Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Chapter by Sydney Stevens

Chapter Four

I start working in the fields again today. I can’t get that stupid dog I saw yesterday out of my head. I had no idea McNeil bought a new one! It will be a lot harder to escape with three dogs chasing after us, now. While I’m thinking I look over and see my brother, Joel. He’s talking to something. Curious. I take a few steps closer and look. Speak of the devil! It’s that new dog!
“Joel!” I shout at him. “You stop it this instant! You know very well what that dog is trained to do!”
My brother is delusional, and just too trusting, in my opinion. It’s fun to trick him sometimes because he is slightly naïve, but it gets obnoxious when it’s important.
Joel smiles at me, “I know Mara, but he’s just so dang cute!”
I watch the dog lick Joel’s hand and groan. Even the dog knows he can play him!
I try to inform him as quietly as possible. “He can stand in the way of our family’s you-know-what.”
Joel still tries to argue with me, and I realize there’s no point in continuing the conversation. “Whatever. When you get your sorry butt dragged back here by him, don’t be crying out to me.”
Joel remarks, “You know you’d miss me!”
I chuckle softly, “No, I wouldn’t!’
Even though he’s obnoxious, he has a way of making everything seem lighter. But, I feel as though he doesn’t take anything in this world seriously. I sometimes wish I felt the same way, then life wouldn’t seem like such a burden.
I shake my mind back to reality and continue my work. I finish in the fields and glance at the sun.
It is getting late already. I have to grab some more water for dinner, then hurry back to set Master McNeil’s table before he gets there. I rush to the big, stone well. Grabbing the large bucket, I lower it into the round hole. Then, I carefully heave it back up once it’s filled to the brim.
Hurrying back to the kitchen, my arms start to ache as I try to keep the water from spilling. I kick open the kitchen door- again, more forcefully than intended. 
“Good Lord, Almighty, Mara! I can see that working all day still hasn’t depleted you of your rambunctiousness! We gon’ put that energy to good use. C’mon now, let’s get the last of this dinner all ready.”
 I roll my sleeves up to my elbows and tuck my braids behind my ears. Then, I grab an apron from the hook and slip it over my head. After washing my hands in the basin, I peek into the big, black pot. It was Mama’s chili- the absolute best chili anyone’s mouths would ever get the privilege of tasting! And, I would know! I grab Ol’ Hickory- our good, old stirring spoon, and start to stir the chili. I season it with onion powder, salt, and some cracked pepper. I add in a few of Mama’s special ingredients, then move on to the corn bread.
I see Mama already made the batter- so I pour it into a baking pan and place it in the oven. I wipe the sweat off of my forehead and crack open the door a bit. The kitchen is hotter than outside now, since it’s almost sunset, and the bugs normally go away at nightfall. So I won’t have to worry about flies landing on McNeil’s dinner and laying eggs- although that would be funny! I cover my snicker with my hand so Mama won’t ask what I’m laughing about.
I start to pour the chili into separate bowls. McNeil’s guests were gone now, but Mama made extra so that the beef wouldn’t expire. She put it to good use, so that it wouldn’t be wasted. The extra would just go to Pop, Mama, Joel, and I. It isn’t very often we get to eat the same dinner as Master McNeil.
I set up the table as usual in the dining room, then left before Master came in. It was dark outside, so our work day was over. I hurry to our pathetic excuse for a house, spurred on by the howling in the distance.
I open our door and see everyone sitting on their mats, eating Mama’s chili. Pop smiles and hands me a bowl. I smile back and plop onto my mat, excited to dig in.
A few minutes goes by with no one saying anything. Then Mama speaks up, “Kids, there’s something we have to tell you. You have probably heard your Pop and I talking about running away, recently. I don’t know if you’ve thought much of it, since we always talk about it, but nothin’ really seems to happen.”
She pauses and looks at Pop. He gives her a small nod, and she continues. “Well, we think that we’re really gonna do it- possibly in the next couple of weeks.”
Joel and I stare at each other. His mouth plops open and his food almost falls from his mouth. He closes it at the last second.
I shudder, “Joel, I wish you wouldn’t be so disgusting!”
“Oh, hush up, you! I think that exact same thing about you every minute of my day.” He retorts.
“Oh, yeah, mister? Well, you name just one time when I was ever-“
Pop cuts me off, “Both of you, quit, before I lick you. Now, did you hear what your Mama said?”
“Yes, but Mama, Pop, do you really think we’re ready for this? I mean, where are we even gonna go?” I ask.
“Well,” Mama cuts in, “we will travel at night, so as not to be seen, until we get to the fist part of the Underground Railroad- the McKinley household. Then, we can restock our food supply and such. After that, we keep going until we reach the Stevens’ household to restock again. And after that, it’s on to Pennsylvania to stay with Uncle Henry until we get back on our feet again.”
Joel and I look at each other, wide-eyed. “So, you mean that we are leaving here in roughly two weeks’ time?” He asks incredulously.
“Lord willing, yes, but we have to be absolutely quiet. I can promise you one thing, if we escape, we must be positive as to not be dragged back, hear?”
 “But Pop, they just got another dog! How are we to sneak away without them finding us?”
“We just need to be stealthy. Anything we can do to make our scent as untraceable as possible, we do it. Going through water, wearing someone else’s clothes, whatever works out. I don’t care if we have to roll in the mud if that’s what it takes. But one thing’s for sure, we ain’t being dragged back here after escaping. There ain’t no telling what they’d do if they found out.”
Joel and I sit in silence, each of us in our own thoughts.
There are many families who worked on the McNeil plantation. There’s the Walters- a late forties/early fifties couple who has been working here for around ten years. Then there is the newest slaves here- the Lewis’ family. They are a middle-aged couple with a son who is a few years younger than Joel. They just arrived at the beginning of the year. And there are the Moores, the Barnes, and the Harrisons. They deserved a chance at freedom as much as any of us.
“Pop,” I start, “what about the other families? Would they come with us, too?”
Pop sighs, “No, honey, it would be too risky for all of us to leave at once. We’d be too big of a crowd, which means more noise, more needs to take care of, more supplies to pack, and more scents for the dogs to follow. It would be very difficult to hide from the confederate soldiers with a group that large.”
I’m disappointed, but I know it makes sense. We couldn’t help nobody if we stayed here and waited. We’ve been given an opportunity that we can’t waste. They might get one, too in the future. We just won’t know.
“So, what we’re telling you is be prepared in the next couple weeks. We won’t need to pack much, but we’re gonna be cooking just a little bit more and saving away leftovers for the journey- because it will be long. A journey to Pennsylvania is no small thing. We have to walk for quite some time- possibly longer than a week. We will be traveling at night plus rest stops, and it’s very far away. This ain’t gonna be easy, and I want you to prepare your minds.” Mama explains.
After a moment of silence, Pop says, “Alright, it’s been a long day, and y’all probably have a lot on your minds, right now. But it’s time to get some rest. Remember, don’t speak about this to a soul, alright?”
Joel and I both nod, and when they say nothing more, we lie down on our mats and close our eyes. 
I have one last thought before I drift away, Are we going to make it?
I wake up to shuffling around the room. I open my eyes and see Joel tugging his trousers on.
“AGH! I will never get that image out of my mind!” I shout dramatically.
He pulls them up with one last tug and scowls at me. I sit up and stretch. Then, I start to get ready for my seemingly never-ending day.
Once I’m dressed and my static-y hair is combed through, I get on my first chore: washing all of the laundry. I glance at the sun. It appears to be around nine o’ clock. Laundry normally takes me around an hour. Once I’m finished with that, I feed the chickens, horses, and pigs. After that, I fetch water and help Mama make Master McNeil’s lunch at eleven, so it will be done by noon. Then, I go through the fields. When I’m finished with that, which takes me all afternoon, I fetch more water and help Mama prepare for dinner.
I scrub every piece of clothing in the large tub against the washboard, including a few very nasty diapers. It never ceased to amaze me how much laundry everyone on the plantation could go through. 
After the laundry is scrubbed and dripping wet, I clip each piece of clothing to the laundry line to dry.
I run to horse barn and head into the hay loft. I grab two flakes of alfalfa and one flake of Bermuda hay and toss them into the horse stalls. Then, I head to the kitchen and grab the bucket of old vegetables outside the door. I toss them into the pig pen and watch for a moment as the fat pigs waddle to the feed. I admire my favorite pig, Swanky, but feel a pang of sadness when I realize he’s the fattest. He would be on McNeil’s plate in no time. I shake the thoughts from my head and turn to go to the chicken house. I sprinkle feed on the ground as quickly as possible. While the hens are eating, I crouch down into the hen house and collect the eggs.
When I finish, I go back to the kitchen. I kick open the door and place the bucket of eggs on the counter.
Mama barely glances at me as she says, “Mara, can you open the door a little less harshly? Goodness, girl!”
Then she swivels around to face me, “Where’s the water?”
I groan, “I forgot, I’ll be right back!”
I wipe my forehead and fetch water for lunch. I run to the well, eager to get it done as soon as possible. 
I dip the bucket into the water and feel it filling with fresh water. I start to lug it out of the hole, not even noticing the visitor behind me.
“BARK!”
I scream and drop my bucket. The water pools around my boots, and I lift my glare to the dog sitting in front of me.


© 2020 Sydney Stevens


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Added on January 16, 2020
Last Updated on January 16, 2020


Author

Sydney Stevens
Sydney Stevens

About
Young author in training! Published one book in the past, working on more. I'd like to think everyone would enjoy the stories I'm writing, but the target audience is teens. more..

Writing
Chapter 1 Chapter 1

A Chapter by Sydney Stevens


Chapter 2 Chapter 2

A Chapter by Sydney Stevens


Chapter 3 Chapter 3

A Chapter by Sydney Stevens