Color Me Bruised

Chapter 10

He kept his promise. Next day, he brought me back tuh de plantation. Ah ain't say nothin tuh him de whole ride der. Ah felt lak ah wuz bein insolent, talking tuh a white man lak ah did. Ah wuz fraid he wuz gon tell Mas'r Z, and have me whipped de whole night. When we got tuh de plantation, Mas'r Z came over wid a big smile, lak he wanted somethin tuh happen.

"Mr. Zachary, may we talk?" Mister Williams asked.

"Of course." He said smiling.

Ah watched them walkin a good 35 steps away from me. Ah saw after some point, Mas'r, wavin his hands in de air, laughin, and shakin hands wid de white man. When dey finished, they walked back.

"Nice doing business with you Mister Williams." Mas'r said.

He smiled tuh Mas'r, turned over to me, tipped his hat and got intuh his carriage.

"What'd you do with him?" He asked him when the mister left.

"Nothin, Mas'r. We ain't done nothin."

"Ah, stop tryna be angelic. You're a slave. I would expect you to be his whore." He told me smokin his pipe.

He walked inside de house wid me right behind him. Not far away from de door, ah saw de Missus standin. She started tuh show. Real faint tho. She smiled at me lak she wanted tuh say she miss me, and went tuh de other room.

"Wife," ah heard him say. "Great news. Mister Williams agreed to do business with us." He said enterin de same room as de Missus."Seems like he took a liking to the slave girl."

He laughed and chugged down a glass uh cognac. He continued and said:

"He said he would finance 20% of our plantation if the Slave girl was fed , sleeping and clothed well. If I knew it was this easy to reach in his pocket, we'd already be successful."

Why would a white man evah try tuh protec me? It aint lak he owe me nothin. Ah ain't know what tuh think. Ah wuz de rudest tuh him at his own home, an he ask tuh protec me. Few days latuh, ah learned dat, dis Mister Williams wuz one uh de richest men in de south. He wuz 23 but he had already over 10 houses throughout de south and a few in de north. Ah ain't know ah spoke tuh someone who wuz so important. It must be overwhelmin tuh have so much money. I felt fuh him.

Ah ain't see him in de few months coming. Over them few months, ah got bigguh portions than most uh de other slaves and ah ain't evah had tuh work on de plantation. Ah know it's wrong, but ah wuz always hungry, so ah couldn't share wid de other niggers.

De missus wuz on huh 6 month, and all de time, huh ankles wuz swollen, huh back wuz hurt in, and she complain she had nausea. Mama always told me a woman is most beautiful when she pregnant. She wuz right. De missus seemed more beautiful pregnant. Mah babe would be a few years ole bah now.

Mas'r took even more attention tuh Missus in huh second trimester cuz in his famly, women los they babies a lot round dat month. He wouldn't even let huh get up and grab a glass uh watuh. He'd say it's de slaves' job.

Ah ain't mind tuh take care uh de Missus. She slept a lot, so it wuz easier tuh keep eye on huh. Suddenly, I see Mas'r run in de room in panic holdin papers.

"Wife, wake up!" He shouted. "Wake up!"

De Missus woke up lookin lak she wuz lost.

"We're in debt." He said.

De Missus' eyes grew wide. She look so shocked.

"One of my account overseer robbed us. 25000 dollars. Money I was supposed to invest on the plantation." He started pacin de room.

What wuz gon happen tuh all de slaves? Tuh me? I ain't want tuh get sold and go through a potential rape, again. De next day, at sunrise, he lined a good 50 uh us and told us we wuz gon get sold. It aint matter anyways, he still had a another 200 more  workin fuh him.

He started walkin down de line, writin down who he wuz gon sell tuh and what day cuz he already had buyers. Cordin tuh him, we wuz his 50 bes slaves. I wuz 35th on de line. AH wuz so skeered. Lord knows whut would happen tuh me. When he got to my spot, Ah felt all mah insides twist up, lak it wuz some sickness takin ovah mah body.

"You're the luckiest nigger I ever met." He tole me. "You were a house order. I gave you away for free to Mr. Daniel Williams. Aren't you happy?" he ask me before he left.

Happy? Me? I ain't evah been happy. Jus cuz a white man took uh likin to me and wuz act lak uh gentleman ain't mean he wuz lak dat in his own home. White men always got uh façade. But still, uh piece uh me wuz happy ah wuzn't goin far away, an ah wouldn't---at least ah hoped ah wouldn't be as miserable as ah wuz b'fore.