Bellinda Bell

By Hortense M. Jenkins

It is the mid-fifties in Jamaica. Twenty-two-year-old Bellinda Simms is a strong-willed, temperamental, fearless, and not very intelligent young woman who is accustomed to battling her way out of any situation. Now as she boards a banana boat with other migrants and begins a three-week journey to South Hampton, England, in search of a new beginning, Bellinda has no idea what awaits her. All she knows is that she wants to achieve her dreams.

When she finally arrives in England, Bellinda makes a shocking discovery: she is pregnant with her Jamaican boyfriend’s child. Determined to keep it a secret for as long as she can, Bellinda secures work on an estate with other immigrants and begins dating her cousin’s friend. When she experiences complications and is sent to the hospital, she is tended to by a male nurse. After Bellinda eventually recovers and continues with her pregnancy, a chain of events unfurls that lead her down unexpected paths. Will Bellinda’s faith be enough to help her endure all her challenges?

Belinda Bell is the tale of a young woman’s experiences as life takes her from Jamaica, West Indies, to South Hampton, England, to what she hopes is a new beginning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Mar 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781665738309

Hortense M. Jenkins

Hortense M. Jenkins believes that truth must be told from an early age where growth can continue. Belinda Bell is her sixth book.

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Copyright © 2023 Hortense M. Jenkins.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

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without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents,

organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products

of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing

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models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3829-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3828-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-3830-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023902176

Archway Publishing rev. date: 03/13/2023

CONTENTS

Preface

CHAPTER 1     The Arrival

CHAPTER 2     The Male Nurse

CHAPTER 3     The Baby’s Arrival

CHAPTER 4     The Wedding Planners

CHAPTER 5     Hearts at Home

CHAPTER 6     A Different kind of Home

CHAPTER 7     Records from South Hampton

CHAPTER 8     Bertie’s Dilemma

CHAPTER 9     Clifton Lawrence Graduates

CHAPTER 10   Help from the Right Source

CHAPTER 11   Changes on the Horizon

CHAPTER 12   South Hampton News

CHAPTER 13   After Graduation

CHAPTER 14   Identification

CHAPTER 15   Wedding Bells

CHAPTER 16   News From Jamaica

CHAPTER 17   Bertie Bell’s Flight

CHAPTER 18   Bellinda’s Surgery

CHAPTER 19   Special Arrivals

CHAPTER 20   The Departure to South Hampton

CHAPTER 21   The Haunting Past

Epilogue

PREFACE

Sometimes she tried to understand many things, and even so, it did not satisfy her curiosity. As a little girl, Bellinda Simms was very strong willed, temperamental, fearless, and not very intelligent. Her abilities to achieve whatever she wants, comes through being very physical at the drop of a button. And coming from both sides of her families only makes matters worse. It is of no wonder that she is who she is; because both parents, though not married to each other, were worse than she was.

They too would physically fight at the drop of a button, not among themselves, but anyone who would try to cross their paths. Bellinda’s mother was the strongest of most women known in the district of Clarksonville, (it was rumored) and surrounding areas, and her father the butcher, was her equal. How did nature, time, fate, and faith connect these two? Six decades have passed and I am still amazed by the connection and gravity of these two. What was clearly understood, is that the distance between courting, Bellinda’s parents did not have far to go to see each other. And it seemed that fate had it planned that way because they were always crossing paths, and most of the residents were told some secrets by some seniors from the district.

Some labeled Bellinda’s mother as ‘bull buck and duppy conqueror’, a term used for gangland style, action and attitude. What they saw of her, could be describe as coming out of a fiction or fairy tale magazine or movie. One man told me, he witnessed Bellinda’s mother holding the hands of one man and beats three men using the poor defenseless man in a swinging motion. But she was not worried about her parents, because she could fight her own battle, without help from anyone. As far back as she could remember, right up until her senior years, Bellinda had no problem fighting her way out of any situation. Well….that is until she had that major surgery which almost took her life; and even so, she was not afraid of many things, or confrontations.

During the early to mid-fifties, Island migration was in full swing, and Bellinda, her sister, and many others were blessed to be in the number. It was also the time of exporting bananas to the United Kingdom from Jamaica and other adjoining islands; and since some were still in the British Colony, including Jamaica, it became quite convenient for whosoever were blessed to be able to afford the passage. No need to worry about the receiver at the other end; ‘have ‘dunzi’ will travel’. (Have money will travel) And so Bellinda set sail for England on a banana boat. She boarded the Banana Boat in Kingston and set sail for South Hampton.

Her arrival was met with the usual fanfare, and enthusiasms at the dock in South Hampton where the unloading of green bananas took place. It was many years later---to be quite frank, it was forty years later she talked about her arrival in the United Kingdom. Within those forty years, Bellinda was very elusive with many things that took place in her life.

That side of her, from a little girl in her native Jamaica, she was very private. To pry and prod would be asking for trouble because of her temper. She had no problem in letting anyone know about that particular part of her. So many things were left unsaid which makes life much easier and comfortable for those who would think she was a ‘pushover’ and would want to ‘try a thing’.

With Bellinda, surprises were far and few among those who knew her well. Another side of her, she would sometimes openly display, and be very firm and candid about; was her religious beliefs, and political affiliation. Don’t push, question, or intrude; let her volunteer to do and say which, sometimes turned out to be a teaching experience for many, without the questions and answers sessions. And when she is in that mood, her emotions got the better of her. Her cracked, whispering voice, and teary eyes, managed to expose the softness that lies beneath that layer of solidity.

Bellinda realized that many people found out that she’s not so tough after all. Although many in her new adopted home would not bet on that because of past experiences; while some of the receivers at South Hampton, who knew her very well, and what she stands for, knew exactly how to approach her. Family members and friends of them were very particular in their choice of communication, because of her explosive manner. Therefore, they would rather let ‘sleeping dogs lie’ than do anything else.

Amazingly, she remained strong until she started having her children. Besides those bouts of explosive moments, she could be sweet, loving, charming, giving, compassionate and extremely caring. Yes! Bellinda could be one beautiful caring person. She remembered the day when she arrived in South Hampton, it was the first time she is going to experience the difference in climate change.

Bellinda’s desire was not only to leave the hum-drum standard of living behind, but also to have her children in an adopted country where they will hug and accept newness. A newness that she had never experienced, but that the needs of her children would be met without the hardship that almost suffocate her. Bellinda wondered if she would ever find a man to love her, fathered her children, and not looking at the way she presented herself. Despite her attitude she loved to secretly pray. In other words, accept her as she is. Yes! That is all wonderful, but it takes time to know Bellinda.

When things are not going the way she had planned, she would ask the Lord to work it out; not on a regular basis, nevertheless, she would pray. Because she believed that God knew her from the beginning of time, and He sees her as one of His beautiful Creation. And regardless of her upbringing she was taught that she did not just ‘happen on this planet’. Bellinda was taught that there was a creator who created her and the world, ‘and they that dwell therein’; and He loved all His creation, including her. Therefore, it should not be taken for granted, because He is a jealous God. All the Churches and Sunday Schools that helped to shaped Bellinda’s life was not what the family expected. Nevertheless, she was loved and appreciated.

There was only one set back that caused her to question God, and it did not take her long to get back into harmony with her Savior. But she still asked the Lord: why did you let me have a baby of a different colour? The baby was not black, instead he has that pigmentation that gives cause for concern. In her native Jamaica they called that colour dundus. Her question was directed to God and she never discussed it with anyone else. Whether God answered her or not, no one knows because no one knew about it but her and God. She was that person, and she hoped to maintain that part of her.

When Bellinda made the decision to follow in her fellow Islanders footsteps to ‘board the banana boat’, just a few people knew about it. Some cousins from her father’s side of the family and her mother. She refused to let anyone know. She was not super…. of being jinxed but she was not trusting of some people, especially those from the neighborhood; and that family from Long Hill. Yes, especially that family! She got into Bellinda’s ‘Belfry’. They were classmates from Clarksonville Primary school, and they had a nasty fight. The feud continued into their adult years because of a substance that was used in one of the fracas or confrontations that almost caused blindness to the other student. Bellinda trusted few people. And that’s why it was shocking to some when they went looking for her and could not find her, only to be told that Billinda ‘boarded the banana boat’.

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CHAPTER ONE

THE ARRIVAL

It was a beautiful summer’s day when Bellinda first arrived in South Hampton. Even with the dampness in the air, she still believes it was a beautiful day. Coming from a tropical country, she found it very uncomfortable to accept the unusual cool and dampness, when the place she’s coming from, the sun was hot, shining, and makes one sweat like a horse. She had forgotten the long journey it took her from the land of her birth, Jamaica, to her destination. Three weeks, to be exact; on the banana boat, on the sometimes rough and choppy seas, across the Atlantic Ocean.

In the early fifties when many were migrating; Bellinda was determined that she wanted to travel also and she worked really hard to achieve what she had set her heart on. She was only twenty-two years old when she boarded that cargo ship in Kingston, Jamaica. The huge vessel was docked at Kingston Wharves, loading healthy bunches of green bananas from many green fields of the Island farmers in Jamaica, as well as many human cargoes, bound for another part of the world. Bellinda’s life’s position was in a little grip, (a little suit case) its contents of few pieces of clothing, and a determination to cross the Atlantic Ocean safely.

Upon arrival in South Hampton, there were three people to meet her, a family member and two friends. They hugged, exchange pleasantries, and she hopped into the front seat of the little blue car that would take her to her new home.

Bellinda had accomplished one leg of her journey, crossing the Atlantic. She settled in quite comfortable, with the expectation of knowing that, soon it will be time to go job hunting. But something stirred her thoughts; what kind of job will she be looking for? What can she do? She have no skills but to grate coconuts, that is what she used to do in her native Jamaica.

Suddenly, it hit her real hard; what can she do? Bellinda had a little pig that she loved so very much. She and that pig had a relationship, a strong bond, but she had to sell her precious little friend when she was leaving Jamaica as she needed that financial help. And her caring nature influenced the idea of getting a job in the healthcare department, but that did not sit too ‘tight with her’, so she digestively accepted the thought: ‘she can cook’. She loves to cook. She will find a job as a cook. That settles that.

Although, settling for a job as a cook, she still had doubts. Bellinda can do many little things but what is she good at that would help her get a decent well-paying job? The house that she was staying, were friends and families and one of the friends noticed the sadness that came over her. But there was no need for her to worry because her cousin already had a job lined up for her. It was meant to be a surprised. After two weeks in the United Kingdom Bellinda got her first job. She was taken to an estate where a lot of immigrants; especially those from the West Indies were working.

After six weeks on the job, something strange was happening to Bellinda, and although she suspected what it was, she put it out of her mind and continue to enjoy her new cooking job. Always she would enjoy cooking and dishing out and so amongst the many things she can do, she would finally, without fear or preambles, she would settle for cooking.

At the family home where she stayed, they too noticed that Bellinda was being very fussy about her choice of foods. She complained of being tired quite often; but would not change her job. The occupants agreed that it all boils down to the strangeness of the newness. The new country, food, work, environment, and maybe homesickness and other changes. But Bellinda knew what it was and would not tell anyone.

One of the women of the