Memoir
Memories of Montserrat
In Younger Days
This short story is part of a chapter in my forthcoming book, “Memories of Montserrat.”
They told this story for years.
My grandparents loved entertaining. Tea parties, afternoons playing bridge, full dinners, Caribbean sunset viewings, and “Adventures in Listening” — they never missed an opportunity to gather and socialize.
Phones would ring across the island, as my grandfather would carefully watch the weather reports for a clear sky. “There’s a green flash happening tonight,” he’d tell my Nana, and she’d set up in the kitchen to bake bread, or a clafouti, or delicate finger sandwiches, after they decided to invite others to see this rare optical spectacle. The sun in its last throes, would gently depart with a brilliant green flash at the last moment of dipping under the water. And only the clearest of skies, with no humidity, would encourage the event.
And so, because they were known to all as great hosts, the governor rang them up one day.
“There’s a Royal Navy ship mooring this week, would you like to entertain some officers?”
“Why of course!” came my grandmother’s reply, and she planned for a full dinner on her best fine…
