the long awaited 16th birthday bashment for shanice went down friday night… the night before was mad prepping filled with cooking and cleaning; the house was bustling with life… people, music, children, laughter, … half of the john crow crew was present, preparing the meat and drinks. we had to make some emergency runs for flour and basic necessities we had overlooked. i headed home late, but most everybody left long after me. the next morning i headed down to find a cake wrapping assembly line… so i joined the assembly. as soon as the foil ran out, marie, rocksan, shanice, chubby, asha and myself caught a bus to mobay. we split up, let the kids meet shanice’s friend at the bus park, and we picked up the car and headed to run the day’s errands: making sure shanice spent her birthday in style. we ran into this store and into that store… scouring the aisles and walls with every move. eventually we headed back up the mountain… reaching in around evening time. i headed home to clean up and relax a bit before the anticipated party. jessie, asha and their brother tevaugn stopped by to walk down with me. they had carried me a bag of etiopi apples from lambs river. we headed to marie’s and discovered no even shanice was ready yet… regardless we made our way by the field, following the sounds of the booming music. sip was simmering, rice and peas cooking, chicken frying, … we set up a little table for the cake and collected some chairs for those who wished to sit. before we knew it there were people all around… as soon as shanice arrived, we soon unveiled the cake, sang the usual birthday songs, and let shanice make her wishes and blow out the candle. the dancing commenced and the kids took the stage, after all this was their time. they had a blast! nonstop dancing and singing all night. it came to the point when the early morning hours had come and the kids were struggling to stay awake, so we begged them to head home to bed. the next morning was spent cleaning up and the kids running around, trying to beat the afternoon rain.