Where have all the flowers gone?

The week before last, a friend in Trinidad called to ask if I knew of any flower shops in Tobago that could make and deliver a wreath on the island.

I called the shop recommended by a Tobago-based friend to find out their procedure.

The woman who answered said that no flowers were available. Owing to the cancellation of flights caused by the numerous sick calls of Caribbean Airlines pilots, the regular floral shipment from Trinidad had not made it over.

The florist said that if flights resumed soon, she should be able to provide by next week.

Tobago depends on Trinidad for many things, but it had never struck me until then that this "need" includes something as seemingly basic as flowers.

“Many things. Even toilet paper,” a businesswoman added when I mentioned this.

There are currently no commercial flower farms in Tobago. A willing entrepreneur could grow en masse and supply (to local and international markets) hardy local flowers like heliconias and ginger lilies which could stand the test of time and (these days) the searing temperatures. Today, for a choice of imported temperate flowers for use in more traditional wreaths and bouquets, Tobago-based florists depend on shipments from Trinidad.

On the Wednesday subsequent to the flight-disruption weekend, a fire broke out on the Cabo Star inter-island cargo vessel, leaving passengers stranded at sea for what must have been a traumatising 17 hours. The cargo shipment was of course delayed, and, in the case of perishables, possibly ruined.

Is it a coincidence, sign or wake-up call that two unexpected, significant disruptions of inter-island transport – both air and sea – occurred mere days apart?

What would happen if (God forbid) all inter-island transport ground to a halt, for such a significantly long period that those of us based in Tobago will (to use a businesswoman’s word) “suffer” for want of supplies? The following necessities would be lacking – from certain perishable fruit and vegetables (not grown or supplied here) to certain grocery and hardware items (not produced or shipped directly here) to the capacity to travel to Trinidad for certain human/animal medical requirements (for which there are no specialists or providers here).

Some days after my call to the florist, I was driving home after dark and saw white candles lining either side of the road, from the corner of the main road to the gateway of a house a few metres away.

“I wonder who died,” I thought, acknowledging the candle-lighting ritual as a form of remembrance and symbolic lighting of the path along which the departed soul would travel.

The next day, while I was driving down the same road, a woman from the community ran out and waved for me to stop as I approached her house. She called for her daughter to bring their new puppy for me to see, subsequently asking me several questions about what they should purchase for him at the pet store.

Later in our conversation, I asked her who in the community had died. She informed me of the tragic, but not publicly-announced death of a teen boy known to all of us in the area.

The following day, the death by shooting of 17-year old Precious Wills in a Crown Point club was reported in the media. Later that night, after yoga, when I stopped at a small shop to purchase some items, an understandably upset female customer was speaking of that fatality from a seemingly personal perspective.

When I commented on the increased amount of gun action these days in Tobago, she agreed, her facial expression displaying what looked to me like a mix of grief and despair.

“And just this afternoon another one gone,” she lamented, referring to a death about which I had not yet heard – that of 21-year-old Mathias Jerry, a jet-ski operator.

Sadly, the increasingly fast-paced, violent and trigger-happy nature of today’s society makes for a booming (if not blooming) commercial flower industry. With at least three youths dying tragically within approximately 24 hours in Tobago, and the regularity with which we hear of many fatal road accidents, it goes without saying that (when plastic flowers are not being used) Tobago florists are most likely kept busy with demands for funeral wreaths.

The hauntingly poignant song by Pete Seeger comes to mind...

“Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”