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MARCHING POWDER

that I could get. At the end of his visit, he left me his sunglasses and promised to bring food for me and presents for the San Pedro children the following day. He turned up a week later.

'Hey, man. I thought you had left the country,' I said, when I saw him coming through the gates the second time. He had a big smile because the guards had recognised him and let him in without paying.

'Yeah, mate. I'm a bit late, eh?' he said from the corner of his mouth, pointing to his watch. 'Sorry 'bout that. Got caught in traffic.' He winked at me and I couldn't help smiling. Jerome kept a straight face the whole time I knew him, so I often couldn't tell if he was joking until he winked.

'Thanks for coming, man,' I said, shaking his hand and then giving him a hug. 'It means a lot to me, you know.'

'Yeah. Look, mate. We're in a male prison. There are people watching us. You been on that charlie again, haven't ya?' He shook his head at me and clicked loudly with his tongue. 'It'll rot your brain, Thomas.'

'No! I've just woken up,' I said, defending myself. But as always, Jerome was only joking.

'OK, OK. I believe you. Now, don't go getting all emotional on me again, but I brought you a few presents. These,' he held up a big bag full of fruit, 'and these'. He jerked his head back towards the gate and winked again. Waiting on the other side were four blond Norwegian girls. Jerome had met them at his hostel and persuaded them to come along. 'Looks like you could use a bit of both,' he said, reaching down to pick out a bunch of bananas that was falling out of the bag. 'I told dem dat you was Jamaican, man. Is dat OK, man?' he said, trying to copy the way I spoke and tapping the largest banana in the bunch with his index finger.

The Norwegians were too afraid to come through the gates. The lieutenant didn't help matters by telling them that tourists were banned from entering. It took me a few minutes to convince the lieutenant to let them in and then a few minutes more to convince the girls that it was safe to leave their passports with him.

'So, welcome to San Pedro prison,' I said, when they were finally inside. 'I'm Thomas the tour guide.' But my usual joke didn't work; the four girls looked at me nervously, shifting awkwardly on the spot. I tried a different approach. 'We had a lot of fun last week, didn't we