No Telephone to Heaven

Chapter 9 returns briefly to Christopher’s perspective as he wanders the streets after slaying Paul’s family. The novel notes coverage of the slaying in the news—which Christopher cannot read—that paints a revealing portrait of Jamaicans’ priorities.

Christopher spends his days wandering and scavenging for food, taking anything he is offered and becoming the embodiment of Brother Josephus’s “Lickle Jesus.” His hair becomes unruly, his clothes become tattered, and he speaks as though “mad.” People of the city come to think of him as a kind of raving “prophet” as he declares, “I am Neger Jesus. I am Never Christ. Shadow-catcher. Duppy-conqueror. I am the beginning and the end. The bright and morning star” (179). A reggae singer even writes a song about Christopher that is notably played “in Brixton” (179), a multi-cultural pocket of London, England: “the mother-country” (109).

Harriet and Clare venture through town to Chai Chang’s shop for a snack of “bullah-cakes” and flavored water. A sign outside the shop suggests the poverty of the region, listing: “GOODS WE DO NOT HAVE AT THE MOMENT” (185). At the shop, Clare sees an old acquaintance: Miss Cherry, the post-mistress. They chat about how much the area has fallen into disrepair—“People do dem best, yes.