The big red box

Every one of us was looking at the big red box 
wrapped in red gift paper with a big bow
And hoping that it's we who gets that gift
As we stand in the lines to walk and collect the gifts that the kind people was giving us
And I count how many was in front of me and concluded that I would have gotten the big gift
It was the Christmas season of 1969

And we were in the convalescing home
And people from a church brought presents for the sick children 
And they also brought cakes and goodies and sang Christmas carols for us

It was very nice and we the kids enjoyed it very much
I spent three Christmas in the convalescing home for children's
And 1969 Christmas was my second Christmas that I spend in there

I used to play in the water a lot when I was little boy
And then I got rheumatic fever and couldn't walk
And all my bones would hurt me and I was in allot of pain all the time
And there was a certain time I couldn't stand up or even walk 
And then my parents took me to see Dr maslin in San Fernando
And he told them to take me to the hospital

And there I spent three weeks and then they sent me to the convalescing home 
Where I spend the next three and a half years
I remember the morning they took me to Dr. Maslin very well 
And I was really disappointed that I was so much pain that Saturday morning

Because that Sunday Harry Balgobin from across the street from us was getting marry
And my parents bought new clothes for us to go to the wedding,
And the Saturday night was the farewell,
And they were having an Indian orchestra and Harry used to sing in the Indian orchestra and he used to be on Indian Variety show on Sunday mornings on T.V. singing with them

So we kids was very excited about the farewell on Saturday night
And then that same Saturday morning when I wake up 
 I was in so much pain, that my parents had to take me to the doctor, and he sent me to the hospital, just my luck,
So that's how I came to be in the convalescing home
And after a while, I got so accustom to being there, that when I came back home, I was missing the convalescing home and felt strange being at home again

I had gotten so use to being there and was missing my friends in there also
It was a two-story building that was to the left of the San Fernando Hospital
The second floor was for the girls 
And the first floor was for the boys
If was a time of missing home and being happy at the same time

It was not a very big building .cause there was like 24 beds on each floor
Twelve beds on each side of the inside 
And every day for lunch we would get a different meal,
We like all the meals except one " goat tribe soup" omg we never use to eat it, no one liked that at all .and we never ate it .untill they eventually change that meal

And one guy would go and thief the toothpaste and eat it 
I can't remember all of their names right now
One of them father used to sell doubles in princess town
His name was Lenard Edwards and we always find his name was strange because he was Indian and that name didn't go with him,

Being away from home at such an early age
Help me to be aware of life and made me be independent and to look out for myself
It was a time of my life that I will never forget.

Throughout the year, a lot of organizations and churches would come and bring us all kind of things 
And when my parents came to see me, I use to send them all home for my brother's
So for this Christmas of 1969, all of our eyes were on the big box, the biggest gift from all the rest

And the way it looks right now, I think I will get the biggest gift,
But I was wrong, I had miscalculated, because when I walk up the line, the guy with the biggest gift was one person behind the girl who gives me her little gift, wrapped in green paper
And the guy in the back of me got the big box.

And what was in the big box 
It was a fire ambulance
A red and white ambulance
That made noise when you roll it
And to be honest, I can't remember what was the gift that 
I got,

I'm trying to remember what I had gotten
But I just can't remember,
the nurses at the home put up a big Christmas tree
And they bought gifts for us and wrap them and place them under the tree, with our names on them,
the nurses in there was really nice to use and they treated us like their own kids,

and I remember one of the nurses up to today, her name was nurse Singh,
and she was very pretty like an Indian movie star,
and the ambulance driver who use to be there all the time and bring and take kids to and from the hospital,
he use to talk to us really nice and he use to bring stuff and goodies for us,
his name was Mr. Singh, and he was in love with nurse Singh

so one time a group from a church had come on a Sunday, and we had bible studies, and they give us all a bead chain with the virgin mary 
it was really nice and we all loved it .but the special thing about that chain was that all the kids got white ones, and only I got a blue one, the only blue one they had,

so knowing that Mr. Singh treats us so good and he is in love with nurse Singh, and he didn't know how to talk to her
well we decided to set him up to talk to her'
so we wrap the blue chain in gift paper and give it to nurse Singh
and tell her, that Mr. Singh wants us to give it to her, and how he likes her, but don't know how to tell her

Mr. Singh didn't know that we did that for him and when he came 
we saw nurse talking to him
and then he came smiling and said that she talk to him 
and he will ask her to go to the movies,
and it work out for them because they got married,
because after I left the convalescing home and many years after I saw them together in the library corner

I was in a taxi and I couldn't get out to say hello to them
I'm sorry I didn't get out and talk to them, I know they would love to see me after all those years
and after that, I never saw then again or any of my friends who was in the convalescing home

every year for Christmas I remember that big box wrapped in red with the big bow
and I wonder if any of my friends who was there, remembers it too
Nari Garbo, Ricki Suragebally, martin hideman, Lenard Edwards, Lenard Baichan, Robert Edwards, can't remember the rest of their names or if did remember these few names correct or not, it was so long ago
but the memories and time in there seem like if it was just yesterday.

Harry Balgobin was one of the best Indian singers in Trinidad and the Caribbean, with the Naya Andaz Indian orchestra.I think it was the Naya Andaz Indian orchestra, can't remember for sure 
and he use to live in second street ste madeleine, across the street directly opposite our house

I think was the 80s or 90s, that he got disabilities and lose a leg and then shortly after he died.
he was a really nice person and I will always remember him 
because I got sick and didn't get to be there for his wedding
and his mother came to see me on the Monday in the hospital and brought me food from the wedding, on Sunday,

this is just a little story in the life of kaz ishmael
and the many memories that reside in my mind
I hope to share as many as I can 
and will keep writing a little at a time