Diary of a Slave (8)

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Firstly, I had to pay for that blasted chopping board somehow. My demotion because of such a simple thing grated on my nerves and I was always in a bad mood. Sasha did try to help by saying that being a waitress was almost as bad but I caught onto the ‘almost’ and didn’t feel encouraged. But first I had to find out how to pay. I didn’t have a single cent and I had never seen American money before so even if I had found some, I wouldn’t know what it was.

In Nigeria, there was no such thing as money and we paid by trading things with each other. For example, my father was a wood cutter and carver. His beautiful carvings and timber would be used to trade for other things in the market such as food. The rich traded in gold and silver and since my father was the best carver in the whole of Nigeria, he often got a few silver or gold pieces. Wood carvings in Nigeria were popular and meant to symbolise good luck.

Thinking about my family and life in Africa made me nostalgic. What would my dad do when he found the charred remnants of out hut? He would probably never stop looking for us but he would never find us either. Then I thought of my mother and sister and wondered how their lives fared in the USA. I hoped they were being treated better than I was.

Then I turned bitter. Those beasts! Separating families was all they knew to do although if their families were threatened they would be outraged. Hypocrites! What about us? Are we not human? Where was their humanity?

My plan was to find Danladi so we could plan to get away from this nightmare but I had seen neither hide nor hair of him for a month. Every day when we were allowed back to our rooms, I was the first one out, running usually so that I could catch him before he left the plantation but they were always gone. We only finished work by 8 whereas the field workers finished by 6 when the scorching sun went down. What surprised me was that Danladi never tried to find me. I felt hurt and wondered if I should leave him behind but having him had too many advantages so I couldn’t.

So the first bit of my plan was to get into trouble so they would assign me to labour in the fields. I knew it would be hard for me being a skinny girl and all but anything to get a chance to talk to him. So the next day when the loud horn sounded to wake us up, I didn’t move even though I’m usually the first up. After five minutes, I felt someone shake me.

“Bianca,” hissed a familiar voice. Sasha. “You have to wake up.”

I told her what I was doing.

“What?!” came her incredulous reply. “Are you insane? They’ll probably whip you like they did to Jessie. Stop being so selfish and come.”

I finally opened my eyes so I could glare at her. “I’m being selfish? I’m trying to get away from people who took my life. I have nothing. And I’m selfish?” I was pretty mad by that point.

Tears filled Sasha’s eyes and I lost my anger immediately. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just don’t want to lose you too.”

I remembered that Sasha had lost her whole family, whereas I still had Danladi and I felt guilty for making her feel that way. But I was not going to give up this opportunity. Then, I realised the room was empty. “Go Sasha. I don’t want them to catch you, you’ll get punished.”

“No, I’m not going if you don’t. I’ll face whatever punishment you do.”

“What? Now you’re being crazy!” I almost yelled. “You’re not getting hurt because of me.”

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