WHEN YOU'RE YEARNING for freedom, you only think about the good things. You don't think about the consequences it will bring. The hunger. The violence. The confusion.
That night, the food is distributed evenly by Jack's Papa. I line up with the others outside the cabin. Hannah finds me in the line and hugs me for a long time. I notice that her skinny arms are stronger than they look as she holds me tightly.
"Thank you," she whispers, "for savin' my Mama. She's doin' real good. Papa's takin' care a her."
"That's good," I say.
I hold her hand until we reach the front of the line and I have to let go to take my food.
I am given half a peach and a sliver of pork. That's all.
I sit on the grass at the edge of the field with Hannah and Amos. We eat our meals quickly and soon Hannah leaves to be with her Mama.
By now almost everyone has been given some food. They eat in small groups and they hold quiet conversations amongst themselves.
"What you thinks they's talkin' 'bout?" I ask Amos.
"Probly what they gone do, what wid Noah not comin' back."
"It ain't right."
"What?"
"Looka them," I say.
"I see 'em."
"They ain't happy. We's free an' they ain't happy."
I watch Amos watching them in silence.
"You thinks they should be happy?"
"No. I don't knows."
"Is you happy?"
"I don't knows."
Amos lies on the grass and pulls me down beside him. I stare up at the bright, cloudless sky.
"Freedom's meant to be real good," I say. "It were meant to be the light at the end a the dark tunnel."
Amos props himself up on his elbow and squints at me. He has a tiny scar on his left cheek by his ear. I never noticed it before.
"The light's gone arrive. You jus' gotta wait."
"I can't wait no longer!" I say, frustrated. "Amos, I been waitin' all my life. We's all been waitin', an' now we's finally free, an' its gonna kill us."
YOU ARE READING
Mind Of A Slave
Historical Fiction"The life we're living is the easiest of the difficult." Cass Jinney Jackson is a Louisianan slave girl. She has recently moved to a plantation near the woods, but her life there is far from ordinary. Growing up as the civil war rages on, she finds...
