B00DSGY9XW EBOK (3 page)

“Who gone know?” Sissy asked.

“Well, whoever I have those relations with will know” I said.

“You gots to fine somebody who aint gone tell” Sissy began. “You could fine somebody who nobody would believe too”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Like missa Roberts” Sissy replied.

“The blacksmith in town?”
I asked.

“He
tell so many tales til aint nobody gone believe what he say” Sissy replied.

She did have a valid point but of all the men that I might consider, Matthew Roberts wouldn’t be someone who I would think of.

“For someone who don’t want to have a man inside her, you sure have given this a lot of thought.” I said.

“It different foe a slave” Sissy replied.

“How?” I asked

“Cause you got
massa watchin you all da time and you gots other slaves watchin you too. Somebody gone catch a slave.” Sissy said.

“Unless they were just off somewhere doing what they were told.”
I replied. “If you have to choose someone to be with, who would it be?”

“Oh no
miss Becka, I couldn’t do something like dat” Sissy replied.

“But I could?” I asked.

“Oh lord I done open my mouth again” Sissy said.

“So who would you
be interested in?” I asked.

“I guess Henry” Sissy said reluctantly. “He been
tryin to court me foe a long time”

“Henry it is!” I said.

We sat there in silence for a while.

“So who you pick?”
Sissy asked.

“I don’t know yet. I don’t know too many people who would tell or cause a big stink” I said.

“Too bad you can’t just pick a slave too” Sissy responded.

“Sissy!
That’s a great idea!” I said.

“You done
loss yo mind?” Sissy asked.

“No, it’s perfect. I find a buck
who doesn’t have a woman. He has to do what I tell him, so I just tell him what I want him to do. If he doesn’t do what I tell him then he gets in trouble. If he tells what we did then he gets in trouble.” I said.

“But if you gets caught then he
gonna hang an you might hang with him!” Sissy replied.

“Then we have to make sure that we don’t get caught.” I said.

Sissy and I talked the rest of the day away with our feet in the creek. We went over and over our plan until we thought we had it perfected. My bad day had turned into a pretty good one.

I arrived back home just in time to wash up for dinner. After we ate father asked to see me in the den. He expressed concern about my reluctance to marry. I told him that I would start seriously considering suitors in the fall if he would allow me a peaceful summer to reflect on it. He agreed even though he thought courtship was best in the summer. I also stipulated that I wanted him to give Sissy to me as a token to seal the agreement. He quickly agreed.

The next morning I told Sissy about the agreement. She was ecstatic. I didn’t mention our long discussion on the creek bank, but it was still in my mind.

Several days went by. I had Sissy doing nothing but being with me and doing whatever I was doing. She still helped her mother in the kitchen though, I think she enjoyed it. As I sat in the shade finishing that awful book I overheard Mark and Father talking of buying more slaves. There was going to be an auction in a week and Mark insisted that they needed to purchase an additional five fields hands. Father agreed and also wanted to purchase another wench to help Bea who was getting up in age and had lost the help of Sissy.

“I want to go!” I told Father as I jumped into the conversation.

“Go where?” Father asked.

“To the auction” I said.

“The auction is no place for a lady” Mark said.

“I wasn’t asking you, and I think we’ve had this discussion before!” I said.

“I agree with Mark dear. Those auctions can be vulgar and…”

“I want to go!” I interrupted.

“Why?” Mark asked.

“I’ve never been to one, and I might find a slave I want to buy” I replied.

“A friend for your pet nigger?”
Mark asked.

“It would be one more friend than you have!” I said bluntly.

“Darling, we are only buying field hands and one wench. We can’t afford to be buying….”

“I have my own money” I interrupted again.

“You have money?” Mark asked.

“Five hundred dollars” I said smugly.

“Where did you get that kind of money?” Asked Mark.

“It doesn’t concern
you, just know that I have it!” I replied.

“I will say that’s more than we’d planned on spending for a single nigger, but why would you want to waste your money like that?” Father asked.

“I don’t know that I will, I would just like to go and see. I might not purchase anything.” I replied.

After debating the issue for nearly a half hour father agreed to let me go. I could have had him convinced in half the time had Mark not continuously interrupted me. As we finished our conversation we heard someone yelling across the western field. I looked up and saw Abby running from the direction of Mark’s house.

“Miss Charlotte hurt!” Abby began yelling as she approached.

Mark ran as fast as he could to meet Abby.

“What happened, where is she?” Mark asked desperately.

“She at the house” Abby panted. “She done fell off the balcony”

Mark ran as fast as he could toward his house. Father yelled for James to get the wagon. Father wasn’t able to run and could barely ride a horse so James had become very proficient at hitching the wagon. I rode with Father to Marks house. When we arrived I saw Abby had just returned after walking back. Charlotte was laying on the ground with Mark holding her head and she wasn’t moving. Her left leg was buckled beneath her rear end in a very unnatural position. I knew immediately that it was broken as Mark cradled her lifeless body.

“Is she…” I paused to afraid to say the word

“No, she’s breathing. Rebekah, go with James and get the doctor quickly!” Father said.

“I’ve already sent Arnold on horseback.” Mark said.

Mark and James lifted Charlottes limp body and moved her to the porch, out of the sun. I held her hand while Mark spoke to her and tried to wake her up. Suddenly she began shaking uncontrollably as if she were being possessed of something. After a few moments the shaking stopped. It seemed like an eternity before Doctor Wiggins arrived and when he did he brought only bad news. We moved Charlotte to her bed so that the doctor could examine her.

“I’m afraid she has a very nasty head injury” The Doctor said. “Her broken leg will mend fine and so will her broken rib, but only the good lord can say about wounds to the head. I’ve seen people survive an axe wound to the skull and I’ve seen people die from being hit with a small pebble. Unfortunately all we can do is
wait and see.”

“Thank you” Said Father. I could see the tears swelling up in Mark’s eyes.

“I’ve set her leg and splint it. If she wakes up, make sure she keeps it still. She doesn’t need to aggravate her other injuries. Call on me if there is any change in her condition.” Doctor Wiggins added.

After the doctor left Father stayed with Mark for a while and then Mark called for Abby.

“What happened?” Mark asked.

“I don’t rightly know
masa. I was in da garden and I heard her scream. When I come round da side of da house I sees her layin on da ground.” Abby replied.

I went with Mark to the upper bedroom which led to the balcony. When we stepped out we could see that the rail was broken. It was still attached on one side, but it was just barely hanging. It looked as though she’d leaned against it and it had given way. Father asked if there was anything more that Mark needed. I could tell he was getting tired and wanting to go home. His body seemed to be getting more and more frail and incapable of handling such stress.

The following day was a Saturday so the slaves were not working. Father and went to check on Charlotte after breakfast. Father spoke to Mark who said that her condition was unchanged. Mark had been inspecting the balcony rail. He’d determined that there was only one nail holding that end of the rail in place where there were three on the opposite end. He was furious and blamed the man who’d been in charge of building the house. Then he began blaming himself, and then he blamed Charlotte for not being more careful. Mark was struggling to place the fault instead of seeing it for what it was, an accident.

I returned home and decided to go for a walk. Sissy and I went to the slave quarters. She wanted to see her brother Seth who was there with his wife Ruth and baby daughter, Dolly. It was getting on in the afternoon so as we approached I saw most of the slaves were sitting outside of their stuffy cabins. Some of the cabins had small porches attached which provided shade from the sun but were not as hot as the cabins. Some of the younger niggers seemed a little intimidated by my presence. Usually when a white person came to the slave quarters it meant someone was in trouble. The older ones, especially Bea and Nan knew me and had been around me since I was a little girl and weren’t intimidated in the slightest. Bea lived in a small room in the main house but always spent Saturday and Sunday with her family.

“She’s adorable!” I said to Ruth who was holding the two month old Dolly. “Can I hold her?”

Ruth looked surprised that I would even ask. Maybe she expected me to just take her without asking; maybe she was shocked that a white woman would be interested in holding a nigger baby. Either way, Ruth gently handed her to me. Dolly was asleep and was very peaceful with her chubby cheek buried into my breast. I slowly rocked her as Sissy talked to her mother and brother. Bea asked me about Charlotte, I told her that there was no change. I knew Bea didn’t care for Charlotte, the truth was that I didn’t either but I don’t think anyone wanted to see harm befall her.

The rocking chair that I was sitting in looked familiar. I asked about it and Bea said that it used to be in the living room of our house. Father had thrown it out several years ago when the arm broke and replaced it. Bea’s husband who was very good with wood carving before he’d died, had replaced it with one he’d whittled out of an old oak branch. As I sat there rocking the sleeping baby I heard a raised voice from behind one of the closest cabins.

“She a grown woman.”
Came the voice of a man.

There was a lower response but I couldn’t make out the words.

“It do matter ta me!” Came the loud voice again.

“Oh lord!” said Bea. “Here he
go again!”

I passed the baby back to Ruth and walked to the side of the cabin so that I could see the ruckus. As I looked around the side of the cabin I immediately knew who’d been yelling. It was Leon. He had his back to be and wasn’t wearing a shirt. I saw the marks on his back which were just beginning to heal. He was talking to an older man who I assumed was Anny’s father.

“I love her!” Leon said to the older man.

The older man saw me watching and said something to Leon who turned and saw me looking at him. He turned, obviously still angry and walked away. The older man gave me a nod as if to apologize and he too turned and left.

“That boy poking a hornet’s nest!” Said Bea as I turned to rejoin the conversation at hand.

“Why doesn’t her father just let him court her?” I asked.

“Cause he don’t got no respeck.” Bea began. “Dat boy dare don’t care bout what Tom want.”

“Who’s Tom?” I asked.

“Tom be Anny’s daddy. Leon come axe Tom bout courting Anny lass year and Tom say she too young. So Leon court her anyhow without Tom say so.” Bea said. “Now day been doing grown up thangs and got caught. Leon done got tha whip two times and he gone get it again if’n he don’t quit. Masa Mark done say he tired of Leon. He might even sell him. Den aint gone be courting anybody and Anny done went and messed herself up for another man.”

“If she’s already been with Leon like that then why doesn’t Tom just give them his blessing?” I asked.

“You gotta lot to learn Miss Becka. Leon mess up when he didn’t wait in the first place. You gone let yo daughter be courted by a man who don’t respect you?” Bea asked.

“I guess not.” I replied.

“You know you aint. Young boy come callin with nothing on his mind but no good aint gone get nothing but no good.” Bea said.

“Hey Sissy” Came a voice from behind me as I pondered what Bea had just told me.

I turned and saw a very large nigger standing to my left. His arms were as big as my waist. He looked as if her could pick me up with one hand and carry me like a suitcase. I looked over at Sissy and immediately knew who the large buck was.

“Hello Henry” Sissy replied.

“It’s good to see you” Henry replied.

“You too” Sissy shyly said as Henry continued on his way.

Sissy breathed deeply as Henry walked away.

“Anny
aint the only one who got the fever!” Bea said.