her mother was apparently the innocent party in all this, as she had to put up with his infidelities for years. She was convinced that he had fathered more than one child from other women. Yet true to form having put up with all this, she pleaded with him to stay, or if not, to take her with him. The fact that he was leaving his daughters behind did not make an iota of difference to him.

Two years later, Delphine’s mother, Shanice, left Jamaica to go and find her husband in the UK. He occasionally had sent money for his family and had given his mother a forwarding address as to where he was, but he had asked her not to give this to anybody else, including Shanice. His mother ignored this request and when Shanice asked if she knew where in the UK he was, she genuinely felt sorry for his family that he had left behind, but it also eased the financial problems if Shanice left Jamaica. So, this is what happened and the three girls were left behind. Initially, they were left in the care of foster parents who treated them no better than slaves. Food was short and basic items like clothes and shoes were only replaced once they had fallen apart. Indeed, Delphine remembers well that the majority of time she ran around without anything on her feet. They were all given chores to do and if they were not done to the required standard, they were beaten. Once the small amount of money that was given to the foster parents had run out, the girls were sent to live with their grandparents. Delphine recalls that initially because they were blood relatives, they expected to be treated far better than the foster parents had treated them. However, the reverse happened. They were physically and mentally abused, mostly by their grandfather who they referred to as Papa. He, would you believe, was a lay preacher.

After a while, the eldest daughter, Victoria, who then would have been about 15 years of age, was sent for by her mother to join her in the UK. This left the other two girls to remain with their grandparents, until sufficient money and accommodation was found so that they could go to join the others in the UK. With only the two girls left to do all the chores, the workload was even worse. They began to despise their grandparents even more. Eventually, when the remaining two girls were about 11 years and 14 years respectfully, they had reached the time to fly to England to join their mother and sister. They were comparatively young to be flying on their own and Delphine recalls the kindness shown to them by the cabin staff aboard the plane. However, a large shock was awaiting the girls. Once the door was opened as the plane came to a halt on the runway and the steps had been put into place, they saw something that they had only seen in movies and books before. The earth and buildings were covered in snow. As they descended the steps, the freezing air hit them like a sharp knife in their throats every time they opened their mouths. It looked beautiful but it felt unbearable. Delphine had not experienced anything like it before. The cold caused her to go into shock and immediately she started to cry, not only because of the weather, but she actually thought that the plane had landed at the North Pole and not England. Fortunately, their mother was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps. They hugged each other and made their way through customs control to climb aboard a coach that was waiting outside.

Due to the fact that she had been without both parents for such a long time and also being the youngest, initially it was like living with strangers, even more so when it came to her father. Shanice had tracked down her husband, Brandon, and together they had found a house to rent in Birmingham. Shanice was working at a local Hospice, which meant working unsociable hours, but at least it was a job. The pay was poor but as Brandon was unemployed. Other than taking the odd photograph for weddings etc, the expected land of milk and honey for him did not exist. Brandon had another problem, and that was gambling. He couldn’t resist a bet on the horses. The house that they were renting was perfect for their needs, but this was going to be one of many moves to different houses in and around Birmingham, much to the embarrassment of Delphine. This of course was due to the rent being gambled away, which lead to evictions and plenty of moonlight flits.

Delphine had to attend school, as she was at an age. Whereby, she enrolled into the last year of junior school. The day that she started was really the first time she had experienced any form of direct racism. When morning break arrived and the pupils were out in the playground, she was horrified to see that including herself, there was a total of only three black faces. The majority white face pupils were in the main fascinated by the arrival of another black face. However, the fascination soon turned to direct racism. She was referred to as wog or blackie and other disgusting names. It did not stop at name-calling as Delphine had a fiery temper and did not hold back when it came to protecting herself and the other two girls. She got into many a fight, which eventually, slowly but surely enabled her to get some respect from the other pupils in the school. Delphine was a pretty girl with lots of long, black hair, big, brown eyes and a figure that would have belonged to a girl at least three years older. In fact, even at that age, she would have been described as having the perfect figure. Her skin colour was what was known as light as opposed to dark brown or black. Apparently, light-skinned people were often called reds and sometimes were shut out by the black community.

At Secondary School, it was much happier than that at Junior School. This was because initially there were more black faces probably making up ten percent of the total. She really loved her new school and was rarely absent from it. It took her away from her life at home, which really hadn’t improved from the point of view of listening to the constant arguing and occasional violence between her parents. Most of the rows were due to the lack of money to pay the normal everyday bills. Her dad was not only a gambler but he also was prone to having more than his share of alcohol that was good for him. The good news was that he had secured a full-time job as a lorry driver working for an engineering company. However, it was rare that at the end of each week there was any of his wages left. School trips costing money were out for Delphine, and she was one of three pupils who, because of their circumstances, had free lunch tokens. Whilst that meant she was able to have a good, cooked meal every day, it also told her schoolmates just how poor financially she was. However, being the type of person that she was, this did not stop her from becoming a very popular girl with all pupils regardless of their colour. Her best two subjects were English and Sport. She excelled in track events and badminton and at one stage, represented her county in this event. Her highest accolade was that in her final year there, she was made Deputy Head Girl. This was a tremendous achievement from somebody with such a humble past and having so many hurdles to climb. At the age of sixteen, she left school and with jobs in abundance in those days, she soon found herself employment as a Civil Servant working for the DHSS (Department of Health and Social Security).

After leaving school, she did not give up her badminton and joined the local club where she rose to team captain. She wasn’t alone as on joining, she discovered that one of her old teachers was also a member. So this was the end of the beginning as such for the new life Delphine was about to experience.

Chapter 2

William and Delphine were still at her mother’s house trying to come to terms with the shocking incident caused by the refusal of her brother-in-law, Khori, to shake William’s hand. Delphine was aware that sometimes in the past, he had made the odd racial comment towards white people, but that was only ever in the confines of his family and friends. Never had she seen him confront anybody not of his own colour like that before. I suppose to try and keep the peace and certainly to keep William loving her as he did, she wanted the incident forgotten and for them to move on. They had not been together as a couple for long and of course the one big dampener on their relationship was the fact that William was still living in his matrimonial home with his wife, Jaquie, and daughter, Demelza.

William and Delphine had met together whilst working for the same company, even though there had been some rumours that William had met her by picking her up from the roadside when she was hitchhiking after spending a week in the countryside staying with a friend. This story was put about by others so as not to embarrass Delphine’s mother who was also working at the same company as they were. Their relationship was to remain as secretly as possible so as to prevent other members of the staff pointing the finger at Shanice accusing her of allowing her daughter to have a relationship with not only one of the managers, but a married man with a daughter. William recalls the first time he set eyes on Delphine. She was walking along one of the corridors at work and he had not seen her before. All he could see was this beautiful specimen of a woman coming towards him. As she approached, he could not help but notice that her choice of clothes fully complimented the shape of her figure. Yes, he could see that she was black, but this was definitely black beauty. Her hair was pulled back and tied at the back of her head, thus exposing the fullness of her face. As she got closer, he could see her friendly large, dark-brown eyes, smiling at him. Behind her full lips, he could see as she smiled the pure whiteness of her teeth. She was wearing a red figure-hugging blouse which respectively clung to her full bosoms. A short, black mini skirt finished just above her knees. Beneath this was a pair of black tights or perhaps stockings. How he would love to find out. As they arrived to pass each other, William could not hold back. ‘Hello, I don’t think I have seen you before, are you new here?’

‘Yes, I started last Monday.’

‘Which part of the company are you working for?’ asked William.

‘I am based in the Accounts Office. What part are you working in?’

‘I am a sales manager and my office is just around the corner. Do you mind if I ask you your name? Oh sorry, that is very rude of me. I should have introduced myself to you. I am William. Can I ask what yours is?’

‘Yes, it’s Delphine.’

‘That sounds very French. Is it a French name?’

‘Yes, I have relatives who are French.’

‘Well, it is nice meeting you. I hope I will see more of you in the future.’

With that, she gave a cheeky smile and said, ‘Likewise. I look forward to seeing more of you as well.’

William disappeared around the corner and went into his office. He sat back on his chair. Wow, he thought. She is a beauty.

During the following week, he found himself visiting the Accounts Office more than was normal, obviously just to see and talk to Delphine. The weekend was fast approaching and William had decided to bite the bullet and at the earliest opportunity ask her out. That came easier than expected as on the Friday morning, he had reason to visit Delphine’s office. On entering, he discovered that other than Delphine, the office was empty. Taking his opportunity and after asking how she was, he said, ‘I hope you don’t think I am too forward, but would you like to come out with me on Monday evening next week?’ The answer he got could best be described as original.

‘Oh, I am so sorry, I am washing my hair that night. Perhaps another night?’

Now he had heard this reply on the movies and television many times, but never thought anyone would actually say it to him. To say he was surprised was to put it mildly true. Perhaps, he thought, she had found out he was a married man with a daughter. Whatever, his pride was hurt. He made his way back to his office where a colleague called Dave was waiting to see him. They shared the office together, and before Dave could get a word in, William told him what had just happened with Delphine. They were not just work colleagues, they were good mates as well and both often used to confide with each other discussing anything including personal problems.

‘You do know that she already has a boyfriend that works here, don’t you? He started work here at the same time as her and they were a couple before they came here.’ To say William was disappointed was an understatement.

Christmas was on the horizon and every year the company had its annual dinner and dance held at the local civic hall. This would be the third year that William had attended one. It was always a good night out, where everybody let their hair down. In the case of the females, attending it gave them a chance to show off their new dresses bought especially for the occasion. In fact, there was always a competition for the best-dressed woman. There was never one for the men! Also long service awards were handed out by the MD. That was an excuse for most people to talk amongst themselves rather than listen to the minority receive their tacky plastic carriage clocks.

Once the presentations were finished and out of the way, those that danced took to the floor, where a live band entertained for the rest of the evening. The one significant thing about this was that only employees were invited. So there were no husbands, wives, partners or friends, which as you can imagine meant a certain amount of flirting took place amongst work colleagues. Many a relationship was forged and I am sure the divorce solicitors were kept busy in the months following. Since William’s pride had been dented, he had not tried to make any contact with Delphine. However, on the Wednesday before the dance, he was walking along one of the corridors when approaching him was Delphine. ‘Excuse me, William, can I ask you a question?’

‘Yes, of course, what is it?’

‘Are you going to the Christmas Dinner Dance?’

‘Yes, I am, what about you, are you going?’

‘Yes, I will be going.’

‘When I asked you out before, I didn’t know that you had a boyfriend. So I apologise for that. I suppose he will be going to the dance with you?’

‘No, he hates anything like that. I have told him that I will still be going and he doesn’t seem to mind.’

‘Well, I will look forward to seeing you there.’

With that, he turned around and with a grin on his face stretching from ear to ear, made his way to the office. Each year, the company