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A slave's story. |
| It was time for Frog to get back. It was easy to sneak off, especially when the cotton was high. He was so little that he could sneak through the rows like a snake. He would sneak to the edge of the field and then jump into some kudzu to hide. He liked sneaking off to play when he could but he had to be very careful. He couldn't risk being caught. Being caught meant getting whipped by his daddy again, if he was lucky. The last time the overseers caught him, his daddy begged them to let him provide the whipping instead and they agreed but warned him that next time they would whip them both. His daddy used a leather strap and whipped him on his rear so it wouldn't hurt as much. Frog made sure to scream and cry as loud as he could though, so the overseers would be satisfied. His daddy told him he had to quit sneaking off but Frog just couldn't stop himself. He dreamed of running free and seeing the world. His friend Moses used to be a slave on a merchant vessel. He was a cabin boy and then a ships steward before the captain sold him to their current master. Old Moses, as people tended to call him, liked to tell him stories of all kinds of wondrous places he had seen. Frog wished that one day he too could go on a ship and sail all over the world. When he snuck off to play, he would dream of sailing the ocean. Sometimes he would pretend to be a pirate. Other times he would be the captain of his own ship and fight off the pirates. The times he spent alone, hidden from the world and lost in his imagination were magical times for Frog, as well as an escape from the harsh reality of life on the plantation. He hated to go back but knew he had to. This time Frog was able to sneak back into the field without being seen. He was hungry and knew that his daddy would be preparing the midday meal. "Where'd you run off to boy?" his daddy said harshly, I warned you about running off." Frog remained silent with a sad look on his face. His daddy knew what he had been doing and Frog knew that he did. "Got nothing to say, huh boy? I s’pose you jus’ come back to eat." Frog grinned a little and his daddy grinned too. He watched as his daddy was taking some corn meal patties and frying them over a small fire. He was using the blade of a hoe as a frying pan. Frog loved his daddy's hoecakes. He liked them even more with molasses but he only ate it like that once. Chester who used to work in the house stole some molasses once and shared it with them. He was caught with it outside of the house by an overseer and the master had his right hand cut off for stealing. Every once in a while someone would call him lefty to make him mad, but mostly they still called him Chester. After that he was made to go back to work in the fields. Master said he only needed one hand to pick with anyhow. After eating it was back to work. Frog didn't take off this time but stayed and helped pick cotton with his daddy. He promised him he wouldn't run off anymore, at least until they were through with the harvest. Everyone was needed when it was time to harvest the cotton and Frog had to do his part like everyone else. It was a long and hot afternoon and they picked until sundown. The season change would be coming soon and start to cool things down. Frog looked forward to the cooler weather. It was just him and his daddy for as long as he could remember. His momma died soon after Frog was born and he didn't have any family other than his daddy. Sure there were people he considered family. Old Moses was like an uncle to him and Frog admired him very much. Then there was Gully who came from somewhere in South Carolina and talked funny, Hattie and her husband Levi, Lucy and her husband Samuel, Leroy who went by Bird, Abel and his brother Enoch, Miss Sophia, Miss Margaret, and many more. He didn’t consider Chester as family though. His daddy said he wasn’t to be trusted but Frog wasn’t sure why. He suspected that Chester would do anything to get back in the house, so he was careful what he said and did around him. There were other kids too but most were either much older than him or much younger and the ones his age picked on him because he was small for his age. Frog mainly stayed by himself or with his daddy. Most of the other kids worked in the house anyway. Frog did too but when he turned ten his daddy asked if he could join him in the fields. He told Frog it was better to be in the fields than in the house where his daddy couldn’t protect him. Anyhow, he had been out of the house for several years now working with his daddy and the others. One day a new boy showed up who seemed about Frog’s age. He was much lighter skinned than the other slaves and Frog overheard some of the women referring to him a “mulatto.” Old Moses told him that the boy came from another plantation. He said that his mother was dark skinned and when she died the other slaves didn’t want him around and was always picking at him and spitting on him and such. The other master had gotten tired of the fighting and thought him too much trouble to have around so he traded him to Frog’s master for a hunting dog. Old Moses said he heard the master tell Chester that he had better make him work or Chester would lose his other hand. The master didn’t much like losing one of his dogs. The next day Frog’s Daddy told him to tell the boy to come eat hoecakes with them at the midday meal. Frog didn’t want to but went to get him anyway. They boy was much bigger than Frog, which was nothing new, but he always looked angry. Frog thought he might try to start a fight and then the overseers would whip them both, so Frog was very careful and spoke gently when near him. He found him at the edge of the field getting a drink from a bucket. “My daddy says you’re to come eat hoecakes with us.” The boy didn’t say anything but just stared his angry stare at Frog. “He said that if I didn’t fetch you he’d whip my tail,” lied Frog. After a moment the boy threw the ladle back into the bucket and marched out into the field. Frog followed at first, but when he was sure the boy was going to where his daddy was making hoecakes he quickly ran ahead to reach his daddy first. “Here he is Daddy,” said Frog with an unsure look on his face. Frog's daddy didn't bother to look up. He just handed them some hoecakes. They were hot so Frog had to hold them in his shirt. "What's your name?" asked Frog's daddy. The boy didn't look up from his food but slowly stuttered, "J-J-J-Joe," he said. Frog’s daddy looked up at the boy and said, "How ‘bout I jus’ call you JoJo." “Yes s-s-sir,” said JoJo with a mouthful of hoecake. “Where you staying?” “Don’t have a p-place in particular. Just been s-sleeping in the b-barn," replied JoJo never making eye contact and speaking in almost a whisper. Frog’s daddy looked JoJo over a bit then said, “You’ll come and sleep with us. You’re a big one and there won’t be a lot of room but smellin’ us is a might better than smellin’ mules all night.” This didn’t sit well with Frog. Their hut was small enough as it was. It was twelve feet by twelve feet and made out of logs and rough cut wood. It had a thatched roof and a dirt floor. It had blown apart during a storm last summer and they had to rebuild it themselves. Besides Frog, his daddy and Moses, they also shared it with Gully. It was too cramped and tight already. Frog could only imagine how much worse it would be with JoJo in there too. JoJo didn’t say anything, just looked at Frog’s daddy and nodded. At that time Moses and Gully walked up to eat with them as was their custom. “I do swear, I miss the ocean breeze on hot days like this,” commented Moses as he was handed a hoecake. “Thank you, Ira,” he said to Frog’s daddy, breaking off a piece of his food to bite. “Now would you just look at that? There’s onion in my hoecake.” “Yeah,” said Ira, “found some growing wild at the edge of the field." Then he motioned towards the mulatto youth, “We’re going have one more under the roof tonight, name’s JoJo.” “He uh big’um. Might be he slep a sett’n’. Show hope he not snow’re.” laughed Gully loudly. Gully laughed a lot and was always smiling. Frog liked him for that even if he didn’t understand half of what he said. “That’s just fine with me. I tend to sleep better when it’s tight anyhow,” said Moses, “much warmer that way. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows as they say. I’ll talk to Chester and ask him for some rags. I’ll threaten to tell the overseer’s on him if he mouths me.” “What did Chester do now?” asked Frog. “I don’t rightly know,” replied Moses, “but knowing Chester, I’m sure he’s done something. He’s sneaky, that one. I’ll let on that I know something without spelling out just what. Let his guilty mind do the rest.” Frog had to smile at that. Moses sure was smart. His daddy had told him that he would do well to listen to Moses when he spoke. ”Always somethin’ to be learned from Moses when his mouth is open” he would say. The rest of the day was long and hot. Summer days never seemed to end, and neither did the work. That night they all slept peaceful. It seems there was some room to be had after all. Moses had successfully bribed Chester into delivering up some rags for JoJo to make a bed with. That along with some hay made him quite comfortable he had said. Frog drifted off to sleep quickly and dreamt he was standing on the bow of a great ship that was out to sea. The wind blowing past him kept him cool while the sun above kept him warm. He hadn’t a care in the world. |
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