Lemon Tree

This is a short story based on facts of tales my late father used to tell when we were children, this is about a Lemon tree. The song playing playing also has a connection to the story.

Lemon Tree in a Jamaican back yard

As a young girl growing up my father always had a tale to tell of when he lived ‘back home’.  You see my father moved to my country of birth a very long time ago from his beloved JAMAICA.  He’d sit us all down and talk about how beautiful Jamaica was and that fruit was easily accessible to him because his back yard was full of different exotic fruit trees.  As well as fruit he was a mighty fine swimmer and was always down on the beach waiting for the Fishermen’s boats to come in and would be the only boy to swim away from the shore to greet the fishermen, get a ride back and have picked the best fish to take back to his mum.

One of the stories that stuck in my mind was when dad first told us about the Lemon Trees growing in his back garden.  Unaware of what a Lemon Tree fruit was actually used for, it wasn’t till he was older and big enough to collect them for his mum that one day curiosity got the better of him and he decided one day to take a bite.  A bite is exactly what he did.  Peeling would have been irrelevant at this point he said because by the time he sunk his teeth into it, the citrusy taste and the sourness shot through his mouth and also squirted his eyes. 

He said he screamed out lout and said he had never experienced anything like it. To the amusement of his parents who he said had given him many prior warnings from a young child warning him of the forbidden fruit that it wasn’t to be eaten like an apple, pear, mango and orange.  This was also at the point when his father spoke out and said... “Those who don’t hear will feel”.

Settling down in his new abode he and my mother raised their young family.  Having my siblings around growing up was wonderful too, but I assure you we were a handful.  In order to keep order dad had a saying which I can only guess was told to him when he was a boy.....”Those that don’t hear will feel.”  A little bit like... “a child is seen and not heard” saying, which we also had to abide by yet another from dads list. 

Being his youngest daughter it was obvious to my older siblings that I was getting away with lots naughty things.  Because I shared a bedroom with my sister, I did tend to leave it to her to clear up my messy toys and as we got into our teens my messy clothes.  Mum would inspect our rooms and say...”If your rooms are not tidy before your father gets home from work there will be trouble.”

For some reason, mum always chased my older siblings up the stairs to do ‘their’ chores and totally forgot about me.  This was bliss as far as I was concerned and I managed to get away with just about everything till I got into my teens.

Things were different then as some of my siblings had flown the nest leaving me the only female child home alone in my own bedroom.  Yes, some would say...GREAT....but this was when I had to continue with ‘the’ chores ie. Tidy up my bedroom and since my sisters left mum had promoted me to hovering the whole house AND washing the dishes.  I can tell you now I wasn’t happy about this not one little bit.  Soon enough the chores were really becoming to be a bore and I needed to find other means of expanding my skills and not from more housework chores...well, getting out of the house basically and a need to hang out more with my friends. 

The local youth club was the best place in the world when I was growing up so I made it my point to assign myself to duties in the youth club.  This way it got me out of the house for a couple of evenings a week and away from my dreaded chores.

The youth club was brilliant and offered lots of things for us teenagers to do, things such as learning to play musical instruments, learn to become Deejays (for the boys mainly) Craft lessons, and a great big sports hall to play indoor 5 aside football, Badminton, Netball, Basketball you name it, we had the best facilities ever oh and FRIDAY NIGHT was disco night.

My older sisters also went to the same youth club but on designated nights geared for their age group but for one night only all ages could go and socialize and have fun this happened to be Fridays.  This particular evening my cousin came in to do some singing lessons for anyone interested.  She has a beautiful voice and I loved singing along with her when we visited one another’s houses.  So it was great that she offered to teach the local kids a few singing lessons.  That night because of the age group and the amount of children wanting to take part and their ages had to be considered for her song choice she chose a song called the Lemon Tree. 

For three whole weeks we all practiced singing this song to perform in front of a local residential home for the elder.  I absolutely adored this song and sung it where ever I went morning noon and night at home and at school to the detriment of friends and family.  Mum and dad were pleased that I was enjoying the rehearsals and was pleased that they were invited to come along and watch.  Dad’s only concern he didn’t want the rehearsals to interfere with my school work and assured me that I would be grounded if came home past my curfew time of 9pm when doing rehearsals.  

He made it clear and came out with is infamous saying... remember young lady..” those who don’t hear will feel” meaning you will be grounded and not allowed to go to the performance if your 1 minute past 9pm coming home from rehearsals.   I always was the apple of my dad’s eye and even then I did not take him on his word and thought nothing more about it.

Except  for the last night of rehearsals the night before the big performance I got home way too late from the youth club and when I arrived home dad was very much annoyed and stuck to his word.... I was grounded and unable to attend the performance which was the next night.

The night of the performance was a success, and as much as dad said I couldn’t go he let me in the end.  It was a brilliant night and we will  all be forever indebted to my cousin who eventually made a career for herself with her singing and went on to produce a very famous song called SLEEPING SATELLITE....her name......Tasmin Archer http://youtu.be/UuhDDx49TTw

 

I guess there is a moral to the story which definitely originated from dads saying of “those that don’t hear will feel”  I didn’t listen to dads serious curfew time and I was grounded.  Even though dad stuck to his word he did eventually at the last hour allow me to attend the performance in the end.  The connection to the video was the fact that Tasmin Archer first sung Lemon Tree to me and my friends when we were just teenagers before she became famous herself with Sleeping Satellite.

 

I hope you enjoyed both her YouTube link and the Lemon Tree song

 

 

Author's Note

Reviews

[Tree]

I enjoyed this story and its message very much. As I've gotten a little older I find myself returning to the simple basic messages that were constantly being passed down to me and my brothers by our parents. We shut out a lot when we were young but some of it stuck, and I am grateful that it did. Also checked out The Sleeping Satelites by Tasmin Archer, great song that took me back... She was an amazing singer, thank you YB for sharing.

[Frieda P]

Much enjoyed this glimpse into your history and the lemon tree, I like how they tied in perfectly together...thanks for sharing this one.

[David Scott]

I enjoyed this story. I love Jamaica. We have visited there a few times and first visited for our honeymoon. The lessons of nature are the best ones. Thank you sharing your story today.

[Yellow Butterfly]

Believe me David when I say... me too. You've made my day with what you've just written.... Thank you kindly

[Jon Roggie]

I love this simple remembrance. I was unable to pull up your link. I just have to disagree a bit. As a child, there was a lemon tree in my family's yard. Old and still fertile, my brothers and I would pick and sell the lemons. Better than what was in the store. Mom would make lemon pie, and during season the lemonade was great.
This brought back a lot of memories. Thank you, Roggie.

[Yellow Butterfly]

Hey kind sir....*smiles*

Thank you for your generous flow of words very much appreciated. I kind of agree to disagree. probably not explained the tale well. The lemons in my fathers back yard were definately put to use.. but as we all know they are stingy citrusy little fruits which you wouldn't put in anyone's lunch box as they are.

Thanks again.... not sure which link you didn't get but I'm guessing Sleeping Satellite... YouTube it its... easy to find.