Read Online Dessa Rose by Sherley A. Williams - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Sherley A. Williams
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The pain and tiredness of her body numbed her mind; she was content to leave it that way. Even when the others spoke around the campfire, during the daysof their freedom, about their trials under slavery, Dessa was silent. Their telling awoke no echoes in her mind. That part of the past lay sealed in the scars between her thighs.
Dessa couldnât understand why this white man would want to take her out under the tree and talk about Kaine, and behind her inquiring expression she resented his careless references. Wasnât no darky to it, she would think indignantly. Kaine was the color of the cane syrup taffy they pulled and stretched to a glistening golden brown in winter. Or, Childer had said the words over them, looking at each of them in turn, disapproving, Dessa knew, of Kaineâs choice (but he had chosen, Lawd! he had chosen her, brown as she was, with no behind to speak of, and he had wanted herânot for no broom-jumping mess, but the marriage-words and Childer just had to accept that). Talking with the white man was a game; it marked time and she dared a little with him, playing on words, lightly capping, as though he were no more than some darky bent on bandying words with a likely-looking gal.
Maybe she had been careless with the white man, she worried now. She had lain awake in the early morning hours watching the window as it slowly grayed with dawn light. The baby kicked vigorously in her side; she put her hand to her stomach, feeling it ripple with the babyâs movement, and crooned wordlessly to it. She had slipped in asking anything of the white man that did not turn his own questions back upon themselves; maybe she had caught herself in time. He hadnât pressed her and she couldnât bring herself to regret that betraying impulse. To know that someone, Nathan, anyone had gotten awayâ¦She had forced Nathan and Cully to abandon her, clambering noisely back toward the sound of sporadic pistol fire, where she knew she would find the patterrollers. Her flight had been an act of total despair. Someone had to escape. After what they had done, someone had to be free. She was barefoot, pregnantâShe had already held Nathan and Cully back insisting that any who wanted to be free must be given a chance. Nathan had grudgingly agreed. In the melee of a general escape, the three of them would be harder to track. He had planned at first to free only Dessa and Cully on some moonless night whenthe two were chained together. He had a key, as did all the guards, to the shorter chains by which groups of five or six were chained together at night. Only Wilson had a key to the manacles and Cully argued against taking it. Best to let sleeping dogs lie; the three of them could be away while the camp slept and once free could worry about the manacles. But with more than half the coffle expected to run, they had to have the slave traderâs keys.
Their numbers grew, David, Matilda, Elijah, Leo, two or three others Nathan felt could be trusted. They talked only of stunning the white men, tying them, taking their guns, of stranding them. The actual deed there in the clearing was more frightening and more exhilarating than any of them had imagined. Nothing went as planned. They had wanted a dark night, but there had been moonlight; Cully and Dessa werenât chained in the same group. The white men had delivered a big lot of people to an outlying plantation and were in a relaxed mood. They had sat long and drunk deep by the campfire, two of them falling asleep there; the rest managed to make their way to their bedrolls. Not long after the camp settled into sleep, one of the white men sought out Linda, a mulatto girl purchased in Montgomery, and led her into the bushes.
The other white men didnât even rouse up as the guard thrashed off into the underbrush with Linda, but everyone on the coffle was awake. Every night since Montgomery, one of the white men had taken Linda into the bushes and they
Dessa couldnât understand why this white man would want to take her out under the tree and talk about Kaine, and behind her inquiring expression she resented his careless references. Wasnât no darky to it, she would think indignantly. Kaine was the color of the cane syrup taffy they pulled and stretched to a glistening golden brown in winter. Or, Childer had said the words over them, looking at each of them in turn, disapproving, Dessa knew, of Kaineâs choice (but he had chosen, Lawd! he had chosen her, brown as she was, with no behind to speak of, and he had wanted herânot for no broom-jumping mess, but the marriage-words and Childer just had to accept that). Talking with the white man was a game; it marked time and she dared a little with him, playing on words, lightly capping, as though he were no more than some darky bent on bandying words with a likely-looking gal.
Maybe she had been careless with the white man, she worried now. She had lain awake in the early morning hours watching the window as it slowly grayed with dawn light. The baby kicked vigorously in her side; she put her hand to her stomach, feeling it ripple with the babyâs movement, and crooned wordlessly to it. She had slipped in asking anything of the white man that did not turn his own questions back upon themselves; maybe she had caught herself in time. He hadnât pressed her and she couldnât bring herself to regret that betraying impulse. To know that someone, Nathan, anyone had gotten awayâ¦She had forced Nathan and Cully to abandon her, clambering noisely back toward the sound of sporadic pistol fire, where she knew she would find the patterrollers. Her flight had been an act of total despair. Someone had to escape. After what they had done, someone had to be free. She was barefoot, pregnantâShe had already held Nathan and Cully back insisting that any who wanted to be free must be given a chance. Nathan had grudgingly agreed. In the melee of a general escape, the three of them would be harder to track. He had planned at first to free only Dessa and Cully on some moonless night whenthe two were chained together. He had a key, as did all the guards, to the shorter chains by which groups of five or six were chained together at night. Only Wilson had a key to the manacles and Cully argued against taking it. Best to let sleeping dogs lie; the three of them could be away while the camp slept and once free could worry about the manacles. But with more than half the coffle expected to run, they had to have the slave traderâs keys.
Their numbers grew, David, Matilda, Elijah, Leo, two or three others Nathan felt could be trusted. They talked only of stunning the white men, tying them, taking their guns, of stranding them. The actual deed there in the clearing was more frightening and more exhilarating than any of them had imagined. Nothing went as planned. They had wanted a dark night, but there had been moonlight; Cully and Dessa werenât chained in the same group. The white men had delivered a big lot of people to an outlying plantation and were in a relaxed mood. They had sat long and drunk deep by the campfire, two of them falling asleep there; the rest managed to make their way to their bedrolls. Not long after the camp settled into sleep, one of the white men sought out Linda, a mulatto girl purchased in Montgomery, and led her into the bushes.
The other white men didnât even rouse up as the guard thrashed off into the underbrush with Linda, but everyone on the coffle was awake. Every night since Montgomery, one of the white men had taken Linda into the bushes and they
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