If I Survive You

This story also adopts the use of second person, addressing the reader as “you.” In it, the author code-switches, shifting from a vernacular more familiar to native English speakers who grew up in the United States to a Jamaican vernacular. The story takes the point of view of Trelawny’s father, Topper, tracing his life to the present day.

The narrator, from Topper’s perspective, ushers the reader through the life a young man born to uptown Kingston parents. He writes about dating three different women: Reyha, Sanya, and Cherie. The narrator tells his father, who owns a construction business, that he wants to go to a foreign art school to study fashion. His father strongly objects, so he instead goes to work on his father’s construction site. The young man dislikes the work, but his father is dismissive: “since when man suppose to like job” (48). Of the three women, the narrator loves Sanya and hopes to marry her. With the money saved from his job, he is able to buy a home in Mandeville, and he writes about marriage to Sanya, who accepts. They name their first son Delano. The narrator describes Jamaica’s violence, and although he attributes the social unrest to the “socialist fuckery” of the prime minister, his father blames it on independence. Rumors are that, because of Prime Minister Norman Manley’s close relationship with Fidel Castro, the United States has flooded Jamaica with cheap cocaine. The violence increases, and the narrator and his wife decide to immigrate to the United States. After considering New York, they settle in Miami.

There, life is difficult. The narrator initially works as a used car salesman, but eventually he is able to break into the construction industry. Sanya works as a secretary, but their combined income is less than it was in Jamaica. He tries unsuccessfully to sell his art. Sanya gives birth to a second son, Trelawny, but the narrator is soon chagrined to see how American his second child is. Delaney makes him happier and prouder as a father. The boy is strong, athletic, and has retained more of his Jamaican identity. After Hurricane Gilbert hits Jamaica, the narrator sends supplies back to his family. He tries to teach his children about Jamaican culture by cooking ackee fruit for them, the national dish of Jamaica. Although Delano enjoys its flavor, Trelawny spits it out, saying “eew!” and telling his father that the cooked fruit (it must be cooked to be eaten) tastes like scrambled eggs.

The narrator’s parents die in a car accident, and when he returns to Jamaica, he cheats on Sanya with an ex-girlfriend. He returns to Miami shortly before Hurricane Andrew destroys their house. Sanya soon finds out about the infidelity because it has produced a child, and the two argue. Sanya throws her phone at the narrator, leaving him with a head wound that, although superficial, will scar. Sanya tells him that he must take one of their children and live with him. She does not want to remain married, but she also does not want him to entirely shirk his parental duty. She decides that Delano will go with him, and he is relieved. He is sure that Delano will make something of himself, and indeed, Delano starts a landscaping business immediately after graduation. The narrator is worried about Trelawney, who is anxious and withdrawn. He is upset when Trelawney shows interest in what he describes as “ghetto” culture from both Jamaica and the United States and angrily tells his younger son that their family is not low class. Although he tries to get back together with Sanya, she serves him with divorce papers.

When Delano gifts the narrator a full-grown ackee tree, the narrator is moved to tears. Delano has transplanted it from a house in Coconut Grove whose owner wanted to chop it down; he had his work crew bring it to the site of their new house in Palmetto Bay and plant it. Trelawny goes away to college, and the narrator hopes that his younger son will find his place among people who, like him, are sensitive and enjoy books. The narrator is frustrated when, after college, Trelawny returns to Miami and struggles to find a job. The narrator feels at odds with this son, who is more interested in abstract ideas than practicality. The narrator has a party when the new house is finished, and Trelawny brings his Jamaican girlfriend, Zoë. Although the narrator thinks that his son looks more polished and put together, Trelawny tells him that he wants to move to Jamaica, claiming that his father never should have left. Angry and aghast, the narrator scolds his son. He asks Trelawny to go and cut him a ripe ackee fruit, and the story ends with the image of Trelawny under the tree holding an axe.