Justin mother is concerned that Justin prefers Mass Huey's company to that of his own father but Justin Father knows that Justin is safe in Mass Huey's company.
(extract from The Joys of boyhood a short story in the book For love of Him)
Forgetting his game of marbles he
crept up to the open window and sat on his favorite stone to listen, a stone which
he had placed there for this very purpose. He loved listening to the stories
told in the rum shop. Sometimes he imagined being part of the excitement of the
story being told and sometimes he was one of the main characters of the story.
Today there was an argument about
Mass Huey and his mule Gerty which was the stronger.
Immediately Justin decided that
if he had to place a bet on which of the two was stronger he would place his
bet on Mass Huey. He recalled the time he saw Mass Huey carry three sacks of
cement easily up John Crow Hill. That was no easy feat because each sack of
cement weighed nearly a hundred pounds. It meant balancing one on his head and
carrying a sack of cement under each arm. Even more incredible John Crow Hill
was a long, narrow, rocky, steep and treacherous hill and most persons took the
much longer route just to avoid it.
When later Justin reported that
that he had seen Mass Huey do this, actually he was there and could not keep up
with Mass Huey which is why he said he saw, he was bought a half dozen pints of
soft drinks and promised that he would soon be admitted into the rum drinking
club seeing he was a bigger liar than any of those in the club. He still felt
humiliated because he had to stop and rest a part of the way up the hill While
Mass Huey had made the whole journey without stopping to rest.
Gerty his mule had developed a
reputation for being stubborn, un-cooperative and ornery. Secondly, she would
deliver a well placed kick whenever her victim was not paying attention or was distracted.
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