Caribbean Passage

Joseph Jardine initiated a business deal to purchase a small retail store in 1928.  The newly acquired grocery store was in the Bronx.

The afternoon after closing the deal, Joseph left New York by boat for his home in Georgetown, British Guiana.  As he stood on the starboard promenade deck, his ship passed Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  The boat let out two tremendous blasts in front of Lady Liberty.  Those blasts echoed his own feelings of gratitude for the good luck the “Lady” brought him on this trip.   He was excited, yet anxious, to be going home to pack up his family over the next few weeks and move them to the United States.  This was a long sought-after dream – a dream that was tragically derailed some six years earlier. 

He steered his thoughts to the business he built back home in South America, and for a moment allowed himself to feel pride in the success of his small grocery and liquor shop that had turned enough profit so that a life in the States with his young and growing family would soon become a reality.  His thoughts shifted to his beautiful wife, Emily, and their two-year old daughter, Christina.  He had been away from home for seventeen days and it would be another seven before he arrived in Georgetown, British Guiana’s capital and port city.  Leaving his family for these necessary business trips was always difficult, and this time was certainly no exception.  During the last hours before he left for this trip, Emily told him that she was expecting their second child.  As he held her closely, the prospect of this event both thrilled and frightened him.  His journey to New York immediately gained heightened importance as the efforts to secure a sound financial footing took on new meaning.  He had only intended to begin the process of looking for a suitable business venture while on this trip, but was surprised by the extent of his good fortune.  Emily would be stunned.

As luck would have it, his search ended within a day of arriving in the City.  A business colleague’s uncle suddenly passed away and the children were looking for a buyer for their father’s grocery store on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.  Within a week, an agreement was reached and a small down payment handed over.  All that was left was to return home to British Guiana, or B.G. as its citizens called it, and spend the next month transitioning ownership of the shop to his good friend, Horace Fernandes. 

Horace and Joseph had a verbal agreement for about two years now that the business would be sold to him when Joseph was ready to relocate to the States.  After all, without Horace’s help back in his time of need, Joseph would have no business to sell today.  Horace was a dear and loyal friend.

Emily’s two brothers worked in his shop for a year and a half and always assumed that they would lose their jobs if and when Joseph ever sold.  It had taken some doing, but he convinced Horace that the DaCosta brothers’ continued employment must be a condition of the sale.  They did only a fair job in the shop, and he was troubled by their tendencies towards drinking and loafing.  Frankie and Albert both had a penchant for living the wild life.  Frankie was especially troublesome.  He came across as cold and calculating at times and was frequently at odds with the law. 

For that reason, Joseph’s sister, Hermina, argued vehemently with him about marrying into Emily’s family.  “No good will ever come to you if you have anything to do with the DaCostas,” she warned.