The Calling of Rose

By Nicey Hamilton

The book is about a teacher in the public school system in the Bahamas who experiences life changing events. She was posted on the island of Andros where she was almost mobbed by a group of parents. This mobbing led to a mental breakdown. She also experiences supernatural events which involves the working of obeah. She shares her experiences of mental illness and the spiritual world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669839309

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Nicey Hamilton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/21/2022

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

September 4th, Andros Island, The Bahamas

CHAPTER ONE

Pack your S… and get out of here before I kill you! the angry woman shouted to Amber as she came right up into her face. Another teacher who heard her said, Oh No Liddy, you can’t tell her that!

A few minutes ago, Amber and the Principal had had a confrontation. They had exchanged words and now the principal had organized a group of parents to make Amber leave the campus. The principal wanted Amber to take a transfer and leave the school because they did not see eye to eye on many matters. Amber was the Unions Shop Stewart and she had made numerous complaints about the school, inoperable urinals to open cesspits covered with wooden boards. Amber had photos to prove this. The principal was furious with her and had requested that she be transferred. The Ministry wanted to transfer her to a School twenty miles away from where she lived. They wanted to transfer Joan, Amber’s sister, who was also the Shop Stewart to a School forty-five miles away from where she lived. The principal had organized this group of parents over the summer and every morning they gathered across from the school. Amber had no idea what was happening. Amber had written to the Ministry and her transfer was rescinded. The Superintendent at the time was a friend of the principal and he had arranged the transfer. Amber had told him that she had not served her five years and that she had one more year before she could be transferred. The Superintendent did not budge, he was intent on teaching the sisters a lesson. He also did not like the sisters’ father, David.

The parents had gathered across the street from the school and was stopping cars, urging them to join them. They were carrying on like rioters. Amber who did not have a cell phone told her son, Owen to go across the street to her sister Victoria and ask her to come there. In no time Victoria was there and she informed her of the situation. The principal had told her that she had no right to be teaching because she had two children and was not married. Not one, but two children out of wedlock! the principal spilled out. Amber spatted back And you sleeping with a married man! The argument got worst.

The crowd was getting larger and more unruly. It looked like a scene out of an African movie. The people were behaving uncivilized. However, there were some people who refused to join them and told them that they should go home. After a while Amber’s sister Joan arrived. Joan was also a teacher and was assigned to another school. She urged Amber to come with her to the police station. Amber followed her to the police station. She had planned to make a formal complaint but there were no police officers at the Station. The only person there was the custodian. They were amazed, an unmanned police station. Where were the police officers?

By 1pm the incident was all over the national news. The news reported it as though there was a physical confrontation. The incident stayed in the news for weeks with reporters coming to the island trying to get interviews. The Teachers Union President got involved and so did the Minister of Education. They argued back and forth in the media. Before long the entire country was involved, everyone wanted to know who was right and who was wrong.

Amber and Joan started a petition from Behring Point in the Southern part of the island to Lowe Sound in the Northern part of the island. They were able to gather close to one thousand signatures. The sisters were amazed at the love and support they received from the people they visited as they solicited their support. Amber was so affected by the incident that she burst into tears every time someone asked her to tell them what had happened. Every time she remembered the mob it made her breakdown. Those people really wanted to hurt her. Now she knew how a lynching felt like. She also cried when the news came on and she would hear her name on the radio or T.V. At one point her three- year- old daughter said, Mommy, I hear your name on the T.V, they say Amber Anderson. Her daughter’s realization broke Amber’s heart. Her daughter Ruth was barely three years old. The incident brought many families together. It was the conversation at every dinner table, in every restaurant and bar. It was the sermon being preached every Sunday. It brought many relatives who were previously at odds together again. People who had not spoken to each other in years now put away their differences and banded together. Amber’s parents David and Ann received hundreds of phone calls and countless visits from people who tried to comfort them and help explain what had taken over those people.

The rioting, picketing and news reports that lasted for weeks took a toll on Amber. She was afraid to turn on the TV or listen to the news. She did not go to the food stores or venture outside her home. She stopped sleeping through the night. She began skipping meals and when she did eat, it was sparingly. She lost a lot of weight. She was sad and afraid all the time. Her fiancé, William, did his best to comfort her. He was willing to hurt anyone who had hurt her. He was angry with what her own people had done to her. "Snap out of it