Carnival with Crawly and Scampy
Crawly and Scampy
Carnival is here
Crawly and Scampy raced out the hole, and while on their way to the beach, Crawly stopped and said, “Go ahead Scampy, I forgot something at home.”
Cock’s were crowing, bull frogs were croaking, a beautiful day played happily on the radio,
“ It’s a beautiful day… Today’s a beautiful day-a-a.”
Matilda was dancing in the living room when a grumpy voice interrupted her..
"Who gave them permission to go? Look at my crosses! Where did those children go? Oh my Sweet Jesus, have mercy on me.” The loud voice continued.
Aunt Beebee continued in a scandalous tone. “I’m tired of talking to those children Matilda, “Why are they so hardened, how they could leave the house without saying a word? And she continued, I think I’d better build a wall to keep them from leaving,” Aunt Beebee wasn’t joking today. She scanned the room and awaited response. Matilda kept silent, and Inspector Borrows who was watching a movie, grabbed the newspapers and pretended to be busy reading..
“Something’s looking fishy here,” Aunt Beebee thought for a moment and continued from where she left off, “It’s going to build a wall so high, they'll never be able to crawl over,
Meanwhile on the beach a big truck was revving its engine, lights were flashing, stacks of speakers hummed and vibrated from the pulsating music. A Rasta Crab climbed on top of a truck and began to wave a flag.
Deejay Krabi shouted to microphone, “Get ready to wine! “ Then turned up the volume on the amplifier and the entire beach exploded to the sound of sweet “Soca” music.
It was Carnival Monday and Crabs from all over the world gathered on the beach to have a street party. Many came from London, Paris, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong. There were Swedish, Danish, Africans and South Americans. It was like having the United Nations of Masqueraders, all dressed in little or no clothes. Literally naked as Aunt BeeBee would often say...
The Devil crabs were greased with dirty engine oil and were painted with dyes of red, blue, black and gold. They gyrated to the sound of tins and old biscuit pans while chanting, “Look the devil there!” “Jab, Jab.”
Further up the beach on an old fishing boat, someone was moving through dried coconut leaves, tossing and turning over things, until finally settling down. “Thank God I found it!” Crawly smiled. And in a flash, took off to catch-up with Scampi and the other guys.
Smurf greeted Crawly with a knock on the claw. Hydro said, “Yeah Man.” And Irie repeated "One Love," as he raised his Gundy in the air and shouted out loud, “Jah Rastafari.” Gundy to Gundy they bounced, until Crawly gently rocked onto his brother Scampy. He smiled and showed him the red banner he had lost. He waved it in the air, and together they sang, “ It’s a beautiful day-a-a.”
It was almost three o’clock in the morning. A cloud in the shape of a shark drifted by under the twinkling stars and the crescent moon hung in the sky like a painting on a wall. The entire coastline was transformed into a magical theater of Crabs gone wild. The mocking of the French celebrations of Carnival had turned into an international festival of art and culture on the Island called Trinidad and Tobago.
Walking along the beach passed a “manicou” dressed up like a wild Indian, and up ahead was a “Cobeaux” playing Batman, and using his wings as a cape to jump from place to place. And what did you know, Monkey, who was always laughing at someone was dressed up like a television evangelist preaching the good word, “JESUS LOVES CRABS”
Hydro said to his band mates, “It’s time to go boys!” And they sped off to meet the Mud Band section of “The Peter Man-Crab show.”
At home, Aunt Beebee, Crawly and Scampi’s mother, Matilda, and their uncle Inspector Borrows prepared for the J’ouvert celebrations.
Somewhere in the thick dark bushes, next to an old wooden hut, a few "Bad Crabs" gathered for a secret plot. One of them was known as “Rat”, the other as “Poo,” and the other one was called “Nasty,” the Stinky from Sangre Grande. Their pictures were posted on the walls of the Mayaro police station and were considered armed and dangerous.
Rat said to the others, “I have a “leak” that the club is full of “Blues.” Are you all ready for the “lick?” Poo answered, “No flick” Nasty just smirked and looked around suspiciously; his claws were on the trigger ready to shoot if anybody moved.
Up ahead a large group of crabs danced on the sand to the music of the National Panorama champs, “The United Crab Steel Orchestra,” and the sound of steel rang through the air.
There was a crowd gathered around a wild-eyed crab named “Loco,” and he was inciting the crowd saying, “Go home! Go home! Lock the doors! Tie-up the dogs! Nail down your windows! A mad crab just escaped from the Saint Ann’s Sanatorium and is headed this way!” A group of bats flying around the area got wind of the situation and began spreading the news. There was shock and panic in the crowd when someone said that a taxi Crab driver was killed on his way to Mayaro. The crowd silently crawled away then scattered as if a blood sucking “soucouyant” was chasing them all the way home.
Aunt Beebee and Matilda were standing under a coconut tree enjoying the festival, waiting to see Crawly and Scampy pass by with the J’ouvert bands, while Inspector Borrows, went to the Crab-O-Rama Sports Club to get refreshments. A robbery was in progress when the inspector walked in the club. Poo recognized the inspector and fired shots in his direction. The inspector ducked to avoid the bullets and hurried out of the club. Rat, Poo and Nasty grabbed as much money as they could and made their escape.
Among the many spectators at Mayaro beach that early morning was one called Greedy, and he was observing Aunt Beebee and Matilda as if they were made of silver and gold. He silently came up from behind and cut the strap of Aunt Beebee’s purse. But as Greedy turned to run away with the booty, Inspector Borrows clubbed him with his baton and he dropped the bag and scrambled into the crowd. “Thank God you came just in time!” Aunt Beebee said to Inspector Borrows, while Matilda just held on with dear life to her purse.
Boom, boom, boom, the bass drum pounded. Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta,-ta, the Indian“Tassa” drum rolled. “Who’s that crab with a flag?” A tourist from Brooklyn wanted to know. Band after band paraded at the best ever beach party on Earth.“Look the mud band’s coming!” shouted a spectator from San Fernando.
Thousands of lights lit up the sandy beach as the sun woke up to peep. The mud crab section sprayed paint everywhere they passed and on everybody too. “Na-Na-Na!” Complained a spectator, “This is a brand new shirt!” but from behind was plastered with mud by a “Moko Jumbie,” dancing on bamboo poles. Scampi was seen dancing on the beach sandwiched between two sexy girls. And Crawly danced in a conga line, doing the limbo.
It was agreed that they would leave the mud band at Church Street, and play in the sea before going home. At least that is what they had told Aunt Beebee and Matilda at the Junior Krabi Carnival show.
As they stood on a rock overlooking the ocean, Scampy noticed that a flying object had entered the sea. “They’re here,” Crawly said to Scampi anxiously. In a blink, they glanced at each other and jumped onto a wave. As the wave curved to Jaws, they plunged deep into the sea. Seaweeds and electric eels went by as they swam towards a portal that would transport them to another world. “Do you see anyone Scampy?” Crawly whispered. Scampi closed his eyes and focused, and amazingly, “Consciousness” the blue crab from the constellation of Andromeda appeared to them, and the game was on.
Crawly and Scampy placed their claws on the glowing stones and vivid holograms of their worst fears appeared before them. The demon of “Doubt” took shape before Crawly ready to kill him with smoke and suffocation. And at the same time, the demon of “Darkness” attacked Scampy with holographic winged serpents that spat fire from its mouth and nose. The game had many options to successfully navigate the negative thought bombardments of the draconian forces upon the earth. An encounter with the demons could be fought on an earthly plain or even in a spiritual world. You had the option of choosing the weapon that suited you best. Scampy choose the laser beamer and Crawly the analytic gun. All were designed to stimulate positive thought patterns and eliminate the fake and malicious ones.
The blue crab called “Consciousness” would often tell Crawly and Scampy that, “To love is to be loved.” And that the ultimate achievement of the game was to fight each other’s demons and light up the darkness in each other’s soul.
After playing the third level of the game called “My Brother’s Keeper,” it was time to leave, and as they exited the room everything disappeared behind them. Scampy looked back and “Consciousness,” the blue crab from Andromeda, she was gone and so was the portal.
Upon reaching shore they shook off the sea water from their backs and ran towards the Gypsy Music Studio. They had no time to go home. They had a gig at the Queens Beach Hotel and had to get their musical instruments set up for the show.
In no time at all, Crawly was on the electronic steel pan, Scampy on electric guitar, “Smurf” on drums, “Hydro” was on Keyboards, and “Irie” on the bass guitar. The band struck up the “Soca” song “ It’s a beautiful day-a-a,” and the crowd went wild.
It was a J’ouvert bacchanal in Mayaro . Thousands of crabs gathered on the beach. A steady breeze blew, as the waves rolled ashore and gently caress the sand with sea. Something attracted Crawly’s attention, and it was an unusual looking crab gyrating extravagantly, pitching sand from side to side. Somehow she looked familiar to him, so he focused on her, the shape was familiar, and the dancing and mannerisms were too. “Who could it be?” He wondered. “Could it be her?” he thought not, but felt quite differently. Finally, the dancer turned around to face him and he froze, mistakenly hitting a wrong note on the steel pan, causing everyone in the band to stare at him.
And then all eyes turned from Crawly to the dancing crab… it was Aunt Beebee with a blond toupee on her head, and she was holding up a placard she used for an old Mas Carnival competition stating, “ Make CRABS Great Again”
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