Samuel Selvon stories, fictions, summarized


Author: Doctor Terence Rajivan Edward (or 0161__Rajivan, if that helps)
Draft version: version 2 (2nd April 2026; v 1 March 2026)


Holiday in Five Rivers. It is the holiday season and Popo wants to join his older brother Govind, 12 year old, in his activities, but Govind thinks it better for Popo to play with children his own age, for he soon cries and wants to go home. There is a shop run by a Chineseman, named Chin, and a lazy beggar - the laziest in Trinidad - a negro called More Lazy lives under his verandah. Apparently if a dollar bill is dropped nearby, he won't reach for it, rather ask a passer-by to hand it to him. Popo presents plans for activity with Govind, on the condition that he is allowed to join, plans he apparently learnt from More Lazy. One of the plans involves frightening an old HIndu named Jagroop, who lives in one of the hills, within a thick forest there: one who complains a lot when he comes into the village. Govind, Popo, and friends put an old coffin outside Jagroop's hut, to scare him, but it does not scare him. Another plan is to look for where Jagroop has hidden his money, but they are unable to find it. The dry season affects most of the fruit, except a mango tree in Jagroop's garden. Govind decides to steal fruit from it, hoisting Popo up the tree for this purpose. They detect Jagroop in the vicinity, and try to stay still and noiseless. But observing him, they learn where he keeps his money. It is under the bed of a stream - that is why they could not find it; the boys earlier dug the earth. (The dollar bill More Lazy story resembles an Italian folktale about lazy Turkish professors. I suspect Selvon is depicting Popo as a budding politician.)


The Village Washer. At the story's beginning, Ma Lambee is the only washerwoman in a small village near Port of Spain named San Souci. With the declaration of war, she begins to skip doing things for clients: neglecting collars, not mending any buttons that come off when she scrubs, etc. The villagers complain, but she says it is wartime. (Eventually the complaint emerges, "What war is she talking about?") She monopolizes business, raises prices, and gets away with poor service, until another washer woman arrives, from a village called Donkey City. This woman, Ma Procop, provides a good service attracting customers, but Ma Lambee does what she can to spoil the business. She puts up a sign saying she is negotiating with a city firm for a washing machine, but there is no electricity in the village and this provokes mockery. Ma Lambee decides to appeal to the villagers' superstitions, casting Ma Procop as engaging in black magic, and turning into a blood-sucking animal overnight, when working overtime. Ma Lambee pours a gallon of poison on a big silk-cotton tree and it dies as she predicted, blaming Ma Procop. She puts black magic ritual items in Ma Procop's house and when the villagers demand to search it, they find them. They ask Ma Procop to look in a mirror, for an obeah woman cannot do this, but she does and challenges Ma Lambee to as well, which causes fear in Lambee, who had been studying black magic. Ma Lambee leaves the village. (In the University of Manchester social science school, does Ma Procop type have to leave?)


Working for Transport. Small Change is the nickname of a man from Barbados. London Transport used to look for workers from the West Indies, specifically Barbados, for some reason, They interview Small Change and he boasts and lies, e.g. asked whether he can drive, he says that he was born behind a wheel, and whether he has licence, he says yes but it is not with him. He gets a job as a bus driver in London, but does not pay attention during training and is more focused on seduction (at Elephant & Castle, where I lived for 9 months?) and dancing. He introduces a dance called Hip'n'Hit in place of rock'n'roll dancing, now out of fashion in Barbados. It becomes a trend. He finds it taxing on his mind calculating the exact monetary change for customers and going up and down to punch tickets ("mark" them as suitable and used); his friend Alipang tells him being a tube conductor is easier. He gets a job working on the London Underground but issues false instructions, wrongly saying "All Change" - that all must change train here. The London Transport inspector says, "This is your last chance." (Heard that before myself!) Small Change is doing well for a while, but it goes wrong in a way that has to do with women: always the problem when a man is doing well, says the narrator, even in London. Change has a girlfriend whom he first taught the Hip'n'Hit to. He tries to date another woman, stopping the escalator to chat with her, and his girlfriend spots this, leading to a tussle between the women. Change's cap gets knocked off, falls down the escalator (which he has presumably switched on again), and he chases after it. The London Transport inspector observes the scene and fires him. 


Gussy and the boss. Industrial Corporation, in the southern outskirts of Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies, is taken over by a European company and renamed. The buildings are repainted and old furniture replaced. There are 10 office employees, a boss Jones and a caretaker Gussy (or something like that: number comprehension), and all but the boss do not realize a takeover has occurred. The employees - all natives - have intense verbal disputes over office equipment, who is getting what desk presumably and the like. The boss makes them aware of a takeover. They are not union members, feeling trade unions were for a poorer social class. One goes to a newspaper to complain, and a small report appears about wealthy European takeover, but says it will benefit the colony. These employees leave and only Jones and Gussy remain, Gussy a man with one leg after shark attack in the Gulf of Paria while fishing with friends. The new staff arrive and Jones too leaves, after letting a pleading Gussy stay. They are all white and Gussy cannot shake the thought that they are all bosses, making his work harder - he is very courteous, keeps to himself, etc. Mr Garry warns Gussy about the boss's wife and when doing so says, "here's not the place you're supposed to be." (Heard that before!) The new boss, the new manager, Mr Blade is impressed by Gussy saying that on one leg he does more than the 2-legged. Blade suggests he is in line for a raise, with the rising cost of living (Gussy himself appealed to having to care for an ailing mother). He is now bold enough to stand near the office door, as he used to, while Mr Garry tells a war story. Blade's wife appears. She demands that all natives are dismissed. Prior to meeting Gussy, Blade addresses the almanac as if it is his wife: "Coloured workers are good for prestige and do the work just as well" and the basket as if it is Gussy. A number of other items join the interaction, one saying Garry can do Gussy's dirty work. Gussy waits outside, expecting a raise. The almanac said make the firing brief! (The office disputes make me think of Mario Benedetti's The Budget.)


Waiting for Aunty to cough. A very amusing story. Brackley lives in central London and he and his friends - males - don't really count further out parts of London as London, but he forms a relationship with a young woman called Beatrice, who lives further out. He travels to her place by train, the first time anxiously. "You sure we on the right train?" he says, feeling as if he is on the way to Scotland. She insists this is still London. (By the way, a woman is referred to as "a thing," at this time.) One day while he travels with her back to her place, she says that she has lost her key. Brackley reads a book entitled How The Other Half Laughs and says that she can always get another one. They come to her Aunt's home late. She throws a pebble at the window, to alert her aunt. It does not work. Brackley then tries. After a failed effort, he reaches for a brick! Beatrice stops him. Her plan is when Aunty coughs, then throw something light to alert her. For long, Aunty does not cough and Beatrice lies on Brackley's shoulder, sleeping. Then Brackley seems to hear a cough, throws some stones at the window and the glass shatters. His friends, the boys, are amused by the story. (Read too fast???)


Eraser's dilemma. To most Londoners a bus is a bus, but Eraser, a West Indian bus conductor, is different: "Like how a sailor love his ship, Eraser love his bus…" Underneath his uniform he wears a happy nylon shirt, green with red stripes. A letter arrives saying how wonderful these West Indian bus conductors are. We learn that no woman stands on Eraser's bus, because he asks which English gentleman will kindly stand so a lady may sit. He would also sing calypso when an old lady asked. One day this old lady leaves a parcel on his bus. Eraser does not hand it in to the garage, because he wants to give it to her himself. He tells Jack, an unimaginative bus driver, of his plan and Jack says if he wants to take a chance, that is up to him (it's "his business"). The old lady does not board the bus in the next few days, causing stress for Eraser. Should he have handed the nameless parcel in to lost property? He finds out that the old woman's name is Miss Bellflent. (Sounds like Miss Bellend, to us, my apologies.) The landlady he is directed to says that she has moved and gives him another address. He is worried he will be fired from his job. He goes there and she welcomes him in. She says that the parcel was for him. Did she forget to put the note saying this? When he opens the parcel, he finds a shirt just like the one he wears under his uniform: nylon, green with red stripes.


References
Mario Benedetti. 1959. The Budget. Available at:
https://xpressenglish.com/our-stories/the-budget/
Italo Calvino. 1956. The Science of Laziness. Italian Folktales. Available at:
http://website2.net/lazyscience.html
Chad Kafka. 2012. Challenge. A scene from the Cosby show. Available on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDLKpd4aUH8
(Influenced by Gussy and the Boss?)
Samuel Selvon. 1957. Ways of Sunlight. London: Macgibbon and Kee. Available at:
https://archive.org/details/waysofsunlight0000samu/page/n7/mode/2up