The last 24 hours Quamie Dalton

Aug 30, 2020 Features / Columnists, News

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The journey to the ‘final destination’…

By Shervin Belgrave

As we look at the various random occurrences in our society, some resulting in the loss of lives, sometimes our minds are plagued with “what if” thoughts. What if the person marked for

death, by whatever means, was prepared for it? What if that person had a say in how it all went down.Well in the case of 24-year-old Quamie Dalton, some individuals close to him are suspicious that he just might have been prepared when the roll call for the ride to his final destination was made.
Quamie was killed in a horrific car crash along the Soesdyke Public Road on August 10 last. But before that moment arrived, he was everything a loving person should be.
If they are not mistaken, those who saw him on that day are convinced that his smile was especially bright and his personality so absorbing that it seemed almost unnatural — but it was all real.
He gave them meaning to their own lives in the final 24 hours of his life. His mother, siblings and friends who shared in his final hours remembered being exposed to his jovial ways and are convinced that, aside from the anguish and hurt that came with his departure, his last day was perhaps the best day of his life.
On that day, for one last time, Quamie did what only he could do best. He laughed, he joked around, he partied and at the end of it all, he engraved cherished moments in the hearts of many who loved him dearly.
FOND MEMORIES

Listening to the fond memories of Quamie’s short-lived life, points me to the echoing lyrics of a song, which for me, describes him perfectly.‘Nights’ penned by the late Aviccii. He wrote, “One day you’ll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember. My father told me when I was just a child, these are the nights that never die. My father told me when thunder clouds start pouring down, light a fire they can’t put out. Carve your name into those shining stars. Go venture far beyond the shores, don’t forsake…”
Quamie lived such a life; one to remember. If the reports of his loved ones are to be believed, Quamie was a shining star who was able to light a fire of memories that can never be put out. This he did effortlessly by touching the lives of many. According to those who called him friend “the last night of his life will never die”.
According to Quamie’s mother, Elainna, he was “a God sent gift”. She recalled how his cute little, happy face made her forget the nearly unbearable labour pains she experienced when she birthed him on January 22, 1996. He was her first born and as some would say ‘he made her a woman’.
“He was never a miserable baby, he hardly cried, you won’t even know when he is hungry. Instead of screaming down for his feed, he would just suck on his fingers until that bottle arrives,” Elainna recalled as a smile formed on her face.
She remembered preparing his lunch kit and then taking him to Pearl’s Nursery School as she quickly said a quiet “thank you” to God “for the opportunity to see him grow up to become a charming and handsome young man”.
Not only was Quamie charming, but he was very ambitious and also had dreams and goals he was pursuing. For this, his mother truly admired him.
“After Quamie finished high school, he did a course in building technology at the Government Technical institute (GTI). He graduated and got a job as a surveyor for the construction of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) with a Chinese company,” Elianna proudly recalled.
According to her, “Quamie completed this contract and out of the blues, he decided that he will become a fireman. He wrote his application and was waiting for a call.”
It was while awaiting a response from the Guyana Fire Service, Elianna said, “he started working as a bus conductor and noticed that it was a profitable business. He immediately started saving to buy his own bus and had a mind focused on starting his own transportation company.”
Although he did not get to accomplish his ambitious plan, Elainna said that her son achieved something greater, by making himself irreplaceable in her heart.
“He had a sweet and addictive personality and that is impossible to eradicate,” she said.
“You could be sad and feeling stressed out but Quamie would come and pull the blind and the door and molest me until he paints that smile on my face. He would hug, kiss, pinch my skin and say ‘mammy skin tasting nice’.”
As Elainna reminisced on her cherished moments with her son, she said, “Now that he is gone, I am comforted with that whispering sound in my ear ‘Mammy skin tasting nice’.”
ENOUGH LOVE
Quamie’s sweet personality was not only shared with Elainna but also impacted the life of his father, younger siblings and eventually his step-mother, Asanti, too.

Oneil, his younger brother, says he will never forget the many times they spent fishing, swimming and playing together as kids and even as young adults.
“My fondest memory of Quamie is the first time he learnt to swim. I was 10 and he was 13 and we were at the West Bank riverside with my dad,” said Oneil. He giggled for a bit as he continued his tale. “When you ask him to pass the soap, he would throw it because he was afraid of coming close to the river, so dad asked him to pass the soap and he threw it. With a wicked smile, dad ran and grabbed him and he started screaming because he knew that he was gonna get thrown into the water. We all laughed but he learned to swim. It was a fun-filled day for all of us and one to remember for a lifetime,” said Oneil.
Asanti, on the other hand, remembers him as a “gaff man” who always had her cracking up with his funny stories. “He always telling me some joke and some “nancy story” that would make you laugh,” she shared.
She described him as an individual who loved his brothers very much and would do his utmost to make them happy with his cheerful attitude.
“He was very respectful and each time he passed in a bus that he working on, he would shout out ‘Aunty Santi, ah coming back fuh lunch; I love you,” she recounted.
According to her, “He was a man of his word and never forgot birthdays; he loved to attend birthday parties and make the party lively,” she added.
TROUBLING DREAM
One day, however, Asanti’s pastor told her of a dream that troubled her deeply. It involved Quamie. “My pastor told me that he had a strange

dream of Quamie being involved in a tragic accident,” she revealed in a sombre tone.
Asanti said she became worried about Quamie and told him about the dream and urged him to be careful with his job as a bus conductor. Quamie too, she related, seemed disturbed and stayed off the road for a while but returning to the regular grind.
From all indications, Quamie had either forgotten about the dream or had in fact made peace with the way he was destined to exist the world.
Asanti said she kept remembering the dream. In fact, she said that she kept trying to brush aside the thought that something terrible could happen to someone she cherished so much.
Nevertheless, her fears would resurface again on August 10, 2020.
THE LAST 24 HOURS
Quamie got up very early on the morning of Sunday August 9, 2020. He made a phone call to his boss and told him that he would not be working that day. He gathered his siblings and headed straight to the bedroom where his mother Elainna was resting.
He did his usual routine of pinching, kissing her skin and whispering in her ears before joining her on the bed along with his youngest sister and brother. He told his “jokey stories” and cheered up everyone, he even took photos and videos of his mom while she was speaking. After hours of playing and joking around, he got up and made another phone call to his cousin and asked him ‘what you doing for your birthday?’
Quamie then dressed up, kissed his mother and notified her that he will be leaving to celebrate the birthday of his cousin and close friend.
At the birthday celebrations, friends recalled that Quamie partied like never before; they recorded videos of him dancing, and cracking jokes to make everyone happy. For them, it was a night to remember. He attended three separate parties before deciding to head home. “Everyone wanted Quamie to party with them, he was such a joyful soul; there was never a dull moment around him. He is one person that we have never seen sad, and that personality of his is one that he shared with everyone to make them happy,” his friends said.
Just after mid-night on August 10, the car in which Quamie was travelling in to head home, crashed into a light pole before sailing over a sand heap and landing on a minibus parked at the side of the road. Public-spirited citizens pulled an unconscious Quamie and his friends from the wreckage and rushed them to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
DREADED NEWS
Elianna, like most mothers, was at home anxiously waiting for her son to come home safely. But her anxiety quickly turned to grief when she got the disheartening phone call during which someone requested that she visited the hospital immediately. Yes, the love of her life, Quamie, was involved in an accident. As she travelled to the hospital in a car with relatives, the driver pointed out to her the scene of the wreckage. Tears flowed as she arrived at the hospital with some hope that just maybe her son’s condition was not fatal.
But hope evaded Elainna when she entered the emergency ward and saw her son lying unresponsive on a bed attached to a life support machine. Her heart broke and she walked up to his bedside, held his hands and said, “son is your mammy Elainna, I am right here.”
As she gazed upon Quamie, her mind flooded with fond memories as she prayed for him to recover.
A few hours passed and then Quamie took a deep breath and his hands started moving. His mother felt a great relief and thought to herself that he was getting better. She exited the room leaving her daughter behind but minutes later her daughter rushed out the room screaming ‘mammy mammy; Quamie’.
Elainna recalled rushing back into the room accompanied by doctors only to see her son bleeding from the nostrils. A doctor examined Quamie and at 06:00hrs pronounced him dead. It was in that moment that Elainna realised that, that Sunday was the last time that she would ever hear Quamie’s jokes or have him pinch her skin or kiss her cheeks.

 

 

 

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