The Tribune

YOU see them walking together, never one or the other, always the two of them, side by side, each wearing worn out clothes and carrying worn out bags.

If you did not know better, or failed to look closely to see the camaraderie between them and the simple honesty in their ways, you could mistake them for Jonesers. You could, but you would be about as wrong as you could be. There is a bible in each of those worn out tote bags, along with tools or work clothes for whatever job they are working that day, rags for cleaning, a uniform for washing dishes at a restaurant. Look even closer at their worn-out shoes and your heart could break right there. They walk, on average, more than ten miles a day, from the place they currently rent off Prince Charles Drive in Elizabeth Estates to the Montagu area where they find work or odd jobs and often wait until bible study starts in the evening in the waterfront park before starting the long five-mile trek back home.

They are the Knowles brothers. Devon, who is the shorter of the two, is 47, Lorenzo, 41. They are as constant a fixture in the Eastern District as the view of the distant sun rising over Montagu Bay. Two slight, brown-skinned men getting by day-to-day but never alone. They have each other.

The Knowles brothers grew up in the Mangrove Bush settlement of Long Island. The family was large, busy and productive, with seven kids, mom, dad, grandparents. Their grandfather was the late Bertram Knowles, Sr, an Olympic sailor, they said, their grandmother, Irene Williams. The children all attended the all-age school and most of the siblings went on to marry and have families of their own. Lorenzo calculates that there are about 15 grandchildren. While most stayed close to home, Lorenzo and Devon moved to Nassau after a close friend of the family’s, Reverend James Neely, called to offer them a job as groundskeepers at Queen’s College.

They thought the offer was a dream come true, though they missed family and home.

“It is a nice, beautiful place, Long Island, lots of coconut trees, bananas, go fishin’ when you want,” says Lorenzo. They’d catch mackerel, jack fish, and cook ’em fresh.

The job at Queen’s College lasted eight years. They lived at St Anne’s housing and until his death in 2011, Bishop Michael Eldon was neighbour and respected elder in their lives.

In the years since full-time work ended at QC, though they still help out when needed, life has gotten harsher for Lorenzo and Devon. They clean cars for regular customers, wash dishes in a restaurant that provides them with a welcome hot meal. A manufacturer in the area supplies them with daily drinking water, another gentleman often gives them a lift home to save that five-mile stretch of walk in the dark. Back at their rental, they cook on a hot plate, sometimes canned mackerel, a sentimental bow to memories of home. On occasion, they heat up steamed corn beef and treat themselves to white rice. But there are days when no one needs a car cleaned or the restaurant is closed and there is nowhere to turn for the next dollar.

On most things, the compatible brothers who are rarely seen apart, agree, like swimming along West Bay. The water at Montagu, they say, is too dirty because of the fish parts and garbage disposed of in it.

Like many who live together, the few arguments they do have usually involve money.

“Devon likes to eat too much,” says Lorenzo, who is taller, a few inches broader and the sentinel of the wallet that sustains them day-to-day. “We have to be careful. I tell him we have to watch what we spend so we have money for food the next day.”

Devon agrees. “Sometimes we argue and the next minute we make back up.”

What the Knowles brothers don’t do is complain. For 15 years, they have been walking together, working together, living together. Sometimes one goes to the store and leaves the other behind just to get a little space or the one left behind wants to meditate.

Lorenzo and Devon Knowles, two brothers like Siamese twins, walking as one, their tolerance, patience, and simple approach to getting through one day and into the next could teach all of us a lesson.

Two quiet Long Island men, inseparable, joined at the hip even if the clothing that covers that hip is ragged and neither is sure where the next meal is coming from. But together, they know they will work it out and nod in silent understanding that they will be together, whatever it takes to put that can of mackerel that reminds them of home on their plate.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE KNOWLES BROTHERS...

LORENZO and Devon Knowles have never asked to borrow a penny. The most they ever requested during the worst of times was a glass of water.

But they win your heart without even trying to because of their simple approach, determined to make it through from one day to the next and sharing the kind of unspoken love few families experience in an age when we focus on what we have instead of who we walk next to.

Both of the men need new shoes. Devon is a men’s size 7, Lorenzo is a 10. They could use fresh shirts and work pants.

Maybe a bit of non-perishable food. If you want to help, please call Diane Phillips on 394-0677 or email diane@dpa-media.com.