Life funny eh. I was about to add, ‘sometimes’ buh is all de time it funny as in unpredictable.

I had mih topics all set: World Cup qualifying and Guyana playing Mexico and Costa Rica since dey eliminate the Soca Warriors; finger pointing between who else but de PP and the PNM about de water taxis dat the govahment looking tuh sell fuh scrap iron; Abdullah party like it greasing de skids tuh leave de PP coalition.

But mih focus was going tuh be Dudus, the Jamaican don who just get lorse in jail by de US and it go take dem 23 years tuh find he baxide. Mih plan was tuh use dat tuh ask if any high level criminals, dat is ‘big fish’ ever get catch in Triniland in de past 12 years. I would ah secure my ban from landing in Piarco wid dat one.

All dat change doh eh wid de latest ting dat just happen involving both Jamaica and Trinidad. Dat is my only focus dis week. Where I going wid it I eh know so hop along fuh de ride and let we see nah.

The story in a nutshell is dat de mayor of San Fernando daughter gorn missing in Jamaica. Michelle is the woman’s name, Michelle Coudray-Greavesso.

Dey find ah body in ah cane-field, burnt beyond recognition. Speculation is dat is Michelle. She friends identify ah bracelet and de braces on the teeth. The Jamaican police say is no way dey making any official statement dat is she based on dat kind of ‘identification’. They cannot even tell the gender dey say, so dey waiting on forensics.

Michelle is married to a Jamaican and dey have three Trinijam or Jamtrini chirren. He and she separated. She has lived on and off in Jamaica for many years.

In the Jamaican press there is an undercurrent of, ‘Some fool gorn and kill ah Trini. Woe is we, now dem Trinis go hate we even more!’. I have tuh admit dat on a primeval level I enjoy dat fear. I wonder if they does study Trinis more dan Trinis does study dem. Their papers towing the line and not reporting Michelle as dead even though their police have a ‘person of interest’ in custody.

In T&T all de reporting is dat Michelle is dead, body found burnt beyond recognition in a cane-field. Dat fear expressed in the Jamaican press not being realized by bloggers in de Trini press. Yeah de odd one saying something dotish about Jamaica buh I find de average newspaper blogger being very adult in dat one regards but is only because dey irresponsible in udder regards. To too many in T&T this whole tragic event is an opportunity tuh be dotish like only Trinis can be dotish.

Now Michelle has been living in Jamaica long before the PP get in power yet people saying she couldn’t wuk in T&T because of whatever nonsense going orn with de PP blacklisting PNM supporters and vice versa. Plus Michelle mudder, de mayor of Sando say she didn’t want it tuh look like she curry favor tuh get she daughter ah job in Trinidad. I eh even want tuh understand any ah dat to be honest.

Of course it have de usual assortment of questions about why it doh have dis kind ah publicity when ah ‘normal person’ get murdered. Dat one I could answer easy. Because normal people doh make de news no more when dey geh kill in Trinidad or Jamaica for dat matter, unless de killing is macabre.

Larse night, dis news reader on TV in T&T interviewing some Jamaican high ranking police officer and asking him how come dey eh want tuh say Michelle dead. Well de cop say dat eh how dey does roll in Jamaica. Forensics have tuh say is she. Mih immediate tort was tuh tell he tuh haul he baxide since I does read de Jamaican papers and dey police eh much better dan T&T’s nah. If yuh ask me I would say de Trini police ‘ahead’. Both ah dem fighting not tuh be de worse in solving murders.

Den de news reader, looking dead into de camera, ask de policeman if Jamaica have de ability tuh identify ah badly burned body. Well I nearly fall out mih chair oui. De only ting dat save mih was mih desire tuh hear he answer.

Well de Jamaican police officer jump on he high horse and say dat of course dey could do dat since after all, dey is de premier law enforcement agency in de English Speaking Caribbean. He might ah even have said ‘in the Caribbean’, buh by den I was laughing. Not because of what he say eh buh de whole exchange between he and de news reader.

Next day, dat would be today ah tink, I read where de TTPS is standing ready tuh assist dey Jamaican counterparts or was it brethren?

Now it come out dat some high ranking member of de COP make ah post on Facebook say dis is payback tuh de mayor who she call ah ‘bitch’. She make de post in she position as an Animal Rights Activist protesting de actions of de mayor in ah former life. Something tuh do wid stray dogs getting euthanized. Again I eh want tuh understand any ah dat cause yuh cyar explain away dotish. She party leave she in de dust as it scramble tuh put distance between she and it. Seems tuh me dey miss one bitch when dey was euthanizing dem dorgs.

The most sensible comments I read through all this is from those who say dat crime is borderless.

Oh by the way, in case anybody is tinking like I was when they say the body found is burnt beyond recognition? Dat eh have nuttin tuh de wid the death eh. Dem cane farmers burn de cane as is harvesting season. De body was just unfortunately in de cane-field at de time of de fire. Remember how they used tuh at harvest time in Caroni?

I expect that forensics will confirm is Michelle dey find. Dat will be sad. It will be sad even if it not she body as it go mean is somebody else family go be in tears.

What I hope could come out of all this is not like some Jamaicans tink and certainly not what dotish Trinis saying as dey politicize de tragedy. I would like greater cooperation between the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and the Jamaican Constabulary Force. Each is fighting an uphill and daunting battle against crime in its own jurisdiction and each is making strides in different areas.  Yuh mean dey couldn’t put dey heads together and learn from each other’s strengths?

Meanwhile to the mayor of San Fernando and her family at this time of uncertainty and in their grief, all people of T&T and Jamaica, even the dotish, I will see to it if necessary, offer their deepest condolences.

Life funny ent?