"Me jus give me two sons and one a dem cousin drink and me go fuh put on potato and when me come back me only see me big son and he cousin and me ask dem where Andi deh and dey tell me dem ain't know,” Narine recalled.

Narine proceeded to make checks under the bed since that was her son's favorite hiding place. “Right away I start searching, because I know he does thief de nut butter and go under de bed, but when I check deh, I din see he. I even go on de verandah, but he ain't even went deh. Then de lil cousin she, ‘aunty Jas, check downstairs',

and I tell she no, ‘how he gon reach downstairs?'…she turn and tell me that she see he going downstairs,” the distraught mother recalled. Narine told this newspaper that when she reached downstairs in her kitchen, she saw her son lying in the water, already dead. Narine said that the family. (Left, Jasmatti Narine weeps for her child claimed by floodwater.)

had to vacate the bottom flat of the house because of the high flood waters. “Me run and pick up me baby just by de inside step in me own house, but he de dead a ready; is only yesterday (Wednesday) me went to de shop fuh buy crayon and plain paper fuh dem occupy dem time because dem can't play in de yard,” Narine added. The toddler was immediately rushed to the city hospital where he was pronounced dead. Andi would have celebrated his fourth birthday come March 3. Andi is survived by his seven-year-old brother.

Thursday, January 20, 2005