Parrotman Curtis
It was a few days before I passed through Bloody Bay again. This time I decided to stop for awhile at the CURTIS SHOP. Parrotman took me across the road to show me his herb garden.
"When the boy get lazy, I boil this bush down and drink," he confided, chuckling. Tobago seemed a garden of aphrodisiacs. He pointed out the stack of bricks that would house his new toilet, then disappeared behind a curtain of colored strips. A deafening screech of music erupted from all over the emporium. Hidden speakers lurked everywhere. I noticed wires draped over the bushes, crossing the lawn.
Curtis's passion for white plastic sun furniture meant that every bit of his garden was crammed with chairs and chaises. Even his garage had been converted into an all-plastic dining room. On a tiny lawn behind the garage, we sat on more plastic chairs and drank a glass of aloes wine on ice.
"Taste that. It good."
It was good. Like a rich sherry.
The Parrotman, Curtis James, shares quiet time with his daughter.
The Parrotman, Curtis James, shares quiet time with his daughter.
Parrotman Curtis took me into the rain forest. He was the ideal guide. Every so often he would stop and let out a series of whistles, or staccato hoots, or grunts, or clicks. A moment later some bird would respond with the same tune. He climbed up a parrot-apple vine, pulling himself high above the forest floor, higher and higher until he must have been 40 feet up.
He showed me a tiny hummingbird's nest he had spotted beneath the tip of a giant rubber leaf. Inside the little woven pouch two tiny black beaks could be seen and two sets of bristly wings. He urged me to drink "the sweetest water it have on the island," which came tumbling down a cascade of mossy rock. Sure enough, it actually was sweet water, far more delicious than any bottled mineral water.
Afterward, Curtis asked me politely if I would mind very much driving him down to the beach. "I need sand for cement," he explained. "So I can build up my new toilet for tourists."
I didn't hesitate. It was just the kind of initiative Robinson Crusoe would have approved of. Though what he would have made of a ceramic toilet is anyone's guess.