{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 1", "text": ""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 2", "text": "Laura sat at the head of the old, worn, but well-smoothed table in the one room wooden house. The table was situated right in the center of the dwelling, taking up most of the space. From her spot, Laura sat directly in view of the front door. They wouldn't be able to miss her. One single candle, which Laura had borrowed from Salis House because no one would miss it, stood in front of her burning, casting an eerie glow around the small slave cabin, making small crackling noises, and spreading the foul, acrid smell of tallow in the air.\n\nA small cough startled her, reminding her that she wasn't supposed to just be sitting and thinking like she had all the time in the world. Using the low light, she leaned forward and made another stitch in the coarse shirt on her lap, attaching a small patch to the hole that Gideon had torn in his shirt carrying coal out of the mines. She didn't even hesitate when the needle slipped, stabbing the meaty center of her finger. Her fingers had long since grown callous from the piercing of needles. That's what happened when you were the head seamstress on the plantation. Sometimes she felt like her whole life had been about attaching one piece of fabric to another. And now with Missy Charlotte's wedding, the needles didn't just follow her throughout her day, they followed her even in her dreams. The light before her flickered as she turned the shirt at an angle so that she could see better. She needed to hurry if she was going to finish the patchwork before going back. Another small cough from up above filled the air.\n\nThey were awake. Of course, they were awake. It wasn't that unusual that she had come down from Salis House to fix supper for the boys now that mama was dead. It had been one of her many last requests. Don't you stay up in this here big house, girl. You best go down and take care of your brothers. You hear? Laura had heard. She came down at least once a week, fixed supper, darned clothes, cleaned house. Not that there was much to clean. Her brothers worked every day of the week. Even on the Lord's day, cause if you did, Massa Richard would pay you for working extra at Christmas. It meant they always had a ham of their very own for New Year's, though Papa always opened the house and shared with everyone. And there was always new clothes for her and the boys, though the fabric was cheap and\u2014before a good washing or two\u2014sometimes made you itch. Nothing like the silks and lace that Laura's fingers danced across day in and day out at Salis House. But it was sturdy and long lasting and really that was all that mattered. At any rate, evening time was the only time they were home and that usually meant they didn't have much time for doing anything other than eating and sleeping. So, there was always very little mess. No, it wasn't unusual that she had come down. What was unusual was that she stayed.\n\nLaura hadn't slept a night apart from Missy Adora since she was born near 'bout ten years ago. Sometimes, Missy Adora got awful hot at night and she always wanted Laura right there at the floor of her bed.\n\n\"Lolly, I need me some water.\" It was a request Laura had heard time and time again. And truly no bother.\n\nEven though Laura had only reached child-bearing age a few years ago, at times it felt like Missy Adora was her own sweet baby. And Laura hoped she was sleeping well tonight. She had wrestled for hours as to whether or not to tell Missy Adora she wasn't going to be in the House that night. If she told her, she would have to come up with a reason as to why she was staying the night at the cabin. And then it would be just like Missy Adora to mention it to Miss Martha or Miss Julia and well, Laura didn't want to deal with Miss Martha and Miss Julia. And so she had prayed, Dear Lord when Missy Adora go to sleep, let her stay asleep. Laura prayed it again in that moment, silently as she ran the needle and thread in and out of the shirt in haste. It wouldn't be the prettiest patch, but that didn't matter none anyway. No matter how many times Laura washed this brown shirt, it couldn't erase the coal stains that had seeped into it. No one would be able to even tell that she had sewn a different color patch onto it. She couldn't stop herself from making a small clucking sound of dismay with her tongue. Like Mama used to make, before she got sick.\n\nThe wood beneath one of her brothers creaked as he moved under his covers and Laura paused. She looked up quickly to the loft where Solomon and Gideon were each wrapped and stuffed in a blanket. Most times the boys fell asleep like a stone dropped in a river. They just hit the bed and was gone. But though they had told her good night an hour ago, she could tell by their breathing that sleep had long since travelled the way of the past. Laura exhaled, her hands moving faster, it would be hard enough to say what she had to say and now the boys would be wide awake to hear it.\n\nThe sound of low voices from outside the cabin reached Laura's ears. For a minute there, she had wondered if they was coming, though Sol and Gid had told her they usually made the two mile trek each night from the smithy to the house. In the summer time, when the sun didn't set so soon, Laura figured it wasn't so bad. But when it was cold and dark like this, she wondered how they could stand it. She heard Benji's voice and Papa's low answer. She sat up straighter, the shirt and patch, still in her lap. The door creaked open slowly, allowing her to see Benji first and then Papa. Both stopped at the sight of her sitting there. Laura noticed Benji tossing a quick glance at Papa. Benji was tall. Tall as Papa. But where Papa's shoulders filled the doorway of the cabin, Benji's only filled half. Skinny as a beanpole, Mama had always said. Not the man next to him though. A big bear of a man, was how Mama had always described him. Tall, strong, and hairy. That was Papa.\n\nLaura pointed to the plates on the small table that stood a few feet away from her, next to the fireplace. The food was probably cold by now since she hadn't kept the fire burning hot, but they were used to that. \"I fixed ya'll supper,\" Laura said quietly, pointing out the obvious and trying not to feel nervous. They was her own kin after all.\n\nNeither man moved from their spot in the cabin doorway, letting all manner of cool air fill the small space. Papa cleared his throat and finally took a step further into the room, pushing Benji a bit before shutting the door closed behind him.\n\n\"Why don't you tell us why you're here, Laura?\" His voice was quiet, but the deep bass bounced off the four walls of the cabin, making its presence known. His dark brown eyes were intense, penetrating. It had always been hard to meet Papa's eyes full on. Felt like he could see her center deep. Which was odd seeing as how she didn't know the man all that well at all.\n\nShe could feel the pause in Solomon and Gideon's breathing cause they had surely been wanting to know why she was still there too. \"Massa Richard gone sell Sol and Gid.\"\n\nPapa blinked and looked away. She heard soft moans from above and a loud, deep sigh exit Benji's mouth.\n\n\"You ever hear Massa say he gone sell you or your brothers you tell your Papa first thing, you hear?\"\n\n\"What he gone do?\" Laura felt the back of Mama's hand against her head before she could get her next sentence out. There she was, sick and weak, but Mama still had enough strength to rebuke her.\n\n\"Don't you worry none 'bout what he gone do. You tell your Papa first thing, you hear?\"\n\nAnother deathbed request. Well, she had done what mama said. She had told him first thing.\n\n\"When?\" Sol asked from up above, his head peeking out from over the top, no longer pretending to sleep. Gideon's head appeared next to him, and Laura could tell even in the dim light that his small fingers were gripping the ledge tightly.\n\n\"I heard tell just 'fore Easter. Costs done got high for Miss Charlotte's wedding. Slave auction for the highest price,\" Laura whispered even though there was no real reason to. \"I just found out today.\" Missy Adora had done left her doll, Baby Pru, downstairs. That's when Laura had heard Massa Richard talking to Massa William. They was gone sell some slaves to cover the expense of the wedding. He had compiled a list, he said, of all the male slaves between the ages of twelve and fourteen. Boys that young weren't necessarily a big help in the salt mines. But that didn't meant they wouldn't bring in a fine price elsewhere.\n\nWhen Massa Richard and Massa William left the room, Laura had slipped in, saw the list, saw the boys' names. Now here she was.\n\nLaura looked up at Papa.\n\nPapa walked over to the small table, grabbed his plate, and took a seat at the bigger table Laura was sitting at. Benji, after staring hard at Papa, did the same. Sol and Gid made their way down the ladder quick and came to stand at the table. Together, they all watched Papa take some bites of his cold bacon and cornbread.\n\nWell. She had been planning on staying the whole night cause she thought he might do something. Whatever it was Mama had been thinking he would do did not appear like it was going to happen. She started to stand.\n\n\"You can write girl?\"\n\nShe sat back down. Her papa looked over at her, his stare intense, fierce, as though by sheer willpower he could keep her in her chair.\n\n\"I can,\" Laura said softly. Somewhat. She had never written more than a quick word or two on Missy Adora's slate. Usually just her name over and over. Sometimes Mama's name.\n\n\"What you need to draw up some free papers?\"\n\nLaura stared at him. She could read a little. She could write a little. She didn't think she could draw up any free papers. But, no matter what Papa saw in her eyes, he just stared back with that intense gaze of his. She looked away, losing whatever battle they had been fighting. Sol and Gid were now standing shoulder to shoulder, the same size, just like tin soldiers even though they weren't even the same age. And just like soldiers, in spite of what they were discussing, there was very little emotion in their faces. No. The emotion was hidden in the tenseness of their shoulders, in the slight fisting of their hands. In the small light of hope in their eyes. She turned to look at her other brother, Benji. He wasn't even pretending to eat. Just staring hard at Papa and occasionally flicking his dark gaze at her. For whatever unknown reason, Laura had long sense discerned that Benji did not think very highly of her. The feeling was mutual. Though Laura wasn't sure exactly why.\n\n\"Papers for Sol and Gid?\" she finally asked. Because she felt like she had to say something.\n\n\"For all of us,\" he said and pointed at himself, Benji, Gid, Sol. Her. \"Less you plannin' on stayin' here,\" he said, as his eyes slid down to the plate before him. She watched as he helped himself to another bite as though what he had said wasn't like dropping a hive of bees on the center of the table. She exhaled, trying to ignore the weight of all of her brothers' stares.\n\nWhat he said was not entirely a surprise, because she had figured that if Papa did anything, it would be something like this. Running away, that is. Though to hear the actual words out loud set Laura's heart to racing. Because that was the question wasn't it? If Papa and the boys ran away, would she stay or would she go?\n\n\"You gotta come,\" Gid urged softly, moving from his soldier's position and leaning forward. His eyes were pleading, and Laura found her mouth opening slightly in surprise. They barely talked, they didn't spend more than a minute together day in and day out. But maybe she reminded him of Mama. Laura felt her gaze softening.\n\n\"No,\" Papa said his voice deep, cutting through her thoughts. He didn't want her to come? Laura winced, feeling his rejection somewhere deep. But as though he knew exactly what she was thinking, he kept on talking. \"I want you to come, Laura. But I ain't gonna make you do nothin'.\" He stood up, filling the space around him. \"Can you do the papers, Laura?\"\n\nWrite up free papers? The likes of which she had seen once before, in fancy writing she had never practiced, on paper she had never touched? Laura glanced at Sol and Gid. She had known them all her life, in the general sense. And she did care about them. She was here after all. But it was Mama's thoughts and feelings on the matter that made her say what she said next.\n\n\"I can do it.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 3", "text": "The hot, Kentucky sun wasn't even beating down too hard yet and Sam was already sweating. Calm down, Sam. Calm down, he repeated to himself as he dug his hands into the soil and slowly, carefully began to uproot the small tobacco plant he had planted only three weeks ago. If he damaged the roots at all, Molloy would take it right out of his hide.\n\nAnd as though thinking about him conjured him, Molloy, only a few feet away from Sam, spoke, \"Gonna have to move faster than that, Sam.\" This, Sam knew. Molloy exhaled, pulling his britches up to cover his girth. It was a completely useless movement. Sam knew and Molloy probably knew, it would only be a minute before the britches slipped down several inches again just under Molloy's gut. \"Sun's almost down now, Sam. You ain't gonna finish.\"\n\nSam stood up, little shoots of pain ricocheting up his back, but Sam ignored them. He was sure that he had dug up and replanted over a thousand of the little plants already that day, spending a good portion of his time with his back bent over. The continuous pain had long since stopped affecting him. Sam dug the heels of his feet into the ground to get traction and slipped only a little in the mud as he moved. It had rained the night before, making the conditions perfect for transplanting, but not so easy for moving fast. And Sam needed to move fast.\n\n\"Sam,\" Manny muttered when he reached him, but said nothing else as Sam dropped the seedling plant into the hole Manny had created. Manny pushed Sam away before Sam could finish replanting the roots. Instead, Manny gently pressed the plant into its new soil. Sam went back to his row for another plant to dig up.\n\n\"You don't finish this row, I'm going to whip you and that is a promise you can take to the bank, Sam. Not like that moon promise you made this mornin'.\"\n\nLord Jesus, Sam prayed, but otherwise he didn't think too long on Molloy's words, just dug his hand into the ground again, feeling for the small, tender stems of the plant. He wasted seconds trying to untangle the roots. Why some plants came up easy and others fought him, he just didn't know. But still he moved, even when the sun got so low in the sky, it was just an orange glow. The crack of a whip snapping in the air sounded. That was it. Time was up. Sam stared down the endless row of tobacco plants he had not yet finished transplanting.\n\n\"Sam,\" Manny groaned his name as he came alongside him. \"I told you not to say nothin'.\"\n\n\"Don't nobody go far,\" Molloy declared as some workers started edging towards their cabins. \"Sam here promised to do double his rows today and as you can tell he did not finish.\"\n\nNo. He hadn't. But he had come so close. The smallness of the last couple of rows mocked him. His back, already aching from spending most of the day parallel to the ground started aching in a different way, as though in anticipation for the licks that was coming.\n\n\"For costin' me time, he's gonna get his whippin' and you're goin' to watch. Sam, I do believe it is not a good year, heck a good few months, unless I'm whippin' you. Now you know where to go so get.\"\n\nSam didn't know what was worse: the wait for Molloy to finish checking up on everyone's planting, the pulling of his arms as they were tied to the metal ring fastened to the whipping tree, the humiliation of having his naked body bared to the world, the whistle of the whip as it flew across space, or the burn of the sting when it cut across his back.\n\nEvery single time he was whipped he considered all of these things. There was never a clear winner.\n\n\"Sam,\" Molloy said. Sam had already experienced the first two things: his arms were fastened to the ring and he didn't have a stitch of clothes on. He tried not to shudder as the cool wind danced across his naked body. He wasn't hot now. Sam could hear Molloy behind him, unraveling his whip. He could also hear the whispers of the others behind them. He wondered what they thought of him being whipped again. And then he told himself he didn't care. He had made his decision that morning knowing this was where he was most likely going to be at the end of the day. Didn't matter what any person thought about him. Only mattered what his God thought. Jesus, don't let it be too painful, he prayed. A senseless prayer really. It was going to be painful. All whippings were. It was a lesson Sam had been taught when he was knee high to a duck. The whip cracked behind him, reminding Sam about what was to come next. Sam swallowed convulsively. They were almost at the last two stages. \"I don't get why you're up there. You know better than to not finish your rows.\" But he had finished his rows. He just hadn't finished Big Dave's rows too. \"And yet here we are.\"\n\nDid Molloy have to give a speech each time? Couldn't he just\u2014\n\nSam's whole body flinched as the leather of the raw cow's hide cut across the skin of his back. And then he didn't think anymore beyond counting the licks that flew.\n\n\"Cut him down, Manny,\" Molloy said after the twentieth one. \"And ya'll get on out of here!\"\n\nEverything ached, his arms, his back, his buttocks. Even his chest and the whip hadn't come close to there at all.\n\n\"You're a fool,\" his brother said, as he cut the rope that tied Sam to the ring and then loosened the ties on his hand. When Sam stumbled, Manny wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him from falling.\n\n\"You always say that,\" Sam said, through deep, heavy breaths. Manny wasn't one for hugs. Neither was Sam for that matter, but Manny didn't move as Sam leaned against him and caught his breath.\n\nWhen Sam was able to stand up without fear of falling, Manny spoke again, \"Yeah, well, you always gettin' whipped for other people's doin's. And Molloy know that. That's how come he ain't never talk of sellin' you. Fool.\" Manny's words were hard, angry words, but he patiently helped Sam get dressed. \"Big Dave deserved to be whipped,\" he said finally as he walked and Sam limped the half a mile from the whipping tree to the one room cabin they shared with five others.\n\nOle Mose was out front already, cooking steadily over a fire. Men with families ate their women's cooking. Men without families, like Sam and Manny, ate ole Moses' cooking. Sam liked Ole Moses' cooking just fine, but he sure wished he knew what it was like to eat a woman's cooking. He hadn't eaten at a woman's table since he and Manny had been sold away from they mama almost ten years ago. Or was it eleven now? Sam told himself it didn't matter none at all, but he still found himself forever curious about things he wasn't supposed to be curious about.\n\n\"Hey, Sam,\" Ole Mose said, his eyes grave and darting up and down Sam's figure. Sam's limping, no doubt, made it obvious as to what had happened even to a man whose eyesight wasn't that sharp anymore. Ole Mose was old. He had been old when Sam and Manny had arrived way back when and he was old now. He didn't have a family and Sam had long since learned never to ask if had ever had a family.\n\nIt would be too much to say Ole Mose was like a father to Sam and Manny, but he wasn't nothing neither. Much as Sam and Manny had tried to keep their distance, Ole Mose had always seemed to be right there all up in they business. The old man was squatting now, though he still looked slightly hunched over, lasting evidence that he had always worked a tobacco farm. Sam watched as he picked up bowls and filled them to the brim with some kind of stew. Sam watched as different ones came up and grabbed their bowls.\n\n\"Hey, Mose,\" Sam finally responded when he got close to the cooking fire.\n\n\"You don't see me standin' here, Mose?\" Manny asked, spreading his hands. Him and Ole Mose had never really gotten along. Sam thought it was cause they was too much alike. Both stubborn old mules.\n\n\"I sure smell you.\"\n\nThe men lingering in front of the house hooted with laughter. The sound of it, so little heard, made Sam smile in spite of his discomfort. \"Made you some extra, Sam,\" Ole Mose said as the two brothers came to stand next to the big pot. \"Though I'm not sure why.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure I can eat,\" Sam said weakly. He was hungry. That was certain. Working sunup till sundown did that to a body. But he was more tired than anything. Eating meant taking time from sleeping. And he couldn't afford to be tired tomorrow. He was already going to have a devil of a day bending over with welts and open sores layered across his back.\n\n\"Don't be stupid,\" Manny warned. \"You give me his food. I'll make sure he eats it.\"\n\n\"Every bite,\" Old Mose said sternly, handing Manny two bowls. That was one way in which Old Mose and Manny were alike. They were always fussing at Sam about something.\n\n\"How Big Dave doin'?\" Sam asked as he walked over to the cabin and leaned against the wall, taking big, deep breaths.\n\n\"Same as this mornin'. His mama come by and say thank you. She done left you somethin' on your bed.\"\n\nManny muttered something unintelligible under his breath, but then he must have changed his mind cause he said loudly, \"Sam's not offerin' tomorrow. You tell Big Dave his problems are between him and Molloy and he best leave my brother out of it.\"\n\n\"Manny,\" Sam whispered in rebuke. He wanted to say more, to cut him off, but he felt like to say even three more words would be more than he could stand. Even now he felt himself slipping against the side of the house.\n\nManny's voice only got louder. \"You hear me! Ya'll leave him out of it! Take your own whippin's,\" Manny grumbled before using his elbow to nudge Sam into the dark, dank, smelly cabin. There was a reason their bunkmates were outside talking rather than spending time inside even though it was late. Sam made his way to his and Manny's spot which was really just straw covered with a coarse, thin, blanket. 'Cept this time there was something on it. Sam sat down hard on his straw bed. Breathed a few times and then reached for the unfamiliar object. He hadn't gotten a present from someone other than his brother in quite some time. He ran his hands down the fabric, marveling at the plushness and wondering where Big Dave's mama had gotten the cotton from to make such a thing. His long, thin fingers ran across the seams. He couldn't make out the color in the darkness of the cabin but it was either black or dark blue.\n\n\"It's a blanket,\" he said, holding it up as Manny squatted down next to him with the bowls of food.\n\n\"Oh good,\" Manny said, his voice held a mocking tinge to it. \"A blanket. And summer right around the corner.\"\n\n\"We'll be happy for it this winter and you know it.\" Cause Sam would share it. He and Manny shared everything.\n\n\"I still say you stupid,\" Manny said, handing him his bowl.\n\nSam took it, sniffed, and then took a bite. He couldn't tell if it was squirrel or possum. \"Big Dave would have died.\" That morning, fever had been raging through Big Dave's body. But Molloy hadn't cared. He never cared. You had to be missing a body part for him to care and even then it might not get you out work.\n\n\"Big Dave is probably still goin' to die. This is his third day with that fever. If he ain't lost it now, he ain't 'bout to lose it. You just put off what was comin',\" Manny hissed in irritation.\n\n\"I prayed on it\u2014,\"\n\n\"Fool talk.\"\n\n\"God gave me peace.\"\n\n\"He always does. Right 'fore you do somethin' stupid.\"\n\n\"I could take it. He couldn't,\" Sam said stubbornly. They had had this same argument before. Many times. So many times, sometimes Sam thought they said the words now just cause they had to.\n\n\"You still goin' to have to do them rows tomorrow.\"\n\n\"You gone help me.\"\n\n\"I am, am I? One day you gonna look for me and I ain't gonna be there. You betta stop makin' plans and expectin' me to follow.\"\n\n\"You'll always be there.\" And he would be and he knew it too. All they had was each other. And Jesus. Though whenever Sam said that, Manny would growl at him. They finished eating in peace and Sam handed Manny his empty bowl. \"You check today?\"\n\n\"Don't see the point in checkin'.\"\n\n\"But you check today?\"\n\n\"Yeah I checked and ain't nothin' changed. Caesar ain't come back,\" Manny said his voice clipped. Every footstep was a stomp as he left the cabin. But he had checked and that was the important thing. Sam turned himself and cautiously lay down on his stomach. He closed his eyes. He dreamed that he had checked and this time there had been change. This time Caesar, the conductor, had come back. This time he was going to take them with him and help them escape."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 4", "text": "\"Why can't girls were breeches, Lolly?\"\n\n\"Raise your arms high, Missy Adora,\" Laura said as she slipped the gingham dress over Missy Adora and straightened it carefully, making sure it covered her pantalets.\n\n\"Lolly!\" It was a name Missy Adora had given her when she was young. Only Missy Adora called her Lolly.\n\n\"Cause them the rules. And you know better than to talk about men's clothing. Ain't proper,\" Laura said, pulling and tugging and making sure everything fit just right. Missy Adora was growing both longer and wider at the same time. How she did that, Laura just did not know. \"Sit down. Let me straighten your hair. You look like you got in a fight with a possum last night and lost.\"\n\nMissy Adora giggled as she plopped down on the pink cushion chair in front of her dressing table. She handed Laura her brush before Laura could reach for it. Laura had been doing the girl's hair since she had grown hair. With the tips of her fingers, Laura gently touched Missy Adora's cheeks, turning her face so that it faced the mirror. Laura paused, taking note of the familiar blue eyes, the long, curly dark blond hair, the small button nose, freckles dancing across the tops of her cheeks. It was a face Laura knew almost as well as her own. And if she left with Papa and the boys, it was a face she would never see again... whether or not they ever made it to freedom. Glancing in the mirror one more time, she noticed Missy Adora giving her the same thorough examination. And she wondered what caught her eye. Was it Laura's dark skin? The color of soil just kissed by the sun. Or her black hair pulled as tight as can be in a bun with still a few rebellious, stray curly hairs escaping on the side? Maybe it was her dark eyes or her dark lips? They could not look more different, but Missy Adora could not feel more like family. But could Laura stay? And never see her own blood again? She ran the brush through Missy Adora's hair quickly. Nothing got rid of distracting thoughts like work.\n\n\"Want me to read out loud this morning?\"\n\n\"Go on,\" Laura said, slowing down her brushstrokes as Missy Adora reached for the Bible she had been gifted when her maternal grandmother died.\n\n\"Where were we last time?\"\n\n\"We readin' the Psalms with the dates.\"\n\n\"Oh yeah,\" Missy Adora said, turning the silk pages of the Bible. Laura stared at the book hard, wishing she could run her own fingers down the leaves of the book.\n\n\"Go back, baby. You done went too far.\"\n\n\"Oh yeah.\" It was Missy Adora's favorite expression. She never liked to admit she didn't know something. \"Today is...\n\n\"March 20, 1855.\"\n\n\"Psalms 20, then,\" Missy Adora said definitively. \"'The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee,\" Missy Adora read, not a one mistake in her words, Laura thought with pride. They had learned to read almost at the same time. Once Laura had got her mind wrapped around the alphabet she had encouraged Missy Adora to read every day, as much as possible, out loud and usually where Laura could see over her shoulder. Like she did now. Laura found her mouth moving along with the words. \"Some trusts in chariots and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.\"\n\n\"Are you done yet?\" Missy Adora asked and Laura quickly finished brushing her hair out and tied a ribbon in it.\n\n\"I am now. You go on down to breakfast. It smells like Annie done cooked the house down this mornin'.\"\n\n\"Mmm hmmm. Bacon.\"\n\n\"Biscuits.\"\n\n\"Grits.\"\n\n\"Girl, you cain't smell no grits.\"\n\nMissy Adora giggled, set the Bible on her dressing table, and ran out of the room. Laura hoped she slowed down when she reached the stairs. Miss Martha didn't cotton to no running in the house\u2014even if it was Missy Adora. A shame really, that the child had been born so late in Massa Richard's and Miss Annabelle's marriage. She didn't seem to fit in nowhere. 'Cept with Laura.\n\nLaura picked up Missy Adora's discarded nightgown folding it slowly, waiting for the sound of the little girl's footsteps to disappear. When she was sure she was gone, she reached for the Bible, flipped back to Psalms 20, and read it, every word for herself. She didn't rightly know why the Bible had words in it the likes that nobody ever used, but she supposed if a book was going to be different, it ought to be this one.\n\n\"Laura.\" Laura flipped the book closed and moved objects on Missy Adora's table careful to keep a steady hand even as her heart picked up its pace. \"There you are,\" Miss Martha said from the doorway, peeking in. \"Come see me after I take breakfast. Charlotte and I have changed the fabric for one of her morning dresses.\"\n\n\"Yes'm,\" Laura said and quickly put away Missy Adora's things even though Miss Martha was gone just as quick as she had come. But Laura had things she needed to do anyways and wasting time reading wasn't one of them. She made Missy Adora's bed quickly, grabbed a book off of Missy Adora's nightstand, and then moved quietly and swiftly down the stairs. She paused at the bottom, listening. She heard Massa Richard's low voice, Miss Martha's response, Miss Charlotte's laughter, Miss Julia's hissed whisper, Missy Adora's plaintive whine, and Massa Will's low rumble. They was all at breakfast. Laura exhaled, tugged on the collar of her deep blue calico dress, a cast off from Miss Charlotte long ago, and walked slowly to Massa Richard's office. A slow slave was about his or her business. A fast one was asking for trouble.\n\nMassa Richard's office had two glass doors that were partially covered by white curtains. Laura looked around and placed one hand on the door handle, the other hand holding Missy Adora's book in case she got caught. She held her breath, not wanting to make one sound as she turned the knob and heard the click. She waited again, and then pushed the door open.\n\nStepping into the room, Laura's nose was affronted with the smell of paper, ink, cigar smoke, and even a hint of spirits. Closing the door behind her just as quietly as she opened it, she took inventory of the room. Massa Richard's office had large windows on one side and a sofa tucked right under. Bookcases covered all the rest of the walls. Laura reckoned there were hundreds of them; old ones, new ones, ones written in English and even some in Greek. This she knew cause Missy Adora had showed her once, all the while giggling. Thick carpet was on the floor muting each step Laura took to the other side of the room where the desk and three chairs sat. There were two in front of the desk and one large chair behind the desk. Laura placed Missy Adora's book on the desk and then stooped low in front of Massa Richard's desk so no one could see her should they glance in one of the windows.\n\nShe tugged on the bottom drawer. Locked. She reached into the small pocket of her apron and pulled out two small pieces of metal her brother Benji had given her years ago, back when they got along fine. When you had a brother who knew how to make locks, chances were, he knew how to make keys too. Laura slipped the pieces into the tiny keyhole, heard a click, and pulled the drawer open. It was filled with papers. She slipped her lock picks back in her pocket, taking it all in. Laura had seen free papers. Once. A quick glance, when she saw a Negro man whip his out to show Mr. Hamden, the general store owner. She remembered the fancy writing and the large red mark. A seal, she had later learned. The seal was what had her really worried. She wondered if Papa knew about the seal. Laura herself had touched her first seal only weeks ago when Miss Martha handed her a letter to give to Massa Richard on account of her being too busy. The seal was red, circular, and raised off the paper. Laura flipped through Massa Richard's papers now, looking for a sheet that might have a seal.\n\nThen she heard a familiar click and stopped moving. She held her breath as the door opened.\n\n\"Laura?\" a familiar voice whispered.\n\nLaura exhaled. Loudly. It was just Annie.\n\nLaura peeked around the desk and saw her best friend in the whole world. Annie was standing in the center of the office, wearing an old, brown, calico dress made of some of the ugliest fabric Laura had ever seen in her life. But that still did nothing to detract from her beauty. Annie had warm, brown skin, large bright eyes, and hair that came out of her head already styled. When they were young, Laura used to grumble to Mama about the unfairness of it all. Why was Annie blessed with looking so beautiful when Laura was so forgettable? Because it had been quite clear even when they were young which one of them the boys favored on Sunday afternoons. Her mama had given her a sharp slap on the back of her head. Beauty ain't nothin' on a slave but a curse. You thank God everyday he ain't make you beautiful. Laura hadn't believed that and neither had she thanked God that she didn't have much in the way of looks. Until Annie gave birth to her first son, Noble.\n\n\"Laura, I saw you come in here,\" Annie said, placing her hands on her hips.\n\n\"Shh,\" Laura said from her spot on the floor where she was peeking around the large desk at her friend. Annie tossed her a look of confusion, but, after glancing over her shoulder, got down on the floor, and crawled behind the desk with her.\n\n\"What you doin'?\"\n\n\"Lookin' for free papers.\"\n\n\"Lookin' for free papers? Why you need...\" The light dimmed in Annie's eyes. \"You talked to Papa Bear?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Laura said, unable to look Annie in the eye. Ain't no one talk more 'bout escaping than Annie when they was young. Her talk of escaping got quieter when Noble was born. It all but disappeared when Venture entered the world. Annie wanted to leave Salis House powerful bad. But she wouldn't leave without her sons. And they were so small still. And there was no forgetting that she could always wind up with a third child. Yes, Laura thanked God she wasn't beautiful, but her heart ached for Annie.\n\n\"When you leavin'?\"\n\nLaura ducked her head. \"Best you don't know. You know that.\" Laura paused. \"And I ain't too sure I'm goin' yet.\"\n\n\"If you stay here when you have a chance to go, by God, Laura, I'll kill you myself,\" Annie said, her voice serious.\n\n\"Annie...\"\n\n\"You got it good now. But you just wait 'til Missy Adora grows older. You just wait. And you'll have wished you run. What we lookin' for?\" Annie asked as she opened another drawer so hard it almost came out of the desk. Laura looked over at her friend, saw her jaw quivering, her eyes blinking. Because that was who Annie was. She would help a friend no matter what, even if it hurt her.\n\n\"How I'm supposed to leave you and Noble and Venture?\"\n\n\"Don't you worry 'bout us,\" she said with a small sniff. \"If I can't go, then I can't think of a better person to go.\"\n\n\"Annie,\" Laura said, her voice, her heart, breaking.\n\n\"I said, what we lookin' for?\" Laura had taught Annie her alphabet, and some book learning. But Annie couldn't read as well as Laura could.\n\n\"Papers with seals. A seal is\u2014,\"\n\nThe sound of a click filled the room. Someone else was entering the office. Laura sent Annie a questioning glance and Annie shook her head quickly. She didn't know who it could be. Both girls' eyes darted across the room. Laura saw a glass bottle of spirits on a small table stand behind them. She moved quickly and grabbed it.\n\nAnnie already ready, pulled a rag out of the confines of her apron. Laura had always been convinced that Annie hid the whole world within the pockets of her apron. Laura pulled the topper out as footsteps pressed against the carpet. She upturned the bottle and then heard a low, familiar drawl.\n\n\"If you pour that wine on the carpet I'll beat you myself, Laura,\" Prince said. He was standing on the other side of the desk, his hazel gaze taking in both Laura and Annie, his usual sneer forming on his face at the sight of them together. Laura sighed with relief and Annie fell back against the desk.\n\n\"Oh, thank God it's you,\" Annie whispered, fanning herself. She always claimed that she sweated extra hard whenever trouble was coming. Feeling the pools of wetness gather under her own arms, Laura guessed it was true for herself too. She put the topper back in the bottle and replaced it.\n\n\"Get up.\" Prince's voice was hard and merciless. But it always was. Laura stood up slowly, Annie next to her. Prince, a few years older than Laura, but the same age as Annie, was not much taller. A clear mulatto with his light eyes, light skin, and curly dark hair, he was Massa Richard's favorite slave and if rumors were to be believed, his son. Laura had once asked Mama about Prince's parentage and had been given so sharp a look she hadn't dared bring it up again. Some secrets died.\n\nAnd yet, noting the cut of his jaw and the sharpness of his nose, Laura had decided rumors were to be believed. Not only did Prince favor Massa Richard in all but his skin color, Massa Richard doted on Prince. He had taught Prince to read and write himself over the protests of first his wife, Miss Annabelle, then his sister, Miss Martha, and finally his sons, Massa Will and Massa Logan. He had taught Prince so well, Prince kept all of his records and worked with him day in and day out. Prince got extra rations, new clothes made from good cloth, and his own room in Salis House. Prince was also one of the biggest pains in Laura's backside. And Annie's. And anyone else alive and breathing at Salis House. Laura could think of no one who actually liked Prince.\n\nHe took great joy in catching her, Annie, and others in compromising situations. With glee he informed Massa Richard and Miss Martha about others' activities. Laura had gotten more than one slap from Miss Martha cause of Prince telling on her. He had no friends, no honor, no compassion, and very little kindness.\n\nBut still. Seeing him was a sight better than seeing Massa Richard and Massa Will. Because you could reason with Prince... especially if you had something he wanted or would want. Why, then he could be most amenable to anything. Laura's eyes flickered down to the open drawer at her feet. She could be here all day long looking for free papers and even if she found them she had great doubts that she could duplicate them. She just plain didn't have the knowhow. But Prince did."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 5", "text": "Sam came to with a gasp, raising himself on his arms.\n\n\"Sunday,\" Manny muttered next to him and rolled over, taking Sam's new blanket with him and leaving Sam more than a bit cold and exposed to the chill of the morning. But it was a state that Sam was used to. He lowered himself slowly back onto the straw.\n\nHe thanked God that it was Sunday. And more than that, that Massa Charles believed in not working on the Lord's day no matter how good the soil or the harvest was. Sam had put in a full day's work yesterday, sweating profusely. His back had already been on fire from the whipping the day before and the constant bending over to transfer the tobacco plants from one place to the next, but when the salty rivers of sweat hit the burns it felt like being struck by lightning. Constantly. With an exhale, he pushed himself up.\n\n\"You need to rest,\" Manny murmured without even turning over, but he knew Sam. So he didn't say anything else as Sam slowly rocked on all fours, muffled a groan, and then shakily stood up. He exited the cabin, inhaling the fresh air deeply. Sometimes he didn't realize just how rank the cabin was until he went outside first thing in the morning. By the time he returned at night he was usually so tired he didn't care.\n\n\"Mornin' Sam,\" Ole Mose said, already sitting over the breakfast fire.\n\n\"Mornin', Mose,\" Sam said as he moved slowly, stretching and testing the muscles in his body. He didn't think he had much more than twenty years but sometimes he sure felt as old as Ole Mose looked.\n\n\"Headed to the church?\"\n\n\"You know it.\" But first he needed to make a trip to the outhouse and to the river out back. At least try not to go to the Lord's house stinking.\n\nThe church was five miles away and every Sunday, Sam made the early morning trek. Rain, sun, and even rare times, in the snow. Every Sunday. It was his only escape from the world in which he lived in, the only time he could sit for a few minutes and pretend like he was free. Manny thought it was the stupidest thing he could be doing. Sometimes Sam thought Manny was right. It did seem stupid at times to keep going to a place he wasn't really welcomed to, to hear about God who at times didn't always seem to be listening. But Sam knew it would be worse to give up. It would be worse to just accept that it was God's will that this was his lot in life. The five-mile trek was always a long one. And that morning it felt even longer as with each step he took his thoughts grew darker.\n\nThere was nothing he wanted more than his freedom. He had been dreaming about having his own since he first realized he didn't own a thing. Not even himself. And what was a man if he couldn't make his own decisions? If he couldn't choose his own path? He was nothing, less than a dog that followed a scent cause it caught his fancy. He also wanted a family. A wife of his own, children even. But he would die alone\u2014or with Manny\u2014first before he gave Massa Charles more slaves. He and Manny had decided that a long time ago. He wanted a second name. Wanted to be more than just Sam. He had already decided that when he was free he would go by Samuel. Sam stepped on a rock, stumbled. Erased his thoughts. For they were foolish thoughts. Thoughts that if he dwelled on too long would bring him near to tears. For there was nothing in his life that suggested that freedom was any nearer today than it was yesterday. He was powerful afraid he would die hunched and bent over, making food for the next batch of slaves like Old Mose with nothing to show for his life.\n\nBut still he walked on. He reached the church just as the sun was starting to make an appearance in the sky and Sam was happy for it. When he walked back it wouldn't be as cold. He paused for a minute taking in the newly white washed building with its large steeple. Unlike the church on the plantation he had been born on, this church was taken care of regularly and looked it. The woodwork on the railing was fancy and the stain-glassed windows shined with pride as Sam got closer. He walked around to a side door and slipped into the sanctuary quietly, his bare feet taking in the cold but well-sanded wood floor. When the door shut behind him, he slid down it, pulled his knees to his chest, and wrapped his hands around his legs.\n\n\"Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus said the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb...\" Reverend Carlisle had already started and he was reading from the Book of Isaiah. At least Sam thought so. He closed his eyes and listened, doing his best to hide small nuggets in his heart and in his mind as he had since he was a child. He and Manny and Mama had been owned by a reverend. When they wasn't working the fields, Reverend Baptiste would read to them from the Bible. All the time. Both he and Manny would listen quietly, but while he fell in love with the writer of the words, Manny began to bitterly resent Him. Sam could separate God from His earthly ministers. Manny could not. But it was God's words that had made both him and Manny realize that there could be more to life than the fruitless one they seemed to be living.\n\n\"Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea there is no God; I know not any.\"\n\nYes. It was Isaiah alright. Sam couldn't read a lick, but he had heard so much Bible reading he could tell a few books apart. Reverend Carlisle kept reading and Sam listened to the words of his God and how He was God and not to be limited to Sam's small-minded thinking. Sam couldn't see a way to freedom. And even if there was a way, what would he and Manny do? They only had one skill really and that was knowing everything there was to know about tobacco farming. Sam didn't think they had tobacco farms up north. And it wasn't like they could buy their own. They had barely a dollar to their name.\n\nThey had no other skills, and the only letters of the alphabet they could recognize were the letters 'a' and 'm' cause they were in both of their names. But it wasn't for Sam to be worrying about. If he was worrying, then he wasn't trusting. And the god who had created all the land in the world, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea was his God. And his God could do anything. Sam needed to focus on that. He spent the rest of his time in the church repeating the words that came out of Reverend Carlisle's mouth.\n\nThen Reverend Carlisle stopped. Sam stood up slowly, his back stiff and reached for the door knob. \"Bye Sam,\" Reverend Carlisle called out quietly.\n\nSam said nothing as he pulled the door shut behind him."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 6", "text": "\"Sam, why we out here again?\" Manny asked even as he dug under the familiar roots of the tree. They were in the small forest on Massa Charles's land. Years ago, they had found a spot around a bent-over tulip tree that seemed perfect for burying things they hadn't wanted to share with others. Now they buried anything they thought they might like to take with them when their new life started.\n\n\"To add the blanket to our bag. You know why.\"\n\n\"I think we should keep the blanket,\" Manny said, frustration heavy in his voice.\n\n\"When we gotta run\u2014,\"\n\n\"You know somethin' I don't know?\" Manny asked, tossing Sam a look from the ground. \"And how come I'm the one diggin' anyway?\"\n\n\"Cause you know I need to stand for my back.\"\n\nManny grumbled but kept on digging until the stick in his hand, hit something solid: the old leather hunting bag they had found washed up on the edge of a stream years ago. It had a strap on it that was solid and fringes that always put Sam in mind of Injuns. It held their secret stash. Wasn't much in there. Just their nice shirts they had received at Christmas and one pair of pants for each of them. Some coins that came to just under a dollar, and then Sam's most prize possession: a Bible. They had found it years ago, just lying on the road. Sam liked to open it sometimes and touch the papers. He liked to find the letters in his name on the pages.\n\n\"We should be wearin' these shirts,\" Manny grumbled as he reached up and took the folded blanket from Sam. \"And these pants. And sleepin' in this blanket.\" The bag bulged with the addition of the blanket though they had wrapped up everything tight and small. Sam supposed it was good that they didn't have much more.\n\n\"You'll be glad we saved our nice things for when we is free.\" It was an old argument, like so many of their arguments were. But it was hard to argue about not using their nice things when life never changed.\n\n\"You always get this way when you come back from church.\"\n\n\"Hopeful?\"\n\n\"Idiotic.\"\n\n\"I was thinkin' we should go with Shepherd.\"\n\n\"We ain't no shepherds,\" Manny said as he began to rebury their things.\n\n\"I like being Samuel Shepherd. Manning Shepherd sounds good to.\"\n\n\"No. We can't read. It should be short so we can learn to recognize it.\" They might not be able to read, but they knew well enough when some words sounded longer than others.\n\n\"Like what?\"\n\n\"Like... Manning Fry or Manning Rim.\"\n\n\"Samuel Fry,\" Sam said slowly, trying it out. He ignored the small stab of fear that told him he would never get a chance to add another name. But he refused to think like that. His God had plans for him and they were greater than being a slave. He was going to live with expectation, and more than that, he was going to live with hope.\n\n\"I didn't say Fry.\"\n\n\"You just did.\"\n\n\"I said somethin' like Fry.\"\n\nManny stood up and stomped on the ground a bit, his toes leaving marks in the soil as he pressed down with his foot, returning their leather bag to its hole in the ground. \"Cora want you to come by.\"\n\nSam straightened. Smiled. \"She might have some of them molasses cookies.\"\n\n\"Get a big one.\"\n\n\"I always do.\" Cora didn't like Manny, but she liked Sam. And Sam shared everything with Manny.\n\n\"Molloy came by to.\"\n\n\"What he want?\" Sam asked, his shoulders falling.\n\n\"Don't know.\" Manny looked over at him. \"You gettin' all them whippin's makes things harder on us both.\"\n\n\"I know.\"\n\n\"Now, come on fore we miss the service.\" It wasn't the sermon that Manny didn't want to miss but the gathering. Sunday was the only time they all came together, men, women, and children. They heard preaching and then ate and sang and caught up. Usually with one of they overseers in the corner watching to make sure they didn't get up to too much trouble, but at least no one made them work.\n\n\"You go on. I'm goin' to go see what Molloy wants,\" Sam said. He saw his brother hesitate. \"You go on. I doubt I'm in trouble today, but if I am you'll know where to find me,\" Sam said, referring to the whipping post.\n\nManny's expression went flat. \"You ain't funny,\" he said, but he did turn and walk away.\n\nSam headed towards the barn which is where Molloy spent most of his Sundays. Horse racing was Molloy's secret passion and if he wasn't out in the fields with 'em, he was in the barn talking sweet to one of Massa Charles's horses.\n\n\"Hey, Manny,\" Abram, one of the slaves who dealt in horse flesh, said as Sam approached. He was leaning against the barn, chewing on something that had leaves on the end of it. Sam didn't know him well, though they were about the same age.\n\n\"Sam,\" Sam said, correcting. He guessed Abram didn't know him or Manny that well either. \"Mister Molloy in there?\" Sam always added the Mister when there was a chance that Molloy was in hearing distance.\n\n\"You know it.\" Abram didn't even bother to look at Sam as he passed. There were times Sam thought his lot in life wasn't so great. But he had realized that it was better to recognize that you was a slave and be unhappy than to think being a slave was the end all be all. Not that Sam had the first clue as to what was going on in Abram's head, but Abram had always seemed so content that Sam just had a feeling the man liked life just as it was. There was some people you met in life that was born a firecracker and you knew it. And then there were others that was born a plant and just grew where you put 'em. Sam was not going to grow where he was put.\n\nLeast that's what he told himself as he walked down the long length of the dimly lit barn.\n\n\"Eh, Sam,\" Molloy said from the other end of the barn. He waved Sam forward. \"Let's walk,\" he said and they exited the barn on the other side.\n\nSam watched as Molloy reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pipe and a match. They kept on walking\u2014as to where, Sam had no clue\u2014while he lit the thing and started smoking.\n\nSam saw a fence in the distance and realized they were headed towards Massa Charles's horse farm. Behind the fence, a black horse ran fast, up and down its length as though declaring its presence to everyone watching.\n\nMolloy made a sound in the back of his throat and Sam glanced over at him. \"Look at that stallion. You see that horse? That's one fine horse,\" Molloy said, coming to a stop. Sam stopped too. He looked at the horse again and then back at Molloy. He knew how to feed a horse, how to clean up after a horse, and how to walk a horse. That was it. That was the extent of his knowledge. There was no way on this earth Molloy had him out here to do some work for the horses unless all of his stable hands were sick or dead. But Molloy seemed to be waiting for something.\n\n\"It's a fine horse,\" Sam said finally.\n\nMolloy took the pipe out of his mouth. \"He's won one race already this year. Not a big race, just a small one, but me and Charles are likin' his chances this year.\" Sam almost let out a sigh. Had Molloy decided he had to clean up after the horse or something?\n\n\"Good breedin' produces good horses. That's why, Sam,\" Molloy said, clasping a hand on Sam's shoulder as if they were good friends, as if Molloy hadn't beaten him many, many times. Sam kept his eyes averted, so that he didn't have to meet Molloy's gaze and he didn't have to view his large sweat stains either. \"I'm thinkin' it's time for you to breed.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 7", "text": "Annie clasped her hands in front of her, all fear of being heard and in trouble gone. She gave Prince a wide smile filled with false joy. \"My day never starts until I see your face.\"\n\nPrince's full, pink lips twisted to the side. \"I'm so glad you're happy, Annie. I noticed you devouring several pieces of ham last night after supper and have been meaning to ask you for days, are you in anticipation of an interesting event?\" An interesting event. He meant was she with child. Laura exhaled, closing her eyes. Only Prince would say something so rude. And not only rude, but profoundly untrue. Everyone knew there was only one man responsible for Noble and Venture. And he was away up north studying the law and had been for nigh unto six months now. And Prince knew that too.\n\n\"Prince,\" Laura hissed as Annie's expression grew dark and angry, her nostrils flaring and her eyes narrowing. Laura knew if she didn't step in, Annie was liable to grab the nearest thing to her and beat Prince to death. Not that he didn't deserve it, but Laura needed him now. Preferably alive. \"Annie, you go on. They gone need you in the kitchen.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Prince said, with a nod towards the direction of the kitchen. \"You go on now. And while you going, you better think of how you can get on my good side. Would hate to tell Miss Martha you were on the floor in Master Richard's office when you got but one place to be and that's behind the stove.\"\n\nAnnie gave him a look that would have scorched a kinder man except Prince had long since stopped caring what others thought of him. She folded her arms over her chest, sent him another look of rage, and left the office. They would talk later. No doubt, most of it would be Laura talking Annie out of poisoning Prince when he came to the kitchen for his next meal.\n\n\"Why would you say somethin' so hateful?\" Laura asked when the office door closed behind Annie. One thing she could say about Prince's presence, no slave ever feared being in trouble when he was around. Massa Richard thought Prince could do no wrong, so if Prince was in the middle of things than there was nothing to get worried about.\n\nPrince, still staring at where Annie had stood, turned and faced Laura full on. \"What are you doing in here?\" And here it was. Her chance to do something so risky her palms were sweating and her stomach was clenching and unclenching. Was she going to risk it all and hope Prince had more than an ounce of goodness still left in him? \"I just want you to know,\" Prince continued, folding his arms over his chest. \"That now I fully expect a brand-new coat made of the finest fabric in a week.\" Prince always wanted her to make him clothes when she got into a sticky situation that only he could get her out of... or if he was the only one who had caught sight of her doing something dicey. It happened a lot more than Laura would have liked. Sometimes, she swore he followed her around the house watching to see if she was taking more food than she should or keeping the extra fabric scraps that Miss Martha had told her to toss just so she could make him some nice clothes. Cause Prince liked to look nice.\n\n\"Alright,\" Laura said sure to keep her tone placating even as her mind raced. How many sets of clothes would she have to make Prince to get him to make them free papers?\n\nPrince held up a finger. \"I'm not done yet. I liked the buttons you put on Master Richard's shirt. I want some just like it.\" He stated it as though she had access to gold buttons. Did she have access to good fabric? Yes. Shiny buttons... maybe. Cause they sure as shooting weren't going to be gold. Prince wearing gold buttons would catch even Master Richard's unmindful eye.\n\nHe tapped his chest again, as though to get her to focus on him. He clearly wanted her to beg. The negotiation process when it came to bribing him was the only time she ever saw Prince's eyes light up with excitement. When she exhaled loudly, he moved his hand up and down the center of his chest to indicate where the buttons should go. As if she didn't know that already.\n\n\"Master Richard, I saw Laura on the floor going through your papers... ,\" he began, not taking his eyes off of hers. Laura knew he only said her name cause he was hoping to work out some kind of separate deal with Annie. Annie was always required to bake him a pie of some sort. Prince loved his pies. Annie said it wasn't unusual for him to sit there and eat the whole thing in one sitting and not offer a single crumb to anyone.\n\n\"Alright,\" Laura said again, nodding. It would not be easy getting her hands on those buttons. But. She needed Prince. Prince hesitated for a second, his stare growing intense. And she knew it was cause she was not following the script of their play. They usually fought tooth and nail over the extent of his bribes. Not to mention his clothing choices. He might like to look nice but his taste had a tendency to run towards gaudy. Laura always reined him in\u2014especially if she had to procure the fabric and any extra attachments herself. Prince knew she couldn't pay for the things he asked... which meant that she... borrowed them for him. She didn't look at it as stealing, after all the material was going towards the health and welfare of one of the family's slaves. Though she knew Mama wouldn't have liked it. Not that Prince had been all that demanding when Mama was alive. Back then his requests had been small, because he had been slightly afraid of Mama. Mama was the only person Laura knew of that Prince had ever been afraid of. But Mama was dead now. He feared no one.\n\nAt any rate, Prince knew she didn't pay for most of what he asked for cause she rarely had more than a penny to her name, but he always managed to look the other way when Laura borrowed extra fabric if the fabric and frills were for him. On several occasions, he had ordered his own fabric knowing that Master Richard would be none the wiser. It was such a daring move, that Laura had almost feared for him for weeks. Laura saw his fingers tapping against the muscle of his arm. He was thinking. And that was not always a good thing. Then he walked around her slowly, making her feel like a rabbit being looked over by a wolf. He walked past her to the front of the desk, glanced down at where she and Annie had been crouched. But there was nothing to see, Laura had already closed the drawers that she and Annie had been rifling through.\n\n\"Why were you in here?\" He leaned in close behind her so that his lips almost touched her ear.\n\nLaura swallowed and sent a quick, thoroughly sincere prayer to the Lord. Here goes. \"I was lookin' for free papers,\" she whispered. She could not see him, but she could feel him recoil.\n\n\"Free papers?\" he asked in disbelief. \"For what?\"\n\n\"We... we thinkin' 'bout runnin'. I was gonna see if I could copy one.\"\n\nPrince moved in front of her, so quick and so quietly it was scary. Laura took a step back. His expression was dark. \"You can barely read or write and you're going to try... Laura, I've always known you were stupid, but this... I mean have you got rocks for brains or something?\"\n\n\"It makes sense to have them if you think about it. I have to try.\" Laura said, her voice just barely above a whisper. She knew her eyes were pleading with him, begging. And she hadn't even gotten to the hard part yet.\n\n\"Forget I asked,\" he said flatly. He took a step back as though to distance himself from her.\n\nBut Laura took a step forward. \"You know he's goin' to sell Sol and Gid.\"\n\n\"Were they on the list?\" Prince asked lightly. \"I didn't see.\" That was a lie. Nothing, absolutely not one sheet of paper left this office without Prince's knowhow. Laura didn't know how that was the case, but he knew everything there was to know about everything before it happened. But now was not the time to call him out on it.\n\n\"I can't let Massa Richard do that. We can't\u2014,\"\n\nPrince held up a finger. \"There is no we.\"\n\n\"Mama would have wanted you\u2014,\"\n\n\"Don't,\" Prince warned. \"Don't talk to me about Mama.\"\n\n\"If Mama had asked you\u2014,\"\n\n\"But you ain't Mama, now is you?\" Prince asked, his eyes blazing. The fact that his English had changed told her just how ruffled he was. Prince talked like Massa Richard. Always. \"I said, leave Mama out of this,\" he hissed.\n\n\"Sol and Gid your brothers too.\"\n\n\"No,\" Prince said, shaking his head in disbelief as though the notion had never crossed his mind before. He reached past her towards Massa Richard's desk, fiddling with stuff on it like he had a right to or something. \"You best get out of here 'fore Massa Richard come. And I still want my coat. Two coats now.\"\n\n\"You right, Prince. I probably can't make the free papers. But you can,\" Laura said, drawing on all of her strength as she stared at her oldest brother.\n\nPrince's flinch was a visible thing. \"No. Laura.\"\n\n\"Prince...\"\n\n\"If you get caught,\" Prince whisper-yelled. \"Who they gone come for? Me. That's who. Me.\"\n\n\"You can tell them I did it.\"\n\nPrince scoffed. \"No one would believe that. And if they did, it would be cause they figured I taught you how to read!\" He had taught her how to read. And write too. He had shared all his books with her up until he hadn't. One day he was her brother, the next day a stranger.\n\n\"Then we won't get caught.\"\n\nPrince's face grew dark. He turned his back to her, again arranging and rearranging the items on the desk. \"It's just that easy is it?\" His voice was mocking. \"This conversation is over, Laura. Don't you bring it up again.\"\n\n\"I'll make you some fancy breeches too.\" Laura could hear the whining in her voice.\n\n\"You say one more thing. Open your mouth, one more time. And I'm going to tell Master Richard on you. Now you get out of here.\" His voice was clear and firm, but she could see his hands shaking as he moved the ink jar from one spot to the next.\n\nBut if there was one thing Laura had learned with her brother it was that his words did not always match his actions. Which was why she had taken the risk in the first place. \"I need one for me and Papa, Benji, Sol, and Gid.\" Laura paused at the door. \"You can come with us too if you want,\" she said, though she believed a pig had a better chance of flying than of Prince leaving with them. She thought she was attached to the family and Salis. He lived and breathed them. He didn't say anything, didn't even look her way as she left Massa Richard's office."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 8", "text": "\"You asked him to do what?\" Annie asked, as she rolled out the dough for a pie she was making. Laura stood in the hot kitchen, with three of Miss Charlotte's dresses hanging over her arm. It was just the two of them and little Venture in the kitchen. Venture sat in a corner on a very low stool attacking a plum with single-minded ferocity.\n\n\"What's he doin' here?\" Laura asked, nodding at Venture. Venture was two years old with black hair, freckles, hazel eyes, and pale skin. He was also the quietest child Laura had ever known. Only Noble, Annie's oldest, was as quiet. Sometimes, Laura wondered if it was because they had inherently known upon their birth that their mama hadn't exactly wanted them and they made up for it by being no trouble at all. Venture, feeling her eyes on him, gave her a small smile, revealing a cute dimple he had gotten from his mama, as he took another small bite from the plum. Laura winked at him. His smile grew wider. She adored Venture. And Noble. She had held them both in her arms hours after they were born. Leaving Missy Adora was going to be hard. Leaving Annie almost unbearable. Leaving Venture and Noble? She couldn't bring herself to think about it. She looked back at Annie unable to face his quiet, serious stare.\n\n\"He didn't want to go with Mama Essie or Ma Dovie today. He promised to be quiet and stay out of the way,\" Annie said, glancing over at Venture. Slave children weren't supposed to be in Salis House. But the kitchen wasn't technically in Salis House as it was a separate building and Annie had had the reins of it ever since Callie fell over dead one day. Sides, Annie was a fine cook. So long as she was discreet, meaning she kept the boys away from Miss Martha, Miss Julia, Missy Charlotte, and Missy Adora, all was well.\n\nLaura watched as Venture gave his mama a small smile and Annie's expression softened. Nevermind their begetting, Annie loved her boys. \"Don't you try changin' the subject. Tellin' Prince was just plain foolish,\" Annie said with a frown as she dusted the dough with flour.\n\n\"He's not goin' to tell.\"\n\n\"You think? He ain't never been kind so long as I've known him.\" Annie had only been at Salis for seven years. She had never known Prince when he was nice. \"He was tractable when ya'll mama was alive. How a woman as sweet and kind as yo mama gave birth to such a... one as he, I'll never know.\" Mama hadn't known either. Prince had driven her just plum crazy all the time. But he had been good to her. \"With her gone, ain't nothin' holdin' him back now,\" she said, shaking her head as she rolled out the dough one more time. \"I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him and that ain't very far.\"\n\n\"He's not goin' to tell,\" Laura said stubbornly. She had to believe it. Because the alternative...\n\n\"He already came up in here, demandin' an apple pie and a pecan pie. Like I ain't got nothin' else to do,\" she grumbled as she placed the dough into a baking pan. Taking a pot out of the hearth, she poured the mixture onto the dough.\n\nLaura inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of cinnamon and apples.\n\n\"Don't you worry about food none, okay,\" she said quietly, giving Laura a knowing look. Laura looked down at the clothes she was supposed to be repairing, feeling overwhelmed. That's what made Annie such a good friend. You never had to ask with her. She always offered.\n\n\"Thank you, Annie.\"\n\n\"When are you...?\"\n\nLaura shrugged. \"I don't know nothin' yet. Just what Papa asked me to do. We got until Easter and that'll be here in less than two weeks.\"\n\nAnnie's back was to Laura now, and Laura could see her shoulders rise and fall with every breath. \"I'll help anyway I can.\"\n\n\"I know you will,\" Laura said. She walked over and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. Annie reached up and covered it with her own.\n\nLaura could see that she was crying and Laura started crying too. Sniffing she looked away and met the wide-eyes of Venture whose own lips started trembling. He didn't like to see his mama cry.\n\n\"If he tells on you, I'll kill him myself,\" Annie said, wiping her face. \"He'll eat this apple pie and die.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 9", "text": "Sam stared at Molloy as though he could not have possibly heard him right. \"Me?\"\n\n\"You,\" Molloy said, one meaty finger poking him in the chest. \"You and Manny. You're both young and strong and I can't figure out for the life of me why you and he ain't come around askin' for a cabin of your own. Surely there must be some filly you've got your eye on?\"\n\nSam blinked. Careful to keep his expression as blank as could be. \"No, sir. Don't have no time for courtin' or for young'uns.\" There. Sam, keeping his eyes somewhere around the top button of Molloy's shirt, waited for his response.\n\n\"Now, Sam,\" Molloy said, squeezing his shoulder again, but this time with some force. \"Why would you need to be doin' any courtin'? I'm sure any of those fillies would be right ready to take you on.\" Sam felt his gaze narrow, but he said nothing. Molloy exhaled and took a step back. \"Let me tell you somethin' about horse breedin'. To produce a good foal you've got to have a sire and a dam of impeccable pedigree.\" Molloy opened one hand before Sam. \"Sam, you've got impeccable pedigree. You get more work done than almost anybody. Only time you ever in trouble, is when you tryin' to do somebody else's work too. Your brother, impeccable pedigree, though he's lazier than you. But I notice that when you fire him up, he gets things done. Now, you know Leathie's girls?\"\n\nSam nodded slowly as Molloy opened his second hand, more than a little afraid as to where this was going. He did know Leathie's girls. She had several of them though only two seemed old enough to jump the broom. One was Cora. The same one who always gave Sam any extra molasses cookies she made. Sam thought she was about his and Manny's age. Manny had called himself walking out with her a few months back. Only problem was he was also walking out with Lula on the Rawlins' plantation. When they found out about each other (cause they both showed up on a Sunday to be with him), they had turned on Manny. Sam had laughed about it for weeks. He wasn't laughing now.\n\n\"There's Cora. She's only about a year younger than you, Sam, and ripe as a peach.\" Sam felt his jaw clench. Sam didn't fancy Cora in the least bit, but that didn't mean he wanted to hear her talked about like this. \"And then there's Lizbeth.\"\n\n\"Lizbeth is too young,\" Sam said, cutting him off before he could say anything rude about her.\n\n\"Not that young,\" Molloy followed up quickly. \"Just think Sam, you could have one sister and your brother the other. Find foals from each of ya'll.\"\n\nSam's head started shaking before his mouth formed a word. \"No.\" When Molloy's eyes narrowed, he spoke again. \"Thanks. No, thank you, suh. Me and Manny just fine.\"\n\n\"I'm tellin' you, you're not fine,\" Molloy said flatly, all cajoling out of his voice.\n\n\"Suh?\"\n\n\"I already spoke with Cora and Lizabeth. Ya'll is jumpin' the broom or whatever it is you niggers do.\"\n\nSam stared at him, confused. \"Suh?\"\n\n\"By this time next year, Charles and I will be expectin' at least two more new slaves of fine stock. You hear?\" Molloy's voice was hard as he jabbed a finger at Sam. \"You best talk to your brother and get him in line. If he gives me any lip I'll string him up so fast he won't know what got him. And I won't go easy on him like I go on you. You hear?\"\n\n\"Yes. Suh,\" Sam said, his heart sinking all the way down to his stomach. This is what he got for lamenting about having a repetitive life.\n\n\"Unless you got some other gal you want? I don't rightly care.\"\n\n\"No. I mean, I hadn't thought about it, suh,\" Sam said, his words just barely above a whisper.\n\n\"Well, you think on it. Let me know by next Sunday. Massa Charles is thinkin' 'bout havin' a preacher come in and do the colored marriages. He's gonna do 'em all in one sweep. And you and Manny gone be one of 'em. Now get out of here. I got things to do.\"\n\nSam walked off in a complete daze, his mind racing so much, so quickly, he didn't notice Cora until she appeared right in front of him.\n\n\"Sam, what you thinkin' about?\"\n\nSam froze, staring at her. He supposed she was pretty, though he hadn't given her too much thought. Sam thought about women in a general sense, as in one day he would marry when he was free. He did not think of them in a literal sense. To walk down that road was to travel somewhere with no destination. At least as far as he was concerned. But looking at Cora now, he could see how Manny might be fascinated with the big-boned, shapely girl standing right in front of him.\n\n\"How come you here?\" Sam asked, looking around her. They were a ways away from the cabins and the meeting-house.\n\n\"I was lookin' for you. Manny said you had gone this way. Your brother is a ne'er do well.\" Sam stared at her. She folded her arms just under her ample bosom. \"I take it Molloy done talked to you?\"\n\n\"I ain't marryin' you, Cora,\" Sam said and made to walk around her. But she stuck out a hand, grabbing his arm.\n\n\"It's me or Lizabeth. And if I have to choose between you and Manny, I choose you. We'll get on just fine, Sam.\"\n\nBut Sam was already shaking his head and pulling his arm from her strong grip. \"Cora. I'm not marryin' you.\"\n\n\"Sam,\" she said, leaning in close. She was his height, so she didn't have to lean far. \"You ain't got no choice. I ain't got no choice. So what little choice I do have, I'm gone use. You and me'll get hitched and Manny and Lizabeth will get hitched. She still thinks he walks on air.\" Sam didn't say anything. \"You hear me, Sam?\" What was with everyone asking him that? Had he gone deaf recently and not noticed?\n\n\"Yes, I hear you. If I have to marry someone it'll be you,\" he said dryly and pulled his arm free from hers.\n\n\"You don't have to say it like that, Sam,\" she said, cutting her eyes at him, but he could see the hurt too. And it wasn't in Sam to ever hurt anyone.\n\n\"It ain't you, Cora,\" he said, meeting her gaze for a second. \"Ain't you.\"\n\nThey were silent for a moment. Then Cora spoke. \"Sam, you live like you expect this to just be a season in your life. Like one day you gone wake up somewhere free. You ain't goin' nowhere and the sooner you make peace with that the better.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 10", "text": "\"What did he say?\" Manny's voice was quiet, serious as he walked slowly over to Sam and sat down next to him under their tree. Even though there was more than enough room, Manny squeezed himself in tight between the roots of the sapling and right under Sam, like he had always done when they were scared and little.\n\n\"What makes you think he said somethin'?\" Sam asked, not meeting his brother's gaze. If they made eye contact, there was no way Sam could hide his feelings or his thoughts. And he was having some thoughts.\n\n\"You didn't come back,\" Manny said flatly. \"You missed the service. And the meal. And Cora was sendin' me smug looks. Did she give you a molasses cookie or not?\" Sam exhaled. \"Cause I saw her bring some out so I know she made 'em.\"\n\n\"No molasses cookie.\" Sam uprooted a piece of grass and tossed it aside.\n\n\"He gone sell one of us?\" Manny's voice was barely above a whisper.\n\nSam pressed his lips together. \"Wants us to breed.\" Manny cringed next to him. \"Like horses,\" Sam said, and this time he did meet his brother's gaze. It was Manny's turn to press his lips together. \"It gets worse.\" Manny said nothing, just blinked a few times. \"Next week we supposed to jump the broom. With Leathie's daughters.\"\n\nManny's eyes darted to the side for a second. \"Daughters? Only Cora's of age.\"\n\n\"Apparently, Lizbeth's close enough.\"\n\nManny coughed. \"Thanks, but no thanks.\"\n\n\"Don't talk like that. Cora already said Lizbeth was gonna be yours.\"\n\nManny cringed again.\n\nA small smile tickled Sam's lips.\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"He did say you could pick another girl if you want.\"\n\n\"How kind of him,\" Manny said mockingly. Sam returned his gaze to the ground before him, uprooted another piece of grass. A cool breeze rattled the strands of grass before him, lifting the loose one he had just had in his hand for a second before dropping it. It wouldn't be cool for much longer. The nights were chilly, but the days were starting to heat up. Another hot, fierce summer in the tobacco fields was on its way. \"And how come he told you and not me?\"\n\n\"Cause I can get you to do anythin',\" Sam said dully. Manny didn't even respond. On the one hand, it should be obvious that brothers listened and valued each other. On the other hand, it was disconcerting to know that Molloy had realized that they were not only each other's weakness but that if there was a hierarchy between them, Sam ruled the roost. Most people always assumed it was Manny. And if Molloy knew that, then he had been watching them more closely then Sam had known. And that was not exactly a good thing.\n\n\"What are you thinkin'? Do we make like we're sick that day? Find somewhere else to be and get a whippin' later?\"\n\n\"That won't stop it. The preacher man is for us. Not for them. They don't care if we married or not so long as a baby is born a year from now.\"\n\nManny exhaled and pulled his knees to his chest. \"If we take on a wife, we won't ever leave.\"\n\n\"I know.\"\n\n\"Cause you won't leave your wife.\"\n\n\"I know.\"\n\n\"For freedom, I would leave my wife.\" Sam grunted. Because it was all so true. Manny wanted freedom more than just about anything. \"I'd probably leave my children too. But I won't leave you.\"\n\n\"My mind is now at rest.\"\n\n\"Sam.\"\n\n\"Our wives could always run with us.\" The thought was new. They had never talked about running with their families. It just always seemed like escaping was hard enough with just them two. To add more seemed to be asking for trouble.\n\nManny grunted. \"Slow us down more like. And then get us caught.\" Well, it appeared that they were of the same mind then. Not surprisingly. \"Sam.\"\n\n\"We gonna run.\" Sam's words were more breath than noise, but he knew Manny heard him when he stiffened next to him.\n\n\"Sam.\"\n\n\"Ain't no better time than the present.\"\n\n\"Sam,\" Manny said again. His eyes were wide and blinking and he was sitting up straighter. \"I thought you wanted to wait until that man came through again. The one they told us about with the Ohio River and how they hang a quilt on the side to show they is in town...\"\n\nSam was slowly shaking his head. \"Don't have time for that.\"\n\nManny reached out, gripping Sam's arm so tight, Sam knew he would have bruises in the morning. Manny's breath was releasing in quick, short bursts, his heart racing a mile a minute. Sam knew this for a fact, cause his own heart was pounding just as fast. \"How we gone know where to go?\"\n\n\"Follow the Drinkin' Gourd. It's goin' to be a clear night tonight. Did you realize that?\"\n\n\"Tonight?\" Manny's voice was high, almost shrill.\n\n\"Ohio River is north of us. We follow the stars, cain't help but run right into it. Don't need no conductor to tell me that.\"\n\n\"I'm gone be sick,\" Manny said, releasing Sam's arm and getting on all fours with his face almost to the ground, though nothing came out.\n\nSam felt his brow wrinkle. \"You want to stay?\"\n\n\"No. I want to go so bad my stomach hurts. What's gone happen after we cross the Ohio? How we gone find a conductor? You know... like Caesar.\"\n\n\"Do I look like I've ever tried this before? I don't know.\" And there was the rub of it. They had no clue what happened on the other side of the Ohio River... which is why they had long ago agreed to wait for someone who did. Someone like Caesar, a man or a ghost some said who led slaves to freedom. But there was no Caesar.\n\nThey would be running with almost no money, very few clothes, and no food. What was that Reverend Carlisle had said only this morning? It felt almost like Sam's visit to the church had been days ago. So much had changed in little time. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea there is no God.; I know not any. The verse had been in his mind ever since he had come to their tree to pray. He was just going to have to get those words deep in his heart. And now. Before things got scary on the other side of the Ohio. Cause sure as shooting they would.\n\n\"Oh my dear Lord in heaven. Sam.\"\n\n\"Manny.\"\n\n\"And we gone go tonight? That hardly gives us enough time to think.\"\n\n\"It's all we been thinkin' 'bout for years. We're rested and we can go to bed tonight on a full stomach. Ain't no better time.\" It was his job, as Sam the brother of Manny, to sound like he knew what he was talking 'bout.\n\n\"You just got whipped two days ago.\"\n\n\"Ain't no better time,\" Sam said stubbornly. Even if his back still gave him a few twinges of pain. But he had lived more than half of his life with some kind of ache or pain. It had never stopped him before. It wouldn't stop him now.\n\n\"Don't you need to pray or somethin'? What's God think on all this?\"\n\nTurning only his head, Sam gave him a look. \"Oh, now you want to know what God thinks?\"\n\n\"If I'm 'bout to risk my life, I would very much like to know what He thinks. If He tells you we gonna meet soon, I'm going to stay my Negro butt right here, thank you very much.\"\n\nSometimes Sam didn't think anything Manny said could surprise him. And then he said something like that. \"I've been prayin'.\"\n\n\"You gotta peace on it?\"\n\n\"Thought you didn't care 'bout my peace.\"\n\n\"You gotta peace on it?\" Manny repeated as though Sam hadn't said a thing.\n\n\"I gotta peace on it. This mornin', Reverend Carlisle was sayin'\u2014,\"\n\n\"That's fine enough for me,\" Manny said, cutting him off. \"I want to hear what he read about,\" Manny said quickly cause even though he wasn't always trusting the words in the Bible, he did like to know what it said. \"Later. Cause that's fine enough for me. Tonight. Good Lord. I think I'm gone be sick.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 11", "text": "Laura didn't tell Papa and her brothers about her conversation with Prince. There was no sense in worrying them. Either Prince told or he didn't. Either he would help or he wouldn't. Instead she took care of Missy Adora, sewed up Prince's two new coats in between dresses for Missy Charlotte's wedding, and did what she could to get them ready for running... including borrowing cloth to make them cloaks since there was still a bit of a chill in the air. Miss Martha took inventory every five to six weeks. Whether Prince drafted the freedom papers or not, they would be gone by that time. There was no sense in being discreet now.\n\nWhen she had decided that she was running, she didn't know, though she knew it had a lot to do with what Annie would think about her if she stayed. And Mama. Stayed? To be a slave when there was a whole world out there? It was too bad that Laura had never had any desire whatsoever to see it.\n\n\"What do you think, Laura?\" Missy Charlotte asked yet again, as she raised a burgundy silk gown against her chest. Laura said nothing. She had learned a long time ago that for questions like these, Missy Charlotte didn't really want an answer. But. Laura thought it was perfect. It was why Laura had suggested the color to Miss Martha. With Missy Charlotte's dark hair and eyes, burgundy was the best color for the girl. Or young lady. They were the same age after all. \"Laura, can I tell you something?\" Missy Charlotte asked, her voice whispering as she turned to face Laura.\n\nLaura blinked slowly in response because with sewing needles in her mouth and her hands steadily moving, she couldn't speak aloud. And it kept her from doing what she wanted to do... which was roll her eyes. Missy Charlotte always had these urges to confess things. And they were always to Laura. She confessed to stealing a candy, kissing Pierce Lafayette, faking sick. Laura supposed it was cause she felt she had to tell someone and someone who couldn't say nothing was perfect.\n\n\"I don't think I want to marry Woodrow. But Papa... ,\" Missy Charlotte sighed, eyed herself in the mirror with the burgundy dress in hand and cheered up some. This, Laura knew already. Missy Charlotte could be about as fun as a fly at a picnic, but she wasn't no dummy. Woodrow was a dummy. Laura watched as Missy Charlotte's face fell again. \"You don't know what it's like, Laura, to live with all this pressure...\"\n\n\"Charlotte?\" Miss Martha was in the hall.\n\n\"Here,\" the girl said quickly and placed the gown in her hand on the back of one of the chairs in the room before slipping into the hallway. Laura heard Miss Martha and Missy Charlotte talking but ignored them. She had so many clothes to sew she could hardly think.\n\n\"Laura,\" Miss Martha said, entering the sewing room with all the command of a general. She would have made a fine soldier, Mama had always said. Laura looked up from the lace she was furiously adding to one of Missy Charlotte's dresses and saw Miss Martha in the doorway with a skinny, dark-skinned girl next to her. Laura stopped sewing and took the needles out of her mouth. \"This is Hagar. I'm borrowing her from Mrs. Harper. She's going to help you with your sewing for the next few weeks. You would be done now if Charlotte would stop changing her mind,\" Miss Martha said, her voice tired. She was the older sister of Massa Richard. Tall and robust, she had outlived two husbands and three children. When Missy Annabelle died, she had moved in to help Massa Richard take care of Massa William, Massa Logan, Missy Charlotte and Missy Adora. She was tough, but fair. Cause Laura remembered what unfair looked like. Unfair looked like Miss Annabelle. Unfair was high strung emotions that saw the boogeyman at every corner and made you pay. Laura was no friend of Miss Martha's that was for sure, but she didn't mind her. It was thoughts like these that reminded Laura why it would be a good thing to run. Sure everything was fine now. But who was to say what things would be like later.\n\n\"Now that she's here, hopefully we can get that trousseau done.\" Hopefully the girl didn't notice much and wasn't a tattler... after all, Laura couldn't blame all the delays on Missy Charlotte's inability to make a decision.\n\n\"Yes'm,\" Laura said quietly and Miss Martha left. The skinny girl, Hagar, didn't move from her spot. \"Come, child. You can measure out the length of this lace for me,\" she said kindly. Hagar, her expression blank, came over and, following Laura's instructions began to measure and cut the lace. \"Call me when you're done,\" Laura said and quietly left the room. She looked both ways, up and down the hall. She had barely seen Prince since that day in the office. It almost seemed as though he were hiding from her. Which would be highly unlikely for him. Prince ran from nothing. Certain no one was in the hall, Laura checked all of his regular haunts: Massa Richard's office, the closet just outside Miss Martha's bedroom where he always pretended to be taking inventory, but Laura knew instead he listened in on Miss Martha's conversations, the wine cellar where he hid when he wanted to be alone, even his small bedroom, though Laura almost never saw him in there.\n\nWhen she finally came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to catch him that day, she found him. In her sewing room.\n\n\"Where's the girl? Hagar?\" Laura asked, taking a small step into the room so as to not startle Prince. Prince was rifling through her sewing kit, touching things, and rearranging things like always.\n\n\"Sent her to get something to eat. We need to talk. Close the door.\"\n\nMiss Martha didn't like closed doors in Salis House. Specially if only slaves was in the room with the door closed. But if Prince thought it was fine, then it was fine. She closed the door behind her.\n\nHe turned around and they stared at each other for one silent moment. Then he reached into his vest and pulled out several folded sheets of paper. \"You get caught, I never wrote these.\"\n\n\"No,\" Laura said, her heart racing as she walked up to him and held out her hand.\n\nHe moved his hand up, just out of her reach. \"I mean it, Laura. I've already started leaving breadcrumbs for how you could have done this on your own. I will deny it and denounce you to your face.\"\n\nLaura drew her hand back, squared her shoulders. She didn't believe him. About denouncing her. He would, however, deny it and deny it loudly. \"I understand.\" He lowered his face, made sure to make eye contact with her before handing them to her. Laura didn't bother looking at them before folding them and slipping them down the front of her dress and into a pocket she had sewn into her chemise for purposes just like these. When it came to being sneaky and underhanded, she trusted her older brother. The papers were what he said they were.\n\nPrince, who had looked away when she started adjusting her dress, looked back at her, his hazel eyes cold and lacking any warmth. \"Leave in two days' time.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Master Richard and Master Will will be gone and you know how Fitzhugh gets when they aren't around.\" Fitzhugh, the overseer, believed that when the cat was away, the mice played. Which meant he may or may not be sober if Massa Richard and Massa Will was gone.\n\nLaura gave one decisive nod. She would go down to the cabin tonight and tell Papa and the boys.\n\n\"Don't you ask Annie for any food and don't you tell her a thing.\"\n\n\"But-,\"\n\n\"Who are they going to go to first, Laura?\" Laura bit her bottom lip, thinking. \"You need food, I'll bring it. But leave Annie out of it. Miss Martha wants nothing more than to sell Noble and Venture from right under Annie. Don't give her a reason,\" Prince warned, staring down into Laura's sewing basket again. She watched him lean down, his fingers replacing her thimble with a spool of thread. She looked up and saw the way his jaw clenched and unclenched as though it were an effort to hold back more words.\n\n\"Annie\u2014,\"\n\n\"I've said all I'm going to say about Annie.\" His voice was clipped and his words were short.\n\nAny other day, Laura would have ignored his strange mood and pushed him some more, but he had already done more than she would have expected. She would leave him alone. \"I made your coats.\"\n\n\"I know. I saw them on my bed. Amos have a route mapped out?\"\n\nLaura shook her head slowly. \"I don't know.\"\n\nPrince nodded towards her chest. \"I folded one into your paper.\"\n\nLaura clasped her hands together. It was starting to feel real. Her leaving. His staying. \"Prince, you sure\u2014,\"\n\n\"I'm sure,\" he said and with that he stepped around her and left the room."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 12", "text": "\"You told Prince?\" Benji asked, spoon hovering in the air, inches from his mouth. Laura watched as rice slid off the utensil and back onto his plate. \"That was a fool thing to do,\" he said before stuffing his face. Then he glanced over at Papa to make sure he agreed.\n\nLaura, sitting once again at the head of the table, too looked over at Papa to see what he thought. But first she straightened her shoulders and lifted her head. He had asked for her help and she had done what she thought best. When her gaze met Papa's, his eyes held that hint of amusement that always seemed to linger when he looked at her.\n\n\"If Prince was goin' to say somethin' he'd a said it by now.\" There was a time that Papa had known Prince just as well as Laura if not more so. He had jumped the broom with Mama when Prince was not even a year old. Prince had called Papa, papa for years. Until he didn't. He had slept in their cabin for years. Until he wouldn't. It had about broke Mama's heart. But he didn't come back. Benji barely remembered him while Sol and Gid only knew him by sight. Mama and Laura was the only ones who actually talked to him. And when she left, she would never talk to him again. She exhaled, her gaze on the table before her. She hadn't realized that she would miss Prince too. Even with all of his shady ways, he would always be the one who had patiently taught her her letters and where all the best hiding spots were in Salis House. Her throat tightened up for a second and she swallowed heavily to relieve the pain.\n\n\"You ask him to come?\" Papa asked, seeing into her like he always done.\n\nBenji scoffed. \"Ain't no way that pretty boy would dirty his fingers with the likes of us.\"\n\nLaura ignored him. \"I asked. He's not comin'.\"\n\n\"Did you think he would?\"\n\n\"That's enough, Benji,\" Papa said, before returning his gaze to his plate. \"He's still your kin.\"\n\n\"No kin of mine,\" Benji muttered, always having to have the last word.\n\n\"How come he won't come?\" Gideon asked, his voice small as he tapped his spoon against his empty plate. He always ate fast as though fearful someone else would eat off his plate if he didn't hurry. Course Laura had seen Sol and Benji do just that at times, so maybe he had the right of it.\n\n\"Cause he think he's free,\" Benji answered, looking down at his spoon. \"And he's in for one surefire of an awakenin'.\"\n\n\"He doesn't think he's free,\" Laura said sharply, eyeing Benji. Benji who thought he knew everything but had spent most of his life in the smithy hiding behind Papa. \"You don't know him. So leave it be.\"\n\nBenji looked over at her and rolled his eyes so she couldn't miss it.\n\n\"Enough,\" Papa said, his voice quiet. \"We're leavin' in two days, like Prince suggested.\"\n\n\"I made cloaks for everyone,\" Laura said tiredly. And she was tired. She was literally working to the bone. Her fingers were numb. \"Prince said he's goin' to sneak us out some food.\"\n\n\"Why not Annie?\" Solomon asked and then flushed. Laura could tell even with his dark skin. Like every other boy over the age of twelve, Sol was half in love with Annie. All she had to do was smile in his direction and he was stumbling over his feet. And he wasn't near as bad as Benji who couldn't hardly talk in her presence.\n\n\"Cause it's best to leave Annie out of this. She knows we're leavin' and that we're leavin' soon, but she doesn't need to know the details.\"\n\nGideon sighed. \"I'm goin' to miss Noble and Venture.\"\n\n\"We gonna miss a lot of folks,\" Papa said quietly. \"But we've got to make up our minds this is it. We're goin' all the way. No lookin' back,\" he said, making sure to meet the gaze of all of his children. Laura could only hold his gaze for a few seconds.\n\n\"Get the bag,\" Papa said with a nod to Sol. Sol left the table and went over the floor. He dug up several boards and then hefted an old, worn bag onto the table. It was Mama's bag. Without anyone telling him too, Sol emptied the bag onto the table. The first thing that fell out was soap, and then tooth powder, combs and brushes and a small sewing kit. There was a small knife, a set of matches, willow bark for tea, and a small bottle of whiskey. Their own, crude source for doctoring. Laura sent a quick prayer to the Lord that none of it would be necessary. Last to fall out was a small book of Psalms. Prince had got it for Mama a couple years back. Laura never did have any time to read through it herself cause when Mama was alive she kept it on her person always and when she died, Papa had taken it. Every now and then he would pull it out and have Laura read a Psalm or two. Papa reached for the small book and opened it. Nestled in its pages were more than a few dollars. But he ignored the bills and kept turning the pages until he found a small, folded sheet of paper. He handed it to Laura.\n\n\"Mama and I always was thinkin' about what our family should be called,\" he said, his voice gruff as Laura unfolded the little paper. \"She wrote down a couple of ideas there,\" he said, nodding at what Laura had in her hand.\n\n\"Smith,\" Laura said, reading the first one.\n\n\"Cause I'm a blacksmith, but not everyone in our family gone work in a smithy. What's the next one say?\"\n\n\"Salis.\"\n\n\"Cause we was all born here, but I think we should start over. Leave the past in the past,\" Papa said, once again, meeting all of their eyes. \"Next one.\"\n\n\"Guy,\" Laura read slowly.\n\n\"That be my daddy's name,\" Papa said slowly. \"He came from Africa himself,\" Papa said, biting his lip as though deciding if he wanted to say more about the man. Laura didn't know much about Papa Guy. He had died before Papa and Mama even married. But she knew his end hadn't been a happy one. Mama had always hushed her from asking questions. \"Read the last one.\"\n\n\"Altan.\"\n\n\"Mama found that one. She was in the store with Miss Annabelle and met a man from some... other country.\" Papa placed a hand on the table. \"The man told Miss Annabelle his name was Altan and it meant red dawn. I always remembered that cause 'red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warnin'.\"\n\n\"So, a red dawn is a bad thing?\" Gideon asked, leaning forward.\n\n\"It just means rain's a comin'. And I like that idea, of being a family where somethin' is always comin' down the line. You don't have to be afraid of it none cause rain is good thing. Rain brings life and the hope of tomorrow. It's a blessin' after a season of drought. And there's nothin' drier than bein' a slave. Can't grow for nothin'. But with rain,\" Papa said, shaking his head, a small smile playing on his lips. \"That's the one, Mama and I settled on. We ain't gone be Amos, Benjamin, Laura, Solomon and Gideon of Salis House no mo'. Leave that drought-thinkin' here with all the salt that soaked up the waters of our freedom. In two days' time we gone be Amos Altan, Benjamin Altan, Laura Altan, Solomon Altan and Gideon Altan. We're startin' a new day, a new beginnin', a red dawn.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 13", "text": "Sam hadn't always had his eye on freedom and he certainly hadn't always thought that running away was the only way to get that freedom. As a boy, working on Reverend Baptiste's small farm with his brother and his mama, life had been just fine. They had had they own small house that Mama kept clean and in order when she wasn't over at the Reverend and Missy Sarah's house, cooking and cleaning and looking after they young'uns. Sam and Manny had done all the extra work, especially the outside work like cleaning the stables and fetching things. They had never had a father. Least not one Sam could ever remember. He had asked his mama once, but she had just hushed him. Now, a grown man, Sam figured either he was sold, or they was sold, or he had just plain run off. It didn't matter much the way of it, the fact of the matter was that he was gone.\n\nBut as a boy, Sam ain't think on freedom too much. He had food in his belly, a roof over his head, he and Manny and Mama was treated just fine. There was never any reason or any sense in thinking 'bout leaving. Least not for him. Manny had got bit by the freedom bug early on when Reverend Baptiste had first read them the story of Jonah and the whale. After the story was over, Manny wanted to know how come he had never been on a ship? Reverend Baptiste had said cause he was a slave and was always gone be a slave and there wasn't never going to be a ship for Manny. But anyone who knew Manny should have known better than to tell him what he wasn't gone do. Manny took that as a challenge and became obsessed with ships and sailing and the water. It wasn't a hard thing to do considering they could smell the Potomac outside they window every morning. Whenever they was sent to town to fetch something, Sam would always do the fetching so Manny could talk to the sailors. Manny would hear they stories, store them deep in his heart like Sam did the Word of God, and retell all he had heard in whispers to Sam at night.\n\nManny started to dream. Sam could have cared less about traveling and leaving. He liked life just the way it was. But if Manny wanted to leave, well, then they was going to think about leaving. They talked to they mama 'bout it and she had told them they would have to buy they own freedom first, so they started saving as much as they possibly could. A little here, a little there. They would take turns doing things for the white men in they town whenever they had extra time like shining shoes and fetching papers... anything to get an extra penny.\n\nThey hadn't saved much when Missy Sarah died. Reverend Baptiste, overcome with grief, decided to leave his flock in Virginia... decided to go back home to his family in Georgia... decided to sell his few slaves for the money they would bring. And life as Sam had known it became for the first time ever, uncertain.\n\nSam barely remembered the auction block. But what he did remember, he remembered in vivid details. The stench of unwashed bodies, acrid fear, and overwhelming grief that permeated the air. It was so bad, Sam would have sworn that for months afterwards that he tasted it on his tongue. His mama had held his and Manny's hands, praying all the while under her tongue. Reverend Baptiste had said he would try and sell them as a family, but Sam had felt his mama's distress in their small cabin every night leading up to the auction. They had, all three of them, slept in the bed together the week before: Mama, Manny, and Sam in the middle.\n\nThey were placed in a shed that day\u2014and it was only one day cause Sam and Manny had been sold the very first day\u2014and inspected like cattle. Mama more so than them. Some men had pulled open their mouths to look at their teeth or pinched their arms to see if they were weak, but most seemed to tell on sight that he and Manny were as healthy as could be. It was Mama, they poked and prodded at while Sam and Manny had to look away. He had always wondered what they saw when they took in the thin, small, woman that he had loved fiercely. It was the first time, Sam remembered ever being enraged. He had remembered wondering, when he had first heard the story of Samson, what must have gone through Samson's mind that he could kill so many people and keep on kicking. In that moment, Sam had known. Had he been strong enough he would have grabbed something himself and tore a hole through everybody. Instead, he pushed his anger down deep and tried to ignore what was happening around him. It was an exercise that Sam had now become all too familiar with, this feeling of being cutoff at the knees. What it felt like to stand tall, he just didn't know.\n\nBeing at that auction was a moment that lived on in Sam's nightmares in random flashes whenever he had the misfortune of not falling onto his cot exhausted. But mostly the events of that day were like something that had happened to someone else cause it was not a memory Sam liked to pull out and look at with any great detail.\n\nWhat he did remember was that he, Manny, and Mama were led to an auction block, and Sam remembered still, the faces of the white men smoking cigars, laughing, and drinking as they bid on him and his brother. At first, Sam had thought they had all been bought together. But when they was taken off the stand, and Mama was not, it became quite clear that someone else could and would buy her. And someone else had. When it was time to part, Sam remembered crying, though Manny had sobbed the hardest.\n\n\"You always been softer than you should be,\" his mama had said, brushing at his face and Manny's. If it was one thing Sam wished he could change from that day other than the obvious, it would be the crying. He had cried so hard his last sight of his mama was a blurry one. If he could go back, he wouldn't cry. He would just look at her, take her in so that more than a decade later he would be able to remember more than just how thin and small she was. \"I'm just glad,\" she had started, her own voice breaking. She had pulled them in for a hug, he and Manny each holding her tighter than can be. \"You two take care of each other, you hear? Best you can.\"\n\n\"Yes, Mama,\" they had both said.\n\n\"No fightin'. Don't ever look back for me. You make it to freedom, don't come lookin' for me,\" she had whispered hard in their ears. \"Especially you, Sam,\" she had said, wiping his face. \"I know you, you would come back.\" She turned to Manny. \"Don't you let him come back. You ain't the oldest, but you keep an eye on him. I know you feel weak, but when you be weak, then you be strong. Take care\u2014,\" she had never finished that sentence cause some white man had jerked her away out of they arms and they lives forever. \"Don't ever look back for me,\" she had called out one last time. And through his grief and his rage, the first seeds of running away were planted.\n\nAnd though the seeds took root, and though they started to grow over the years, it wasn't until Sam and Manny began hearing the hushed name of Caesar in the past year that they had begun making plans. Caesar was a Negro man wanted in twelve states they said. When he showed up, whole plantations were emptied, though Sam and Manny had a hard time believing that. But what they did believe was that he knew his way north, he had never been caught before, and he had never lost a passenger. Caesar had come through they town once before, but Sam and Manny had taken too much time deliberating. It was only when the quilt was gone from Miss Tenny's house that they knew they had made a mistake. They had checked every chance they could get for any sign of the famous conductor. But he had not come back. And now they were on their own."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 14", "text": "They had tried to sleep at least for a few hours. The Ohio River was a good two days away, maybe three. This Sam knew from overhearing conversations Molloy had had with other overseers. And that was if you had a horse to carry you. There was a good chance they would be getting no sleep until they reached that body of water, this Sam knew. So he had closed his eyes tightly and tried to will his body to relax. It never happened. And by the way Manny was breathing next to him, it hadn't happened for him either. And now it was time.\n\nHe felt Manny reach over and tap a finger lightly on his hand. It had always been their signal to pay attention. Sam didn't move as Manny quietly got up and walked out of the cabin as though he were going to the outhouse. When the door closed shut behind his brother, Sam lifted his body up, and slung their bag onto his stomach. They had slept on it\u2014or rather tried to sleep on it. Everything was in it except for the blanket. It was just too big. Manny had wrapped it tight and found some string. He was going to tie it across his back and they would hope for the best. If they lost it, they lost it.\n\nSam counted, far as he could which he didn't really think was all that far. So he did it again. And again. And then quietly stood up, bag in hand, and walked out of the cabin. When he got outside, he exhaled, placed a hand over his heart. This was nothing. If he was anxious now, how would he be hours from now when he knew Molloy and the paddy rollers and the dogs was after him?\n\n\"Sam.\" His name carried like a gentle whisper from the cabin next to him.\n\nHe had been in the midst of stepping down from the small porch when the sound of his name reached him and he almost fell over sideways. Which was silly. As of right now, he wasn't doing nothing wrong.\n\n\"Sam.\"\n\nSam turned and lowered his and Manny's freedom bag to the ground. If anyone caught sight of that, they might guess what he and his brother were up to in the middle of the night. Sam walked slowly over to the cabin nearest to the one he had called home for nigh unto ten years. Ole Mose sat on the porch, barely discernible dying embers sitting in the pipe he had in his hand. In the brightness of the night, they could see each other quite clearly.\n\n\"How you know it's me?\" Sam's voice was small, quiet.\n\nOle Mose grunted. \"Always know it's you Sam. Not that hard.\" They continued to stare at each other and Sam shifted a bit. Manny was going to be worried. And angry. He wouldn't like that Sam had told Ole Mose they was leaving. But the man had helped them when they first arrived in Kentucky. The least Sam could do was tell him they was leaving. Sam opened his mouth to speak, but Old Mose beat him to it. \"When I was a boy,\" Ole Mose said slowly, his voice gravelly and low. \"And I found out my ole Massa was gone sell me, I decided to take somethin' from 'im. If I was gone suffer, he was gone suffer too. And all these years I tole myself that when I made it to freedom it was gone be my nesting egg. Gone start me on my way. And here I am, twenty years later, still sittin' on it. I'm not gonna die, still sittin' on it.\" Ole Mose reached out a hand and Sam, out of reflex, took what he had. A small bag. It jangled. And the sound made Sam flinch even as he realized what he was holding. \"Twenty dollars. In gold. Buy you your own farm. Make that lazy brother of yours help you work it.\"\n\n\"Manny's not lazy,\" Sam said by rote cause he would defend his brother always. And Manny wasn't lazy. But when folks compared them, Manny always seemed the more idle of the two when in actuality he always did exactly what he was supposed to do. But none of that had anything to do with what Ole Mose had said. Twenty dollars? Had he said twenty dollars?\n\nA smile crossed the old man's lips. \"You a good man, Sam. Find you a good woman. Have your own. I would tell you to keep all that money to yourself, but I know you, Sam.\"\n\nSam again opened his mouth, closed it; his throat so tight with emotion he could barely speak. \"Twenty dollars?\" Sam's voice was high. The amount of the money just hitting him. This changed... everything. Sam suddenly felt like he was taller, stronger, braver. He wasn't free yet, but now he finally had something. Something of worth. This feeling... it must be what it was like to be born free. If... when he and Manny made it to the other side, the possibilities would be endless.\n\n\"My ole Massa searched for years for that money. Years. Well up until the day he died.\" Bitter humor tinged Ole Mose's voice.\n\n\"You coulda bought yoself. Freed yoself.\" Maybe not right away. But certainly after the man was dead. He and Manny would have done it in a second.\n\nOle Mose gave a half-shrug. \"Some people,\" he said slowly. \"Some people.\" He stopped again. \"I know I said I was thinkin' 'bout my freedom when I took that money, but that's not true. I...\" Ole Mose's chin quivered. \"Just take it, Sam. Do somethin' with it. And if God is good, and in spite of everythin' I know He is, I'll never see you again in this life.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 15", "text": "They didn't sleep. And they didn't talk neither. The five of them, wearing their new cloaks, were sitting with their backs against the wall of the cabin house. Laura was sandwiched between Sol and Gid. Even though both boys were just about her height, both of them lay with their heads on her shoulders. She alternately moved her head from side to side touching them gently. They each had their own fraudulently drafted free papers, tucked in the pockets of their clothes. The papers. Laura had waited to look at them until she came to the cabin. When she had finally read them, she had been confused. The names on the papers were not their own. The owners on the paper were Massa Richard's cousins. But when she had told Papa, he had shaken his head and muttered that Prince was 'too smart for his own good'. She had handed each of her brother's the papers that seemed to be theirs. Gideon had beamed when he slid his papers into a slit in his pants and declared that having a sister who could sew was really just the best thing. He was a sweet boy. She was beginning to see that now.\n\nPapa and Benji were carrying their bags. Laura didn't know when Prince had found the time or how he had procured the food, but Sol and Gid said that the first thing they saw when they got back from working in the coal mine was a bag filled with bread, cheese, and meat. It was enough food to last them a week if they were careful. Papa and Benji had split the food and split the money and Laura pretended not to know that it was just in case they themselves were split up. Cause if they were split up...\n\nLaura bounced her thoughts to a different topic. Annie. Noble. Venture. She hadn't told Annie they were leaving, but she had gotten up early, leaving Missy Adora sleep in her room that morning. She had walked down to the slave quarters to Annie's cabin. She had helped Annie get her small boys dressed and fed that morning, holding their sweet, wiggling bodies against her as tightly as they would allow. And when Ma Dovie had come to collect the boys and walk them to Essie's cabin for watching, Annie had slipped her arm through Laura's and they had walked back to Salis House together. In silence. Laura felt a tear slide down her face. Annie was the closest thing to a sister she had ever had and Noble and Venture were almost like her own babies. She let out a shuddering sigh.\n\nMissy Adora had still been sleep when Laura slid back in her room. But soon they were reading the Psalm of the day and chatting like usual. At least Missy Adora was chatting. Laura wasn't able to say a word. Laura wasn't stupid. Theirs was not a relationship of equals. Not like what she had with Noble and Venture who she could hug and kiss anytime and pop them on their bottoms at other times. But she had known Missy Adora all her life and...\n\nShe needed something else to think about. Like Ma Dovie and Essie? Susan and Atlas? Charity, Faith, and Hope? Laura tapped the wall with the back of her head. Prince? Who had avoided her all day so that she hadn't had a chance to say goodbye? She shut that thought down right away.\n\n\"It's time.\" Papa's voice was barely a whisper, but they all got up. \"One at a time now. Slowly. A slow slave is 'bout they business. A fast one is in trouble.\" One by one they slipped out of the cabin, taking care to make sure they weren't seen.\n\nThey met up in the far pasture walking swiftly in the darkness. But it was not difficult. The sky was clear and the stars and moon were bright. They would enjoy it while they could, cause when they reached the end of Massa Richard's land, they would be heading straight for the forest.\n\nLaura tried not to think about all, about who, she was leaving behind, but all she had were her thoughts and she was so lost in them she almost missed the figure that was sitting on the fence.\n\n\"Lord a mercy,\" Papa said quietly, coming to a stop as the shape unraveled itself. Prince.\n\n\"Prince!\" Laura said and surged forward, past Papa, past her brothers, but then stopped at the scowl on Prince's face as his feet hit the ground. \"You comin'?\"\n\n\"I told you I wasn't.\"\n\n\"Then why...\"\n\n\"Patrollers. Coming from that way.\" Laura's heart sank. They were out already. It didn't matter none that Massa Richard and Massa Will was gone. \"Least that's what I heard. If you walk all the way down, it'll get dicey. Best to cross here.\"\n\nPapa, Benji, Sol, and Gid reached them in time to hear him. Papa let out a rough exhale, took a step forward, and placed a hand on Prince's shoulder. Laura couldn't stop her own wince when Prince flinched. Prince hated to be touched. By anyone. Except Mama.\n\n\"Son,\" Papa said and Prince flinched again. \"I was right outside the cabin when your mama brought you into this world; when she named you Prentiss and Massa Richard changed it to Prince as though you were some kind of... horse.\" Dog. That's what Papa used to mumble whenever he talked about Prince to Mama. \"You slept between us every night til you could walk.\" His voice was low, and Laura didn't have to see his face to know his gaze was piercing. She did shoot a glance at Prince. Prince was looking away, either unwilling or unable to meet Papa's gaze. \"I've always, always, considered you to be my firstborn,\" Papa said, his voice wavering slightly as his hand hesitantly reached up as though to touch Prince's hair, but then rejected the idea. His hand settled back down on Prince's stiff shoulder. \"When you find what you're lookin' for Prentiss, we'll be waitin'.\" Papa took a step back and then hefted his large body over the fence and disappeared on the other side of the road. Benji took one look at Prince, sniffed, and did the same. Prince rolled his eyes. Had the two of them ever been close before? For the first time, Laura wondered. Cause Prince had always seemed to belong just to her and Mama.\n\nSol took a step forward. \"Thanks for helpin' us, Prince.\"\n\nGideon reached out and pressed his hand against Prince's sleeve, ignoring the way Prince almost jerked back. \"I like you just fine.\" And then those two were gone.\n\nPrince folded his arms over his chest, his jaw clenched, his eyes on the ground. Finally, he looked up. \"What are you waiting for? You ain't got all night.\" Laura opened her mouth. \"I'm a tell you what I know Annie told you. If you're thinking about staying, you're a bigger fool than I thought.\"\n\n\"She didn't say that.\" Though she had said something similar. Laura took a step closer to her brother. \"You make a hole in the kitchen wall so you could listen in?\"\n\nPrince looked down at her with such an expression of disgust that if Laura didn't know any better she would think he would be appalled at being called out for being a sneak. When she didn't look away, his scowl turned into a smirk. \"Too obvious. Anyone could see me. I just know she would leave if she could. You go on. Life is good for you now, but there's no promise it will be in the future.\"\n\n\"I could just as easily say the same for you.\"\n\nPrince tilted his head to the side. \"Don't you worry about me. I can take care of myself.\"\n\nShe would never not worry about him. Even when he made her madder than a hornet she never forgot that he was her big brother. He was not her friend. He was not her confidant, and quite frankly, she didn't like him half the time. But after Mama died, he was the family member she loved the most. \"You don't have to. If you come with us.\"\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\n\"Mama said\u2014,\"\n\n\"Mama's dead,\" he said flatly. But Laura wasn't fooled into thinking that her death hadn't bothered him. She had found him sobbing in a corner the day Mama died. \"Stop living for a dead woman and live for yourself.\"\n\n\"Prince.\"\n\n\"Laura!\" he hissed, disentangling his arms and making his hands into fists. With a deep breath, he took a step forward and in a move, totally uncharacteristic of him, he placed his hands on the sides of her face. Tears slid down her cheeks and she could see them glistening in his own eyes. \"Go. And for goodness' sake, don't look back.\" And then he pulled her in for a very tight, very quick hug before pushing her toward the fence.\n\nShe stumbled for a second. \"Would you have let Sol and Gid be sold?\"\n\n\"Laura,\" he groaned quietly. Then he sighed. \"Yes.\" His answer hung in the air for a second. \"But I had already arranged for them to be sold to the Osbornes.\" Their neighbors. Good people as far as masters were concerned. \"Just. Go.\"\n\nLaura climbed over the fence. Paused. \"I love you, Prentiss.\" Laura hesitated for a quick second, unsure as to why she had used that name. She never called Prince, Prentiss.\n\nShe did not wait for his reply because she knew she wouldn't get one."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 16", "text": "It became quite clear to Laura, after what felt like days of walking through the Virginia forest but was probably more like five or six hours, that Papa knew this land. Intimately. The paths they walked seemed clear of fallen trees and large rocks and just when thirst seemed like it would swallow her whole, he always knew where to stop and get refreshed. It was after the second time that they stopped that she realized it. Nothing about this was a surprise to him. And just how was that possible? And just how had Mama known that?\n\nShe tripped. Fell. Her wrists and knees taking most of her weight. Any other day she would have stayed down, got her breath back in her body. But today or that night rather, she stood back up and brushed at her skirts ignoring the shoots of pain because if she focused on her wrists or her knees, she might also start thinking about her toes. She was sure blisters had formed. Gideon, an hour or so back, had told her it would be better if she took her shoes off and walked barefoot like them, but Laura knew that wasn't so. She never walked around barefoot. Miss Martha hated the sight of toes. Especially slave toes. Laura had worn a pair of shoes every day of her life she could remember. Sturdy shoes. Not ones made of kid and silk like Missy Charlotte and Missy Adora, but black leather shoes that could last for years. At least Laura had once thought so. Now she wasn't so sure. But she still wouldn't take them off. It was far more startling to take them off and step on the grass or dip them in water. If she went barefoot now, it would take mere seconds for the ground to cut up her feet and she would be in a worse condition then. So she kept her shoes on and tried to ignore the wetness in her stockings that came not from sweat but from blood.\n\nThe sound of the familiar clear sound of a warbler made Laura stop and reach out for the tree nearest her. Warblers sang at night? But when she looked up, it was just Papa. Whistling.\n\n\"Yes?\" Benji's voice was low. Laura couldn't see him, but she knew he and the boys weren't that much far ahead.\n\n\"You know where to go?\" Papa's voice was quiet, just above a whisper.\n\n\"Yes,\" Benji said firmly as he stepped into viewing, Sol and Gid alongside him. It was a clear night, not a cloud in the sky. Laura had no problem making out Papa on her left and her brothers on her right.\n\n\"Take Gid and Sol and go.\" Laura stiffened, forced herself to stand up straight. She had kept up. She may have fallen a few times and she certainly didn't move as fast, but she had never stopped moving unless Papa stopped them.\n\nBenji slid his eyes over to Laura, saying nothing though his question was loud.\n\n\"We'll catch up. But you go on.\" Papa's voice broke no argument.\n\n\"Papa,\" Gid started, taking a step forward.\n\n\"Go.\"\n\nBenji sent her a look that was too familiar. And while Laura could take it from Prince, she never took it from Benji. She made a face back. Benji grabbed the backs of Gid and Sol's cloaks and the three of them took off in the night faster than Laura had ever seen them move before. Well. She had been holding them back.\n\n\"Come on,\" Papa said and motioned for her to move ahead of him.\n\nShame. Embarrassment. Frustration. Laura fought all of three of the emotions as she moved forward. If they were caught... if something happened... her fault.\n\n\"No shame,\" Papa said, reading her mind like he somehow always managed too. \"You wasn't raised for this. You was raised to be a lady.\"\n\n\"Not hardly,\" Laura spat out as she stomped forward and angrily swiped a hanging branch out of her face.\n\n\"It's hard for you now. But it'll be hard for us later. And we'll need you then. Just like you need us now. There's no shame in needin' others, baby girl.\"\n\nLaura gritted her teeth. He always had an answer. Always kind. Always patient. Always making Laura feel guilty about things she couldn't change. This man was a stranger and yet he acted like he knew her inside and out. \"Just tell me where to go. I'll find it by myself.\"\n\nPapa didn't respond and she wasn't sure he had even heard her when he finally said. \"Nothin' on this earth would make me leave my little girl.\"\n\nLaura grunted and said nothing as together they moved as quick as she could up the small path, Papa just behind her, catching her every time she tripped over something.\n\nWhen he reached out to grab her again, she started to pull her arm out of his grip. She had not almost fallen that time. \"Papa\u2014,\"\n\nInstead of loosening his grip, it tightened. The look on his face when she turned to speak, made her freeze. It was a look she had never seen on his face before. Fear. \"Listen,\" his voice was barely a whisper.\n\nBut she held her breath, didn't move. And then she heard it. The sound of barking. Dogs."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 17", "text": "\"How did you know about this place?\" Sam whispered to his brother. They were sitting with their backs against a wall in a cellar in the very back where light didn't reach. They had run for miles, and then walked swiftly for miles, and then when the stars started winking out of the sky, realized they needed to find a place to hide during the day. Two darkies travelling in the light of day without a pass would get them sent right back to Massa Charles.\n\n\"I remembered it. Molloy loaned me and Abram out to the Langfords three summers ago. Remember?\"\n\n\"Yeah.\"\n\n\"I caught sight of Mrs. Langford comin' out of here one time.\"\n\n\"Good thinkin', Manny.\"\n\n\"Still cain't believe Ole Mose gave you twenty dollars. Cain't hardly believe he even had twenty dollars,\" Manny muttered to himself. Sam had told him when he had caught up with him.\n\n\"Yeah, God's been good to us, Manny.\"\n\nManny grunted. \"If we at the Langfords, then we 'bout two day from the Ohio.\"\n\n\"Sounds about right,\" Sam said slowly. He was tired. Dead tired. But just thinking about the many miles they had left to close between them and the river Jordan sent his heart racing. And he had a hard time sleeping if his heart was racing.\n\n\"Two days. And then freedom,\" Manny said uncharacteristically optimistic. Because they had both seen and heard about slaves crossing the Ohio only to be returned. But Sam wasn't going to dwell on that. Manny closed his eyes and rested his head against Sam's shoulder. Snores followed in seconds. They had agreed to take shifts. Manny would sleep first shift and Sam second. Sam laid his own head back against the wall, yawning so wide it felt like his jaws snapped for a second. It had been a long night to be sure.\n\nSam cast his thoughts back to only hours earlier, running fast, pushing his body hard. Seemed like he had always pushed his body hard, but there was just something about knowing that this time it was for him and that made it all the while sweeter. He felt his body began to relax, his blood no longer humming. It seemed as good a time as any to pray, to seek God. If there was any time he could use direction it was now."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 18", "text": "Sam came awake quickly, but slowly, first unsure of where he was and then feeling a shoot of fear race down his spine. He was on the run. And he had fallen asleep. He sat up straight, looked down, Manny was curled around a bag of potatoes, still snoring. What had woken him?\n\n\"Alright, Mama,\" a small voice called from above. The cellar's covering jerked. For the second time. It was the first time that had awoken him. Sam placed a hand over his brother's mouth and shook him. When Manny turned startled eyes in his direction, he placed a finger over his own mouth, and then the cellar lid lifted. Manny scooted as far back as he could into a dark corner, pulling Sam alongside him. They both pulled their legs in, tucking them tight against themselves. In an effort to keep from moving, Sam dug his fingers into his calves.\n\nSam, who had been cool, almost cold a few moments ago, felt sweat beginning to emerge all over his body as the white girl walked slowly down the ladder, a basket swinging off of her arm. Had his breathing always been so loud? Sam switched between breathing out of his nose to out of his mouth, not certain which one was quieter. He felt Manny's iron grip on his arm, and knew his skin was bruising. But he didn't move. Don't see us. Lord, don't let her see us.\n\nThe girl hummed to herself as she ran her fingers along the jars of preserves tucked on the shelves of the cellar. Each note of whatever song she was thinking about was like a needle in his skin.\n\nJust make it stop, God. Lord, don't let her want anything over here, Lord Jesus.\n\nFinally, after what felt like hours, she made a sound of excitement, grabbed several jars of something, and headed back up the ladder.\n\nWhen the cellar door closed and they could hear her chattering voice begin to dim, Manny let out a rough breath. \"That was... that was... ,\"\n\nSam closed his eyes tight, his fingers still digging into his legs.\n\n\"Did you fall asleep?\" Manny asked, his voice stiff with accusation in the darkness.\n\n\"I didn't mean to.\" His voice was laced with tight apology. He could have gotten them both caught. Killed.\n\nManny yawned in response. \"The important thing is you woke up in time.\" Manny's hand gripped Sam's shoulder. \"Let it go. I'd rather be in this cellar knowin' you have my back than anyone else.\"\n\nSam's shoulders dropped. Manny could sure be a pain, but he always knew the right thing to say when Sam was upset.\n\n\"Your turn to sleep anyway.\" Manny stood up slowly, stretching and yawning again. \"I'm goin' to find us somethin' to eat.\"\n\nSam woke again, several hours later to Manny's gentle shoving. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dark. Before, little slivers of light had found cracks in the cellar door so that they weren't completely immersed in darkness. Now, Sam could barely see the hand in front of his face.\n\n\"Eat this. It's 'bout time to go,\" Manny said quietly, sliding a jar of something cool in Sam's hands. The top was already off and Sam could smell apples. He stuck his fingers in the jar, sinking his hands into the cold liquid and scooping the small pieces of apple out and into his mouth. He downed the jar fast and then drank the juice that was left in the jar. Manny had a second jar in his hand before his first one hit the ground. \"Do you want peppers or beans? Either way it might sit funny on your stomach, but we got maybe two days till we reach the river and we got to eat somethin'.\" Sam said nothing and reached for what looked like the green beans. \"There are some clouds, but the sky is still clear enough to see what we need to see.\"\n\n\"You checked?\" Sam asked around his bites of the beans.\n\n\"Yeah. I was careful though. Lights are out in the house. Hopefully everyone sleep out there.\"\n\nSam finished his quick meal of apples and green beans, which actually didn't feel too bad in his stomach. What felt bad was how much he had to pee.\n\n\"You ready, big brother?\"\n\n\"I'm ready,\" Sam said, standing slowly and stretching like he had seen Manny do. He reached down and grabbed their bag, started moving stuff around.\n\n\"What are you doin'?\"\n\n\"Stealin'...\"\n\n\"Boy, you sometimes is crazy. You bet not give them one thing. Not one! Sides, I worked here for them for free.\"\n\n\"They probably paid Massa Charles...\"\n\n\"Massa Charles work out here? He sweat out here? No. I did. Far as I'm concerned, all these jars mine,\" Manny hissed across the darkness of the cellar. He grabbed the rolled up blanket that they had not used and began to climb the ladder. Sam stuck his hand in his bag. It wasn't like he was going to give them much. He fingered a few of the coins he and Manny had managed to save up before Ole Mose had given them his money and he placed them in an empty spot on the shelf. He was no thief. Though the thought had him snorting. He supposed in some ways he was a thief. After all, he was stealing himself. He adjusted the bag so that it was out of his way, and then climbed the ladder and into the darkness.\n\nThey spent another night running. He should have been more tired, Sam thought, with the wind racing past his face. But there was something on the inside of him, that wouldn't let him rest. Thank the good Lord.\n\nThey spent the next morning on the ground of the forest, tucked under a tree. Manny had slipped a few more jars of preserves in Sam's bag, and they feasted on pickled squash. It was not Sam's favorite, but he wasn't hardly going to complain. And with all the energy they had lost running, it had actually tasted better than he had thought.\n\nWhen it got so dark, the only light was the sliver of moon in the sky, they slid from under the tree and ran again. When they began to smell the water in the air, Sam felt as though his heart just might burst.\n\n\"We close,\" Manny said excitedly, barely panting as he ran alongside him. Sam could see a flash of his teeth in the darkness.\n\nSam started to reply when he heard a familiar voice call out in the darkness.\n\n\"Sam! Manny! That you?\"\n\nSam came to a stop, his heart pounding so hard he almost placed a hand over it in case it tried to leave his chest.\n\n\"Oh my God,\" Manny said from next to him, coming to a stop.\n\nA few feet away, lantern in hand was Molloy, and several other men that Sam recognized as paddy rollers. Horses were standing quietly, nibbling on the grass before them. Sam's eyes darted over to the tents and the men sitting and drinking. He sniffed and smelled the scent of a fire just freshly put out. They had been waiting for them. All of that running with an eye over their shoulder and Molloy had been waiting for them.\n\n\"Sam, you come now, ain't nothin' goin' to happen but a lickin'. And it's one you surely deserve. Manny's just gone get a lickin' too. I promise you that.\" Molloy's promises meant nothing. They had never meant a thing to Sam before he had run, and they sure didn't mean a thing now.\n\n\"But if you don't come. I'm gone sell Manny so far down the river you'll never see him again. Don't you make us chase you now, boy.\" Molloy took a step closer to them, the lantern illuminating his sweaty figure in the distance. \"Sam. You come here now. I promise. I won't sell Manny.\"\n\nSam swallowed, his mouth laced with fear. No matter what, his brother came first. Always. His stomach clenched with tight pain.\n\n\"I'll never forgive you. All that talk about trustin' God and you just give in.\" Manny's voice was quiet, hard. And just what Sam needed. Only his eyes moved, touching his brother's. And then together they took off at a dead run.\n\nSam heard Molloy cursing in the distance, heard the gentle neighing of horses alerting Sam to the fact that the chase was about to get more difficult. \"Manny,\" Sam said, reassuring himself that no matter what happened they were in this together.\n\n\"We're not goin' back,\" Manny's voice was low, angry. Sam pushed harder.\n\n\"We can't outrun horses,\" Sam said, even as they flew past trees and hopped over downed branches. Sam had never, in his life moved so fast. He was fairly certain, he would never do so again.\n\n\"We don't have to,\" Manny said, sprinting even faster. Sam moved to catch up with his brother. And then, over the sounds of men yelling and horses running, Sam could hear it, the rushing sound of water. The Ohio.\n\nIt had been years since Sam and Manny had learned how to swim, but that didn't stop them as they plunged into the icy river, the cold literally snatching Sam's breath.\n\n\"You go in there, you'll drown,\" Molloy called out, stopping his horse at the river's edge.\n\nNeither Sam nor Manny responded as they waded deeper into the river, both ignoring the stinging needles of cold that pierced through their clothes and found their skin. Sam skidded a few inches, the rush of the current pushing him sideways.\n\n\"We can do it, Sam,\" Manny said just ahead of him, the water at his brother's neck now. There was a fierce determination in his brother's voice the likes of which Sam had never heard before. But they had spent their childhood swimming in the Potomac like fish, preparing for the day when Manny and Sam would take to the waters and become sailors. Until they learned that most sailors couldn't swim and it wasn't a skill needed for sailing. But they needed it now. Lord, how they needed it now. God had prepared them for this moment, years ago, Sam thought as the familiarity of moving in water began to come back. Sam kicked his legs out, swung his arms forward. He would win no races today, not like he had as a child. But that didn't matter, after all, today the race wasn't to the swift, he just needed to get to the other side.\n\n\"I know we can,\" Sam replied to his brother once he got his bearings, even as the current began to pull them further apart.\n\n\"Don't think you can hide in Ohio! I'll find you! There's nowhere you can go where I won't find you!\"\n\nSam barely heard Molloy as he braced himself to take a deep breath. \"Don't you worry about me. See you on the other side.\"\n\n\"You better,\" Manny called out, the current having carried him several feet further away. And then he disappeared under the water. And Sam followed.\n\nSam didn't know how long he took swimming that river. He was certain he had been carried quite a ways downstream from where they originally entered, but he knew Manny had been too, so he wasn't worried. The only important thing was that they made it to the other side. And then suddenly he was there. He didn't bother to walk out of the water. He crawled, cold, soaking wet, more tired than he had ever been in his entire life, but alive. And on the other side.\n\n\"Oh, thank God,\" he said, almost breathlessly.\n\n\"I wouldn't thank Him just yet,\" a quiet voice called from the darkness."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 19", "text": "The stark terror that crossed Papa's face was so fleeting, so barely there, that for a moment, Laura wasn't sure she had even seen it.\n\n\"Run,\" Papa growled, his voice reaching far back in his throat and even before the single word was completed, he had taken off, Laura's arm tight in his grip. They moved over rocks, fallen trees, grown plants, and even an animal or two. Her thighs were burning as they moved uphill not slowing their pace in any way, climbing the hill as though they had done it every day.\n\nShe had thought she had moved fast before, but an unknown surge of energy hit her and she knew she was moving at a speed unlike any other. Forgotten were the aches and pains from a moment ago. She flew across the Virginia forest like a bird. It also helped that Papa had a hold of her. But he dropped her hand when they crossed a very small, very short bridge, confirming to Laura that Papa knew this land, knew exactly where they were. So why hadn't they run before when Mama was alive and Prince was more amenable?\n\nMaybe it was the fact that she been thinking too much, or maybe her speed had slowed down some. Either way, Laura found herself several feet behind Papa, barely catching sight of him as she ran behind him. She tripped over a log and it was enough to send her flying towards the ground. Hearing barking not too far away, she scrambled onto her knees and looked back. She could hardly swallow as she saw a couple of Massa Will's fine bloodhounds in the distance, their eyes glowing in the dim light making them look like demons that had just escaped from hell.\n\n\"Laura!\" Papa wasn't bothering to be quiet now.\n\n\"Go,\" Laura said, her voice low, weak, her eyes filling with tears. \"Go.\" The word was like a sob, but still she pushed herself to her feet. It didn't matter that it was a wasted venture. She was Phoebe's daughter. She wouldn't just lay there and let them catch her. She got to her feet, stumbling as she tried to get past her fear and get her feet to move. She would never outrun them now. \"Just leave me. Go,\" she said, even as she began to pick up speed. She could hardly see through the tears that fogged her eyes. She wasn't going to be responsible for Papa getting caught. Not if he could get away. If everyone got away except her it would be worth it. But she didn't know what would await her when they caught up to her. Would she be whipped? She had been slapped before. But she had never been whipped. Sold? Some body part of hers cut off? She fought the urge to vomit.\n\n\"Never,\" Papa said, appearing at her side right out of thin air. He grabbed her arm and jerked her forward. \"Run. And don't you look back.\"\n\n\"Papa,\" Laura whispered frantically, pausing. Was he... did he... she couldn't leave him. The thought of him going back to Salis and her making it to freedom just cause she wasn't fast enough was enough to make her want to find a hole somewhere to crawl up in and die. \"Papa.\"\n\n\"Go,\" he said and gave her a push. And then two of the dogs were on him. She heard growling and the sound of something tearing. The smell of iron, blood filled the air. She ran forward, grabbed a loose branch, but when she turned to help him, it was too late. The dogs were dead and Papa was standing, breathing hard, a bloody knife in his hand. \"Girl, if you don't get...\"\n\nLaura dropped the stick and ran. This time when Papa caught up with her and grabbed her arm, he didn't let go. They ran, Laura didn't know how far, to a stream where Papa stopped and dunked her in the deepest part before immersing himself. \"It'll slow them down a bit,\" he said as they dragged themselves to the other side of the small stream. \"But we still have to move fast. You can do this, Laura.\"\n\n\"I know,\" Laura growled. Even though she didn't know. But she wouldn't slow down. She didn't know what waited for her if she got caught, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. \"They're not goin' to catch us.\"\n\n\"No,\" Papa said, his voice sounding light. \"They not. Now move.\"\n\nAn hour later, Laura and Papa were being very quietly rushed into a space in a floor by a white man that Laura recognized as a minister from the next county over.\n\nThe space was small, and when the floor was replaced atop their heads. Dark. It smelled of unwashed bodies and dirt, but Laura wasn't hardly about to complain. It was safe. She was safe. And besides, her own odor was adding nothing to the space. Laura tried to move over to give Papa some room because surely he had to be feeling all kinds of discomfort, but there was nowhere to move.\n\n\"Laura? Sit this way,\" Papa said and helped her maneuver so she sat with her back against his chest. He stretched his legs out with a sigh that fanned her cheek.\n\n\"Where are the boys?\" Laura asked quietly.\n\n\"At a different safe house.\" He gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze.\n\nLaura said nothing for a moment even though her mind was filled with questions, but when she opened her mouth, the only thing that came out was, \"You came back.\"\n\n\"Course I came back,\" Papa said simply. \"You think I was goin' to leave my baby girl?\" Laura didn't say what she was thinking, which was that she might be his by blood, but in many ways that mattered, she wasn't really his.\n\nBut he must have heard her silent thoughts. \"You're mine. My little girl. Me and my Phoebe's second baby.\" Cause he considered Prince to be the first. \"I still remember the day you were born like it was just yesterday. You came out so quiet Dovie had to slap your bottom twice. And a head full of hair! You my baby girl. You've always been my baby girl.\" Laura swallowed, looking down at her hands, her jaw clenched in an effort to hold back any emotion. Though why she felt like crying was beyond her. \"I know you was only close to Phoebe and Prince... I know it was hard to leave your brother. I know how close you two are.\"\n\n\"Not that close. He was barely even nice,\" Laura mumbled. And then shivered. Her clothes and her cloak had dried some in their walk to the house, but she was still damp. It was a miserable feeling. But still better than being caught by one of those dogs. \"But sometimes,\" she started quietly. \"Sometimes, he would do some very nice things.\"\n\n\"Like what?\" Papa asked quietly, running his hands up and down her arms in an effort to get her warmed.\n\n\"One time, I was cleanin' in Miss Martha's parlor room and knocked over a vase.\" She never should have been dusting in that room upset as she was at the time. Annie had just delivered Noble. She had refused to discuss his father during her pregnancy, no matter that Miss Martha kept pressing so that she could try and force Annie to marry. Laura had asked once, but Mama had told her to leave it alone. But when Noble came out with those green eyes and pale skin of his, it became quite clear to everyone at his birth, Mama, Laura, Ma Dovie, and even Prince who had arrived late with water they had sent for an hour ago, who the boy's father was. It had shaken up Laura good. So good, she hadn't been careful. \"No one heard it fall except Prince.\" Laura sniffed, remembering. \"I thought he would tell on me for sure, but he didn't. He went and got a bag and scooped up all the pieces. Told me not to say a word. The next day, Massa Richard horsewhipped Massa Logan for breakin' Miss Martha's vase.\" Papa's hands stopped. \"Somehow Prince had made it look like Massa Logan had broken it when he had come home... inebriated the night before.\" Laura said, recalling Miss Martha's words.\n\n\"How?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" Laura said with a small laugh. \"Prince has a way of gettin' things done just how he likes and it don't matter if you white or Negro.\"\n\n\"But he was able to get Massa Logan whipped?\" Papa asked. She could hear the awe in his voice.\n\n\"Yes. Prince hates Massa Logan. Almost more than Annie hates Massa Logan. Three times he's gotten Massa Logan real good.\"\n\n\"When was the next time?\"\n\n\"Less than a year later, Massa Logan fell down the stairs and broke his leg. He wasn't able to go to Europe with his cousins that summer.\"\n\n\"How you know that was Prince?\"\n\n\"I saw his face afterwards.\" Prince had not pushed him. Laura knew that because she had been standing on the stairs one floor above Massa Logan. Prince hadn't even left something on the stairs for Massa Logan to trip over. How Massa Logan fell down those stairs was a mystery to her, but that Prince had had a hand in it wasn't. The small, triumphant humorless grin on his face when he left his hidey hole on the second floor had told her that.\n\n\"And the third time?\"\n\n\"Massa Logan got caught stealin' from Massa Richard and Massa Richard had him whipped again,\" Laura said quickly. Annie and Laura had holed up in the kitchen snickering at random moments that day while Prince sat at the lone table and devoured the entire peach pie Annie had been forced to bribe him with cause he had caught Noble in the house. He had not been snickering. But there had been a... satisfied feeling in the air around him. His hatred for Massa Logan was the only thing Annie liked about Prince.\n\n\"That boy,\" Papa muttered, but there was a hint of pride in there too. \"He's a bit scary.\"\n\n\"Yeah.\" She didn't want to talk about Prince anymore. Didn't want to think about Annie. It hurt too much. \"Papa?\"\n\n\"Hmm?\"\n\n\"How come you know where you goin'?\"\n\n\"Caught that did you?\"\n\n\"Mmm hmm.\"\n\nPapa sighed again and since she was sitting so close to him, her body sank in with his. \"My pa came from Africa. 'Member that?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"He was sold to Massa Phineas, Massa Richard's father, soon as he got off the boat.\" When Papa said no more, she tapped a finger against his knee. \"He tried to escape five times. Twice he received the lash. His back,\" Papa sighed again. She felt him shake his head in sorrow. \"The third time they cut off his ear and then branded a letter on his face. An 'R' I think it was. He was a big man, and a hard worker. Massa Phineas wanted him out in them fields.\"\n\n\"What about grandmama?\"\n\n\"Mama was born at Salis House. She ain't never have a desire to leave. And I had two brothers die there. She ain't want to leave their bodies. She just... couldn't let go.\"\n\n\"But Papa Guy could?\"\n\n\"Wasn't nothin' he wanted more than to be free,\" Papa said simply. \"Fourth time he was whipped again. Fifth time... fifth time, he took me with him.\" Papa's voice was real quiet now, barely above a whisper. \"When they caught him that time... they had dogs too then. I just... they brought him home in pieces.\" Laura drew her knees to her chest, holding them tight, and blinking back tears. That could have been her. That could have been her. \"I hate dogs, Laura. Hate them.\"\n\n\"Did they punish you?\"\n\n\"A few lashes. Nothin' serious. I was still a boy. They placed all the blame on Pa.\"\n\n\"You came back for me.\"\n\n\"Course I did.\" Papa wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezed her tight. \"Course I did. For years, I was too scared to try and run again. But. I knew what freedom meant to my pa, so I learned the best ways to escape and tried to help those who was runnin'. Whenever I had to go up north for somethin' I walked these routes, got them branded in my mind. Kept my ears and eyes open in case I ever worked up the nerve to try again.\"\n\n\"But you didn't think you would?\"\n\n\"No. If Massa Richard had kept on botherin' Phoebe, then we would have gone. But after Prince was born, he left her alone.\" So. Massa Richard was Prince's father. Not that she hadn't thought so, but now she knew her dislike of him was justified. \"Then you were born, and Ben, Sol, and Gid. It didn't make sense to run with small children. Phoebe and I decided that we would only try it if we had too. One of you being sold fell under 'had too'.\"\n\n\"Was it hard?\" To try again.\n\n\"Yes. Me and God had us some words.\" He paused. \"Dogs got me first. And my pa kept runnin'. I understand why he did. Lord, when they caught him... but... I'll never leave my children. I know I ain't been the best papa to you but it's not cause I didn't want to.\" Laura had been placed with Missy Adora when she was seven. She had rarely had a reason to go back to the cabin after that. \"But everythin's gone change Laura. I promise you that. Everythin's gone change.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 20", "text": "\"That was some impressive swimmin' you and the other fella did,\" the speaker said as Sam gaped up at him, trying to catch his breath. And still his heartbeat. He didn't think he had ever been more scared in his life. And that was saying something seeing as he had just swam away from Molloy.\n\nIt was a Negro man. No. A Negro boy, Sam realized as the speaker stood up from his squatting position. Thin and shorter than Sam and not yet shaving.\n\n\"You plannin' on layin' there all day or what?\"\n\nSam slowly climbed to his feet and felt for his bag. It was still there. Dripping water all down his leg. But still there. He turned and looked back, seeing lights on the other side of the shore in the distance. Molloy and his men.\n\n\"If they ain't got no boat, they ain't gone cross right now. But you still best make yoself scarce cause I can promise you they are a comin'.\"\n\nSam turned and looked down at the lanky boy talking to him. The boy had on what looked like a sea cap that he had seen sailors wearing growing up, a hat with a wide brim that provided shade from the sun as needed. Except, the more he looked at it, the more he saw that it was different. Not a sea cap then. The boy also had on a coat and a shirt and... a belt with a gun and bullets attached. Sam stared at the gun hard. He had never seen a Negro with a gun. And here this child was with one. He looked at the boy's feet. They were covered in some shoes Sam had never seen before. Looked like unfinished leather or something.\n\n\"You done?\" The boy, his hands now on his waist stared back at Sam. He might have been young, but his eyes were old. Whoever he was, he wouldn't be easily dismissed.\n\n\"I ain't never seen a Negro with a gun.\"\n\n\"I'm sure there's a lot of things you ain't seen. Come on. Let's find the other one.\"\n\nSam didn't know why he followed the boy except that the boy seemed to know exactly what he was doing and where he was going. And Sam needed to find Manny.\n\n\"My name is Sam,\" Sam said quietly filling the silence. It seemed the thing to do. But then as soon as Sam had spoken, he realized it was a mistake. From the way the boy moved almost soundlessly and stood only in shadows, Sam knew that now wasn't the time for pleasantries.\n\n\"Did I ask you for your name?\"\n\nSam bit his lip but didn't say anything as they made their way further down the shore line. And then there, walking slowly was Manny.\n\n\"Manny!\" Sam said in whispered excitement. He raised a hand so his brother could see him.\n\nManny raise a hand in reply and half ran to catch up with Sam and the boy. \"We did it, Sam,\" Manny said, his grin wide and big, even in the night. Sam reached out a hand and Manny ignored it, pulling him into a tight hug. They both laughed quietly.\n\n\"Grant it you got far, but you ain't did nothin' yet,\" the boy said, reminding Sam of his presence before taking something out of his pocket and dragging it across the side of his belt. Fire appeared in his hand at the tip of the match he had lit.\n\n\"Who are you?\" Manny asked as the boy held the flame up. His eyes went to Sam's face and then to Manny's and then back to Sam's and then back to Manny's. \"If you don't get that out of my face,\" Manny growled. The boy blinked once. Slowly. Before making sure to blow the smoke of the flame in Manny's direction. Manny's jaw tensed, but he said and did nothing.\n\n\"Come on. You're holdin' us up and mornin' is right around the corner,\" the boy finally said and turned away.\n\n\"Who...\"\n\nSam shrugged but started to follow. Manny grabbed his arm, stopping him.\n\n\"Who are you?\" Manny's question was harsh, demanding. The boy didn't seem to care.\n\n\"You don't get to know my name. But I am the person who is goin' to lead you to a safe place to stay the night if you don't keep slowin' me down.\"\n\n\"You're a conductor?\"\n\nThe boy ignored Manny, just kept on walking. Sam exchanged a quick look with his brother before following. It wasn't like they had a whole lot of other options.\n\n\"He has a gun,\" Manny whispered.\n\nSam just nodded. Maybe this was how free Negroes lived, with fancy hats and guns. He didn't know about them shoes though.\n\nThey walked quietly for a second before the boy stopped. Whistled in a way that imitated a familiar sounding bird. Then there was a whistle in response and another boy stepped out about the same age as the first boy. This one though...\n\n\"That's an Injun,\" Manny said slowly as the boy stepped further into the moonlight. Sam hadn't ever met an Injun before, but he had seen drawings of them. And even if he hadn't, the long, black hair and the deer skin pants clued him in.\n\n\"Let me guess,\" the Negro boy said slowly, turning to face Manny. \"You're the smart one.\"\n\nSam bit his lip again. He had never met a Negro with such confidence. And this one a boy. Manny huffed and brought his hands to his forehead. A clear sign he was trying to hold back words. It didn't work. \"I don't know who you are. I don't know where you're goin' and I'm not about to trust someone whose voice hasn't changed yet with my life and my brother's.\"\n\nSam closed his eyes. Prayed a quick prayer. Why couldn't Manny for once not be so quarrelsome? Sides, the boy might've been young, but his voice had changed. Manny had just said that to get a reaction. Sam watched several emotions cross the boy's face. Irritation. Annoyance. And then finally, reluctant humor. \"Fair enough.\" Without taking his eyes off of Manny's, the boy whistled again. This time the tune was different and this time several people stepped into view. All of them Negroes. All of them clearly slaves. Sam saw a man, a woman, two children and a baby on one side. And then two men and one woman on the other side. \"We crossed by boat. It was a whole heck of a lot easier. And now we're headed to a station. You're welcome to come. Or you can stay here. I don't care,\" the boy said.\n\nSam and Manny exchanged looks. It sounded right. But the boy could still be leading them right back to paddy rollers.\n\n\"He brung us this far,\" one of the men said, his voice low. \"From near abouts Lexington.\"\n\nThe boy turned away and started talking to his Indian companion, the words rolling off his tongue not at all familiar to Sam. Sam turned to Manny. \"What's our other option?\" Manny's lips twisted to the side.\n\n\"What's that gun for?\" Manny called out.\n\n\"Slaves who talk too much,\" the boy answered not missing a beat of his conversation with the Indian.\n\nManny shook his head. \"I don't like him.\"\n\n\"What's our other option?\" Sam asked again, making Manny meet his gaze.\n\n\"First sign of trouble, we leave.\"\n\n\"Fine.\"\n\n\"You two girls done talkin' yet?\" the boy asked, his hands on his waist.\n\n\"I'm a kill him,\" Manny muttered under his breath.\n\nSam sighed.\n\n\"Let's go.\"\n\nThey walked for miles, keeping to the dark and just off the side of the road. Not hurrying, but not stopping. It gave Sam plenty of time to look over the other escaped slaves. The family looked young. The man and woman didn't seem much older than Sam and the children were small. Sam wondered where they had come from and what had made them leave. Had they been about to be separated? Or just tired of being a slave? He glanced over at the other three adult slaves. They looked older. But it was hard to tell sometimes, the approximate age of a slave. Working sun up to sun down under harsh conditions was hard on a body. But the way the three of them seemed to walk in each other's space let Sam know they were close. They probably came from the same plantation. And they didn't seem to speak to anyone else except themselves. And whatever they said was said quietly. In fact, if anyone spoke, they spoke quietly. Sam noticed that even the baby was quiet.\n\n\"Laudanum,\" the boy with the gun said after the third time Sam looked over at the baby. \"Keeps 'em quiet.\"\n\n\"Where you from?\" Sam asked, hoping it was a question that would get an answer. He had always been very curious, but there was something about this boy...\n\n\"Indian Territory.\"\n\nSam should have figured that. \"You was born free?\"\n\n\"Why you so full of questions?\"\n\nSam quieted. Thought. \"Guess I want to know what to look for and what to look out for.\"\n\nThe boy said nothing. At first. \"Not born free. Escaped. As to what to look for and look out for... well that depends on where you're goin'.\"\n\n\"You mean like up north?\"\n\n\"Yep. North parts of America. Or Canada. Or out West like me.\"\n\n\"You're far from home aren't you?\"\n\n\"I surely am.\"\n\nSam waited for the boy to elaborate but he didn't. \"And you help slaves escape?\"\n\n\"We all got us a callin'.\"\n\n\"Where is yo mama?\" Manny asked, jumping into the conversation. Sam fought the urge to ream him one. Couldn't he tell when someone had to be won over with honey rather than vinegar? \"She know you out here?\"\n\nThe boy sighed deeply. \"My mama is where yo mama is.\"\n\n\"I don't know where my mama is,\" Manny said indignantly.\n\n\"Exactly.\"\n\nManny thought on that for a second. \"How much further we got to go?\"\n\nThe boy pointed to a sign in the distance. \"What's that sign say?\"\n\n\"I'm a slave, fool. I cain't read.\"\n\nThe boy let out a small huff of air. \"Not much further. Less than a mile.\"\n\n\"How did you learn how to read?\" Sam asked the boy when Manny was quiet for longer than two minutes.\n\n\"So many questions, so many questions,\" the boy muttered to himself.\n\nSam figured that was all the answer he was going to get. Especially when the Indian boy, who Sam had lost track of miles ago, took a step out from behind a tree and came to stand in front of the Negro boy. They exchanged rapid conversation mixed with hand signals before each giving the other a tense nod.\n\nThen the Negro boy waved everyone forward. \"Not all of ya'll can fit at the station I had picked out. We gone have to split you up. You five,\" the boy said, pointing to the quiet family. \"Go with my friend here,\" the boy said with a nod towards the Indian. \"I'll take the rest of ya'll this way,\" the boy said with a nod in the opposite direction. In moments, the Indian was gone and so was the small family leaving Sam, Manny, the boy, and the three older slaves.\n\n\"Where did you meet an Indian?\"\n\nFor once, Sam thought, Manny had asked a worthwhile question.\n\n\"Knox ain't no Indian. Least not full blooded,\" the boy said with a shake of his head. \"Idiots. I'm surrounded by idiots,\" he said just loud enough for only Manny and Sam to overhear. And that was when Sam realized it, the boy was enjoying himself.\n\n\"But\u2014,\"\n\n\"Use all the senses God gave you before you jump to conclusions,\" the boy said. He gave a nod towards Sam. \"There. That's some advice. You want to stay free, you cain't afford to be stupid.\"\n\nBut the boy had looked Indian. Or had he only looked like what Sam thought an Indian should look like? But together the two boys had spoken a language unfamiliar to Sam. But that didn't mean it was an Indian language.\n\nSam said nothing more as the boy quietly led them in the direction that he had indicated. They slowly climbed up a hill alongside the road. They had almost reached the top when the boy stopped, held up a hand.\n\n\"What\u2014,\"\n\nHe cut off Manny's voice with a sharp wave and then crouched down. Sam, Manny, and the three other escaping slaves got down.\n\n\"Listen,\" the boy said, and Sam closed his eyes. Listened. He heard men talking, low voices, horses neighing. But he saw no lights, nothing to indicate that people were there, just over the crest of the hill. If they had kept going, they eventually would have seen them, but the paddy rollers would have caught sight of them too. \"Bounty hunters,\" the boy said, his voice low, his face serious. Gone was the humor that had danced along his face just moments ago. The boy reached into his side and pulled out his gun, holding it like it was an extension of his arm. \"We need to get past them and we need a distraction,\" he said, not taking his eyes off of the area where it sounded like the bounty hunters were. \"If I know them, they're tucked right at the base of the bottom of the hill. We keep goin' that way, they're gonna catch us.\" Sam exchanged a quick glance with Manny. They weren't going to catch them. But an adversarial tension, so real and so thick was now amongst them. Sam watched the other three slaves exchanging quick glances and he knew if it came down to him and Manny verses them they would choose themselves. Sam couldn't hardly blame them for that kind of thinking. But it wasn't going to get them all to the station.\n\n\"Safety is that way,\" the boy said, pointing in a direction with his hand. \"You head in that direction, you'll pass three houses before you reach the station. It's a house with two lanterns lit. One upstairs and one downstairs. You knock on the door and tell them you're Caesar's package.\"\n\nCaesar? Sam shot a glance to Manny whose eyes were already wide with disbelief.\n\n\"They'll take you in and hide you. Got it? It's not even half a mile in that direction, you can't miss it. I'll stay and cause a disruption so they don't catch you.\"\n\n\"What happens if they catch you?\" Sam asked, quietly, not at all comfortable with leaving the boy out here with paddy rollers or bounty hunters or whatever the men were called who wanted to clap him back in chains... even if he did look like he could handle himself. Even if he was Caesar who had led so many slaves to freedom. Though Sam had doubts. Caesar had been rescuing slaves for at least two years and the boy looked already looked young. He couldn't imagine him two years ago.\n\n\"They won't,\" the boy said calmly and with a self-assurance Sam had never come across before. \"Ya'll need to go, now. Keep on walkin' in this direction, keep to the trees, but I'll make sure they don't see you.\"\n\n\"Would it be easier if you had help?\" Sam found himself asking, unsure why. Except it had never been in him not to help someone who was in trouble. Especially if someone might be in trouble on his behalf. And. He didn't trust the other escaped slaves not to do something to get him and Manny caught while they made it on to safety. The distraction needed to be big, so big that they weren't thinking about him and Manny.\n\n\"No,\" Manny said firmly. He clearly wasn't picking up on the tension. Or maybe he was.\n\nThe boy took his gaze off of the direction of bounty hunters and placed it on Sam. Surprise written in his eyes. \"It would.\"\n\n\"Then I'll stay. Manny, you go.\"\n\n\"Sam. You idiot,\" Manny hissed. It was the right thing to do, Sam thought. He felt that reassuring settling peace that God always gave him right before making a decision.\n\n\"We don't have time for arguments,\" the boy said, his voice low.\n\n\"Go. Manny. I got a peace on this.\" Manny growled low. \"Go on. And don't volunteer to stay. No sense in both of us bein' out here,\" Sam said and handed his brother his bag with all of their belongings. They had had this discussion before. There wasn't any point in having it again. When Sam had a peace about something, his mind was unmovable. Manny's mouth tightened.\n\n\"If he gets taken...\"\n\n\"He won't. Caesar has never lost cargo,\" the boy said confidently about presumably, himself.\n\n\"Caesar,\" Manny muttered bitterly, even as he began to move. \"I don't like you right now, Sam.\"\n\n\"Be careful, Manny,\" Sam whispered and shot his eyes toward the other slaves. Manny gave a slow blink. He knew then, that the other slaves were not to be trusted. They exchanged quick nods and then Manny and the other slaves were gone.\n\nWhen the boy and Sam were sure they were gone, the boy turned to Sam. \"Just how fast can you run, Sam?\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 21", "text": "They crossed the Ohio River in a boat.\n\n\"I've never seen water like this,\" Gid said softly as he dipped his fingers into the river, letting the current push them this way and that.\n\n\"You've never seen water period,\" Benji responded firmly. Laura and Papa had spent the night in that small cramped, stinky cellar. Or rather the morning. They had only, a few hours ago, reunited with Benji, Sol, and Gid at another house or station as Papa referred to it. Now, a quiet white man, who had mysteriously appeared at the tip of the Ohio River with a boat, was paddling at the back of the boat while Papa was paddling at the front, taking them to freedom. Freedom. Laura could hardly imagine it. In some ways, in many ways, she had always been freer than her brothers, than Papa. It was confusing to think about what would change, what wouldn't change.\n\n\"How could I have never seen water before, Benji? You need water to live!\" There was outrage in Gideon's low voice. Laura grunted. Apparently, it wasn't only her who found Benji to be more than an irritation. What had she done, she wondered, that God had given her not one but two brothers who thought they knew better than anyone else?\n\n\"Boys.\" Papa only said the one word, but there was much command in there. Be quiet. They weren't safe yet.\n\nLaura placed a hand on Gid's shoulder and squeezed before looking over the side of the boat. She too had never seen water quite like this. She had seen the Potomac. She had travelled with Missy Adora, Miss Charlotte, and Miss Martha up and down Virginia for family parties and shopping\u2014in carriages, in trains, and even on boats. But nothing like this. Never so low on the water like this. The wrong wave would send them all careening into the water and Laura didn't know about her brothers and Papa, but she couldn't swim a lick. A gust of wind hit her and she shivered and then caught a faint whiff of herself. She was still slightly damp from the night before, probably muddy, her feet had reached such levels of pain and squishiness that every step made her flinch, certainly she had sweated profusely... she wanted desperately out of these clothes. What she could do with a warm basin of water.\n\nThey made it to the other side with no problems.\n\n\"Be safe now,\" the white man said quietly, and using an oar, pushed himself back into the river once the five of them had gotten out. Laura looked over at Papa. She had underestimated him. Clearly. There was so much he had planned to get them here... to get them to wherever it is they were going.\n\n\"Where to now, Papa?\" Benji asked. That was the question. New York? Philadelphia? Canada? Laura exhaled a breath that formed into a small cloud. She couldn't imagine living in a place that was colder than this.\n\n\"A house with two lanterns. One in the top window and one in the bottom. We don't have to run, but ya'll do need to keep quiet. I got the directions right up here,\" Papa said, tapping his head.\n\n\"How much further?\" the question slipped out before Laura could catch it. But. Well. They already knew she was the weakest one on this journey.\n\n\"If you had ever left Salis House, you wouldn't be askin' that question,\" Benji muttered softly but just loud enough for her to hear.\n\n\"I have left Salis House, thank you very much. I've seen more of the world than you ever have or ever will,\" Laura snapped back. She was also very tired of him. He hadn't said a word to her once they met up again. Just made sure that every time their eyes met, she saw his look of disdain.\n\n\"Benjamin and Laura Altan.\" Papa's voice was hard.\n\n\"Sorry, Papa,\" Laura said quietly. Benji repeated the same.\n\nPapa eyed the both of them and then sighed. \"I think it's best that we split up. Paddy rollers still out here, too.\" Then he pulled them into the trees and went over the directions to the house several times. Laura did her best to focus, to close her eyes and picture the road, to open her eyes and search the sky for the drinking gourd and make out the North Star. She did her best to ignore the memory of being little and Prince telling her she had the worse sense of direction of anyone he had ever met after she had gotten lost taking a note from Massa Will to one of the salt mine overseers. On Salis Plantation.\n\n\"Benji, you and Laura will go east. Me and the boys will go west.\"\n\nLaura stopped looking at the sky to look at Papa. But his expression was unyielding. Benji said nothing, but she heard his foot slide across the dirt in front of him. \"I expect to see the both of you at the station. Be careful. Take your time. Ain't no rush.\" Laura puffed out her cheeks in frustration like Missy Adora was prone to doing, but said nothing. \"Let's go.\" Papa motioned to Sol and Gid. Gid turned back and gave Laura a look of pity before disappearing into the trees.\n\nBenji sighed, loud and clear. \"Come on. I bet you don't even know which way is east.\"\n\nLaura closed her eyes, exhaled, but followed Benji east. They paralleled the road, but moved slowly through the hilly woods.\n\n\"Can you move any faster?\" Benji's voice was quiet, stubborn.\n\n\"Obviously, not,\" Laura stated calmly. She could move faster, if there was the proper motivation. Like Papa being with them. \"Papa said we didn't have to hurry.\"\n\n\"That don't mean I want to be in these woods any longer than I got to.\" Neither did she. She was betting she wanted out of the woods more than he. He was probably used to the pungent scent of his body odor. Unfortunately, Laura was getting used to it too.\n\n\"How about you just focus on gettin' us there?\"\n\n\"You think you know everythin',\" he muttered under his breath as he stepped over a fallen tree.\n\n\"Do I know more than you? Yes.\"\n\nBenji stopped, turned, and stared at her. \"Why you even come?\"\n\nLaura blinked back the hurt of his question but met his gaze full-on. \"How is my comin' botherin' you?\"\n\n\"You're slowin' us down. You almost got Pa taken or killed.\"\n\n\"But that didn't happen, did it?\" Laura said, fighting down her own shame at the truth of his words.\n\n\"You had a good life at Salis.\"\n\n\"Obviously\u2014,\"\n\n\"Obviously,\" he mocked. He turned and kept going forward. \"You and Prince, livin' the good life up at the Big House while me and Pa and the boys worked our fingers to the bone.\"\n\n\"Please, Benji, tell me how you really feel...\" Laura muttered under her breath as she took her time climbing over fallen trees. Now that safety wasn't that far up ahead, she felt every muscle in her body that she had used running in the woods the night before.\n\n\"Don't know how you gone be any help up north. You ain't got no real skills.\" She was going to throw something at him. \"Least Annie could cook. What you gone do? Make me a pretty dress?\"\n\nLaura rolled her eyes, but didn't respond. Truth of the matter was, if they was moving to a big city, she was the only one with skills that would survive. But she just let him go on, complaining. He seemed to be in love with the sound of his own voice.\n\n\"And then you think that just cause you can read that you better than us. But guess what, Laura? I can read to. Mama taught us. She worked up at the Big House, but still found time to come be with us. But naw. You and Prince\u2014,\"\n\n\"Hush up,\" Laura said, slowing down.\n\n\"No. I won't hush up. You can't tell me\u2014,\"\n\n\"I hear someone.\"\n\nBenji hushed, and instantly crouched down low to the ground. Laura copied him. First, she heard nothing, and then she heard the sound that had caught her attention. The shaking of the reins on a horse. There was a cough, and low, quiet voices.\n\nLaura crawled forward so that she and Benji were just inches apart. He didn't move and she could see that he was holding his breath. Then he held up a hand, raising fingers slowly. He was counting. And then he stopped, shook his head.\n\nHe wrapped a strong hand around her arm and pulled her close, his lips on her ear. \"We gone have to go back. They done blocked off the route Pa gave me.\"\n\nLaura closed her eyes in frustration. It wasn't ideal. But it was better than being caught.\n\nAnd then one of the paddy rollers shouted. \"Hey! There one is! Get 'em boys!\"\n\nLaura leaned forward and watched in amazement as a man, he had to be an escaping slave, appeared from the other side of the woods, running across the open field toward them and disappearing into the woods just ahead of them.\n\n\"Why did he just do that?\" Benji asked from next to her. \"That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen.\"\n\n\"The horses! The horses!\"\n\nLaura stared as another Negro man on a horse took off down the road in the opposite direction, leading several other horses by their reins, behind him.\n\n\"Run,\" Benji said and stood up quickly, dragging Laura with him. Pushing aside pains, aches, and all-around uncomfortableness, Laura ran behind Benji in the direction of the house. No one saw them or paid them any mind. The paddy rollers were too busy either chasing the one slave or going after the horses. Then she heard a boom in the distance. A gunshot.\n\nBut they kept on running, her and Benji toward the house Papa promised was just past this hill.\n\n\"Get down!\" Laura heard an unfamiliar voice order and paused.\n\n\"Benji,\" she whispered and her brother stopped, throwing her a fierce look.\n\nBehind her, from the ground under a thickly fallen log, appeared a head. It was the slave who had started the raucous in the beginning. \"There's three of 'em there just over the ridge. Come,\" he said and waved them back. Laura looked to Benji who was staring hard at the man. And then the low hum of male voices filled the air and Laura saw a lantern light up a few feet away. She ran back to the slave. His arm was already out, and he pulled her into the hole and under the tree. She heard Benji scrambling in just behind her. It was a tight fit under the log and into the ground. She scooted in close, but apparently not close enough for she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her further in to make more room for Benji to fit. In seconds she was pressed up against an unfamiliar male chest. A chest that smelled like it could have used a bath days ago. She could only imagine what she smelled like to him.\n\n\"What\u2014,\"\n\n\"Shh,\" the slave told Benji. And Benji hushed as men spoke just above them.\n\nEven though there was no way that they could hear her breathing, Laura held her breath as the paddy rollers walked near their location.\n\n\"They was just here...\"\n\n\"Should have brought the dogs...\"\n\nThe hand on Laura's back slipped to her waist, tightening in a protective manner.\n\nAnother gunshot rang in the distance.\n\n\"What in the world...\"\n\n\"He could be anywhere, but the horses...\"\n\nLaura exhaled quietly as the men seemed to wander further and further away from where they were hidden. And then she heard nothing but the sound of her own breathing and that of her brother's and the other slave.\n\n\"Should I check?\" Benji whispered quietly.\n\n\"No. The boy I was with, the one who stole the horses, said he'll come to me when the coast is clear.\" The slave's voice was low, and deep. Laura couldn't tell how old he was.\n\n\"Ya'll did that on purpose? You runnin' across the fields?\"\n\n\"Yeah. Had to give the others a chance to make it.\" The words were very simply said, but Laura felt like she learned a world of information about the man holding her.\n\n\"You sure the boy you was with didn't caught?\" Benji asked after a moment.\n\n\"Not sure at all. But the boy seemed confident enough.\"\n\n\"The boy?\" Benji's questions kept coming though Laura wasn't sure why. The man had helped them when he hadn't needed to.\n\n\"He's a conductor for the railroad. He calls himself Caesar.\" Laura bit her lip to keep from making any noise. She had heard of someone named Caesar but only in snatches of conversations here and there. She didn't know much about him except that he was wanted dead or alive.\n\nBenji went silent for a moment. \"How many of ya'll is it?\n\n\"Three others and my brother.\" The man paused for a second, his hand lifting off Laura's waist. \"Is this your wife?\"\n\nLaura snorted softly while Benji said, \"Lord, no. My sister.\" The man's hand returned to her waist, but this time it was light and loose as if there was just no other place for it to go. \"I'm Sam. From Kentucky,\" the man said softly.\n\n\"I'm Benjamin. That's Laura. We from Salis House of Virginia.\"\n\nIn spite of the fact that she was partially underground and laying up next to a man she had never met, Laura found her eyes fluttering. She couldn't remember the last time she had laid on someone's chest. The up and down motion, and the small sound of a beating heart, was putting her to sleep.\n\n\"You talk much, Miss Laura?\"\n\n\"You don't have to call her that,\" Benji whispered. \"She's just Laura.\"\n\n\"I talk plenty,\" Laura said, her eyes closed.\n\n\"Where'd your brother and the others run off too?\" Benji asked, but then quieted when they heard some rustling from above. Laura became instantly alert, lifting her head off of Sam's chest.\n\n\"Shh,\" he whispered, and gently pushed her back down onto his chest as though she were a child. There was something so comforting in the gesture. Maybe he was old... around Papa's age. She would have shuddered except the moment called for stillness.\n\nAnd then there was a low voice. \"Sam?\"\n\n\"It's the boy,\" Sam whispered. Laura noted that he did not call the boy, Caesar. \"Yes,\" he said louder.\n\n\"Come on out. We ain't got much time, and we got to hurry.\" Benji crawled out first. \"Who are you?\" Caesar asked, sounding completely surprised.\n\nWhen she made to get out, Sam pushed her down gently and crawled over her. \"They was runnin', too.\"\n\n\"They? Well ain't this a busy night.\"\n\nSam reached back into the hole, and Laura grabbed his hand. He hauled her out from under the log easily, like she weighed nothing at all.\n\nShe looked at the man holding her hand, but his features were not clear in the dark. That said, she realized he was young. About Prince's age. And he was still holding her hand. She pulled away and ran her hands over her dirty, dirt-filled cloak.\n\n\"Come on.\"\n\nShe looked over at the speaker. Caesar. And she could see Sam had been right to call him a boy. She had assumed he would be older. But he wasn't. He was maybe a year or so younger than Benji.\n\n\"My pa gave us clear directions for a safe house,\" Benji said, shaking his head. \"Laura and me got to go there.\"\n\n\"Only one safe house in this direction,\" the boy said. \"So, we gone stand here all day and chit chat or actually make it to safety?\"\n\nThe four of them started out for the last little bit of the journey, Benji and Caesar up ahead while Sam matched his pace to Laura's. He didn't say anything, but if she seemed like she needed help climbing over something with her skirts, he would hold out a hand in silent offering. Laura had always prided herself on never being foolish. She took it. He didn't scold, he didn't advise, he didn't rush her, he was just there.\n\nAfter all of that, it didn't take long to get to the station. And before Laura knew it, they were standing at the house with the two lanterns. \"Wait here,\" Caesar whispered.\n\n\"I can come with,\" Benji offered.\n\n\"Or, you could wait here.\"\n\nThe boy didn't wait around to argue with Benji but ran towards the house. It was not a small house, but neither was it anywhere near the size of Salis House. He knocked three times on the front door, it opened and he went in.\n\n\"He's a bit um...\"\n\n\"Belligerent,\" Laura supplied with an exhale. Sleep was just a few feet away. Thank the good Lord in heaven.\n\n\"Belligerent?\" Sam repeated slowly, sounding confused.\n\n\"House slave,\" Benji muttered under his breath as though it were a disease and not a position. Laura made a face at him that he pretended not to see.\n\n\"Oh,\" Sam said, his one word filled with understanding.\n\nWhat he understood, Laura didn't know.\n\n\"You not a house slave?\" Sam asked Benji.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"He works in a smithy. He hardly out in the fields,\" Laura snapped back. Benji grunted.\n\n\"I was out in the fields,\" Sam said nonchalantly.\n\n\"Cotton?\" Benji asked quietly as though he knew. Laura rolled her eyes. Benji knew as much about cotton as she knew about speaking French.\n\n\"Tobacco.\"\n\nLaura turned to look at Sam. And it wasn't hard to do since he was standing barely a foot away from her. He was not quite as tall as Papa but taller than Benji. And he was slim, but not thin. He turned and looked at her. She could feel his silent question in the air and she scrambled for something to ask.\n\n\"You said you ran with your brother?\"\n\n\"Yes. He should be here already.\"\n\n\"We ran with our pa, and our brothers Sol and Gid. They should be here too.\" There Benji was, once again butting into a conversation.\n\nAnd just then the door opened, and Caesar waved them forward. They entered the home quickly. Laura could smell freshly baked bread and her stomach rumbled. A white man Laura had never seen before and his wife stood there in the darkness next to Caesar. And behind them was Papa.\n\n\"Laura. Benji,\" he said and Laura moved quickly past everyone to Papa's outstretched arms. She felt him press dry lips across the top of her forehead. If anyone had told her a week ago she would be hugging him, she would have laughed long and loudly. Now she didn't want to let go. \"Course ya'll would be the ones to run into trouble.\" He sounded amused, but Laura could hear the undercurrent of fear in his voice.\n\n\"We ran into Sam and Caesar,\" Benji offered.\n\n\"Sam?\"\n\n\"I'm Sam,\" Sam said quietly. He walked past the white couple, his eyes skittering towards them quickly and back and then past Caesar. He held out a hand and Papa shook it.\n\n\"Amos. This here is Mr. and Mrs. G,\" Papa told Laura and Benji while nodding at the white couple. \"They gone let us stay for the night.\"\n\n\"Come on,\" the wife said and motioned them further back into the house where a fire was burning low. They followed and with more light, Laura could see more of Sam. He had found a corner to stand in, his eyes darting occasionally to those around him and then to the floor. He was barefoot, his clothes were ragged and stained, his lower jaw was peppered with facial hair, and he could have used a bath. But that didn't change the fact that he was quite honestly one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. His skin was a few shades lighter than hers, his brown eyes encased with thick, black eyelashes, his lips were neither thin nor full and like most slaves who worked in the fields, slim though he was, muscles abounded. Laura wished Annie were there so they could swoon together. Because even Annie, who liked discussing boys about as much as she used to enjoy fanning Miss Martha in the afternoon heat, would probably take a moment to pause and appreciate his features.\n\n\"Sam!\" A low, worried voice called out from behind Laura. And then she realized that her first thought was incorrect. He was not one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. He was one of two. Twins."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 22", "text": "Sam lifted his gaze off the wood floor, smile already on his face as Manny crossed the room towards him.\n\n\"Sam!\" Manny repeated, coming to his side and wrapping an arm around his neck. Sam returned to the gesture. \"Don't ever do that again,\" Manny whispered, his breath hot and angry in Sam's ear. It was a hollow threat because if Sam were ever in a situation like that again, he would do the same thing. And Manny knew it.\n\n\"Twins,\" the white woman said with a quick laugh.\n\nBoth Sam and Manny stiffened, looked away. To have a twin was to have that one obvious weakness. Neither he nor Manny liked to acknowledge it.\n\n\"Come,\" she said, with quick motions as she kicked aside a very large rug. The man, her husband, moved past her, reached down and placing his hands into a groove, lifted the floor. Sam could see the shadows of stairs leading to below.\n\n\"Been down there already. But I wanted to wait up here. Make sure you make it in,\" Manny said quietly.\n\n\"It's plenty room down there,\" Amos, Laura's pa said, his voice low and gravelly. Sam looked the huge man over. It didn't seem possible that the thin, slight, pretty woman he had found himself attached to for the past few hours came from him. And Laura was pretty. Even looking tired and travel weary, it had been hard for him to keep his eyes of the young woman. And there was something about the way she carried herself... Sam had never known a slave woman to walk with such grace. He could watch her move forever. If he had had any doubts about her being a house slave, the way she moved ended them. Not to mention that she was dressed better than he had ever seen a slave girl; she had shoes on her feet, her speech was more refined, and she held herself just... differently. Even differently than her brother Benji. He had felt her dark gaze studying him and he wondered what she saw. He knew he looked like an old, tired field hand today. It had bothered him none before he met her that his shirt had enough holes to be a net and that he had outgrown his pants a year or so ago leaving inches between the top of his feet and the bottom of his pants. He knew his face looked scruffy and that he probably smelled bad. But he was free now and that was all gone change.\n\n\"Here,\" the man said, handing Amos, Laura's pa, a lantern. \"You can light it when you get down there.\" He turned to Sam, Laura, and Benji. \"There's food and blankets aplenty.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Amos said and motioned for Laura to go down first.\n\n\"Wait,\" the wife said. All of them paused, looking at her. The woman's face filled with color, but she turned her gaze to Laura. \"You look wet.\" With her dark cloak, and dark dress, Laura did not look wet, though Sam had felt some dampness when he held her under that tree in the ground. What did that woman want? And then he wondered at his sudden possessiveness. He could not afford to be possessive, now more than ever before he had the threat of being caught and returned hanging over his head. But still, he watched her.\n\nLaura, who had been looking at the stairs, looked up at the woman quickly, her eyes not quite making eye contact. \"Yes,\" Laura said. Her voice was soft, and husky. It was another thing Sam had noticed about her. He liked her voice.\n\n\"I have an old dress you can change into.\" The woman was offering Laura a dress? Was it cause Laura was a house slave?\n\n\"I... ,\" Laura started.\n\n\"Come,\" the woman said and placed a hand on Laura's arm. He watched as Laura tossed a glance at her pa, and then let the woman lead her into a room with a closed door.\n\n\"Is that safe?\" Manny asked no one, his eyebrows raised. Then it wasn't just him who thought it was odd. Of course it was only Manny who was confused, so maybe it didn't count.\n\n\"Oh, don't worry about Laura,\" Benji, Laura's brother said from his right. He had been so focused on her hadn't even noticed the boy's approach. \"Laura can take care of herself around white folks,\" the boy said quietly. \"She'll be just fine.\" Sam leveled Benji with a look and the boy had the good grace to look away. There was no such thing as taking care of yourself out here.\n\n\"Manny, this is Benji, Laura's brother. Benji, my brother, Manny.\"\n\nManny gave a nod towards Benji who gave a nod back.\n\n\"Come on, Benji.\" Amos was already headed down the stairs, apparently also not worried about his daughter.\n\n\"Sam,\" called the boy who claimed to be Caesar. The boy was standing by the fireplace, his hands stretched out for warmth as comfortable in this house as a flea on a dog. \"Come talk to me for a minute.\"\n\nThe white man lowered the trap door after Amos and Benji went down and left the room leaving Sam, Caesar, and Manny alone. Sam walked to the fire, coming to stand next to Caesar. Manny right behind him.\n\nThe boy eyed Manny, indicating that he had not invited him over, but he spoke anyway, \"You did me a favor so I'm goin' to do you one,\" Caesar said as Sam and Manny drew in closer though he returned his gaze to the fire before him. \"You asked for advice. Here it is: you two should separate.\"\n\n\"Never.\" Manny's answer was quick and hard.\n\nSam placed his hands on his waist. No sense in talking when Manny had answered for them both.\n\n\"It's hard livin', being a runaway slave,\" the boy said, his voice low and quiet and filled with experience. \"You'll always be lookin' over your shoulder. Always. And if you marry and have children? Well, your children still be the property of the man who owned you. You free. And you not free. It'll be easier for you both if you split up because together you're memorable. The last thing you want to be when being hunted, is memorable. If the bounty hunters are lookin' for twins, then they path is easy.\"\n\nSam had thought on all this before. When you work in the fields all day, all you got is time and time to think. There was a part of him that was willing to leave Manny if it meant that Manny had a better chance of staying free. But they had taken his mama. And he had never had a daddy. He was too selfish to let them take his brother too. He would just have to trust God to protect them both. \"That's not goin' to happen.\" The door to the room that Laura had gone into opened. The white woman came out. Sam watched her walk past them into another room.\n\n\"I didn't think it would,\" the boy said with a sigh. \"But I had to try. Here's your second piece of advice: be very careful about where you choose to go from here. You can trust the 'G' family,\" Caesar said with a nod in the direction that the white man had gone in. \"Tomorrow. They gone ask you where you want to go. Up north or out east. Where was you thinkin'?\"\n\nSam exchanged a quick glance with Manny before speaking. \"We were thinkin' up north. Canada. We heard that's the only place to really be free.\"\n\nThe boy, Caesar, bit his lip, and nodded. \"It's not a bad plan. It's the best one if you gone go up north.\"\n\n\"Where else could we go?\" Manny asked, genuinely curious. \"We stay here in America, paddy rollers will hunt us all the time.\"\n\n\"It's a different kind of white folks up north and that is a fact. What isn't different is that they still don't like darkies. You go to New York or Philadelphia or even Canada, you still ain't nothin' but a darkie to them. Don't care what nobody say. Ain't no promise land. It's better than being a slave. But ain't glory.\"\n\n\"Figure ain't no place we could ever go where we ain't nothin' but darkies,\" Manny said quietly, for once taking Caesar seriously.\n\n\"That is a fact. But there is a place you can go where you ain't got to be reminded of that fact day in and day out.\"\n\n\"Indian territory,\" Sam said, staring hard at the boy. He almost missed when the white woman, carrying cloth and a heavy basin of water moved passed them again. It seemed like she was telling the truth then. Laura would be fine. Again he asked himself why it mattered. He didn't have neither the time nor the day to be thinking about a woman and chances were, after this night, he would never see her again. Sam returned his focus to Caesar. He wouldn't let himself get distracted again.\n\nCaesar nodded slowly. \"I'm not sayin' there ain't no bounty hunters in Indian Territory. There surely is. But most white men that go out there ain't thinkin' 'bout catchin' no darkies. And land is so bountiful, it's a lot harder if they try.\"\n\n\"Land might be bountiful, but so is Indians.\"\n\n\"Ever heard the phrase the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Naw, it ain't Indians you gone have to worry about. Listen. I ain't tryin' to tell you what to do, I'm just askin' you to carefully consider what freedom looks like to you. Is it livin' in towns so crowded you can hardly breathe? Surrounded by white folks who don't like slavery but also don't like you? Or havin' your own? All you need in Indian Territory is God, your honor, your gun, and your horse. I might have been born a slave, but I was also born a country boy too. Livin' up north ain't my idea of freedom. And it's too dang cold. Think on it, Sam,\" Caesar said, giving him a nod. \"Pray on it. What you decide tomorrow is one of the most important decisions of your life.\"\n\n\"Why does everyone think Sam is the only one who makes decisions around here?\" Manny asked, irritation in his voice.\n\n\"Third piece of advice,\" the boy said, ignoring Manny, even as a small smile tugged on his lips.\n\n\"If you go out west, specifically Oklahoma Territory, ask around for the town of Arrow Creek. And if you find yourself in trouble ask for Sly Hollis.\"\n\n\"Who is Sly Hollis?\" Manny asked with an exhale.\n\n\"Me. My name is Sylvester Remus Hollis. Everyone calls me, Sly.\"\n\n\"Oh, everyone knows you in Oklahoma? How old are you? Like ten?\"\n\n\"Fifteen, fool. How old are you?\" Manny opened his mouth, closed it. They figured they were just above twenty, but they weren't sure and Caesar, no, Sly, could see it. \"Oh, you don't know do you?\"\n\n\"I'm older than you,\" Manny said stubbornly, unwilling to let go of a fight he had already lost. Sam shook his head slightly in exasperation.\n\n\"And not a great deal smarter from what I can tell.\" Sly turned to Sam. \"Ask around for me or Jamie Knox. Knox is my friend, the one who looks Indian. Be careful. Don't trust just anyone, even if they are darkies. Not everyone is your friend, Sam. Keep him in check, Manny.\"\n\nSam exhaled and blinked. Sly did have his annoying moments. Sam hadn't survived all these years cause he knew nothing.\n\n\"My brother can take care of himself,\" Manny said simply. Sam did not believe for one second that Manny thought that was true. But no matter what, they always had each other's backs.\n\n\"If I said the sky was blue, you would say it was purple,\" Sly said, rolling his eyes Manny. \"I didn't mean no offense to Sam. I like Sam. I don't like you.\" And yet Sly's tone was light. He took a step away from the fire. \"Wish you two all the best.\"\n\n\"You not stayin'?\" Sam asked, his arms falling to his side. He could hear the alarm in his voice.\n\nSly shook his head, slowly. \"Got to meet up with Knox. Head back.\"\n\n\"You not really Caesar, are you?\" Manny asked, eyeing Sly.\n\nSly exhaled and then gave Sam a pitying look. \"You want to deal with this one all day on purpose? I'll have you to know I am Caesar. If it's one thing you can count on me for it's my word of honor. If I tell you a thing, it's true. You're one of the few lucky ones who know my actual name. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone.\"\n\n\"Then where were you?\" Manny asked, no humor in his voice. \"We waited almost a year.\"\n\nSly's expression hardened. All lightness gone. \"I can't stay in one location too long. Where was I? Down south helpin' slaves cross the Mississippi.\" Sly shrugged. \"I can't be everywhere and I can't afford to stay in the same area all year long.\" Sly bit his lip, shrugged again. \"I am sorry.\"\n\n\"Nothin' to apologize for,\" Manny said quickly, biting his lip. \"Just wonderin'.\"\n\nSly reached for his hat that Sam only just now noticed was on a small table. He slowly, almost reverently, placed it on his head. \"Ya'll take care now,\" the boy said and left the room. Seconds later, they heard the front door of the house open and shut. Sylvester Remus Hollis, also known as Caesar, was gone."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 23", "text": "It was an answer to an unspoken prayer, Laura thought as she entered the dark room. She only walked a few steps in before the woman lit a candle, giving them a little something to see by. The windows were covered by heavy curtains, and Laura could understand not wanting to take any chances. Laura looked around her. It was an empty bedroom with a bed, a table, and a vanity. \"I'll get a basin of water. I'm sure if you're like any other woman I know, you desperately want to be clean.\"\n\n\"I do. Thank you,\" Laura said and the woman sent her a small smile. In the dim light, Laura could see that the woman was old, older than Miss Martha if one could tell age by the wrinkles that lined one's face. Her hair was hidden under a night cap and she wore a simple cream housedress that had seen better days but was in fairly good condition.\n\n\"There's another woman downstairs in the cellar. I offered her the same thing, but she wouldn't take me up on it,\" the woman said quietly. Laura almost winced. Almost. Getting clean was more important than her pride, however. \"I'll be back with the water and the dress. Then you can give me yours and we can get it washed and hangin' tonight.\"\n\n\"I can wash it myself,\" Laura said quickly. No white person had ever offered to help her do anything. And it would take more than an offer of water for Laura to be too trusting. Of course the woman was keeping her entire family safe from bounty hunters... but still, Laura would take care of herself as best she could.\n\n\"It's no bother, dear. I'll be just a minute.\"\n\nThe woman left, pulling the door to the bedroom shut right behind her. Laura exhaled, closed her eyes. Then she stepped out of her shoes feeling blessed relief. She pulled down her stockings. They were torn, bloodied, and disgusting. There was no saving them. She undid her cloak and set it across a chair. It too could use a good washing. She pulled her bag up and over her head and opened it. She had two extra dresses and three pairs of stockings though they had gotten wet in the dunking. But not as wet as what she was in the process of removing. They would do. She would not take this woman's clothes. She was a free woman now, not merchandise to be dressed. It was time to live like it. There was a gentle tapping on the door.\n\n\"Come in,\" Laura said. The woman pushed open the door, but looked to be struggling with the large basin of water. Laura hurried over and relieved her of it. Laura placed it on the table in the room. The woman came to stand next to her and placed two towels and a bar of soap. \"I have a dress I can change into.\"\n\nThe woman held up a simple calico dress. \"Are you sure? Most women who come through here only have the one. If you're worried that you're takin' somethin' of mine, don't be. We get a lot of donations from abolitionists around the country.\"\n\n\"I'm sure,\" Laura said and pulled out her wrinkled, slightly damp, plaid day dress with a wide white collar on the top. Another old dress of Missy Charlotte's that Laura had worked over to fit her. Laura had had five of them. More dresses than most slaves; a deep red one, a plaid one, a dark blue one, a black one, and a gray one. She had packed the red one and the plaid one and ran in the dark blue one. She had very happily left the black and gray dresses. She would never dress as a servant again. She wasn't so prideful as to say she would never work as one. No. There was a good chance she would be sewing for some woman whenever they ended up wherever Papa was leading them. But she wouldn't look like a servant and she certainly wouldn't dress like one.\n\n\"What a lovely dress.\"\n\nIt wasn't. Not really for the fabric was quite faded. But Laura had done her best to keep it in mint condition. \"Thank you,\" Laura said quietly. \"I've worked on it myself.\"\n\n\"A seamstress are you?\"\n\n\"Yes.\" Only every day of her life. Laura hesitated. The woman had been nothing but kind to her and her family. \"You've been very generous to me and my family. If you have somethin' you would like me to look at...\"\n\nA small smile lit across the woman's face. \"Well, I do have somethin'.\"\n\n\"Then bring it to me. As soon as I get changed I can work on it.\"\n\n\"But you must be tired.\" She was. But she could sew in her sleep.\n\n\"We came by boat and you're not that far from the river. I'll be fine. And it's the least I can do.\"\n\nThe woman gave her a serious look, her eyes, which Laura could see were gray, met Laura's. \"No, dear, it's the least I can do.\"\n\n\"You've been a help to me. To us. Please, let me help if I can.\"\n\nThe woman beamed and then left the room pulling the door behind her. Laura dipped her hand in the basin of water and sighed when she felt the heat touch her fingers. Still warm. She reached for the soap and brought it up to her nose. She was used to lye soap. Lye soap that either had no scent or sometimes had an offensive scent depending on who made it at Salis House. This bar of soap though... Laura gave it another sniff. Rose. It was something Missy Adora or Missy Charlotte would have used. And now her. One day she would only use scented soap too.\n\nShe made quick work of undressing, washing, and redressing. Then she did her best to wash the clothes she had worn the past day and a half. When those were rung out and off to the side, she undid her hair, brushed it out, and rebraided it. Laura only washed her hair every few weeks and she had washed it the morning before they left. But with all the sweating and the river water, she could tell it could already use another washing. But she didn't have time for that. She attached the pins in her hair, making her bun tight. Almost she felt like herself.\n\nThough she had on clean stockings, she wasn't yet ready to brave her shoes. There was a gentle knocking on the door again. The woman.\n\n\"Please come in,\" Laura said and went to the door.\n\n\"I would let you sleep in here, but sometimes the sheriff comes by and it has to look like we don't have anyone here,\" the woman said as she entered. Fabric draped her arm. \"But give me your clothes. I'll take care of them.\"\n\n\"I've already given them a quick wash,\" Laura said, exchanging her wet clothing for the woman's fabrics.\n\n\"I'm supposed to be makin' a dress for the church social. It's not turnin' out right.\"\n\n\"I can fix it,\" Laura whispered.\n\nThe woman stopped, eyed Laura. \"You're not much like the others we have.\"\n\n\"Oh?\"\n\n\"You speak different and you're not as... afraid.\"\n\nLaura exhaled, ran her hands down the sides of her dress. \"I probably should be.\"\n\n\"No. I don't mean about runnin'. I mean... oh nevermind. I'm goin' to set your clothes with mine and then I'll be right back.\"\n\nLaura spent the next hour or so measuring, cutting, and draping, pausing only to eat some bread and cheese or whenever she heard voices outside the room. There was the chance that the sheriff still might come knocking on the door, so Laura had to be prepared to run for the cellar. But finally, the dress came together.\n\n\"It's not the best work I've ever done,\" Laura whispered. Without good lighting, it was hard to get perfect stitches.\n\n\"It's better than any other dress I own,\" the woman said, her voice slightly shaky as she ran her hands down the length of her gown. \"It's a nice thing to feel beautiful, isn't it?\"\n\n\"It sure is,\" Laura said, placing all of the sewing needles and thread she had used into the woman's sewing kit. She folded all of her clothes and things and put them back in her bag. She had hoped that airing them out would do them so good. \"I should head on down before Papa and the boys get worried.\"\n\n\"Come on,\" Mrs. G said without taking off her new dress. She opened the door and led Laura across the darkened hallway and to the room with the trap door. There was no one around. The woman pushed aside the carpet again and lifted the hook in the floor.\n\n\"Thank you again, ma'am,\" Laura said as she followed the steps below. The trap door closed quietly above her. But it wasn't dark. She could see light ahead, and then people. First, she saw the twins, Sam and was it Manny? They were sitting on the floor, talking quietly to each other. They both looked up when she took a step.\n\n\"Laura,\" Gid said, raising a hand. He was on the floor curled up next to Sol who was curled up next to Papa. Papa sat directly in front of her, a bunch of papers in his lap. Benji was on Papa's other side. Across from them were three Negros Laura didn't know. All of them looked to be asleep, though one of them, a man, opened his eyes for a second to look at her, before closing them. \"Come sit by me,\" Gid said and moved his bag which separated him from either Sam or Manny.\n\n\"Alright,\" Laura said quietly and walked to her brother. This cellar was clean and didn't look like it was used for food or supplies or anything other than hiding people. It was long and deep and there was plenty of room for stretching out a bit. Papa had a lantern lit next to him, but so did either Sam or Manny providing some dim light in a space that could probably get very dark.\n\nLaura plopped down next to Gid. \"You changed,\" he said, leaning close and giving her a big sniff. She felt the gaze of Sam or his brother next to her. But she didn't know what to do with that, so she ignored him. Them.\n\n\"I simply could not resist the temptation,\" Laura said quietly as she wrapped an arm around her youngest brother's shoulder and squeezed.\n\n\"Surprisin',\" Benji muttered loud enough for her to hear.\n\n\"Ben,\" Papa said, his voice low. Then he leaned across a snoring Sol and dropped the papers in her lap. \"Look at that.\"\n\nLaura unraveled the papers realizing that it was one paper. A map. \"What is it?\"\n\n\"Where we're goin'. Mr. G let me borrow it.\"\n\n\"Where are we goin'?\" Laura asked as she tried to make sense of it.\n\n\"West.\" Laura dropped the map. West? What was out west?\n\n\"Really?\" Sam or Manny asked from next to her. She turned to her right, but both of the men were looking at Papa.\n\n\"Yes.\" Papa answered.\n\n\"How come?\" The voice was low, familiar. It was Sam who was sitting next to her. She was sure of it.\n\n\"Way I figure it they'll be expectin' us to go north. Most runaways do. They won't be spendin' nearly as much time or money goin' out west to Indian Territory.\"\n\n\"Now that makes a lot of sense,\" the twin sitting furthest away from her said. She was wrong, that one was Sam. The one next to her must be Manny.\n\n\"I want land. I want open space. I'm a blacksmith. They'll need me more out west anyway. It's a risk, but I've been prayin' on it and I think that's where God wants my family.\"\n\nLaura stared at him, forgetting about the men next to her. Out. West. Where it wasn't even civilized."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 24", "text": "What were the chances?\n\nSam turned and looked at Manny who was already looking at him. After Sly had left they had discussed the matter in great detail.\n\n\"Canada is safer,\" Manny had whispered to him after they had gotten settled in the room underground. The family that had taken them in had not been lying. There were blankets and plenty cheese, meat, and bread to go around. Sam hadn't even realized how hungry he was until he inhaled what was given. \"On a whole lot of levels. No paddy rollers to deal with.\"\n\n\"I agree,\" Sam said when he finally slowed down his eating. It was clear to him that Manny had already eaten cause he was just playing with the food in his hand.\n\n\"Goin' west would be foolish. We don't know about what's out west. Paddy rollers will be lookin' for us. And whoever heard of a Negro with a gun?\" Manny was saying all of the right things. But. Sam stuffed the last of his meal into his mouth and stared at his hands. His brother was not finished talking yet.\n\n\"Out west, the Indians might kill us. Now, in the all the years I have lived, in all the years I have contemplated my death, getting' killed by Indians was never one of the things I considered.\"\n\n\"You been thinkin' 'bout death?\"\n\n\"Sam. This is no time for your distractions,\" Manny had hissed. He had kept his voice low the entire time. \"You hearin' me?\"\n\n\"I'm hearin' you.\"\n\nHe was hearing his brother and while he might be looking calm on the outside, on the inside he was floundering. Go out west? He had never thought of such a thing. All of his hopes and dreams had been pinned on going up north. Course he had no clue what up north looked like. And if Sly was to be trusted, and Sam had no reason to doubt him, it might just be one disappointment after another. He leaned forward, pulling his knees to his chest and buried his face there. Lord God, grant us direction.\n\nBecause he had no direction. Running had been a spur of the moment thing. And now he didn't know what to do next.\n\n\"Are you really sleepin' right now?\"\n\n\"Manny,\" Sam growled.\n\n\"Oh. Are you prayin'? Tell God we lost.\" Sam sighed. \"I mean but if you think about it, we ain't city boys. All them people... and up north I hear it's a lot of white people. Now what I want to go live with a bunch of white people for?\"\n\n\"So you want to go west?\" Sam asked without raising his face from his knees.\n\n\"Cause a child no bigger than a mite told me to? No, indeed. We goin' to Canada like we always said we would.\" Sam waited. \"But I done heard it's real cold up there. Sam, you know I hate the cold. Course if the option is between bein' cold forever or bein' a slave forever. I take the cold.\"\n\nAnd on and on Manny went, talking enough for the both of them while Sam quietly prayed and watched Laura's family out of the corner of his eye. The other three slaves that Manny had left with were down there, but they were sleep or feigning sleep.\n\nBut Laura's family? The four of them were just as quietly whispering amongst themselves as he and Manny were. They looked like a family. Amos was clearly in charge, but by the way he placed a hand on one of the smaller boys or smiled at Benji, Sam could see that he was a loving parent. A deep, yearning rose up from inside of him, so heavy he had to blink back tears. It had been so long since he had been anyone's son. And he probably never would be again. He exhaled in an effort to get control of his emotions. He was a man full grown. The last thing he needed was a daddy. Or a mama. And at least he had Manny. Some folks didn't have nobody. But still he found himself glancing over at them again. All of them were barefoot. But all of them had the same kind of cloak as Laura had had. Their clothes didn't seem to have any holes in them. And they didn't look worn down. Used. He wondered what had happened that had made them want to run. If he recollected correctly, Amos worked a smithy. That was a nice job for a slave. Sometimes a smithy could make his own money on the side. The youngest boy leaned over, said something, and all four of them laughed. The only thing missing in the picture they presented was Laura. And a mama. And if their closeness was any indication, than the only reason there wasn't a mama was because she was dead.\n\n\"We cain't buy land up north, Sam,\" Manny said quietly, reminding Sam that he had bigger fish to fry than wondering about the family sitting a few feet away from him. \"It's probably all taken at this point. And all we is, is farmers.\"\n\nSam listened to his brother's chatter until the door above the stairs lifted and Laura had timidly walked into their midst.\n\n\"I see the allure.\"\n\n\"Hush.\"\n\nLaura had come to sit between him and her youngest brother. She smelled like sunshine and roses and looked even better and he was man enough to appreciate it in a distant sort of way. She had fallen into the category he put all pretty women. Nice looking, but not for him. He had returned his attention to his brother until he saw Amos hand her papers. She could read? The fascination was back. She wasn't like no slave he had ever met in his life. And then Amos had said they were going west. And now here Sam was, feeling thunderstruck.\n\nAmos started speaking again, and Sam turned to face him taking in another whiff of the roses on Laura's skin. He tried not to think about that. \"Ain't no jobs for Negros up north other than servin' white folks. Spent my whole life at the whim of a white man. Ain't gone do that as a free man.\"\n\n\"See!\" Manny hissed against Sam's other ear.\n\n\"Papa, how far west you talkin'?\"\n\nLaura's voice was low, but Sam could hear that hint of panic in it. He and Manny weren't the only ones unsure.\n\n\"Don't know for sure. I'm hopin' I'll know it when I see it, but definitely Indian Territory where paddy rollers less likely to go huntin'.\"\n\n\"It's far,\" Laura said and raised the paper, stretching it out. Sam could not help but lean in close to look at it. When she glanced over at him, he leaned back. \"No,\" she said and moved the paper so that it crossed both of their laps. \"It's a map,\" she said simply.\n\nSam had heard that word before but where?\n\n\"Treasure map?\" There was awe in Manny's voice. That's right. As boys they had heard stories of treasure maps. Pieces of paper that showed you were to go to find buried gold.\n\n\"Where are we?\" Laura muttered to herself, her finger making lines on the map. Sam turned to his brother, his eyes wide. Manny's were wider. They both turned to the map, even though they didn't understand a thing on it.\n\n\"Cincinnati is the biggest town closest to us,\" Amos said, his voice like gravel.\n\nSam watched as Laura stared hard at the paper for a second and then placed a finger somewhere near the center. \"I think I've found it.\"\n\n\"Now follow the river. See where it leads.\"\n\n\"The river?\"\n\n\"Steamboat is faster than walkin'.\"\n\nSam felt a pinch on his arm. He turned.\n\n\"Why didn't we think of that?\"\n\n\"Cause we don't know where we are,\" Sam hissed in frustration and turned back to the map. It didn't help. He didn't know what he was looking at or how any of it came together. And he felt a strong urge to throw something somewhere even though it wouldn't change the fact that he was an ignorant fool.\n\nBut still. He made himself watch as Laura's finger dragged from one point to the next. Even he could tell that going west meant going far.\n\n\"Can you read it?\" Laura's voice was quiet, low and Sam knew she was talking to him.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"This is where we are near abouts,\" she said softly, slowly pointing to a black dot on the map. \"Cincinnati, Ohio. This squiggly line is the river. The Ohio River. See it flows into the Mississippi. The Mississippi will take you out west.\"\n\n\"I think she think you stupid,\" Manny said, his breath hot in Sam's ear. He fought the desire to roll his eyes. In all the ways that mattered they were stupid. It would be an enormous undertaking to go to a land he didn't know, in a direction he wasn't familiar, with people he had no relation with, and completely unable to figure out anything on his own. They would be at the mercy of others, hoping and praying along the way that everyone they encountered would tell them the truth.\n\nSam leaned back, distancing himself from the map. It could be done. It would just be the hardest thing he had ever done before. He had lived his whole life letting someone else tell him what to do and where to go. Now he would have to learn how to make decisions on his own.\n\n\"Stop gettin' worked up. You act like we got places to go and people to see.\" Sam fought an urge to hit his brother.\n\n\"How we gone get on the steamboat?\" Laura asked Amos. Sam didn't move, but listened.\n\n\"Steamboats always hirin',\" Amos said and held out his hand. Laura folded the map and handed it to her pa. \"We'll hire on. It ain't gone be easy. Our life ain't gone be easy but we knew that long ago when we figured out we was slaves.\"\n\nLaura said nothing, though Sam could see that she was considering her pa's words. Finally, she nodded. \"It is, what it is.\"\n\n\"Can I lay on your lap, Laura?\" the boy next to Laura asked.\n\n\"Of course, Gid,\" she said and ran a hand up and down his shoulder as he got comfortable.\n\n\"Are you Sam?\" Laura asked, turning to face him.\n\nThe boy in her lap, Gid, sat up. \"I can't tell them apart either.\"\n\n\"Most people can't,\" Manny said from the other side of Sam.\n\n\"I'm Sam,\" Sam said, giving her a nod.\n\n\"Is he though?\" Manny dragged out slowly.\n\nGid snickered, his brown eyes darting between him and Manny probably looking for something to differentiate them by. But physically there was nothing. Except the scars on Sam's back. Manny had scars too, but Sam had more.\n\nHis gaze met Laura's and he could see that she too was eyeing the both of them.\n\n\"You two ever switch places?\" Gid asked, still blinking at them both.\n\n\"Only all the time,\" Manny said, before breaking off a piece of the bread in his hand and stuffing his face. And it was true. Especially when they were younger. There had been no reason to just be Sam when he could also be Manny.\n\n\"Not recently,\" Sam said slowly. First off, it was only something they could pull on folks who didn't know them. The more people knew them, the easier it was to tell them apart. Because Sam and Manny might look the same, but they didn't talk the same. That wasn't to say that Sam couldn't become Manny again if he wanted to. Or needed to. And vice versa. But there was just no good reason to switch places anymore.\n\n\"You know dem paddy rollers gone be on the river. How you aim to get there without them seein' you?\"\n\nThe question came from one of the three formerly silent slaves and it was aimed at Amos. It was one of the men who had been pretending to sleep, but it was clear he had been paying attention to every word. Sam noted that the other two were just as wide awake. His gaze flickered to Amos then cause it was a good question. Why wouldn't paddy rollers be looking for escaped slaves at steamboat ports?\n\nAmos stretched his legs out slowly. \"Don't aim to get there without them seein' us. We got us free papers.\"\n\nSam blinked. And then blinked again. He heard the slave who had asked that question make a humming sound. Then he felt a sharp elbow in his gut. And Manny's hot breath again.\n\n\"We stayin' with these people. They know what they doin'.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 25", "text": "Steamboats sank. This, Laura knew. Cause she read the papers whenever she got a chance and had heard discussions of their sinking often amongst Massa Will and Massa Richard and even Miss Martha a time or two. Massa Will didn't even like to place their cotton or salt on steamboats that travelled along the Missouri. Massa Will said the Missouri ate boats. And if by chance the rivers didn't eat the boats, then the boats were busy exploding. And the stories she had heard about steamboat captains... they weren't nice to their own kind. How would they treat a bunch of Negros? And here was Papa talking about riding a steamboat as though they were merely going to take a Sunday afternoon picnic.\n\nSometimes I think you trust Miss Martha more than you trust your own papa. It was something Mama had told Laura more than once... and usually after Papa had just finished giving his opinion about something. She meant no disrespect, but just how could he judge a situation when he didn't exactly know what was going on? And as for Miss Martha? Well, Laura didn't always like her, but she was one of the smartest people Laura had ever encountered. Smarter even than Massa Richard and Massa Will truth be told. But not smarter than Prince.\n\nAnd yet. She had thought they would use the free papers in case a paddy roller caught them that wasn't from Salis House. She hadn't seen this far ahead. Hadn't considered they might need the papers for later. And now it was making sense as to why Prince had given them false names with the wrong owners' written on the documents. He had anticipated this. And so had Papa. Feeling eyes on her, Laura glanced up. Papa was staring at her, no doubt watching all of her thoughts as they ran through her mind.\n\n\"Papa\u2014,\"\n\nThe trap door above opened. The sound of the hinges creaking as it lifted cut off every conversation that was taking place around her. The man known as Mr. G came down the stairs slowly. Laura finally got a good look at him. He was older than his wife with his halo of white hair, but not too old for he stood upright, not stooping. His suit was not threadbare, but neither was it new. And the cut was decidedly old. Whoever these people were, they were not in the first stare of fashion. Not at all the kind of white people Laura had grown up surrounded by. She wondered for a moment why they were helping escaped slaves. Did they feel sorry for the slaves? For her? Because that was what she was whether she wanted to think about it or not. A slave. The very lowest of the low. Or did they feel that slavery was against God's law and so must be fought against in every way possible? And wasn't that the thing? When Missy Adora was little, Laura had spent most of her Sundays in the balcony of Reverend Gautier's church in case Missy Adora needed to be taken out. She had learned a lot up in that balcony... one of the things being that it seemed like you could use God's law to put you on either side of the fence of an argument. Laura had told Mama that once and suffered a smack to the backside while Prince later told her it was the smartest thing she had ever said. Either way, she had missed her chance to find out more about these people who had opened up their home to runaway slaves when she had left the room upstairs.\n\n\"I thought you would be able to stay the night and mornin' through, but it looks like if you plannin' on goin' to Canada you got to leave tonight or wait 'bout a week.\" His voice was gruff, but he met the gaze of all of them. And wasn't he in for a surprise? They weren't going to Canada.\n\n\"We gone go out west,\" Papa said softly, giving Mr. G that piercing look he often gave her.\n\n\"West.\" In the silence, the word seemed to bounce around the small space filling everyone's ears. The man straightened, stared at Papa a moment. Then nodded. Slowly. \"Alright. We can get you headed in that direction. But not tonight. May take a day or so.\"\n\n\"If you don't mind us stayin'...\"\n\nThe man shook his head. \"Not a problem. The wife and I don't mind. Is everyone goin' out west then?\"\n\n\"Not us,\" the man said who had asked Papa about getting caught at steamboat ports. He stood up and so did the other two slaves next to him. Or were they now all former slaves? At what point did that happen? Laura just did not know. There was just so much she did not know. Worryin' don't bring you nothin' but trouble. Mama had always said that. But Mama had never done this before, Mama had never been free.\n\n\"We goin' to Canada. Don't want to live our lives lookin' over our shoulder,\" the slave said, continuing his speech. He made sure his words were tossed in Papa's direction. Laura glanced over at Papa. His calm expression did not change. And that did not surprise her one bit. If there was one thing she knew about Papa, it was that he didn't give two hoots what anyone said or cared about him. Mama had always claimed it was cause he knew he had favor with Jesus and when you got favor with Jesus, you didn't care about man. Laura glanced at him again. She wondered if that was really true.\n\n\"We're headed west too.\" The words were said quietly, but with a firmness that held no doubts. Laura turned slowly to the right. For a moment, caught up as she was in her own circumstances, she had forgotten about the handsome brothers sitting next to her.\n\nThe words hadn't come from Sam. In fact, he was staring hard at his brother, Manny. Now, wait just a minute...\n\n\"Alright. I'll be back down in a few so we can hammer out the details. Let me get these three goin'.\"\n\nEveryone was quiet as the three slaves and Mr. G climbed up the stairs and left. The trap door slammed close with a thud.\n\n\"You're going west too?\" Gid asked, sleep completely forgotten as he stared at the men sitting next to her. He wasn't laying on her lap anymore, but he was leaning up against her. She wondered if he found comfort in her touch because he missed Mama and she was the next best thing or if he was always up under someone. As opposed to quiet, serious Sol who seemed to do his best to prove he was growing up. Sol was no longer sleeping, but watching everyone through tired eyes. Laura watched him now as he stared at the twin brothers. Feeling her gaze on him, he turned and sent her questioning glance. She shook her head slightly and smiled at him. He looked away, looking a bit unsure. They still had time to go before they would know each other well.\n\n\"A man has to have his land, his honor, and his gun,\" the one who was Manny said. His what? Laura let go of the thoughts about her family and turned her attention to him. A Negro was lucky if he had land, wasn't considered to be honorable or dishonorable, and they certainly couldn't own guns. She fought the urge to correct him. What abolitionist had been spilling seed into that ground? She noticed that even Sam was staring at him. Manny looked past him. \"Now, what's this about free papers?\"\n\nIt was Sam's turn to lean forward, looking past her and towards Papa. \"We don't think livin' up north is what's best for us, but I'll be honest, we cain't read and we don't know where we goin' or what we gone do when we get there. But we got a little money and we can pay our own way if you can help us get there.\"\n\nAnd they wanted to go out west? Course she had always heard going out west was a young man's inclination. She was not sure what that meant for her as the only woman 'bout to go on this here journey. But at least she could read. It was her turn to look at Papa. Papa was staring at Sam. Hard. \"It ain't gone be easy.\"\n\n\"Like you said. Life for our kind ain't ever been.\" Sam's voice was low and certain which seemed almost at odds with the way he had been looking at his brother only moments earlier. Laura looked around Sam at his brother. Manny had a small smile playing on his lips. Interesting. No, not interesting. She had more than enough on her plate. Thinking about the happenings between two brothers was a waste of her time. And yet...\n\n\"True enough,\" Papa finally said.\n\n\"You mind explainin' how you plan to get out west in them steamboats?\"\n\nPapa unraveled the map Prince had given them and this time laid it out on the floor so all of them could see. Prince had drawn a route straight up to Canada for them to follow. And wouldn't he be in for a shock when he learned they had gone west instead? If he ever learned that that is. Laura rubbed her chest in an effort to ease the tightness there. It was time to think on something else.\n\nManny and Sam moved to where the other slaves had been, across from Laura and Gid, and all seven of them gathered around Prince's map. \"The papers are just in case somethin' comes up.\" Laura didn't want to think about what that something could be. \"But I'm hopin' we can all hire on to a steamboat. I heard tell they always need help. It should take no more than 'bout eleven days\u2014cause of the stops\u2014to get us from here,\" he said, pointing at Cincinnati, \"to here.\" His finger was on Oklahoma. Laura knew her states and her territories. Missy Adora had spent all summer learning them. She felt another small pang in her chest. She would never spend another summer running around Salis with Missy Adora again. She didn't know why she missed the little girl. It was like Annie had said, Missy Adora was one day gonna grow old and when that happened she wasn't going to be thinking about Laura. But it was taking her heart a long minute to catch up with her brain. \"This here is Oklahoma, right Laura?\" Papa asked. Though he clearly knew the answer already.\n\nLaura felt the twins' gaze on her, but she licked her lips, leaned forward. \"Yes, Papa.\"\n\n\"My Laura can read real good.\" He pointed a finger at her though he was talking to Sam and Manny. \"She'll get us there.\"\n\nLaura looked up at him. Stared. Surely the man was joking. \"Papa.\"\n\n\"Ain't no one smarter.\"\n\n\"Prince is,\" Benji muttered. Course he would say that. Laura looked at him and made a face. He smiled back.\n\n\"I'm not so sure on that. Laura's here. Prince isn't.\"\n\n\"Who's Prince?\" Manny asked, dragging his gaze off of the map in front of him.\n\n\"My oldest brother,\" Laura said with a sigh. \"He didn't come with us.\"\n\n\"What do you know about steamboats?\" Papa asked quickly. His eyes and fingers still on the map.\n\n\"Only what I've read and heard.\" She ignored the quick glances from Sam and Manny.\n\n\"That's more'n what I know,\" Papa's voice was low, gentle. And now she knew what he was doing.\n\nWith a sigh, she let him distract her. \"They can be dangerous.\" Laura hesitated. \"Though the ones floatin' down the Mississippi seem to be the safest.\" If Prince were here, they would know anything and everything they wanted to know about steamboats. Prince knew everything about anything. But instead it was just her. And Laura only knew what she heard discussed and what she could glean in random, quiet moments. \"If you don't have money it's not the way to travel.\" Miss Martha had made that observation more than once.\n\n\"We can put up with anythin' for eleven days.\" Papa said. He turned towards Sam. \"When we get to Oklahoma, I'll set up a smithy, my own business. That's the short of it.\"\n\nLaura glanced between Papa and Sam and Manny. What was it about them that made Papa so willing to share information? He had never been one for loose talking in all the time that she had known him.\n\n\"It's more than what we got,\" Manny said, his eyes back on the map.\n\n\"How come you left?\" Sol asked the question, but Laura found it was one she wanted answered as well.\n\nManny and Sam exchanged looks before Manny spoke again. \"It was just time. That's all.\" That was not all. Laura looked over at Papa who was looking at the two young men, a thoughtful expression on his face.\n\n\"Were you goin' to be sold? They were goin' to sell me and Gid. That's how come we left,\" Sol volunteered.\n\n\"No,\" Sam said slowly. \"We wasn't gonna be sold.\" Sam looked up, meeting Laura's gaze for a second before returning to the map. \"Where's Kentucky? That's where we come from.\"\n\nLaura blinked, tried to meet Papa's gaze, but met Benji's instead. For once in their life they exchanged a look of understanding. So, they could be open and free with information but the twin brothers weren't?\n\nLaura's eyes dropped back down to the paper in front of her. \"What city?\" Laura asked. She placed a finger on Kentucky. When Sam told her the city, she then found it. \"You ran from here to here... that is, if you ran?\"\n\n\"Oh, we ran,\" Manny said with a decisive nod.\n\n\"How you get across the river?\" Benji asked, his voice suspicious. He would never have made it in Salis. He was just too obvious about everything.\n\nManny gave Benji a look, but Sam answered. \"We swam.\"\n\n\"You never did,\" Gid said, eyeing them both in awe and amazement. There was one person who wasn't suspicious of nothing.\n\n\"Hey,\" Manny said, pointing a finger at him. \"If we say it, it's true.\" And yet there was something in his voice that led one to believe that nothing that came out of his mouth was ever true. Laura's eyes narrowed as she took him in.\n\n\"We grew up on the Potomac. Learned to swim there as boys,\" Sam said quietly, his gaze still on the map. But by the gentle way he answered, she knew he too could pick up on some tension.\n\n\"Benji said you two worked a tobacco farm?\" Papa asked, his voice startling Laura for a second.\n\n\"Yeah. For too long,\" Manny drawled. Now that, Laura believed. There was a lightness to his voice that told her it was not only true, but that there had been something rather horrifying about it all. It was like that for some slaves. Laura may have been raised in Salis, but that didn't mean she didn't know some things. The brothers had had it rough. And they were just not going to be sharing everything. Fair enough. \"So, this is west. Which way is north?\"\n\n\"You see this symbol right here?\" Laura asked and pointed to the compass rose on the map. \"It's called a compass rose.\" She knew this because this too was part of Missy Adora's geography lessons and what Missy Adora learned, Laura learned. Because of Prince. When Missy Adora first started learning how to read, Prince had pulled her to the side, even knowing that he had already taught Laura some reading, and said, Don't be stupid and let that girl learn something you don't. It was advice she had taken to the heart. Which meant Laura knew a little bit about everything. She had been looking forward to Missy Adora getting a new tutor that fall. She had already composed a list of excuses to be in the same room with her as she learned.\n\n\"I've seen that before,\" Manny said quickly, lunging forward. \"Where did we see that, Sam?\"\n\nLaura glanced at Sam whose brow was furrowed, thinking. \"It's often on a compass. People who travel\u2014,\"\n\n\"That's it!\" Manny said, snapping his fingers. He turned to Sam. \"Remember that one sailor...\"\n\n\"North, south, east and west,\" Sam said, his fingers tracing the compass rose in the corner of the map. \"That's how you know.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Laura said, sitting back on her legs. She could read the eagerness in their faces, their desire to know more about the world around them. She had seen it in different ones that Mama had taken the time to teach. Other than her brothers and Annie, Laura had never shared what she knew with anyone. Prince had cautioned her against it. Don't be a hero, Laura. Heroes die. Though to be honest, Laura had ignored Prince. Prince didn't believe in saving nobody's skin except his... usually. But since Mama had also told her not to, Laura had listened. When the time comes and you need to do big things, God will tell you. That time ain't now. And now Laura was curious as to just how she knew that. But it made no nevermind. This was different. Cause they was... kind of free. And yet when the trap door opened seconds later, Laura wasn't the only one who scurried away from the map and to the other side of the room."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 26", "text": "When he first heard the groaning of the door as it opened from up above, Sam lurched for the map, folding it quickly. He would have stuffed it down his shirt, but Amos spoke.\n\n\"Here,\" Amos said, his voice low and light, and his hands held out. Sam tossed him the map before pressing his body against the wall.\n\nSam's heart was pounding fast, but he took several deep breaths to slow his breathing. His mind told him he had nothing to fear if Mr. G caught them reading or in his case trying to read, but all his body knew was to panic if there was a white man around and he was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. Mr. G came down the stairs slowly and then took a seat on the second to last step with a huff. If he sensed the tension that his presence had added to the room, he ignored it. With a sigh, he looked across the room first at Amos, and then at Sam and Manny. \"Now, you say you want to go out west?\"\n\n\"Yes. By steamboat,\" Amos said quietly. It was a good plan. A much better one than the one Sam had thought would play out if they took Sly's suggestion and went west. Sam had pictured him and Manny travelling on foot by night, hiding in cellar after cellar until one day they looked up and was there. It seemed silly now that he had seen how far away the West truly was and how unprepared he and Manny were. Staying with Amos and his family seemed like the smartest thing to do. Sam only wished that he and Manny had something else to contribute to the trip besides extra bodies. He hadn't missed the look exchanged between Laura and Benji when he and Manny wouldn't talk about why they left. But admitting that Molloy and Massa Charles wanted to use them as breeding horses felt... shameful. Though he had no doubt it was something that had probably been done even at the plantation Amos and the others had come from. And then Manny, of course, was starting to be his usual, ornery self. Sam had to think of something... some useful reason for them to be glad to have him and Manny tag along.\n\nMr. G's low hum caught Sam's attention, pulling him from his thoughts. He watched as the man ran a hand over his face. \"Steamboats come through these parts fairly often. I know a few captains who would take on runaway slaves. In fact, I know such a man who is on his way here now from Pittsburgh.\" No one moved, but Sam could feel the alertness of everyone, even the younger boys, Sol and Gid. \"My wife's cousin of a cousin. He's a captain of a steamer. He's expected in a few days. He's not an abolitionist, but so long as you cause no trouble and are willin' to work, he'll take you on. He's done it for me before.\"\n\n\"But he'll know we're runaways?\" Manny asked, folding his arms over his chest. Sam heard what his brother was not saying... this captain could just as easily lead a paddy roller right to them just as soon as they got out west and then turn around and collect the bounty.\n\n\"If you was free you wouldn't need me to be a go-between. If I bring you to him, he'll know he has to be careful with how you get on the boat.\" Which made sense. But Sam wasn't used to trusting nobody but his brother and maybe the occasional fellow slave. But this...\n\n\"He'll expect you to work for your ride with no pay. That's why he'll take you on. The accommodations will be harsh. He may or may not provide a meal. But if I didn't think he would get you there, I wouldn't tell you. It's your choice to make though. Your lives to live. I'll take you to the nearest port in two days. You can decide if you want an introduction or not then.\"\n\nMr. G stood up, stretched. \"My wife or I will be down in a few hours with some more food to eat and in case you need to use the outhouse. Otherwise, have a good night. And don't forget. You can still change your mind if you like. Got rides constantly goin' to and from the north.\"\n\nWhen the door slammed shut behind him, Benji spoke into the silence. \"Well, Pa?\"\n\nWell, Pa. Sam fought the envy that question brought up on the inside of him. To know there was someone else he could rely on to make the big decisions would be such a relief. And yet, Sam had lived just about his whole life never making a single decision on his own. This was what it meant to be free. It meant making the hard decisions and letting the chips fall where they may. And the thing was, he didn't really have to be all that different from Benji at all. He didn't have a natural father. But he had a heavenly one.\n\nHe spoke before Amos could. \"Maybe we could pray on it? We don't know the steamboat captain, but God does.\"\n\nManny made a small noise in the back of his throat. Amos, who had been looking at his son, turned and looked at Sam for a second. When he spoke, his voice was gentle. \"I think that's a fine idea, Sam.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 27", "text": "The steamboat was like any and every other steamboat Sam had seen in his life. Called the Thomas Paine, it was white with three stacked floors, each one a little bit smaller than the first.\n\n\"It looks like a cake,\" Laura said. She was standing next to Sam and now wearing the same solid blue dress and dark blue cloak she had been wearing the first night she met him. They had all changed. The G family had allowed for all of them to wash up and change into some different clothes if needed so that they didn't look like runaway slaves. Sam had on the change of clothes he had been saving for almost a year. A white shirt and blue pants. For the first time in ever he had a pair of shoes on. He and Manny had given Mr. G some money to purchase them. They fit. They didn't pinch. And yet, he felt like a part of his body couldn't breathe.\n\nBut he would get used to them. Free men didn't walk around barefoot less they was poor as Job's turkey. That was just the plain truth. He ran a hand over his head and hid a small smile. He had also shaved and cut his hair. The G family had lent them real honest to goodness soap and for the first time in his life, Sam had been tempted to steal. He loved the way he currently smelled. Sandalwood, Gid had called it. Every now and then there would be a breeze carrying the scent and Sam would realize it was coming from him. It smelled like freedom to Sam. Course everything that was new did. He didn't know how he could ever go back. Just the thought of it would probably break him. He shook his head, forced himself to think on something else. Manny, standing on the other side of him was wearing brown pants and a white shirt. He had not shaved though he had trimmed his beard. They were going to do their very best not to look identical.\n\n\"Not like any cake I've ever seen,\" Manny muttered. It was early morning, so early in the morning, the morning wasn't quite there yet as night hadn't quite left.\n\nThey were standing on the shores of the Ohio in the dim light. After much prayer, together, and alone, they had agreed to trust Mr. G's steamboat captain. If all went well, in minutes they would begin their journey out west. But Laura's family, with their free papers, were going to get on the boat at the port. He and Manny were going to take a smuggler's route... so to speak.\n\n\"You ready?\" Mr. G asked, coming alongside them. \"Mrs. G is going to take you five to the port. I'll take the twins.\"\n\nThere were no goodbyes, no exchanges of good luck. Sam didn't believe in luck anyway. He, Manny, and Mr. G watched as Laura, Amos, Benji, Gid, and Sol climbed into the back of Mrs. G's wagon and pulled off. Gid gave a little, hesitant wave which Sam returned. It made sense for them to split up. Too many people drew attention, but passing off phony free papers was gutsy. And they would have to show them, Sam was sure. It only made sense that paddy rollers would be waiting at the steamer.\n\n\"Come on, we got to meet the steamer for it gets to port.\" They were already at the edge of the bank, a small boat tied up to a rock and bobbing in the water awaited them. Mr. G climbed into the small boat that swayed and dipped into the water. The night before, Mr. G had signaled to the ship using the flash of lanterns in another conductor's window. He admitted that his friend the captain dipped in smuggling. He always stopped the steamer at night at a certain spot on the Ohio to see if anyone had goods... not runaway slaves exactly, but he would take them too. But the flashing lights must have worked, because here was the steamer, waiting on them.\n\nIt seemed like it took no time for their small boat to approach the Paine, as Mr. G called it. The steamer wasn't old or at least it didn't look old. Sam was no expert on boats, but he knew fresh paint when he saw it. In the dawn, he could see men working along the side, tossing glances their way. He prayed there just wouldn't be trouble. For there were so many ways this could go wrong. And yet, he knew in his heart that going north was not the way to go.\n\nThey were not the first to get on the boat. No, he and Manny and Mr. G had to wait for boats loaded down with boxes of stuff to be hauled up first. They were the only Negros though, planning on coming aboard.\n\n\"What you got there?\" a voice called out even as a rope ladder was flung down the side.\n\n\"Two workers,\" Mr. G replied.\n\n\"Two?\"\n\n\"I'll go up first,\" Manny said after giving Sam a quick nod and proceeded to do just that. Sam followed behind. The first thing he noticed were the men with guns patrolling the boat. Mr. G had told him about them. They were hired to make sure the boat wasn't attacked, to keep the peace if someone was looking to cause trouble... and to look the other way when Captain Leahy was doing business. But still, even though he only saw about five of them, it was enough to get his heart racing.\n\n\"Let's go talk. Follow me,\" a gruff voice on his right said. Sam turned to see a man in a dark pants, and a buttoned up jacket. A hat sat on his head. Captain Leahy, most likely. \"Tell the wife I said hi, G.\"\n\nWhen Sam turned around to say goodbye to the man who had got them this far, it was too late. Mr. G's boat was already more than halfway close to the Ohio shoreline.\n\nSam ignored the glances the other workers around him were tossing their way and followed the man down the deck of the steamboat. His nose was assaulted with the smell of animals, unwashed bodies, and something burning that Sam could not identify. The man led them to a small room no bigger than a closet. In fact, Sam thought with everything in there it probably was a closet.\n\n\"I'm Captain Leahy,\" the man said and lit a lantern. Sam took a moment to look the man over. Captain Leahy was shorter than Sam, had a beard of gray hair and slim of build. He had hard, blue eyes and Sam knew in a moment's glance this wasn't a man to disobey. \"Ya'll got experience with a boat?\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" Sam and Manny said softly, together.\n\n\"You will work the deck. You'll fire the boilers if needed, man the pumps, handle the cargo and supply the wood. Do us all a favor and stay out of trouble. Got it?\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 28", "text": "Getting on the boat was far easier than Laura had anticipated. After a long drive down to the port that had her so nervous she almost lost her breakfast, they had finally arrived at the Thomas Paine. The sun was just hitting the sky.\n\nWith quiet looks of courage exchanged, they had said goodbye to Mrs. G and headed down to the wharf. There was a bit of a line what with people and cargo getting on, but finally they reached the front of it.\n\n\"Papers,\" the young, bored white man had asked. He was standing in front of the plank that led to the steamer. On the side of him were two men who could be nothing but paddy rollers with their stern expressions and their holstered guns at their waist. Laura had silently handed him hers. He didn't look them over half as thoroughly as she expected and in moments she was on the steamer. Her and her whole family. All the work to get those papers for something that took less than a minute.\n\nThey had been told when they got aboard to ask for Captain Leahy and tell him that the G family had sent them. He had met them in a small room.\n\nCaptain Leahy had turned to Laura. \"Can you cook? Clean?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Laura said softly.\n\n\"Good. You'll work with my head cook and work in the ladies' cabins as needed.\" Captain Leahy had turned to Sol and Gid. \"I'm in need of cabin boys. I'll show you who's in charge when we leave. You,\" he said, eying Papa. \"Will work in the boiler room. You will all have to sleep on deck. Ya'll have food?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Amos said, his voice low. Laura and Mrs. G had made sure they all left with something in their bags. Unless you paid for the privilege, steamboats did not provide meals and Captain Leahy did not provide meals for runaway slaves.\n\n\"Good.\"\n\nAnd now here she was on the Texas deck where Captain Leahy had told her to go. She had seen neither hide nor hair of Sam or Manny, but she was sure they were somewhere here, probably below with her brothers and Papa.\n\n\"This here is the kitchen. You sure you can cook? Cap'n Leahy like him some good food and he like good food served to his passengers.\"\n\nLaura stared at the older, Negro woman who reminded her of half the women she knew back at Salis House. The woman was cutting up potatoes and steadily dropping them in a pot of boiling water. She looked older than Mama had looked and was a stone or so heavier. Her hair was peppered with white and she had deep lines on her face. There were scars, that put Laura in mind of burns, that crawled up the woman's arms and Laura wondered if the woman was free, enslaved, or a runaway like her. But since Laura didn't want anyone asking her those questions, she wasn't hardly going to ask someone else.\n\n\"I can cook.\" She hadn't spent most of her childhood in the kitchen of Salis with Annie and learned nothing.\n\n\"Good. We be cookin' for the meals in the dining room and for folks what pay for it. Good thing you here cause we picked up more passengers today. You hear that?\" the woman said, holding up the hand with the cutting knife.\n\nLaura listened intently, heard the sound of men's voices and then the bang of something in the distance.\n\n\"They be raisin' the stage and pullin' up out of port.\" As soon as the woman finished speaking, the boat shuddered. Laura reached out, placing a hand on the nearest wall to steady herself. Then the sound of a whistle piercing filled the air.\n\n\"And we off.\"\n\nLaura gave a shaky sigh. Said a quick prayer to God to hide them from any and all paddy rollers.\n\n\"Pin that apron on,\" the woman said with a nod toward some folded aprons in a corner.\n\nLaura took off her cloak and bag and began pinning on the apron.\n\n\"We can share a room,\" the woman said. \"My room just over there. I'll have one of the boys bring an extra cot. Name's Nellie.\"\n\n\"Laura,\" Laura said, and then immediately wondered if she should have given Nellie a different name.\n\nLaura picked up her cloak and went to the door Nellie had pointed out. It was very small with a small bed and a dresser. She supposed they might be able to squeeze another cot in there if they worked really hard, but she wasn't hardly about to complain. The boys would be sleeping out in the open under the elements for the duration of the trip. She folded her cloak and set it on the end of Nellie's bed. Then she slid her bag of clothes and food under the bed.\n\n\"Laura, next time we enter a port you'll need to check on the lady passengers and make sure they have all they needs.\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am,\" Laura said and came back into the kitchen.\n\n\"We got two other girls. Irish. Maureen and Emma. Right now, that's what they doin'. Helpin' the women folk get settled. Levi!\" Nellie called out, her hands steadily peeling the potatoes and dropping them in water. A small Negro boy, who had to be ten if he was a day, popped his head around the corner. \"Take Laura down to the deck. Show her where the chickens and pigs are kept. Laura, I need me two chickens. Wring their necks for you come up.\"\n\nRight. Laura had done that before, but now she remembered one of the many reasons why she preferred a sewing needle and cloth to working in the kitchen.\n\nThere were two doors in the kitchen. One that was clearly for servants use and the other that led to the dining room. Levi pushed through the second door and waved Laura forward. She paused upon entering the room. The floor was carpeted, the walls were gleaming, there were tables situated everywhere and a bar in a corner. It was small, cramped. And more than a bit gaudy for its space. But it was nice. Nicer than anything she had seen on the steamboat thus far.\n\n\"Dinin' room,\" Levi said, watching her take in all in. There were a few men sitting at the tables reading papers, but otherwise the room was empty. \"This ain't nothin' compared to when we turn it into a salon at night,\" the boy said with a quick raise of his brows.\n\nLevi kept walking and Laura followed him out another set of doors onto the deck.\n\n\"Cabins this way and that,\" the boy said, pointing first left and then right. They walked past several and Laura could see that most everyone had tiny rooms. She paused for a moment to look over the side of the railing. She could see people all up and down the decks below, steadily moving.\n\n\"That be the pilothouse,\" Levi said, pointing up to a small, box like room above them. \"No reason to be there.\"\n\nHe turned and kept on moving. This time down the stairs. They paused on the second deck. \"This here the hurricane deck. Not the second floor.\" He leaned in closer. \"Folks who ain't got much money stay here. They all stay in one big room. Women and men but we use curtains to separate them. We ain't got to clean those rooms other than a quick sweep. Texas deck,\" the boy said, pointing to the ceiling above them. \"Monied folk. Hurricane deck,\" he said, pointing to the wall next to him. \"Not so monied folk. Understand?\"\n\n\"Understand. Do they eat upstairs?\"\n\n\"No,\" the boy said, shaking his head. \"Meals are served four times a day in there too,\" he said, jerking a thumb behind him towards the large cabin. \"During the day, folks don't sleep in there. Now's not a good time to show you around in there cause it's always hectic after we leave a port. But, I'll show you a few things.\" She followed Levi down the deck. \"We do bring the meals though through this door,\" he said, rapping his knuckles on a skinny door. After the last meal, we put up a curtain and it becomes the men's cabins instead of the dining area.\"\n\nWell. That was odd, Laura thought. The setup was not unlike their own cabin at Salis House except they weren't strangers. No wonder Miss Martha said traveling steamboats was not for ladies.\n\n\"Some men pay extra for they own curtain so sometimes we have to pull out more.\" The boy stopped talking as several women passed by them talking.\n\n\"But we don't serve them?\"\n\nLevi made a face. \"They supposed to pay us for stuff like cleanin' sheets and extra meals, but if they tell you to fetch somethin'...\"\n\n\"Fetch.\"\n\n\"Right. Come on, let's go to the boiler deck.\"\n\nWhen they got to the bottom, Levi pulled her into a dark corner, tucked under the stairwell so that they were out of the way of those moving things on and off the Paine. \"This here a packet steamboat. Means we carry cargo and whatnot. It's a side-wheeler,\" the boy said, and leaning around her pointed to the large wheel on the side that was rapidly turning water over and over in a rhythmic fashion. \"They faster.\" Laura gave a nod as though she understood.\n\n\"You know a lot about steamboats?\"\n\n\"Miz Nellie my granny. We been travelin' with Captain Leahy for years. You learn a lot,\" the boy said with a decisive wave of his hand. She bet he did. They didn't move as men walked past them balancing wood on their shoulders. Laura looked around to see if there were any familiar faces around, but she saw none. \"Boiler room,\" he said as they passed a room that was hot and noisy. She didn't get a chance to peek in to see if Papa was there cause Levi was moving fast. \"C'mon.\"\n\nLaura followed Levi down the length of the boat, careful to hug the shadowy places and dark corners. She smelled the animals before she saw them. \"Pigs, cows, chickens,\" Levi said, pointing to the obvious as they approached the pens.\n\n\"Hey there, Levi,\" an older white man said as he slopped something into the pig pen.\n\n\"Miz Nellie need two chickens, Mr. Fernbach. She says to give 'em to her,\" Levi said, pointing a thumb in Laura's direction.\n\n\"Two chickens comin' right up,\" Mr. Fernbach said with a laugh.\n\n\"Move,\" someone said from behind Laura and she took a timid step closer to the pens, allowing the men to move past her. They had horses behind them, stamping and sniffing and leaving a trail of mess in their wake.\n\n\"Two chickens,\" Mr. Fernbach said, holding out two dead chickens by the feet. He had already done the hard work.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Laura said, taking them from him.\n\n\"You new?\"\n\n\"Yes. Just got on,\" she said slowly. There was no sense in denying it. Laura figured everyone had to know just about everyone on a boat this small.\n\n\"Welcome to the Paine then.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Laura said and looked around her\n\n\"If you looking for Levi, he's probably off somewhere on someone's errand. Boy never sits still.\"\n\nRight. Laura gave Mr. Fernbach a nod and then retraced her steps back to the stairs, up them, and to the kitchen next to the dining room.\n\n\"Get the chickens plucked, seasoned and roastin'. Then I need you to help me with breakfast before you go check on the lady passengers.\"\n\nLaura set the chickens on the table and then rolled up her sleeves. It was time to get to work."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 29", "text": "\"Is there anythin' else you need?\" Laura asked the two young ladies as she finished helping them unpack. Yankees the both of them. At Salis House they had entertained a few Yankees before. She never could understand why they talked so fast.\n\n\"How many other women will be traveling with us?\" one of the girls asked. She was short, a few inches below Laura with brown hair and a plain face. Laura did her best to memorize it.\n\n\"Who cares about women, Daphne? How many other men will be riding with us?\" the other girl said with a giggle. She was blond... with an equally plain face. They were not beauties, but by the cut and style of their gowns, they were not poor either. Which should have been obvious. They had one of the few rooms set aside for women on the Texas deck.\n\n\"Sometimes, Lucinda you say just too much. What would Uncle Philip say if he heard you just now?\"\n\n\"Oh, don't speak to me about Papa. Well?\" the girl turned to Laura, expectation in her eyes. This Lucinda could be trouble if she wanted to be.\n\n\"I'm not sure how many are on the hurricane deck. We don't wait on those folks, but I believe there are nine other ladies on the Texas deck,\" Laura said, thinking back to what Miz Nellie had told her. \"And at least fifteen other men, though I can't say for certain since I'm not waitin' on any of 'em.\"\n\n\"Any of them single? Rich?\" Lucinda asked as she went to primp in front of the sole mirror in the room. The room was as tiny. There were two beds with trunks at the end, a vanity and a small closet. Bigger than Laura's shared room with Miz Nellie, but not by much.\n\n\"Lucinda!\" Daphne turned to Laura. It was becoming clear that she was the younger of the girls, but also the most level headed. Yep, that Lucinda was a problem. Thank the good Lord her days keepin' after girls were over. Now, all she had to do was keep after herself. What a thought. \"Thank you for helping us. Our maid, Grenada is here somewhere.\"\n\n\"She's probably with Aunt Crissy,\" Lucinda said, still touching up her hair.\n\n\"Either way, we shouldn't need your help too much on this boat,\" Daphne said firmly.\n\n\"But still come and check on us,\" Lucinda said quickly. \"Sometimes it takes forever for Grenada to get us both dressed.\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am,\" Laura said with a quick nod, slipping into a familiar role.\n\n\"Can we walk around?\" this question came from Daphne.\n\n\"Yes ma'am, but you may want to stay up here on the cabin deck.\" Cabin deck. Texas deck. Did it matter what it was called, really?\n\n\"It probably isn't safe down there,\" the other girl said with excitement. Laura ignored their chatter, made sure everything was neat, and then left the room.\n\nOnto the next room. She was tired, but it was a familiar tiredness. She hadn't always worked this hard at Salis, but if the family ever hosted a summer party or event it wasn't unusual for Laura to be up at the crack of dawn waiting and assisting any and every one.\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\nShe turned at the sound of Gid's voice. He, Sol, and Levi were carrying buckets of water on each of their arms. She gave them a small wave and they gave her nods as they delivered them to different cabins in the men's section of the deck.\n\nShe returned her gaze to the door next to her. Tapped on it.\n\n\"Yes?\"\n\n\"Hello, ma'am. I'm Laura. I work here on the Paine. I was just wonderin' if you needed any help.\"\n\nThe door opened revealing a very pretty redheaded woman. She was older than Missy Charlotte, but younger than Miss Martha. And tall. Very tall. She opened the door wider.\n\n\"You must be new.\" The woman eyed Laura from the top of her head to the toes of her feet.\n\n\"Yes ma'am.\"\n\n\"There was another girl named Maureen who helped me before. Where is she?\"\n\nLaura had met the girl earlier. She was one of the Irish girls Miz Nellie had mentioned. Had Miss Martha been on board she would have had something to say about that. But the girls had ignored Laura and Laura had ignored them. So far, all was well.\n\n\"Maureen is in the kitchen helpin' Miz Nellie. I can get her if you want?\"\n\n\"No,\" the woman said quickly. \"I didn't care for the girl's attitude anyway. Fetch me a bowl of fresh, warm water. Then get that dress laundered for me,\" the woman said, pointing to a gown that was draped over a trunk. Laura assessed the blue and white silk moir\u00e9 taffeta evening gown. Then she looked at the woman. The woman gave her a haughty look, peering down at Laura over the top of her nose. \"I had to leave my maid, she was ill.\"\n\nLaura looked back at the gown. The woman was lying. That was clear as day to Laura, but what did she care if the woman had or didn't have a maid?\n\n\"Yes ma'am.\"\n\n\"That's an expensive dress, you'll have to be careful when cleaning it.\"\n\n\"I'm familiar with silk taffeta, ma'am.\"\n\nLaura felt the woman assessing her slowly again. \"Perhaps you can come back before supper and help me dress?\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am.\"\n\n\"What's your name again?\"\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\n\"You can call me Mrs. Hartford. I am Lavinia Hartford,\" the woman said with a nod. The boat gave a small shudder causing Laura's foot to slip for a second. \"New Orleans can't get here fast enough,\" the woman muttered to herself. \"Lock the door behind you,\" Mrs. Hartford said, reaching for her door and trusting Laura to handle everything she had asked.\n\n\"Did you still want some fresh water, ma'am?\"\n\n\"Yes. I'll only be gone a minute,\" Mrs. Hartford replied and stepped out the room. The door clicked shut behind her.\n\nLaura exhaled and reached for the gown. It truly was a beautiful thing, but Laura could see a few stains on the front. She would have to ask Miz Nellie if she had any honey and gin on hand. That plus soap and hot water should remove the stains. She should probably get her hands on an iron too. Slinging it over her shoulder she paused when a piece of paper fell out. Habit made her not only pick it up but read it. It was a letter and none of the people or the sentiment meant anything to Laura at all, though Laura did note that as it was addressed to a Marianne and signed by a Thomas Andrew Carter. Neither name was of course, Mrs. Hartford's. But that wasn't what made Laura pause. No. It was the familiar stains that crept along the edges of the paper. Blood."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 30", "text": "Sam was not going to deny that steamboats had always been a bit fascinating to him, but Manny's heart\u2014and thus in many ways his\u2014had always been for ships. Real ships. There was something about the large white sails, the massive decks, the intricately detailed figureheads that spoke of greatness. Steamboats not so much, Sam thought, especially as he watched a body slip quietly into the Ohio River. If only he had not come this direction.\n\nCaptain Leahy had assigned Sam to the position of deckhand and Manny as a roustabout. It was the first time ever that Sam had had a job that wasn't the same as his brother's.\n\n\"Sam,\" a young white man named Finn had come to get him from Captain Leahy's office. Sam hurried to follow behind him as he walked the length of the deck. \"You ain't really a deckhand. Captain Leahy got too much on his brain. Only whites are deckhands. All the Negroes are roustabouts. But I know what the Captain meant.\" Sam listened to this speech and said nothing. So long as he wasn't called slave, he didn't care what position he was given. \"You got three jobs,\" Finn said, holding up three fingers in front of him. \"Cleaning the deck, stowing the goods, and measuring the depths of the river. I'll teach you about the river tomorrow. Today, you're going to clean the deck,\" Finn said, a smug look on his face as they came to a stop before a closet. He reached in and handed Sam a shovel. Then he pointed down. Animal droppings.\n\nScooping manure off the deck of the steamboat was the easiest job Sam had ever done in his life. He moved quickly around the deck, pausing only when they first pulled into port to watch as the ramp was lowered and the ropes were pulled in, anchoring the steamboat to shore. He saw Benji, who gave him a wink and felt a small sense of relief that their papers had worked. While he cleaned the deck, he passed Benji and Manny carrying cargo on and off the steamboat making several trips, looking tired and sweaty while he felt like he was on a bit of a stroll. With animals coming on and off the deck, the manure pile seemed never ending. That was fine with Sam.\n\nHe had just finished what he thought might be his last lap around the deck with the shovel and was headed back to the closet to return it and get new orders when he heard a muffled argument. If there was one thing Sam had learned as a slave, it was that being around angry white men was probably not in your best interest. Sam looked behind him and before him and saw no one. Not even the men hired to keep the peace. Straining his ears, he could hear the distant sounds of men yelling and cursing... and the ramp coming up. Most everyone, it seemed, was helping to get the boat out of port. For a second, the argument got louder. Sam used the noise to slip behind several large boxes of cargo. Eventually they would go away and he would come back out. But he didn't want them to catch sight of him while they were angry.\n\n\"No, Baldwin. That was not what we agreed to!\" Sam peeked around the box and saw the speaker. He was a heavyweight white man dressed in a suit and talking to a thinner, leaner man also dressed in a suit. Passengers, most likely. Sam had made enough rounds on the steamboat to start to get a feel for how it worked. There were workers, there were sailors, and there were passengers. These were passengers.\n\n\"Vance,\" the thinner man said calmly. \"You're not thinking clearly.\" And Yankees to boot. Sam hadn't heard that accent in quite some time.\n\n\"Oh, yes I am. You and Jonas\u2014,\"\n\nClear as day, Sam watched as the man called Baldwin took a step forward, covered the mouth of Vance, wrap an arm around his neck and snap. The sound seemed to echo around them. Sam, feeling like he was breathing too loud, held his breath and looked around them. Was there no one else on board this boat? Minutes ago, he had felt surrounded. Now, it seemed like everyone was gone. He closed his eyes for a moment but opened them again when he heard another sound. Vance had slumped forward, his body hitting the railing. Baldwin muttered a curse before reaching down and grabbing several stones that were on deck\u2014Sam knew they were used to weigh different items down on the steamboat\u2014and stuffing them in Vance's pockets. Baldwin looked both ways for a second and then with another curse, slid Vance's body into the water so that there was barely a splash. And then Sam stumbled, hitting the cargo in front of him. The steamboat was leaving.\n\nHe held his breath as Baldwin looked around again, clearly alerted to the noise Sam had just made. But when the sound of cheers went up in the distance, Baldwin slipped away. Sam exhaled.\n\n\"Oh, Lord,\" Sam muttered and closed his eyes for a moment. Should he do something? Should he say anything at all? A slave's word was no word at all and opening his mouth would really only open the door for trouble. Jesus, I need me some wisdom here.\n\nBut this time when Sam inhaled, he smelled tobacco. He paused, and then very slowly turned to his right. Standing less than a foot away from him, deep in the shadows of the boat, was yet another tall, white man, smoking a cheroot.\n\n\"What did you see?\" the man's voice was low and intense, clipped and short. Another Yankee. Smoke wafted out of the man's mouth, hitting Sam in the face.\n\nNot a question Sam wanted to answer. And when that happened, it was always best to play dumb. \"Suh, I just here to clean.\" Sam raised the shovel and took several steps backward in an effort to create more distance between them.\n\n\"I'm in cabin eight on the Texas. You come to my room in one hour. You hear? And if you don't come, I'll find you. The boat's not that big. If I have to find you...\"\n\nSam gritted his teeth, but kept his face blank, his eyes down.\n\n\"You hear me, boy?\" the man asked slowly. Maybe the man did think Sam was slow on the uptake.\n\n\"Suh, I is a deckhand. Not s'pose to be up on the passenger deck without reason.\"\n\n\"Find a way. You hear me, boy?\"\n\n\"Yes, suh. I hears.\"\n\nAnd then the man disappeared. When he was gone, Sam leaned forward, tapping his head against one of the boxes. Lord, why this? Why now?\n\nShould he tell Manny? How dangerous was the man from cabin eight? Course he hadn't stopped the one man from killing the other. Sam exhaled again. All he could do was pray on the matter... and show up at cabin eight."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 31", "text": "It had been easier than Sam thought it would be to slip away from his deckhand duties. There was a distinct lack of... watching. Any other day that would have given him a sense of relief. Today, though...\n\nLicking his lips, he stood before cabin eight. It was different up here, smaller, quieter, and fresher smelling.\n\nHe raised his fist and hesitantly knocked. The door swung open before he could finish the second knock.\n\nThe tall, white man who had been smoking down on the lower deck an hour ago stood before Sam.\n\n\"It had only just occurred to me that you might not recognize the number eight or know when an hour had passed.\"\n\nSam, keeping his eyes, on the man's third button said nothing. The less he said about anything, the less the man could use against him.\n\n\"Come in,\" the man said, holding the door open wider once he realized Sam was not going to speak.\n\nSam entered the cabin room and glanced around quickly. It was small and the man whose room he inhabited was a mess. Clothes were strewn on every surface. He heard the door click shut behind him.\n\n\"Listen, boy,\" the man said, coming around Sam so that they faced each other. The man was really only a few inches taller than Sam, but Sam did his best to hunch his shoulders, look smaller... be non-threatening. Though Sam kept his eyes down, he had seen that the man was maybe a few years older than Sam with black hair and a thin black mustache. Sam hadn't caught the color of his eyes and he didn't care to. \"I know you saw something but what I want to know is if you heard something?\"\n\nSam allowed his gaze to flicker to the man's for a second before returning to the floor.\n\nThe man sighed. Deeply. \"What's your name?\"\n\nSam pressed his lips together for a second. \"Sam.\"\n\n\"I'm Adam. Adam Ward. And I'm a Pinkerton. Do you know what that is?\" Sam said nothing. But no, in fact, he didn't know what that was. Nor did he give a rat's behind. \"I'm a detective. I investigate crimes. And currently I'm investigating Baldwin and Vance. Or I was investigating Vance, but Vance is now on the bottom of the Ohio. I did see that much.\"\n\nWell, excellent. What did Mr. Ward need him for then?\n\n\"You must be wondering why I asked you here?\" Adam Ward asked as he moved over to a suitcase. Sam watched as Mr. Ward pulled some papers out of his suitcase. \"It's very complicated Sam, but the short of it is this: Baldwin, Vance, and a woman named Mary Stiles, if that's her real name, robbed and murdered a wealthy man in Pittsburgh. I was hired to follow them, get proof, and have them arrested by the time the ship reaches New Orleans. Turns out this is a job a bit too big for one man. I'm going to need your help.\"\n\nSam allowed his gaze to meet Mr. Ward's for a second. He allowed him to see his answer. It was a flat-out no.\n\n\"It wouldn't be complicated. You would just be keeping an eye out on them, making sure they didn't jump ship. Stealing into their cabins every now and then to see if you could find anything incriminating.\"\n\nSam was already shaking his head before Mr. Ward had finished speaking. \"No, suh. I don't do none of that. I just here to work.\"\n\n\"Yes, and you'll be working for me. Or I'll send a telegram to my bounty hunter friend.\" Sam clenched his jaw, but said nothing. \"I saw you when you came on board with that other darkie. I'm pretty sure you're a runaway, but I know,\" Mr. Ward said, waving the papers in his hand. \"That several of the others on this boat are. Have to be. All these warrants,\" Mr. Ward said, waving the papers in his hand again. \"Were just made. Hot and fresh off the printer for slaves missing around Ohio. Ward looked down at the papers. \"Let's see, we've got Jack, the farm hand, Maria, the cook. There's Lem, a negro boy, Amos the blacksmith and his sons Benjamin, Solomon, Gideon,\" the man said as he flipped pages. \"And his daughter, a seamstress named... Laura. I don't have any with the name Sam. Yet.\"\n\nIt was all Sam could do to keep his expression neutral as a rock took form in his stomach. Adam Ward's eyes glittered as they moved from the papers in front of him to Sam's eyes. \"Sam, these slaves are worth a lot of money,\" Adam Ward said, his expression hard even as a smile touched his lips. \"Worth, I think, you helping me out with this case. Cause if you help me, I'll put these papers away and I won't look at them anymore. You don't help me, I'll be watching you and anyone else you talk to.\"\n\n\"Give me the papers.\" The words were out of Sam's mouth, before he could think about them.\n\nIt was Adam Ward's turn to blink. \"What?\"\n\n\"I would like to see the warrants.\"\n\nAdam stared at him for a second. And then handed him the papers. \"You can read them for yourself.\"\n\n\"No,\" Sam said flatly, folding them up and slipping them in his pocket. \"I can't. But I know someone who can.\"\n\nAdam Ward continued to stare at him. \"You're a lot brighter than you look.\"\n\nSam met his gaze, head-on, allowing the man to see his anger. Adam Ward blinked again. \"If this checks out, I'll be back.\"\n\nSam didn't give him a chance to say anything else. He opened the door and left the cabin.\n\nThis. This was bad. And he could not tell his brother. Because he knew what Manny's response would be. He would tell Sam that they would jump ship at the next port. Let the Virginia slaves handle their own problems. But. It wasn't in Sam to just leave.\n\nHe was walking so quickly, he almost didn't see Laura.\n\n\"Sam?\" She was carrying clothes, draped over her arm. Her hair was pinned up, her dress was dark, though she had on an apron. She looked like a proper house slave. \"What are you doin' up here?\"\n\n\"We need to talk. Somewhere quiet,\" Sam said, his voice low.\n\nShe looked around, gave a quick nod. \"Follow me,\" she said, and he followed her to the door of a cabin. She pulled out a key and unlocked it. It was a storage room. Or a laundry room. Or something. He watched as she set the dresses down on top of a growing pile. She lit a lantern, illuminating the room and then turned to face him. \"What is it?\"\n\nSam reached into his pocket and handed her the papers. \"What these say?\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 32", "text": "An uneasiness settled on Laura's shoulders as she took the papers from Sam. She had been feeling uneasy from the moment she first saw him. Was it cause Sam was on the passenger deck when she was sure he was supposed to be on the lower deck? Or was it cause the expression on Sam's face was grim. More grim than she had ever seen? Course the fact that he had papers didn't help.\n\nThough she took the papers from him, she kept her eyes on him all the while, hoping he would give something away, but other than his clenched jaw, his expression was blank, hiding his emotions.\n\nShe looked down at the sheets in her hand. Stared.\n\n\"Is that what I think it is?\" His voice was soft and he came to stand a few feet closer, as though he could read the writing on the pages.\n\n\"Where did you get this?\" she asked, her stomach dropping so quickly she placed a hand over it. At first the names and descriptions meant nothing. Then she saw something that made the air in her lungs whoosh out. There was a $200 reward for Papa. He was described in detail. Negro man, dark of color, six foot, three inches high, about a foot wide, almost forty years old. Blacksmith. She couldn't read no more. But she had too. She saw one for Benji, Sol, Gid. Herself. Worse and worse. And the bounties added together? Nigh unto a thousand dollars. It was all she could do not to fall apart.\n\n\"That's ya'll, ain't it?\"\n\n\"Where\u2014,\"\n\n\"White man who saw me and Manny get on the steamboat.\" Her stomach churned a bit. It had always been a risk, but still the irony of it all...\"He wants somethin' from me. Said if I don't help, he'll have ya'll arrested or anyone I talk to until he finds a warrant for me.\"\n\n\"A real nice fellow,\" Laura said, hearing the bitterness in her own voice. Why couldn't folks just leave them be?\n\nSam shrugged, looked away. \"Least we know who the enemy is.\"\n\nLaura stared down at the papers in front of her. \"I don't understand. What's he want from you? Can we even believe that if you do it, he'll not still have us all arrested? Cause he can take you and Manny in too without a warrant, you know.\" She looked up at Sam who was now pacing the small storage room, with his hands laced behind the back of his head.\n\n\"Said somethin' 'bout being a detective. Somethin'... I don't know. He's solvin' a murder...\" Sam shrugged and then turned to face her. \"He wants me to spy on the folks or somethin'.\" He exhaled. \"I saw a man kill another man,\" he said. Laura felt her eyes grow wide as he told her what had happened. \"Now, this here man wants my help.\" Laura swallowed the fear in her throat. \"And if you're askin' me if I trust him. I don't.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" she said, her mind racing. They would have to get off this boat at the next port. Somehow, someway.\n\n\"But,\" Sam said, his voice low. \"I do think he needs my help. He ain't likely to call in the warrants 'fore he gets it. It'll buy us some time.\"\n\n\"Us?\" Laura looked at him. They weren't a package deal. It would be easier for him and Manny to disappear than for her family to. He looked back, gave one quick nod.\n\n\"Us.\"\n\n\"You don't have to\u2014.\"\n\n\"Ain't in me to leave when someone needs help.\" Laura blinked back tears of frustration she hadn't realized were forming. She glanced down at the papers in her hand. \"Manny and I wouldn't have gotten this far without you. Without all of ya'll.\"\n\n\"We haven't exactly gotten that far, Sam.\" Yes, the steamboat moved quickly. Five miles an hour she overheard one of the passengers say this morning. But still. She had very little doubt that they were still somewhere in Ohio.\n\nSam shrugged again, stuck his hands in his pockets. It was gesture he made often to make it seem like he knew nothing. And she was beginning to quickly realize that wasn't the case. \"It's not like we got anybody else to teach us about life. Teach us how to read and whatnot.\" The last part he said with embarrassment. Laura huffed. He would learn how to read, with or without her family. This much she knew was true. Sam was... he was special. Even she could tell that and she barely knew him. And for a second she wondered what that detective had noticed about him. And she got angry.\n\n\"This man is threatenin' you, Sam. You should leave while you have the chance. There's nothin' in here about you. Or Manny. You've got time.\"\n\n\"I think,\" Sam said slowly, biting his lip. He still wouldn't meet her gaze. \"I think we should see how this plays out. The longer we on this ship, the farther we are from Kentucky. From Virginia. Take it one step at a time.\"\n\nLaura folded up the papers in her hand, handed them back to him. He took them slowly, as though she were handing him a poisonous snake. Which she supposed, they kind of were. \"I can't let you do that, Sam. I can't let you stay here a minute longer than you have to. We'll be alright. We'll figure somethin' out.\" They would. Laura had no doubt that the moment she told Papa about what she had seen, he would think of something.\n\n\"You're not lettin' me do anythin'.\" Sam's voice was low, hard. \"I'm choosin' to do this. Choosin' to stay.\"\n\n\"What would Manny say?\" Laura saw his wince. \"He would say leave us.\" She hadn't known them that long, but that much she had picked up on.\n\n\"There's no reason why Manny needs to know about this at all.\"\n\n\"Sam.\"\n\n\"I've made up my mind, Laura. We'll play it by ear. But as long as this boat is movin,' it's gettin' us all just one more step closer to freedom.\"\n\nLaura folded her arms over her chest, watching as Sam finally slipped the papers back into his pocket. She didn't see one thing he was getting out of this. Out of helping them all. \"Then let me help you. Whatever this man, this detective wants, you tell me.\"\n\n\"Laura\u2014,\" Sam said, a frown beginning to form on his handsome face.\n\n\"In fact, I think I should find out if he's even tellin' the truth about bein' a detective.\"\n\n\"And just how you gone do that?\"\n\n\"I'll slip into his room, go through his stuff.\" She still had her lock picks, there was no lock she couldn't break into.\n\n\"I can't let you\u2014,\"\n\n\"Let me?\" Laura asked softly. She saw him wince. There was no let anymore. \"You're not lettin' me do anythin'. If you're willin' to risk yourself, risk Manny for my family, then I'm goin' to help. Besides, Sam. This,\" she said, waving a hand around. \"Is what I'm good at.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"Findin' out white folks' secrets. What you think we did in the Big House? Just cook and clean?\"\n\nSam eyed her for a second. Then said slowly, humor tugging at his lips for a moment, \"I suppose I did.\"\n\n\"Well, you supposed wrong. I learned from the best how to get information.\" Though she had been the one to teach Prince how to pick locks. He had complained the whole time about how low and criminal she was even as he made her show him again and again and again. He claimed that he was better at it now than her. She didn't believe him. Not even Benji was better than her. He may have taught her how it worked, but he had never had a chance to really practice.\n\n\"I'll find out what I can on this detective... what did you say his name was again?\"\n\n\"Adam. Adam Ward,\" Sam said slowly, reluctantly.\n\n\"Adam Ward. You leave him to me. And whatever thing he asks you to do, you tell me so I can help.\"\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\n\"Sam.\"\n\nThey stared at each other.\n\n\"We'll pray on it too.\" Laura said definitively. Sam blinked once. Slowly. It wasn't anything she had ever said to Prince. Prince would have rolled his eyes to high heaven. But she hadn't forgotten that Sam had wanted to pray about going west first. Odd as that had been, it had felt right. \"When life gets uncertain, you have to run to the one thing that is.\" Or so Mama had always said. She had never put it into practice before though. Life hadn't seemed all that uncertain. It did now. She held out her hands toward Sam. It was how she and Mama had always prayed, holding hands. Sam looked at her for a second and then at her hands. \"Hold them and hurry.\"\n\n\"Why would we hold\u2014,\"\n\nDidn't he know they didn't have time for this? Field hands, Laura thought with a shake of her hand. She grabbed his hands, felt how hard and calloused they were for a second. \"Dear Lord, grant us wisdom and knowledge as we deal with this Adam Ward. He is no good, Lord. Make it clear to us if we need to leave, show us what we need to do if we should stay. Let us have ears to hear and eyes to see your guidance. Protect Sam. Protect me. In Jesus' name. Amen.\" She released his hands, took a step back. Ignored the wideness of his eyes as he stared at her.\n\nWomen laughing outside the door broke his focus.\n\n\"I need to get back to Ward and give the papers back. See what he wants from me,\" Sam said quickly, quietly.\n\n\"And until I know that, I'll keep my eye on Adam Ward.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 33", "text": "\"We're not movin',\" Laura stated, but really it was a question.\n\n\"No ma'am,\" Shadrach said. He was a big, hefty, dark skinned man, and the head cook for the evening. Laura had been on her feet all day. First she had cooked with Nellie for the morning and afternoon meals, then assisted all the female passengers in the cabin deck which essentially meant she ran errands and cleaned. Then she had laundered and ironed clothes, occasionally stopping to reattach a button or fix a seam. When Levi had caught sight of her, he had told her to grab something to eat when she could. It had been the only time that day that she had sat down. It had also been the second time she had seen Sol and Gid. They had been serving the noon meal in the dining hall. Both of them had beamed at the sight of her though there had been no time for conversation.\n\nBut she didn't slow down. She worked harder. Because she had to make herself indispensable for the duration of her time here. And she needed to make sure she knew everybody and everything that happened on this ship. Which was why she had volunteered to serve supper that night. She and Sam did not have a moment to waste.\n\n\"Must not be a full moon and Captain Leahy don't like to move when it's dark out. Might hit a snag and ain't nothin' worth a snag.\" Or he might be smuggling more goods on the ship was what the man didn't say. She couldn't hardly complain. It was how Sam and Manny had gotten on board after all.\n\nLaura hid a sigh. She wanted them to move. And move quickly. \"Do you know where we are?\"\n\n\"I can tell you we ain't hit the Mississippi yet. You'll know when we get to the Mississippi. Here,\" Shadrach said, placing several bowls of piping hot food on the tray next to Laura. \"You know how to set a table?\" he asked, giving her a critical eye.\n\n\"I told you I did,\" Laura said and hefted the tray. She had set more than one table when Salis House entertained.\n\nWalking backwards, she pushed through the kitchen door and turned. For a second, she paused, taking in the dining room. It was quite something for a boat with its plush carpet, dangling chandeliers, and painted wood ornament. The room had been changed, like Levi had told her it would be. Gone were the sparse tables and chairs from earlier in the day. Now, there were long elegant tables dressed with white tablecloths and silverware. Almost it felt like she was serving supper at Salis for the tables were filled with elegantly dressed passengers, laughing and talking. Laura saw the girls she had waited on earlier, Daphne and Lucinda. She saw Mrs. Lavinia Hartford fluttering her fan at a man next to her. She saw Paulina McRae who had nigh unto twenty bottles of perfume cause she didn't like to bathe and Virginia Potter who was increasing for the first time and very ill. Even now she looked a bit green. Diana Jameson whose dress Laura had had to almost remake cause the woman's wardrobe was old and she was getting bigger. She was already getting a feel for each and every woman on the Texas deck, but she knew very little about the men. She wondered which man seated at the table was the illustrious Adam Ward who had the temerity to blackmail them. Sam.\n\nThen she lifted the tray higher in her hand and stepped forward into the role of server. Keeping her ears attuned and her face expressionless, she listened in on every conversation, paying careful attention to the men and wishing she had asked Sam for some kind of description. She poured lemonade, she poured wine. She replaced silverware, she wiped up messes, and all the while she listened.\n\nShe was on her feet for almost an hour before she heard his name uttered.\n\n\"Why, Mr. Ward!\" a woman tittered in front of Laura as she refilled her glass. It was the heavily scented Paulina McRae.\n\nLaura looked across the table and saw a young, slender, handsome white man with a head full of black hair. In seconds, she had his face, his voice memorized. Good. She knew who he was. More importantly, she knew he was here.\n\nShe walked back to the kitchen, a bottle of wine in her hand.\n\n\"Shadrach, would it be alright if I called it a night?\" she asked, careful not to make eye contact.\n\n\"Girl, I told you, you didn't need to be down here no way!\" The cook said, though his voice was friendly. \"I thank you all the same. These other folks could use some of your gumption,\" he muttered, sending a look towards two other servers in the kitchen. They were two colored men who, she learned, only came to serve in the evenings. She wondered if either of them were on the papers in Adam Ward's room. But by the way they responded, with a roll of their eyes, they had been on this ship a lot longer than her.\n\n\"Have a good night,\" Laura said and slipped out the back door.\n\nCabin eight, she believed Sam had said.\n\nShe walked out onto the deck and moved to the railing. Taking just a moment, she stared into the deep, vast, dark, and endless sky. Distant, tiny stars winked at her in the distance. Lord God, she prayed, Creator of all of this. Keep us safe.\n\nShe then turned and walked to the male side of the boat. Counted down the doors. Found cabin eight. She placed a hand on it and found it locked. Just as she assumed it might be. She eyed the lock for a second and decided against using the lock picks in her pocket. She reached into her hair and pulled out a pin. Making sure no one was around, she jimmied the lock, heard it pop, and then pushed the door open.\n\nThe first thing that hit her was the smell. Tobacco. A very different brand than the one Massa Will smoked. She walked over to the small dresser where the lantern would be, and upon finding it, lit it. The room was a mess. Except, she realized a moment later, not really. She noted the clothes all in one corner. The personal items in another. His trunk at the foot of his bed. She got started there. The lock was not on. She got on her knees and lifted the top. There were more clothes, a shaving kit, books, she moved things around, reached for the bottom. A satchel. She opened it, flipped through the papers. She found the warrants that he had given Sam. Either he had extra copies or Sam had returned them. She found other warrants as well but mostly for white men. Then she found letters. All of them seemed personal in kind. She would come back, read them later if she had time. Blackmail worked two ways, Prince had always said though neither of them had ever had the courage to try it. And while she had no problems snooping, she figured blackmail had to be against God's law. With a sigh, she put them back. She didn't really want to know anything about this man anyway.\n\nShe replaced the lid when she found nothing about detective work. She went through his suitcase next, ran her hand against the lining of the case and found something that shouldn't be there. An extra seam. Running her fingers across the cloth she found where it opened. Aha. She pulled the papers out. It seemed he was some kind of detective. Pinkerton. She wished she had someone to ask. She slipped the papers back inside, smoothed down the fabric and closed the suitcase.\n\nAnd then the door opened."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 34", "text": "\"Wait right here, Sam. I'll be right back,\" Finn said and slipped away into the darkness. There was no moon and barely a star in the sky. The clouds were heavy in the air and Sam wondered if that meant there would be a storm. He had always liked storms. Mostly. Heavy storms meant no working out in the fields. But then that meant that the next day they would be slipping and sliding in the mud. It was only fun for the first minute. Then it was just work.\n\nSam found a spot along the boat's railing that seemed empty. All around him, men were talking low, smoking, sleeping. When the wind blew through the boat, he shivered and wished he had had the sense to grab his bag with his food and blanket. But then again, if Finn needed him to do some more work, he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon anyway. He slid down against the railing, leaning his back against it. He wasn't hardly tired. Nothing he had done today added up to a day's labor on a tobacco farm. But. Now he had Adam Ward's words spinning around in his head. Thinking, he was beginning to realize, could be just as tiring as moving. And yet, he couldn't stop his brain from going back to when he returned the warrants to Adam Ward.\n\n\"You found someone to read them, then?\" Mr. Ward had asked after he took the papers from Sam.\n\n\"I did,\" Sam said slowly, looking around Mr. Ward's room. Nothing stood out to him. He wondered what or rather if anything would stand out to Laura. He didn't like the idea of her sneaking up here one bit. No matter what she said about doing so at... Salis House. If you asked Sam, them white folks up at Salis House seemed to let a lot get by under they noses. He didn't think that was the case for most slave owners.\n\n\"So, you see I wasn't lying?\"\n\n\"You weren't lyin' about the warrants,\" Sam replied, returning his gaze to the man before him. He watched as Mr. Ward opened his trunk and set the papers inside. He wondered what other papers the man kept in there.\n\nA small smile flew across Adam Ward's lips. \"But you think I might be lying about other things.\"\n\n\"I don't know you well enough to say.\" He made sure to keep his voice bland, neutral.\n\n\"Sam,\" Mr. Ward said, his dark gaze piercing. \"I think I've underestimated you. I don't know much about darkies. I didn't grow up with any. I'm no slave owner. I only know what I've heard.\" Sam said nothing, merely stared back.\n\nFinally, Mr. Ward sighed. \"Here's the deal, Sam. Three weeks ago, James Alexander Sherringhouse was murdered in his home. He lived alone except for the usual servants, a housekeeper, a butler, two maidservants, a cook, etc. Anyway. The robbers, before stabbing him fifteen times in his bed, managed to get access to his safe stealing thousands of dollars. It was a safe that few people knew about. Now, of course, they could have broken in and demanded that he tell them where it was, but you see, James Sherringhouse was paranoid. He kept two safes: an obvious one in his office and a hidden one in his bedroom closet. Both of them were robbed. To me, an obvious inside job. Especially since he was robbed on a night when the butler was visiting his brother and the maidservants were sick. Both of them. No one heard anything. All of the staff were more than helpful with supplying information. But as we began to look closely at the housekeeper, the butler, and the gardener, certain things didn't add up. Long story short, they weren't who they said they were. They realized we were on to them. I traced them to this boat. Baldwin was the butler. Vance the gardener. I haven't found Mary Stiles, the housekeeper. I have reason to believe she was wearing a disguise when she played the housekeeper. I've got no proof. Only suspicions.\"\n\n\"You know Baldwin killed Vance.\" Wasn't that enough? One white man killing another? Why did he need more proof?\n\n\"I do,\" Mr. Ward said with a slow nod. \"But that's not going to tell me anything about who killed Sherringhouse. And that is the prize I'm focusing on here. I'm doing all I can to keep an eye on Baldwin and trying to find out which woman is Mary Stiles. I can't do both. I need you to watch Baldwin. You know what he looks like. I need you to study him, take note of his habits. Where does he go? Who does he talk to? When we pull up to a port, I need you to make sure he doesn't get off this boat without me knowing. That's all I want you to do for me now. But the more I find out, the more I may need you.\"\n\nSam felt his lips twist to the side, his gaze on the wall nearest him. Follow a white man around a boat not much bigger than an acre. That wasn't so bad. Matter of fact it was too easy.\n\n\"Sam,\" Mr. Ward's voice said, harder now. \"You don't want to mess this up. You will regret it. I may not have a warrant on you, but I have no problem having you detained until I do find one.\"\n\nSam glanced at him for a second and then looked away. If it was one thing Sam knew, it was just how good white men felt when they tossed out their threats. Well. He would just have to talk to his God about this. That thought reminded him of Laura. Praying. For them. Other than his mama way back when, he had never had anyone pray with him, pray for him. And why had they held hands, exactly? He let go of his thoughts when he felt Mr. Ward's eyes on him.\n\nSam gave a quick nod, since Mr. Ward seemed to be waiting for an answer.\n\n\"I bet you don't even have a last name.\" Ward said it with a huff, a laugh. A dismissal.\n\n\"Not true,\" Sam said quickly, feeling more than a little annoyed. \"Rivers,\" he said, making it up on the spot. An easy thing to do since no matter what his last name was, it going to be pulled from thin air. \"Samuel Rivers.\"\n\n\"Rivers,\" Adam Ward said slowly as though he didn't believe him.\n\n\"That's what I said,\" Sam said, eyeing the man for a second, daring him to say something else on the matter.\n\nAdam Ward grunted. Let it go. \"I think we should meet up, once a day, just before noon to discuss. Alright, Sam?\" Mr. Ward said as though Sam were none too bright. Wanted him to do an important job, but still wanted to remind him he was less than a man. Slave or no, Sam was beginning to realize there was some things he might never be free of.\n\n\"Alright.\"\n\nAnd now here Sam was on the lower deck 'bout to get new orders from Finn. Way he figured it, Baldwin wasn't going nowhere what with them not moving and in the middle of the river. He'd take up keeping an eye on the man in the morning. That part didn't worry him. What did worry him was what Adam Ward would demand next. Cause Sam had no doubts something else would be coming down the line.\n\n\"There you is,\" Manny said and sat down with a huff next to Sam. \"I ain't seen you all day.\"\n\n\"Been workin',\" Sam said quietly. Amongst other things. There was no way he would tell Manny a thing about Adam Ward or what he had said. Though he supposed he would tell Laura. The thought made him feel skittish. It would require some trusting and Sam had never trusted anyone other than the man sitting beside him. And it wasn't cause Sam felt like most folks was untrustworthy. But when you started to trust folks, they had a way of starting to mean more than they ought. And Sam couldn't afford to have another person mean more than they ought. It hurt too much when you had to let them go.\n\n\"Me too.\" Manny stretched next to him. \"Everythin' hurts, but it's a different kind of hurt so it ain't so bad.\" Manny reached down and pulled his boots off. \"Whew wee, my feet stink. I know we supposed to wear shoes, but that is just somethin'.\"\n\n\"Uh huh.\"\n\n\"What you thinkin' on?\" Manny's voice was low, quiet, knowing as he set his boots aside and aired his toes... much to Sam's frustration.\n\nIf he was going to get away with keeping Manny out of the loop than he was going to have to do better at keeping his emotions under wrap. \"When we get out west, what we gonna do?\"\n\n\"Stop worryin' 'bout that Sam,\" Manny said a smile on his lips. Sam looked at him, really looked at him. He had never seen his brother so at peace. \"Ain't you the one who goes to God for everythin' with prayer? Ain't you prayed yet and got a peace?\"\n\n\"How 'bout for once you pray and get a peace.\"\n\n\"Nope. You do just fine, Sam.\"\n\n\"Hey,\" a familiar voice said. Sam watched as Benji came and sat down on his other side.\n\n\"Where did you go?\" Manny asked the boy. And Sam remembered that they worked together.\n\n\"See, Pa. He says it's hard work bein' in the boiler room, but he's used to the heat from the smithy. He's already sleep.\"\n\nBenji reached into his bag. \"Ya'll ate yet?\"\n\n\"Nope,\" Manny said and reached for his bag. It was another they had purchased back in Ohio. A second bag so they could both have one. Looked like Sam was the only one who had left his bag. He had found a little spot in the storage room. It was safe. But it wasn't here. \"Here,\" Manny said and tossed him some cold bread that had been baked by Mrs. G.\n\n\"I haven't seen none of my family other than Pa,\" Ben said after taking a few bites of his food.\n\n\"Saw your sister,\" Sam said before he could think.\n\n\"She up there servin' white folks?\" Benji asked, but there was a harsh tinge to his voice.\n\n\"Ain't that... what we all do?\" Manny asked him, leaning past Sam.\n\n\"Yeah, well it's different for her,\" Benji grumbled, his eyes on the food in his hand.\n\n\"You got a reason to be talkin' down your sister or you just jealous?\" Sam asked quietly. Cause Laura's work might be different than theirs, but last time he checked she was still working.\n\nHe felt both Manny and Benji's stares. He knew Manny was wondering why he gave two hoots about defending Laura, he didn't know what Benji thought.\n\n\"You don't understand,\" the boy finally said. \"She. They. You don't understand.\"\n\n\"Apparently not,\" Sam said with a sigh. Suddenly very tired. \"But I can tell you this much, that girl has been workin' hard and she don't say not one hard word about you.\" And if this business with Adam Ward continued, and Sam had no reason to think it wouldn't, she would really be working hard to protect Benji. To protect all of them.\n\nThere was an awkward silence, but Sam refused to say anything to lessen it.\n\n\"You don't know what it was like havin' family up at Salis House while me and Pa and my brothers worked from sunup to sundown. Then Laura would come home lookin' at us like we less than.\"\n\n\"Lookin'?\" Sam asked the word in such a way that Benji had to sense his disbelief.\n\n\"Yes! Lookin'! Maybe you had to be there,\" Benji sputtered, throwing out a hand in exasperation. \"My oldest brother was the worst. He just pretended we didn't exist, just cause his daddy was Massa Richard.\"\n\n\"Now, this is gettin' interestin',\" Manny said, leaning forward. \"Please. Tell me more.\" Sam elbowed him in the side while Benji threw him a murderous glance. \"What? I heard stuff like this happened in Big Houses, ain't never know nobody what lived it.\"\n\n\"Did she ever say somethin' to you?\" Sam asked, in attempt to get them back on target with the conversation.\n\n\"No,\" Benji said reluctantly, eyeing the piece of bread in his hand as though it had betrayed him.\n\n\"Then it's not your place to assign intents of the heart. You don't get to judge her for words unsaid. And even if she had said them, when you stand before God, he's gone look at your heart and how you dealt with the matter. He ain't gone be askin' no questions 'bout her.\"\n\n\"Sam talks to God regularly. He knows these things,\" Manny said, only half-joking. \"Even though he ain't never read the Good Book for himself.\" But Benji, no longer eating, said nothing. \"You know how to read?\" Manny asked, filling the silence. Unusually taking note of someone else's feelings, Sam thought.\n\n\"A little,\" Benji said quietly. \"I don't get a chance to read as much as Laura, but I know my letters. I can sound out words if needed.\" After a pause, he said, \"I can write my name, too. And it's long.\"\n\n\"Sound out?\" Manny repeated even though he was still chewing.\n\n\"Yeah. It's like a puzzle sometimes. You got to put all the words and their soundings together sometimes to get the big words to make sense.\"\n\n\"We know our letters,\" Manny said quickly.\n\n\"But do you know all of their sounds?\"\n\nSam listened as Benji went through each letter making the sound that it reflected. Sam quietly repeated Benji's words to himself.\n\n\"Sam?\" Finn said, appearing out of nowhere, now holding a lantern.\n\nSam hadn't even realized just how dark it had gotten until he saw that light. He stood up.\n\n\"We'll be right here, brother. When you're done,\" Manny said quietly.\n\nSam followed Finn to the familiar storage room.\n\n\"Hold this.\" Sam took the lantern as Finn pulled out what looked to be a basket. Except it was made of iron and not wood.\n\n\"This is a torch basket. We use it when and if we travel at night. We aren't travelin' at night now because we're ahead of schedule. There's no need to, but don't be surprised if the Captain decides we have to. If that happens, I'll send you for these. We fill them with oil-soaked scraps and then toss them over the side. Sometimes the firemen need them to see when they load the wood for fuel. Now watch me show you how this works. You have to be careful. The last thing we want is to set the whole boat on fire.\"\n\nSam leaned against the doorframe and watched as Finn showed him which scraps to use, where the oil was, and how to place it in the iron basket.\n\n\"You won't be alone doin' this. But you should still know how it works. Go ahead and get some sleep cause tomorrow we start all over again, cleanin' the deck and whatnot.\"\n\nSam grabbed his bag that he had tucked in a corner and headed back towards where he had left his brother and Benji. On the other side of the steamer.\n\nHe was just past the stairs when he saw the flicker of a light, then smelled the scent of tobacco. He wasn't sure what made him pause, but he did. It was Baldwin. And he was not alone."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 35", "text": "The key to not being in trouble was to have no quick movements. She saw the gun first, and then the slim body of Adam Ward entered the room.\n\n\"What are you doing in here?\" he asked, his voice hard, his gun pointed at her. And his accent... he was a northerner. Not at all familiar with slaves then.\n\nShe looked down at the gun and then flicked her gaze at him. \"I was straightenin' but if that's the thanks I'm gonna get, I won't do it again.\"\n\nAdam Ward blinked, looked down at his own gun, and slipped it in the holster at his waist. \"I didn't expect anyone to be here.\"\n\n\"You did pay to be in first class, didn't you?\" Laura made sure her disdain for him was clear.\n\nHe flushed. \"I did.\"\n\n\"Perhaps you like to live in filth,\" she motioned towards his corner of dirty clothes. \"I certainly will not stop you,\" she made to move.\n\n\"No,\" he said, holding up a hand. \"Please. Continue. I've been on this boat a few days and... ,\"\n\n\"I've been a bit more concerned with the women, thought I could help out now. But I can leave.\"\n\n\"No,\" he said quickly. \"Only here to get some more cheroots. Got a poker game starting in the salon,\" he said offhandedly. Laura turned, giving him her back and began making up his bed. She heard him fiddling around in his suitcase.\n\n\"Are you in here every day?\"\n\n\"I can be, if you like,\" she said, tucking the corners of the sheets under the mattress.\n\n\"How about every other day?\"\n\n\"That works, too.\"\n\n\"You got a name?\"\n\nShe paused. He might recognize her name if she gave it. \"Lolly,\" she said finally. She had answered to it often enough. \"Would you like your clothes laundered and ironed?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" he said and then just like that, he was gone.\n\nShe exhaled. Loudly. She had just given herself more work. But it might be a good idea to have constant access to Adam Ward's room. She finished cleaning his room as promised, grabbed his dirty clothes, dropped them off in the laundry room, and finally went to get some sleep.\n\n\u2014-\n\nShe was up early the next morning and happy to feel the smooth rhythm of the boat moving again underneath her. Like Sam said, every day on the boat was one day further away from Virginia.\n\n\"Chop these,\" Miz Nellie said, setting a bunch of onions on the only empty table. Laura had changed into her patterned muslin again, and took a minute to pin on an apron. \"Them other girls handlin' the cabins this mornin'.\"\n\n\"After breakfast, I'll do the laundry if that's alright with you,\" Laura said as she went to get a knife.\n\nMiz Nellie stopped beating the dough in front of her, sizing up Laura. \"You used to hard work.\"\n\n\"I'm used to work,\" Laura corrected, but sent the older woman a small smile. She picked up the knife and started making quick work through the onions. She was glad when Miz Nellie didn't ask anymore questions.\n\nThe door to the dining hall opened revealing Sol and Gid.\n\n\"Laura!\" They said together and rushed in. Both of them were carrying shoes, a rag, and polish.\n\n\"We're cabin boys,\" Sol said quickly as they took a seat at the table where Laura was chopping the onions.\n\n\"We supposed to be polishin' shoes,\" Gid said, holding up somebody's boot. He wrinkled his nose, though she wasn't sure if it was from the smell or the job. \"How come you got to polish shoes if you only gone wear them again?\"\n\n\"Polish doesn't clean shoes,\" Laura corrected gently as she reached for another onion. \"If the shoe is made of leather, it makes the shoe last longer. And it makes it look nice.\" She ignored the quick glance Miz Nellie sent her way.\n\n\"Uh huh,\" Gid said, making a face. \"All I know is I almost cain't breathe no more cause of all this polish. I been polishin' all mornin'!\" But even though he complained, his eyes twinkled with what he wasn't saying. Spending his days polishing shoes was a lot better than spending his days digging up coal for the salt mines.\n\n\"You know these two heathens?\" Miz Nellie asked as she began to separate the dough, forming small biscuits.\n\n\"Laura's our sister,\" Sol said firmly.\n\n\"They came by yesterday and helped me out some,\" Miz Nellie said, sprinkling more flour on the dough. \"When you boys finish them boots, you come back and I'll give you some breakfast.\"\n\nHer brothers shared a wide grin before returning back to their jobs with renewed vigor.\n\n\"You seen Pa?\" Gid asked, rubbing his scrap of polish, hard over the shoes. Laura hid a wince. She had seen Prince polish Massa Richard's shoes. Delicate and gentle were the words that defined his movements.\n\n\"No.\" And wasn't that something? Once again, Laura was separated from Papa.\n\n\"We gone try and find him when we can,\" Sol said seriously. \"Him and Benji both.\"\n\n\"We got more time, Laura,\" Gid said, sending her a smile. And wasn't that the truth? Maybe she needed to make time to see Papa. Except that if anyone could figure out what she was up to with Adam Ward and the warrants, it was him. It might be best if she didn't seek him out. Unless she absolutely had too.\n\nThe kitchen door opened and one of the Irish girls, Maureen, peeked her head in. \"Miz Nellie, can you come out here for a second?\"\n\nWhen Miz Nellie was gone, Laura turned to her brothers. \"While ya'll runnin' around lookin' for Papa, stop and see if you can't help Sam and Manny.\"\n\n\"Help 'em with what?\" Sol asked suspiciously. Unlike Gid, she was beginning to realize that Sol didn't take things at face value.\n\n\"Help them learn their letters or even their numbers. They don't know as much you do.\"\n\n\"They can count,\" Sol countered, still eyeing her. Cause they had always been told to keep what they learned to the family. Less likely to get caught that way.\n\n\"But can they do maths?\"\n\n\"How come?\" Gid asked, his cute face curious. She fought an urge to squeeze his cheeks. He wasn't going to be little forever.\n\n\"Because. We need to look out for each other.\" And because Sam was keeping their bacon from being cooked.\n\n\"We may not have that much time,\" Sol said slowly. \"Learnin' ain't easy.\"\n\n\"Just try. Okay? And ask Papa if he needs anythin'.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 36", "text": "Laura was in the laundry room, bent over a metal tub, and scrubbing somebody's shirt against the washboard when she heard knocking on the door.\n\n\"Come in,\" she said. She dropped the shirt in the water and ran the back of her hand against the top of her forehead, wiping away moisture. The heat from the water was making her sweat some fierce. She was tempted to prop the door open, but had already been told by Maureen and the other girl, Emma, that if Captain Leahy caught wind of it, he wouldn't be happy. Servants and their duties were not to be seen. So there she was, overheating in the small space. Fortunately, she would be able to hang some of the clothes outside on a clothesline to dry. She was very much looking forward to that.\n\n\"I wasn't sure if you would be in here or not,\" Sam said slowly as he pushed the door open wider.\n\n\"Come in, and shut the door,\" Laura said, reaching for a cup of cool water behind her. For a second she wondered what she looked like and then tossed that thought right out of her mind. What she looked like didn't matter at all.\n\nSam, on the other hand, somehow managed to look clean and neat even though he was wearing the same clothes he had worn yesterday. If she recollected correctly, he only had one other pair.\n\n\"You should look into purchasin' more cloth.\" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. He frowned and shot her a confused look. \"You only have two pairs of clothes, right?\" Working like they did took a toll on clothes. Nothing gave you away faster than worn, holey clothes. At least in Laura's opinion.\n\nSam looked down for a second, wrapping his arms around himself. \"I saved the clothes I ran in.\"\n\nLaura thought back to what he was running in. \"You need more clothes. Your clothes won't last long. Buy some cloth and I'll make you a shirt and some pants.\" With three pairs of clothes, there would be a nice rotation.\n\nSam, tapping a finger against his bicep said, \"Need my money for more than clothes.\"\n\n\"The right fabric won't cost much and I won't charge you. How could I? Look at what you're doin' for us.\" He sent her a frown. \"I went to Adam Ward's room last night.\" His expression changed as he stared at her. If she didn't know any better she would say he was horrified. \"He is who he says he is. Some kind of detective. Workin' for Pinkerton. I only wish I had someone to ask about this Pinkerton.\"\n\n\"Did he... were you...\"\n\n\"Was I caught? Yes.\" Sam flinched. \"Don't worry, though, Sam,\" Laura said as she bent over the metal tub again and stuck her fingers back into the hot water. She would have to continue this conversation as she worked before the water had a chance to cool. \"He just thinks I was there to clean. I've arranged to clean his room every other day in case we need to go back in there. Now. What does Adam Ward want from you?\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Why what?\"\n\n\"Why were you spyin',\" he said the last word quietly and shot a quick glance around the room as though to make sure someone else hadn't somehow appeared in there with them, \"on the white folks at Salis House?\"\n\nLaura eyed him for a second. \"Do you know why we ran?\"\n\n\"Cause your massa was goin' to sell Sol and Gid.\"\n\n\"Who you think found that out?\" He bit his bottom lip as understanding dawned. \"I like to know change is comin'.\"\n\n\"You ever get caught?\" Had she ever been caught? In a word: yes. And she had been soundly beaten with a broom, slapped across the face more times than she could count, yelled at and fussed at, forced to scrub all the chamber pots until she vomited from the smell. Miss Annabelle, when she had been alive, had even cut off all of her hair once as punishment. She had cried for days until Prince told her she was just as ugly with hair as without. Mama had had to break up that fight. But she had never stopped. She had only grown better. For the most part. Of course her punishment was nothing compared to an actual whipping. There was nothing more she hated than being forced to watch someone being whipped.\n\n\"Yes. I been caught. Why did you and Manny run?\"\n\nHis eyes darted away, and she read embarrassment in his face. His words were mumbled when they came out, but she still heard them. \"They wanted us to breed.\"\n\nShe had heard of this of course. Charity had been forced to breed on purpose when Miss Annabelle found herself increasing with Missy Adora. Miss Annabelle had wanted a wet-nurse who was also a house slave and Massa Richard wasn't in the mood to buy anymore slaves. She had always thought the men had it easy when it came to those things. But by the look on Sam's face, maybe not.\n\nShe took mercy on him. \"What did that Adam Ward want?\"\n\nSam exhaled, but then he told her the story about some old white man being murdered for his money and Adam Ward looking for proof. \"You just supposed to follow the man?\"\n\n\"Right now. But I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks of somethin' else.\" She heard the hesitation in his voice.\n\n\"Tell me.\"\n\n\"Huh?\" he said and looked up, his face carefully blank. But it didn't fool her none.\n\n\"You don't get to throw yourself headlong into danger and I don't. We're in this together, Sam,\" Laura said quietly. But she meant it. She wouldn't let him take on the burden of her family, while they sat back and enjoyed the ride.\n\nSam sent her another look, but she wasn't too sure what it meant. \"Saw the man, Baldwin, last night, smokin' on the lower deck. He wasn't alone. There was a woman.\"\n\n\"Describe her,\" Laura said quickly as she ran the shirt in her hand up and down the washer.\n\n\"Can I help?\" he asked, his eyes dropping to her hands.\n\n\"No, Sam. You can't help,\" Laura said, exasperated. She pulled the shirt out of the water, hoped it was clean and went to hang it on the line behind her. She would wring it out later. When he was gone. \"Stay on topic.\" But he didn't listen. He came around to her side of the tub and rolled up his sleeves. \"It's not in me to not help.\"\n\n\"Sam,\" she said, censure in her voice as he reached for a dirty shirt and pressed it against the washboard. She watched him dunk it in the water.\n\nHe glanced up at her, a small grin on his face. \"Never really washed my clothes before. Just gave them a little twirl in the creek. This here is some hot water.\"\n\nLaura sighed. He was like her brothers all over again when she showed them how irons worked. It's always fun in the beginning. \"Well. Hot water cleans. You're doin' it wrong,\" she said, and slipped in front of him. Bending over, she reached down and grabbed his hands which were under water. \"Like this,\" she said gently, moving the shirt against the washboard until there was a distinct pace.\n\n\"All this bendin' reminds me of the farm.\"\n\n\"Waterin' and weedin'?\" They had kept a garden by the kitchens. More often than she had liked she had found herself out there turning over dirt and picking out weeds.\n\n\"No,\" in her ear, his voice was dry. Humorless. \"You have to plant the tobacco plants and then uproot 'em.\" He paused. \"You ever seen a tobacco seed? They small and you gotta plant 'em one way at first and then another way so that they roots have room to grow. Mindless but continuous work.\" She met his gaze then. Which was not hard to do since he was so close. His had a strong face, an appealing face with eyes so brown they were almost black. She had already been hot from the steam off the water, but now his body heat was making her hotter. She removed the shirt they had been scrubbing, giving her some space from him and then replaced it with another. This time, he got on his knees leaning over the bin. He was taller so it was easier for him, but still she mimicked his position, stretching forward as she showed him again how to get the shirt clean. \"Is this what you did all day?\" he asked.\n\n\"I sewed. And took care of Missy Adora, Massa Richard's youngest daughter, and just helped where needed. Sometimes launderin', sometimes cookin' with my best friend, Annie.\"\n\n\"Annie didn't run?\"\n\n\"She has children. Little ones.\" But maybe they should have tried. They hadn't even tried.\n\n\"That's got to be hard,\" he said, he was so close. \"Havin' young'uns.\"\n\n\"It's like you want them, but...\"\n\n\"You cain't promise 'em no better life than yours.\" And then suddenly she didn't notice the water anymore or the shirt. He was just plain too close. She stood up. He followed. But still there was no space between them as he gripped her arm.\n\n\"Laura.\" She felt his breath against her cheek. \"Be careful. Alright? I know you know more about this... sneakin' business than me. But just be careful.\" She gave a quick nod, unable at the moment to form words. She had thought him handsome, yes. But it was almost along the same lines as thinking a dress was beautiful. And because there was so much of the world he didn't know, she had, at some point, began to think of him as just another younger brother. But he wasn't her brother. \"I'm prayin'... for both of us in this matter. But still be careful. About Baldwin talkin' to that person, it was a woman. It was so dark I couldn't make out much what she looked like, but I did follow her to her cabin when she left him. She's in cabin twelve.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 37", "text": "Sam closed the laundry room door behind him and then leaned back against it. Goodness. He reached for his own shirt, feathering it against his skin to cool off. It was mighty hot in there. He refused, absolutely refused to think about how soft her hands were under the water, and how small she was standing next to him, or how pleasant she smelled, even sweating in there. But he still found himself wishing he had any old excuse to go back in that room, to talk to her one more time. She had unsettled him, and he thought for a second that he had unsettled her.\n\nLaughter in the distance made him pull out of his thoughts about unsettling. He took a step forward. And then two. He needed to go to Adam Ward's room and speak to the man quickly. He still had deckhand duties below that he needed to accomplish.\n\nHe found his way to cabin eight and knocked softly on the door.\n\n\"Come in.\"\n\nSam pushed the door open and found Mr. Ward sitting at the desk in the room, scribbling something on the paper in front of him. A cheroot was smoking in the corner of the desk.\n\n\"Close the door.\"\n\nSam closed it behind him and went to stand next to the desk. Adam Ward said nothing as he finished dragging his pen across the paper. Sam watched as the letters formed effortlessly, one right after the other. The letters that Mr. Ward were writing looked different somehow than the letters he had seen in his own Bible, and Sam wondered why. He rocked back on his heels, again, overwhelmed with all the things he just did not know.\n\nMr. Ward set his pen down, leaned back, and grabbed another sheet of paper, fanning his inky wet scrawling. \"Any news for me?\"\n\n\"I saw Mr. Baldwin last night, smokin' on the lower deck. He was talkin' to a woman. I couldn't make out hide or hair of her in the dark, but I followed her to cabin twelve.\"\n\nAdam Ward looked at him then. \"Good job, Sam,\" he said, making Sam feel very much like a puppy.\n\nSam kept his gaze on the floor and bit back a sigh.\n\n\"I didn't actually expect you to have anything for me today. If you keep going the way you're going, we may solve this thing before we reach New Orleans.\" Sam said nothing. \"Of course,\" Mr. Ward drawled slowly. \"That might be in your best interest to wrap things up sooner rather later. I can't think why a runaway slave would take himself straight back into the south.\" Ward paused as though waiting for Sam to add something to this. He didn't. \"If you do have plans to get off early,\" Mr. Ward said, his voice getting harder. \"Then you had better hope that all on my end is resolved before then, because I will send off a telegram about those warrants.\"\n\nAnd there they were again. The threats.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Sam said quietly with a nod, his hands now on his waist. \"If I can go back, suh, I have things I need to do.\"\n\n\"Yes. We'll reconvene tomorrow. Once I find out who is in room twelve, I may need you to search it for me.\"\n\nSam grunted. A Negro man in a white woman's bedroom. He had no doubts that if he was caught things would go very differently for him than they had for Laura.\n\nHe gave Mr. Ward one more nod acknowledging that he had heard him cause it wouldn't do for Mr. Ward to think he was insolent and went back down the stairs.\n\nHours later, Sam was making his third trip around the steamboat, mop in hand when he saw Gideon leaning against the railing and watching the boat cut across the river. He moved over to the boy, careful to mop the entire way.\n\n\"Don't lean out too far,\" he said and watched as the boy jerked back, startled. Then he sent him a shy smile.\n\n\"Hey, Sam.\"\n\n\"Gid.\"\n\nGid returned to his previous posture, arms on the rail, leaning over for a look. \"Isn't this nice, Sam? I mean, we got to work and all, but...\"\n\n\"They not so heavy-handed.\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"What are you two talkin' 'bout?\" Manny asked, coming up alongside Sam so that he was between his brother and Gid.\n\n\"How nice it is on the boat.\"\n\n\"What are you doin' down here anyway?\" Manny asked, reaching around Sam to place a hand on Gid's head, giving him a little shake. They never had any reason to spend time with young ones. Gid's presence was almost a treat.\n\n\"Went and saw Papa,\" the boy told Manny. \"Oh,\" he said, his eyes lighting up. \"What do ya'll know about math?\"\n\n\"Math?\" Sam asked, pausing in his mopping.\n\n\"You know like addin' numbers and takin' 'em away...\" Gid's voice trailed off as Sam and Manny stared at him. \"Nevermind.\" He waved his hand in the air. \"None of that's important.\"\n\n\"Wait a minute,\" Manny said, sounding indignant. \"What's this about takin' numbers away?\"\n\n\"Look. That's real hard stuff, alright? Mama barely knew what she was talkin' 'bout when she explained it to us and Prince taught her.\"\n\n\"We keep hearin' about this Prince,\" Manny muttered to no one in particular.\n\n\"Forget numbers,\" Gid said with a definitive nod.\n\n\"Are numbers somethin' other folks know about?\" Sam asked. Other folks being white folks.\n\n\"Yes. But. No one really uses numbers anyway. I don't think,\" Gid said, a frown appearing on his face.\n\nSam turned to look at Manny who was looking at him.\n\n\"I can teach you about other things like... when were you born?\" Sam and Manny eyed each other again. \"I didn't know either until I asked Prince. He told me I was born March 7, 1845. I just turned ten years old!\"\n\n\"Well, unfortunately, Prince is not here for us to ask,\" Manny's voice was dry.\n\n\"Do you know the year?\"\n\n\"We think we're around twenty-one,\" Sam said finally, no longer mopping. He knew they had been sold ten years ago. And he was pretty sure when they were sold, they were no bigger than Gid was now.\n\n\"Okay, let me do the math,\" Gid said, closing his eyes thinking.\n\n\"You're usin' it!\" Manny said, pointing at him. Gid's mouth twitched and then he gave them a sheepish smile.\n\n\"I guess I am. We'll say you were born, oh, 1834. Yes. 1834 plus 21 is 1855.\" Before Sam could figure out what the boy was talking about, he continued. \"What season were you born in?\"\n\n\"Winter,\" Manny said in annoyance as he folded his arms over his chest.\n\n\"Ooh, that's hard. Cause if you were born in December, that's one year. If you were born in January that's another.\"\n\n\"We know some months,\" Sam said quietly. \"I'm not sure we know them all in order.\"\n\n\"Where do these months come from?\" Manny asked.\n\nGid blinked several times. \"I don't know,\" he said with a shrug. \"I don't ask questions, I just learn. I can teach you the months, though. Did you want to be born in December, January, or February?\"\n\n\"New year, new life,\" Manny said decidedly. \"January.\"\n\n\"January it is. We'll just stay with 1834. Now, you have to pick a day. I think there's thirty-one days in January to choose from.\"\n\n\"Not every month has thirty-one days?\" Sam asked, staring at the boy.\n\n\"No. And don't ask me why. I don't ask questions\u2014,\"\n\n\"You just learn,\" Manny said with a roll of his eyes.\n\n\"Hey, I know a lot about time and changin' time. I can even tell time.\"\n\n\"We can tell time,\" Manny said belligerently.\n\n\"Because of the sun?\" Gid asked slowly, giving him a look that that just wasn't good enough. \"Or can you read the little hands on a clock?\"\n\nSam closed his eyes for a second. Then opened them. \"No. We can't read a clock.\"\n\n\"Clocks have hands?\" Manny muttered under his breath.\n\n\"Then there is still just so much I can teach you. Get comfortable. This might take a while. And don't ask me no 'why' questions. I didn't ask, ok? I just learn.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 38", "text": "Following Baldwin around on the boat when he was supposed to be keeping to one deck of the Paine and doing whatever it was that Finn thought up next, was not easy. Sam had overheard two of the sailors talking and knew that they would be approaching Louisville, Kentucky before the day was over. The fact that they were still in Kentucky gave Sam slight anxiety. But he figured if he just stayed on the steamboat and kept his head down, he'd be fine. Captain Leahy, thankfully, employed a lot of Negroes.\n\nFinn had already given him the same task of sweeping up any and all manure dropped by animals getting on and off the Paine when they docked. And if stopping at this port was anything like the one in Cincinnati, hopefully everyone would be too busy to notice if Sam wasn't completely on top of his job. But the whole thing made him irritated. Sam had never been one to shirk his duties whether he felt like doing them or not. He didn't want to start now.\n\nHe was in the midst of sharing all of his thoughts and concerns with the Lord when Baldwin came down the steps. Sam stared at the man for a second and then looked away, returning to the job of cleaning the deck. Baldwin went to the same spot he had last night and lit a cheroot, careful to keep his gaze on the water. It was the same spot, Sam realized as he moved behind some cargo, from which he had killed Vance. Since the space was filled with so much freight, it was not a spot where a lot of people stopped to take in the view.\n\n\"Here they come!\" Someone called out. Sam looked past Baldwin towards the water. Like in Cincinnati, before they got to the official port in Louisville, some small boats were coming out to the Paine. Sam moved to help make room for more cargo, all the while keeping an eye on Baldwin who smoked from the railing, and making note of any new people coming aboard. There were about five. Two Negroes and three whites. Could be slaves weren't the only ones running.\n\n\"How long 'til we dock in Louisville?\" Sam heard Baldwin ask one of the sailors.\n\nBefore the sailor could answer the steam whistle sang, loud and clear.\n\n\"Ten minutes.\"\n\n\"How long will we be there?\"\n\n\"No longer than an hour. Captain wants to keep it moving while it's still daylight.\"\n\nBaldwin tossed what was left of his cheroot into the river and headed for the stairs.\n\nLooking both ways, Sam made sure all the cargo was secured and then followed."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 39", "text": "Whoever was in cabin number twelve was going to have to wait. Cabin number twelve was not one of the cabins that Laura was assigned to and she wasn't about to go and take on any extra work. Between cooking, serving, doing laundry, ironing, assisting different ladies, and now cleaning Adam Ward's room\u2014though that wouldn't start until tomorrow\u2014Laura felt she had more than enough on her plate.\n\nShe knocked on cabin number six. \"Come in,\" both of the girls said at the same time.\n\n\"Hello,\" Laura's greeting was quiet as she went straight to the small closet to hang up the dresses that they requested be ironed in time for supper that night.\n\n\"Hi, Laura. If we don't get off at Louisville today, when will we reach the next port?\" Daphne asked. She was lying on top of her bed, on her stomach, flipping through a magazine.\n\n\"Lyin' like that will not improve your posture,\" the gentle words of rebuke were out of Laura's mouth before she remembered who she was talking to.\n\nLucinda was sitting at the small vanity, pinning her own hair. Both she and Daphne turned their heads to look at her.\n\n\"Sorry,\" Laura said, closing her eyes for a second. \"Before I came here,\" she said slowly. \"I worked for a family... with daughters.\" Laura re-straightened the gown she was holding and looked away.\n\n\"Like a lady's maid,\" Daphne said in awe as she sat up. Even Lucinda stared at her.\n\n\"Just so.\" She had the skills of a trained lady's maid. But she did more work than them. This she knew thanks to Missy Charlotte. The girls exchanged quick looks which Laura ignored. She hoped she had not just given them a reason to have her in their room all the time. She was not their lady's maid after all.\n\n\"What do you mean not get off at Louisville?\" Lucinda finally asked, her question aimed at Daphne. Laura exhaled with relief and hung up the other dress in her hand. She closed the closet door and then found herself meeting Lucinda's gaze in the mirror. Lucinda made a disgruntled face. \"Our maid is with Aunt Crissy again.\" The girl pointed to her hair with a pout.\n\n\"Our maid?\" Daphne muttered, without lifting her eyes from the page of the magazine in front of her. Except now she was sitting up straight on the bed, her shoulders level.\n\nLucinda turned to face her with a huff. \"Don't think I won't tell Aunt Crissy if you don't stop being rude!\"\n\n\"I wasn't being rude, Cousin. I was just making a point.\" The girls shared icy, humorless grins. \"Anyway, Laura, do you know anything about the next port? Is Louisville the last major city before we reach Memphis?\"\n\n\"Does Evansville, Indiana count? We're about three days from there, though we'll hit one more port in Kentucky maybe tomorrow.\" At least that was what she had overheard. Just so long as they kept moving west.\n\n\"See,\" Lucinda said. She was back to facing the vanity. Laura coughed into her hand as Lucinda sprayed several mists of something flowery into the air. She also noticed that the vanity was filled with all kinds of cosmetics. Facial paste, rose water, almond oil, even pearl powder which Laura knew was more than a little expensive. Miss Martha had some that she pulled out every Christmas. Her own special indulgence.\n\n\"Do ya'll need anythin' else?\"\n\n\"No,\" the girls said in unison and Laura left their room. She went back to the laundry room for Mrs. Hartford's gown. Maureen and Emma were in there. Maureen was ironing while Emma was stitching a shirt. They quit talking upon Laura's entrance casting a few glances her way. She didn't blame them for their hesitation. She had never worked with white servants herself. Were servants the same everywhere? Or was their still some kind of hierarchy Laura was supposed to be following? And more importantly, did the two Irish girls know it? So many questions. It was better to just pretend the other didn't exist... which is what they had been doing for the past day and a half.\n\nLaura grabbed Mrs. Hartford's dress and gave it a shake. It was even more beautiful now cleaned and ironed.\n\n\"Oh, that's lovely,\" Maureen said softly as she set the iron back on top of the small stove to get hot. She was a dark haired girl, a bit plump, but pretty.\n\n\"Isn't it?\" Laura asked, giving her a small smile.\n\n\"You'll have to show me how you got the stains out. I didn't think it was possible,\" Emma said softly. Emma was thin, with blond hair, and a hard worker. She never seemed to stop moving.\n\n\"I would be happy too. It's a mix my mama showed me, a little honey, a little gin, hot water, some soap. And then you have to have a deft hand as you apply it.\"\n\n\"You've been a domestic for a long time then?\" Maureen asked as she reached behind her for the iron.\n\nLaura hesitated only for a second. \"Yes. If you'll excuse me, I'll go run this to Mrs. Hartford.\"\n\nLaura turned towards the door, but then stopped, turned back. \"A friend of mine who works on here needs something from the lady in cabin twelve... would you...\"\n\n\"Oh, that's Mrs. Dabney,\" Maureen said with a nod. \"She's been on here since the Paine left.\" Laura frowned. She couldn't recall a Mrs. Dabney. \"She's not exactly welcome in the dining room, but she's got the money for a cabin of her own. Captain Leahy's hardly going to say no,\" Maureen continued, seeing the expression on Laura's face.\n\n\"Miz Nellie says Mrs. Dabney is a painted woman,\" Emma said, stressing the last two words and raising her eyebrows. \"I'm fairly certain she's not even a Missus. Tell your friend to speak to her outside of her room. You never know what might be happening inside.\"\n\nLaura gave a brisk nod and left the laundry room. Mrs. Dabney being a painted woman neither confirmed nor denied that she was the missing Mary Stiles.\n\nLaura hummed softly to herself as she made her way to Mrs. Hartford's door. She knocked twice. \"It's Laura, ma'am.\" Laura had come by the night before to help Mrs. Hartford into a red, silk taffeta dress. It had been stunning. Missy Charlotte's gowns had always been soft colors like pink and yellow. Miss Martha said it was on account of the fact that she was still unmarried. Missy Charlotte had always complained that it was such an old-fashioned, un-American rule, but nevertheless had stayed with pastels. It had been easy though, to wave off any envy because she knew those colors wouldn't do much for her own skin. But that red... when Laura was finally settled in her free life that was the first extravagant thing she was going to do. She was going to make herself a red, silk, taffeta gown. Even if the only place she could wear it was at home. Maybe. There was a time that she would never have indulged such a fancy, but now? Now, she could dream a little.\n\n\"Come in.\"\n\nLaura entered the room to see Mrs. Hartford sashaying back and forth in front of the mirror. \"I've got to look my best for when I got into town,\" she said with a smile, though it was directed at the mirror and not at Laura.\n\n\"I've got your dress ma'am.\"\n\n\"Oh, excellent.\" Mrs. Hartford walked over to Laura, running her hands down the front. \"And you got out the stains too. It was clumsy of me to spill my wine.\"\n\nWine stains on the dress, blood stains on her letters. It was not the first time that Laura wondered if Sam had made a mistake with his numbers. Though to be fair, nine looked nothing like twelve. But could Mrs. Hartford have been going to cabin twelve simply to visit with Mrs. Dabney? They could be friends. There was really no way to know.\n\n\"I'll just hang this in your closet and be on my way,\" Laura said softly and moved around Mrs. Hartford.\n\n\"While you're in there can you grab me a parasol? I'm going to stand out on the deck and watch us pull into Louisville.\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am,\" Laura said as she hung up the beautiful gown. She then reached around the side of the closet until her hands found the parasols. There were three of them. All new, Laura saw as she turned one in her hand this way and that. She knew this because the design was the latest thing from London. Missy Charlotte had begged for one for months. Their handles were ivory and there was gold banding. Well, it was no nevermind. Unless the woman was indeed Mrs. Stiles. Laura placed two of the parasols back, keeping her hand on the one that best matched Mrs. Hartford's dress.\n\n\"Oh, I don't know, Laura. Do you really think the blue one matches? I'm wearing pink and white.\"\n\n\"The seams are blue. The parasol will bring them out,\" Laura said quietly as she handed Mrs. Hartford the parasol.\n\n\"Ha. I didn't think of that.\"\n\n\"Anythin' else, ma'am?\"\n\n\"No. You've been a big help already. Come and dress me tonight.\"\n\nAfter checking in on all of the ladies assigned to her, the smelly Paulina, the sick Virginia, the ever growing Diana, Laura grabbed her simple afternoon meal of fresh bread, cheese, and meat and left the passenger deck. Out of sight. Out of mind. At least for a few minutes.\n\nWhen she got to the lower deck, she went in the opposite direction she had gone in before. She didn't get too far before she saw Papa and Benji standing together against the railing and talking. She made her way over, ripping the sandwich into two pieces as she got closer. It was ingrained in her to offer them whatever she had received in service. After all, she had a better chance of replacing it then they had of getting it at all.\n\n\"Hungry?\" Laura asked as she handed one piece of her sandwich to her brother and one piece to Papa.\n\nShe would just make sure that she was working that evening in the kitchen when supper was being prepared. It would be easy enough to get a taste of whatever Miz Nellie or Shadrach decided would be on the menu.\n\n\"See ya around, Papa,\" Benji said, and with one glance at her he walked off without saying a word. Even as his mouth moved from eating the food she had just given him. She took his place, next to Papa, leaning against the railing. He was sweaty, and looked hot in spite of the small bite of cold in the air. Laura hadn't even noticed it until this moment, now that she wasn't moving. Her body shivered.\n\n\"He'll get past it,\" Papa said, as he tossed the last bit of her sandwich in his mouth.\n\n\"I'm not sure what there is to get past,\" Laura said, closing her eyes and raising her face to the sun. She wasn't used to being out in the elements so much. Aside from leaving the Big House for the kitchen to eat and talk to Annie, and the occasional foray to hang laundry or work the kitchen gardens, she spent most of her time in the sewing room at Salis.\n\n\"He's strong. And a hard worker. And he'll probably work a smithy like me, but it wouldn't have been his first choice, had he had one. I wish he could have gotten some schoolin'. It was my only hesitation to goin' out west. There ain't no schools he can go to.\"\n\nLaura reached down and gripped the railing in front of her, pushing and pulling herself slowly against it. \"There are correspondence courses. And he doesn't have to stay out west. If it's ever safe enough, he could take a steamboat right back up north.\"\n\n\"That is a fact,\" Amos said slowly, his gaze on his own hands that gripped the railing before him. His hands were large, wide, dark, and scarred. It was hard to believe that those hands had cradled her as a baby. Laura had had this thought before, but for the first time she didn't look at it with skepticism. Instead she felt a little... pride. He had worked so hard to get them there. She would make sure that Adam Ward did not send off a single telegram. Somehow. Someway. Papa's shoulders rose and fell, his mind clearly on their conversation. \"I never heard of no correspondence courses though. That might be somethin' you could mention to him.\"\n\nLaura would have grunted except Miss Martha had instilled in Missy Charlotte and Missy Adora how unladylike it was to make such a noise. She thought about whether there was anything else to say about her brother but as Miss Martha always said, when you had nothing nice to say, change the subject. \"How is it? Feedin' the boiler?\n\n\"Hot, dirty work.\" Papa sent her a smile. \"Just like workin' the smithy.\"\n\nThe steam whistle blew behind them causing Laura to jump. \"We'll be pullin' up to Louisville soon. I'm gonna sit out the stop at the port in the boiler room. Hot as it may be in there, it's better than bein' sighted by a paddy roller and I'm too big a target to miss.\" Laura nodded quickly. Heard his hesitation. \"How is it? Up there? They workin' you too hard?\"\n\n\"No, sir. Cleanin' and cookin'.\" And detecting. \"Nothin' I'm not used to already.\"\n\nShe felt Papa's gaze on her and she was careful to keep her eyes out on the water before them. In the distance she could see the Louisville port. Like Papa it was probably best that she disappeared inside somewhere.\n\n\"It's my hope that this is the last time you ever have to wait on white folks, Laura.\"\n\n\"Just wait on ya'll?\" she asked, her voice teasing.\n\n\"Exactly,\" he said with a small smile. He began to take a few steps back.\n\n\"Be careful, Papa,\" Laura said even as she looked toward the stairs. The tug of the water pulled her once more and she found herself glancing out towards the river once more. This time she could see the reflection of the colors of different ones' clothing as they waited for the steamboat to pull in. It was time for her to disappear as well.\n\n\"Always. And you let me know if there's any trouble now. You hear?\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 40", "text": "Sam found Mr. Ward in the dining hall. He had gone to Mr. Ward's room and knocked but gotten no answer. One of the white men walking the upper deck had seen Sam and told him that if he was looking for Mr. Ward to go to the dining hall. How the man had known Sam was looking for Mr. Ward was a bit disconcerting, but Sam had hesitated only for a minute. He didn't have time to waste. When the second bell whistled, he winced. He was supposed to be on the lower deck now. But he went on to the dining hall anyway and stopped dead in the doorway. He had never seen anything so fine in all his days. Taking one step into the room, he froze as his boots sank into the ground. Looking down he could see that below him there was carpet so thick and pretty, he didn't hardly want to take another step for fear of smearing something foul on it. But then something sparkling caught his eye, forcing him to look up. A thousand lights glistened above his head changing colors as they swayed with the rhythm of the boat. He blinked and his eyes drifted along the wall. The walls were lined with colored paper that seemed to shimmer with gold and he was almost sure that expensive metal was fashioned to the rafters.\n\n\"Can I help you?\" A white man asked. He was tending the bar, wiping it down.\n\n\"Uh, yes. I was lookin' for Mr. Adam Ward. I has a message for him.\"\n\nThe man nodded in a specific direction. Daylight it may have been but that didn't stop men from smoking, drinking, and playing cards. And there in the center of it all was Adam Ward. Sam watched as Mr. Ward laughed, threw his cards down, and raised his arms in delight. The men around him alternatively groaned or muttered under their breath.\n\n\"And that my dear southern friends, is how it's done,\" Adam said as he leaned forward pulling his cash winnings toward him. He did glance up for a second though and spotted Sam. He gave Sam a nod towards the door. Sam exhaled and headed back towards the exit. He really didn't have time for this. Just as the thought entered his mind, his eyes spotted a clock. He had seen them before. But since he had not understood how they worked, he had never really looked at them. Now, he saw the short hand and the long one that Gid had told him about. He watched as the long hand moved just a little bit. A minute had passed. The sound of a familiar click pulled his gaze from the clock. Without taking a step, his eyes darted to the table where Adam Ward now sat with his gun out and pointed at the man across from him. \"I'm not a cheater.\"\n\n\"I didn't say\u2014,\"\n\n\"Yes. You did. Apologize.\" Adam Ward's voice was hard and angry and broke no argument.\n\n\"I didn't mean no disrespect,\" the man finally said slowly.\n\n\"Yes, you did,\" Adam repeated, but uncocked his gun. Sam took that as an opportunity to leave the salon. How the man had time in the midst of an investigation to not only play cards but start trouble was a mystery to him. Then again, he had Sam doing all of his work. And wasn't that just the way of folks?\n\nHe wasn't waiting long before Mr. Ward came through the salon doors, counting his money and sliding it into one of his pockets. The expression on his face was pure joy. Apparently being called a cheater hadn't truly bothered him none. Sam didn't know him well enough to know if that was likely to be true or untrue at any rate. And quite frankly, he didn't care.\n\nThe steam engine whistled again and Sam looked over the railing behind him. They were pulling into port.\n\n\"Yes?\"\n\n\"Baldwin is gettin' off here. I just thought you would like to know.\"\n\nMr. Ward swore under his breath. \"Thanks.\" And then he was gone.\n\nSam went down the steps to the lower deck at a quick pace, found his shovel, which he had tucked in a corner close by, and went to clean up after the animals.\n\nHe was distracted only once and that was when he passed the boiler room and caught sight of everything and everybody in there. All kinds of folks was moving about.\n\n\"Sam.\" The voice was deep. Familiar. Sam searched the room. Found him.\n\n\"Amos.\"\n\n\"Come and let me show you.\"\n\nSam took a step in the boiler room and Amos met him towards the back of it. He pointed to a few men who had nothing on but pants, sweat dripping down their backs. \"They stokin' the firebox,\" Amos explained, though Sam figured it out watching the men shoving coal into the fire. \"Every ten minutes, that fella,\" Amos said, pointing to a white man, \"opens the try cocks on the boilers. He lifts the valves and releases the steam. Got to be careful with these things, one wrong move and they'll explode.\" Sam said nothing as Amos, almost excitedly, explained how the entire steamboat worked.\n\n\"You learn all that in a couple of days?\"\n\n\"Son, I built things similar to these. Don't take much to learn how they work.\" Sam couldn't stop the sharp look he sent Amos. No one had called him son in years.\n\nSam returned his gaze to the boilers and the men working them, the pipes and valves, the knobs and cranks. It looked like just too much was going on. He turned and glanced at Amos. Watched the older man's gaze take it all in. \"You don't get to work 'em though do you?\"\n\n\"No indeed,\" Amos said, shaking his head slowly. \"I ain't never get to work a single thing I've ever built. I just keep steam in the boiler, shovelin' coal in when it's my turn.\" Sam returned his gaze back to the unusual dance of machinery before him. \"I'm glad you're here, Sam. I wanted to thank you.\"\n\n\"For what?\" Sam asked, genuinely confused.\n\n\"For bein' kind to my boys. They've got nothin' but good things to say 'bout you and your brother.\"\n\nSam thought on that for a second. \"Truth be told, Amos. I'm learnin' a lot from your boys. They know much more'n me and that's a fact.\"\n\n\"They know more'n me too,\" Amos said, pride filling his voice. \"But knowledge ain't all knowhow. Benji was tellin' me 'bout what you said about Laura. I 'preciate that. Been tellin' him for years, but my words ain't been no good.\"\n\nSam fought the urge to stare at the man again. \"Well. I'm glad I could help,\" he said finally. \"But I'm not sure how my words can beat those comin' from your own pa.\"\n\nAmos said nothing for a minute. And then, \"Was your pa sold?\"\n\nSam shrugged. \"Don't know. Never got around to askin' my ma before she was. Thanks for showin' me how it works,\" Sam said with a nod and left the room."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 41", "text": "They entered the Louisville port with no problems, and they left with no problems, which by the looks Sam exchanged with Manny and Benji on the sly, was nothing short of sweet relief. According to Finn, the next stop would be Owensboro, Kentucky. If they kept on moving all night, they would reach it by morning. All Sam knew was that Kentucky was one large state. Finn had indicated that they still had one more stop in Kentucky following this one. After a quick breakfast of hard bread and harder meat with Manny, Sam had slipped up the stairs. He figured since they would be arriving at Owensboro before his arranged time with Mr. Ward, he had better get their meeting over with sooner rather than later. He had no new information. The last he had seen of Baldwin had been the night before when he had been entering the dining hall for supper and it wasn't like Sam was gonna be invited in.\n\n\"Sam,\" he heard his name quietly whispered. Sam took his eyes off the ground and found Laura's. She was exiting a room and carrying towels. \"Do you have a minute?\" she asked and nodded towards the laundry room. Sam followed her inside, shutting the door behind him.\n\n\"Cabin number twelve belongs to a Mrs. Dabney,\" she said before the door was properly shut. \"I saw her for the first time this morning. According to Maureen and Emma, the Irish girls, Mrs. Dabney is a lady of the night.\" All of this Laura said as she dumped the towels into an already filled bucket of clothing and placed an iron on a small stove. Sam watched as she pulled a small table out and reached for some clothing.\n\n\"Lady of the night?\" Sam asked, his brows lowered.\n\nLaura looked over at him and stared. Sam fought the urge to duck his head. Whatever a 'lady of the night' was, most folks knew already. Except Sam. And probably Manny. \"You know, Sam. A lady of the night,\" she said, stressing the last word, her eyes pleading with him to not make her explain it further. For a moment he wrestled with his pride. Admit his ignorance... again? Or just tell Adam Ward and hope he understood the phrase? His pride won. He gave a quick nod and she sent him a relived smile. What exactly was a lady of the night?\n\n\"Anyways,\" she said with a wave of her hand before reaching behind her for the iron and placing a hand an inch away from it to see if it was hot. It wasn't. Sam watched her return it to the stove. \"There's another woman. Her name is Hartford. A redhead. There's somethin' very... odd about her. I just wanted to tell you in case she has somethin' to do with Baldwin.\"\n\nSam looked away, thinking. He hadn't seen any redheaded women with Baldwin, though to be fair, most white women wore them funny hats and he was more than a little disinclined to be peering at 'em enough to figure out what was underneath.\n\n\"I'll keep an eye out,\" he said with a nod. \"Anythin' else?\"\n\nHe saw her hesitate for a moment. \"Did you see my brothers any?\"\n\n\"Yeah. Gid was talkin' to us 'bout stuff like clocks and time. My brother and I fixed a date for our birthday.\" Sam was amazed at how calm and collected he sounded when he said that. When he and Manny had finally agreed on a date, the moment had brought tears to both of their eyes. And not necessarily happy ones. There was a new ache on the inside of him... one that longed to know the truth of the matter combined with the realization that that would never happen for him.\n\nPerhaps Laura did sense the underlying emotion because she gave him a gentle smile. One that made him feel about Gid's age. He fought against releasing a sigh. It wasn't as if her viewing him as a child made him any less a man. But that still didn't stop the fact that he very much wanted her respect.\n\n\"Is that all?\" He knew he sounded short. Abrupt.\n\nThe smile on her face wavered a bit. Then she gave a quick nod. \"Yes. I'll let you know if I hear or see anythin' else.\"\n\nWith another nod, Sam left the closet. He made the short walk to Adam Ward's room, but before he could raise a fist to knock on the door, he heard a familiar voice. Below.\n\nThis time, Sam did sigh. He turned back around and headed down the stairs. It appeared that Mr. Ward had been coming to him this time.\n\nHe made it to the bottom of the steps just in time to hear Adam Ward's voice get louder. Another voice, angrier, harder, returned a statement. Sam exhaled. Deeply. The man had managed to find himself entangled in yet another argument. Maybe they should get off this boat and try their chances with another steamer. Adam Ward seemed about as stable as gun powder.\n\nTurning the corner, Sam could see Mr. Ward yelling at a shorter man in front of him. Next to the short man was the man who had accused Mr. Ward of cheating at cards the day before. Sam walked past them quietly, his eyes only darting to the angry men for a few seconds before looking away. He noticed quickly that he wasn't the only one looking and trying not to look. Just about everyone working on the lower deck was starting to take notice of Mr. Ward and the shorter man's argument.\n\n\"Somehow, magically winnin' night after night...\"\n\n\"There's no magic too it. Can't help it if you don't know how to play the game.\" Ward's voice was tight and laced with frustration.\n\nAnd then the boat did something Sam had never felt it do before, it gave a sharp turn. He felt himself sliding to the left and reached out for a railing that he hadn't noticed before to steady himself. Boxes, half the height of Sam, but twice as large slid down the lower deck past him. When he looked up, he could see others grabbing whatever their hands could hold on to in an effort to keep steady.\n\n\"Snag in the water,\" a sailor called out. Grumbles filled the air, but no one seemed alarmed.\n\nBut of course, Sam had heard about these snags. Snags being trees and other debris that had fallen into the water but were still close enough to the surface to reach up from their watery graves to snag a hole into a passing steamboat.\n\n\"You can see it just over there,\" he heard another man say with excitement. Sam made his way to the front of the boat, staring hard into the water. He wanted to see. Was it a tree? A large rock? Something else entirely? The men who had been lingering, listening to Ward's argument came alongside him at the front railing. And then there it was: a long tree with erstwhile branches. All of them eyed the snag in quiet and awe as the captain steered them around it.\n\n\"Good thing it's a clear day,\" he heard someone mutter. Sam watched as several men hefted one of the boxes of goods, stacking it atop another. He didn't think that was a particularly good idea, but he said nothing as the boxes were moved closer to their original position, blocking Ward from Sam's sight.\n\n\"Good thing we have the Captain,\" another person said as they pushed more goods back into place. Then the voices drifted as they chased down the rest of the cargo that had gone sliding across the deck.\n\n\"Where we come from, you don't win a man's livelihood.\" The words drifted down towards Sam. The argument had not ended just cause the steamer had made a sharp turn. Sam let out a huff and shook his head from his spot behind the boxes. What kind of person, exactly, had he got himself tied to?\n\n\"Where I come from you don't play unless you can afford to,\" Ward countered.\n\nSam didn't hear the other man's response as the men who were feeding the boilers started calling out louder and louder orders on the other side of the steamer. Turning the thing was causing quite the ripple effect. He wondered how Amos was doing in that hot oven of a room.\n\nAnd just when he decided he was going to go himself and see the activity of the boiler room, the boat turned again, this time swinging right. It was all Sam could do to jump out of the way of the boxes headed in his direction.\n\nMen yelled. Animals either mooed, snorted, brayed, or yelped. Sam clung to a pole, dodging whatever cargo was not tied down to the deck. And still\u2014despite all that was going on\u2014he heard it. A splash.\n\nAs the steamer seemed to stabilize, Sam peeked around the box. He spotted the two men that Ward had been arguing with, but no Ward. He couldn't say what made him look in the water, but he did and saw a hand. Leaving his space in the shadows, Sam made his way to the railing, past the other men. And yes, there was Ward, trying to swim and getting further and further away.\n\nThey didn't make eye contact. Ward was too busy struggling and losing. Sam's grip on the railing was tight. He could walk away and Ward and all of his threats would be gone.\n\n\"Sam!\" the voice was familiar, almost frantic.\n\nSam tossed one quick look at his brother and dove overboard."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 42", "text": "Laura stared, her hands gripping the railing of the steamboat tightly as Sam\u2014it couldn't be Sam\u2014dove into the water. She was out on the promenade deck, her, Gid, Sol, Maureen, and Emma.\n\n\"I think I'm going to be sick,\" she heard Maureen say from behind her. The comment wasn't surprising. Her face had already turned green from the first sharp turn.\n\n\"This is so much fun,\" Gid whispered from his place next to Laura. After the boat had swerved that first time, everyone who served on the upper deck had all come out, including Nellie and Shad, to see what was going on. Nellie and Shad had gone back in to finish cooking though a few minutes ago muttering something about snags. Laura was quickly beginning to realize there was a whole nother language out here on the steamboat. She didn't want to learn it.\n\n\"Man overboard!\" she heard called from below.\n\n\"Was that Sam?\" Sol asked as he came up on her other side. He stood on his tiptoes, leaning over to see.\n\nLaura didn't respond. Instead, she pulled away from the railing and headed down the steps. She reached the bottom in time to see Manny running past her.\n\n\"There's no way you'll catch him,\" a sailor was saying to Manny as Manny was pulling rope out of a closet.\n\n\"My brother can swim,\" he said, giving the rope one last tug.\n\n\"Tie it around somethin' that will float,\" Laura said, her eyes darting around the small room. \"That,\" she said, pointing to an empty wood shelf. \"Wood floats.\"\n\nManny stepped past her, jerked the shelf out of its place and tied a knot around the middle of the wood. Laura ran alongside him as he tossed it high and far into the water. It hit the water with a splash that was seen but not heard over the noise behind them.\n\nAnd even though it seemed somewhat close to Sam, it wasn't close enough. Sam was moving, but the steamer was moving faster. And something was slowing him down...\n\n\"Wait. Is he helpin' someone?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Manny growled. \"Some fool fell in the water so of course Sam had to jump in.\"\n\n\"He'll never make it.\" The same unhelpful man behind Manny repeated himself.\n\nLaura turned to frown at him, and saw that half the people on the steamer were right behind her. Glancing up above her head, she could see bodies pressed against the railing of the hurricane deck and the Texas deck watching Sam struggling to swim for the piece of wood and carry the man in the water.\n\nLaura turned back to look though she was almost afraid to. She couldn't bear it if they had to leave him. He was just starting to become her friend, she realized in that moment. She closed her eyes, prayed. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.\n\n\"He's got it!\" Someone yelled. Laura opened her eyes, saw Sam gripping the wood tightly as it dragged him and the person he carried, clear across the water. People whopped loudly from behind her.\n\nMen lined up to pull the rope and wood that Sam clung to into the boat. As they got closer, Laura watched in amazement as Ward's familiar figure took shape. He did not appear to be breathing.\n\n\"You fool,\" Manny's voice was low, and Laura was fairly certain only she and Sam heard him say it as he grabbed two fistfuls of Sam's shirt and helped him overboard. Ward, she could see out the corner of her eye, was being pulled up by some sailors.\n\n\"You know me,\" Sam said, breathing quick and deep. He looked tired and she noticed that he was very much leaning into his brother who now had an arm wrapped around his shoulders. Laura fought an unusual urge to reach out and touch him. As though that would do something.\n\n\"Can you make it up the stairs? We can have more privacy in the laundry room.\"\n\nBoth men turned to look at her, their eyes wide with surprise at her presence. \"I can get you a cup of somethin' warm upstairs. I'm sure you're cold.\"\n\n\"Where,\" Manny asked, eyeing her, \"Did you come from?\"\n\nBefore she could tell him that she had been there the whole time, someone\u2014several someones\u2014slapped Sam on the back, congratulating him on such a great swim.\n\nLaura took that moment to leave the lower level and run up the stairs.\n\n\"Oh, my goodness, Laura did you see that?!\" Gid was still straining his thin body over the rails where Laura had left him as though he might miss something else.\n\n\"I didn't think he would make it. Honest to goodness, I didn't,\" Sol said to no one in particular.\n\n\"Fun's over. Ya'll best get back to work, now.\"\n\n\"I could never have swum that fast,\" Gid muttered walking past her.\n\n\"You can't swim at all,\" Sol countered, following him.\n\nShe went first to the laundry room and saw that no one was there. Good. Then she ran into the steamboat kitchen.\n\n\"They say a man fell overboard and another man jumped in to save him?\" Nellie asked. She was cutting her daily quota of potatoes.\n\n\"Yes. Sam, one of the Negroes jumped in and saved a white man. Could I pour him a cup of coffee?\" Laura asked, pointing to the coffee pot that was kept warm on the stove. Laura knew Nellie changed it every other hour so that the coffee was kept as fresh as it could be.\n\n\"Aint' that somethin',\" Nellie said, shaking her head. \"Go on, but bring me my cup back.\"\n\nNot sure how Sam took his coffee, Laura poured in a little cream, a lot of sugar and gave it a quick stir before setting it on a saucer. \"I'll be back to help you in just a moment.\"\n\nShe made her way slowly to the laundry room, pausing only when the whistle blew. They had pretty much arrived at the next port. She figured in that moment that if Sam hadn't caught up with the ship he could have swam to shore and met them at Owensboro, but that was more than a little fraught with risk.\n\nShe kept going towards the laundry room and tapped gently.\n\n\"Um... we're here,\" Manny said, his voice, low and unsure. How she knew it was Manny and not Sam, she didn't know.\n\nShe pushed into the room where Sam now sat on a trunk still in his wet clothes. \"Didn't you have another set of clothes?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Sam said slowly, eyeing the cup in her hand.\n\n\"Then why haven't you changed yet? The last thing you want is to take a chill and I imagine the water was cold,\" she scolded as she handed him the small glass saucer and cup. Sam took it slowly, carefully, as though he had never handled anything so breakable in his life. And it was quite possible that he hadn't.\n\n\"What is it?\" Manny asked brusquely.\n\n\"Coffee,\" Laura said slowly. Even Papa and Benji had had a cup of coffee. Prince drank a cup every morning while reading yesterday's newspaper, but Prince wasn't exactly a good measuring stick for most slaves.\n\n\"We've heard of coffee, thank you very much,\" Manny said before snatching the cup off the saucer and tasting it. He grimaced. \"It's hot and it tastes... bitter.\"\n\n\"I put in cream and sugar.\"\n\n\"Cream and sugar?\" Manny asked before raising it to his lips again.\n\n\"What are you doin'? That's not for you,\" Laura said when his second sip was particularly long.\n\n\"Here,\" Manny said, pushing the cup at Sam. \"It'll definitely warm you.\"\n\nSam took it slowly and raised it to his nose, smelling it. Then he took a small sip before also grimacing.\n\n\"An acquired taste, perhaps,\" Laura said with a small shrug, feeling more than a little embarrassed.\n\n\"Yes, but kind of nice,\" Sam said slowly, taking another sip.\n\n\"And addictive. Don't drink it all, brother.\"\n\n\"Maybe you should go get Sam somethin' dry to wear,\" Laura said, meeting Manny's gaze. \"He did, after all, almost just die.\"\n\n\"Sam, always, almost just dies,\" Manny said, giving her a look that told her Sam was exactly none of her business. \"But, since I was born to serve, literally, I will go back down and get Sam's dry clothes. Because I have nothin' better to do than serve. Obviously.\"\n\nManny went to the door and Laura could not stop the next sentence that came out of her mouth. \"Learn some new words?\" Manny stiffened. It was something Prince would have asked her had she repeated herself. With a huff, he opened up the door to the laundry room and left.\n\nA small snort caught her attention and she turned back to Sam who was smiling behind his coffee cup. He took another sip and set it and the saucer on the table next to him. Laura leaned over and looked in. There was still enough for Manny to get another swallow.\n\n\"I probably shouldn't have said that to your brother,\" Laura said softly, before raising her gaze to his.\n\n\"Manny'll respect you more if you say your piece than if you hold it in... he always dishes out more'n what most folks can take.\"\n\nA wry smile crossed Laura's lips. She could take. She watched him grip the edge of the trunk tightly as a shiver hit him. Walking past him, she went to a shelf and grabbed a towel. If she had to stay up and wash it later, then oh well. Coming up behind him, she wrapped the towel around his shoulders, leaning into him for just one moment before stepping away and turning to face him. His gaze was direct, almost piercing and for some reason her heart started racing. He really was one of the handsomest men of her acquaintance. And, apparently, the kindest as well.\n\n\"Why?\"\n\nHe didn't even have to ask her what she was talking about. \"Because I couldn't live with myself if I let him die when I could have saved him.\" His eyes dropped to the floor and his voice was quiet and sure though his grip on the trunk seemed to be turning the tips of his fingers white. \"I couldn't pray to my Jesus with confidence with that kind of stain on my soul.\"\n\nLaura stared at him, and she was sure he could feel the intensity of her gaze, but he did not look up. \"I've always considered myself to be a believer in Jesus, but I don't think I've ever seen faith lived out the way you do it.\"\n\nHis eyes flickered to hers then, a small smile tugging at his lips. \"Is it really faith if it doesn't call us to action?\"\n\nShe opened her mouth to reply but shut it when he continued. \"Before you paint me as a saint,\" he began, his eyes returning to the ground. \"My mama... she made us promise not to look for her when we was sold. She made us promise not to look back,\" he said simply, but even still she could hear a world of hurt in his words. \"I believe you reap what you sow and... if someone ever has or had the opportunity to help her, I pray that my actions... that somehow... that if I do a kindness for someone else, then they'll have done a kindness for her.\"\n\nLaura swallowed the emotion in her throat and blinked back the moisture in her eyes. \"Sam,\" she said quietly and when he looked up, she placed a hand on his face, cupping his cheek. He blinked once. \"Sam.\"\n\nThe laundry door opened and Manny stood in the entrance, a pile of clothes in his hand. His gaze narrowed and Laura realized that her hand was still on Sam's face.\n\n\"What. Is. This?\" he asked, one finger moving back and forth at the both of them.\n\nShe would ignore it. And she would ignore him, she decided. \"It's 'bout time you got back. I don't know what took you so long,\" she said quickly. She walked right past him and out the door, pulling it closed behind her. Then she leaned back against it and exhaled. Sam was... well she didn't know what he was. She straightened, ran a hand down her apron and headed off to the kitchen."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 43", "text": "\"What was that?\" Manny asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder and pointing to the door behind him.\n\n\"Can I have my clothes?\" Sam asked even as he felt the blush rise up his neck and to his face. And why was he blushing exactly? He was a man full grown and Laura, a woman. And there had been nothing indecent. But she had touched him...\n\nManny tossed him his change of clothes and he caught them one handed. \"Where did you get that soft towel from?\" he asked, his voice mulish as he reached out and ran a hand across the cloth that Laura had draped around Sam. Manny shook his head and then reached for the coffee cup and drained the remains. \"Here I am, feelin' all kinds of sorry for you and you've got yourself a lady friend whose got all kind of reach...\"\n\n\"She's not my lady friend,\" Sam said, his voice gruff as he peeled off his wet clothes, shivering almost nonstop now. But maybe, just maybe, Laura wanted to be. She had touched him after all...\n\n\"Sam,\" Manny said definitively as he set the empty coffee cup on the small glass plate. \"We don't have time for womenfolk. We decided that a long time ago.\" Sam supposed they were to ignore the string of girls that Manny had tangled with back on the plantation.\n\n\"Do you hear me sayin' otherwise?\" Sam asked as he balled up his wet clothes in one hand. Looking around, he tossed them in a corner. He would come back and get them later tonight. Maybe he could wash them while Laura ironed or something. Her skin had been so soft...\n\n\"No,\" Manny admitted, but his eyes were still small. \"But you never, ever let women get that close to you. All I'm sayin',\" Manny said quickly, before Sam could say anything, \"is that I'm watchin' you.\"\n\n\"Well, when you put it like that,\" Sam said with a roll of his eyes as he motioned for his brother to leave the room.\n\nThey were at the top of the stairs, arguing about nothing, when Sol slid up alongside of them. \"Sam, that was somethin' else.\"\n\n\"Don't encourage him,\" Manny muttered.\n\n\"Mr. Ward told me to find you,\" Sol said, his gaze still on Sam. \"He's the man you saved. His room is just this way. I'll show you. I think he wants to thank you.\"\n\n\"Sam,\" Manny said, reaching out and gripping his arm tight. \"Whatever that white man gives you, you better take. Don't you be on that high road nonsense.\"\n\nSam exhaled, gave his brother a look, and followed Sol to Mr. Ward's room even though he could probably make it there in the dark.\n\n\"Thanks, Sol,\" Sam said and placed a hand on top of Sol's head for a moment before knocking on Mr. Ward's door.\n\n\"Who is it?\" Ward's voice sounded rough, like it had caught a lot of smoke instead of water.\n\n\"Me. Sam.\"\n\n\"Come in.\"\n\nSam entered the room but stayed very close to the door. Mr. Ward was sitting at the edge of his bed, gripping the bedframe rail. He looked like he had been in that position for quite some time. For a second, Sam was curious about what he was thinking, but then he wasn't. It made no nevermind to him.\n\nWard too had changed into dry clothes, but his hair was going in all kinds of directions making him look like a wet cat. His feet were bare. He looked younger. And tired.\n\n\"You didn't have to save me, Sam. But you did. And if anyone on this ship had reason to see me dead it would have been you. And I have to know why? Why did you jump in and save me?\"\n\nAvoiding answering that question, Sam sent Mr. Ward one of his. \"You don't know how to swim?\"\n\n\"Not at all. Where did you learn to swim?\"\n\n\"I spent my growin' years along the Potomac. Did those men push you in?\"\n\n\"No. Some cargo broke loose and pushed me. They could have helped though.\" His voice was wry. \"Instead they watched me fall.\" Ward's blue eyes focused in on Sam. \"But you, you of all people, jumped in and saved me. Why?\"\n\nThis time the question was hard and brook no argument. And Sam, trained since birth to obey, finally relented.\n\n\"Well, I supposed it's not really me you have to thank, but my God,\" Sam drawled out. There. Now maybe he would leave it be. Sam had saved him yes, but he didn't want this man getting any kind of ideas.\n\nA quizzical expression crossed Ward's. \"You mean... like Jesus?\"\n\n\"Any other god out there you servin'?\"\n\nWard stared at him for a moment and then blinked. \"You saved me cause of Jesus?\" His tone implied that Sam was more simple than he had realized.\n\nSam shifted, straightened. The steamboat whistle blew. \"If that's all, suh, I has to be goin'.\"\n\nWard, still staring at Sam, opened him mouth and then closed it. Then opened it again. \"I mean, Sam. I heard darkies were spiritual, but I've always wondered why. I mean you're slaves. And the men who keep you that way serve the same god.\"\n\n\"So they say.\"\n\nWard's eyebrows raised almost to his hairline. \"You don't think so?\"\n\n\"I believe people who serve Jesus, look like Jesus. And my faith is in Jesus, not in these people who claim to follow Him. That's what I think.\" It was more than what Sam had intended to say.\n\n\"Can you even read? I mean, how do you know who Jesus really is? Don't you go to their churches?\" Their being slaveholders, Sam realized. But he was done having this conversation.\n\nHe looked toward the wall. \"I needs to go, suh.\"\n\nWard huffed. \"Fine. We're done with the religious talk. But you saved my life, Sam. When no one else would. I wouldn't have just been left in Kentucky, I would have died. And I owe you.\"\n\n\"No, suh. God...\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Ward said, standing, waving off his words. He walked up to Sam, close so that they were only a foot apart and Sam found his body growing tense as Ward held out a hand. He looked at the white man's hand and then into his eyes. \"I think you can call me Adam now, Sam.\" That would never happen, Sam thought, even though it was a nice thought. He might call him Adam in his head, but he would never call him Adam out loud. Adam dangled his hand in the air, waiting for Sam, apparently, to shake it. Sam didn't move.\n\nAdam sighed and ran said hand through his black hair. \"Look Sam. I'm not going to force you to help me anymore. But, if you do help me, maybe I can help you? I can teach you stuff you need to know for when you leave. It could be anything like reading and writing and stuff.\"\n\nSam kept his face blank. It wasn't an unkind offer, but between Sol, Gid, and Benjamin, he and Manny already had teachers.\n\n\"I need to go.\"\n\nAdam's thin lips pressed together in frustration. \"You'll see, Sam. I can help. Look, I want to give you something.\" Adam went over to his trunk and opened it. Sam watched him rifle through it, wondering what it was that Adam would produce. It turned out to be a hat. \"I know we're on the river, but I don't have a sea cap. I do have this railroad cap though,\" he said and tossed to Sam. Sam caught it instinctively, turning the dark blue cap in his hand. \"Free men wear hats, Sam.\" Sam raised his eyes to Adam. \"I can teach you how to be free.\"\n\nSam stared down at the hat before slowly putting it on. It fit like it was made for him and he wondered what he looked like. \"Woman from cabin number twelve is a... lady of the night.\"\n\nAdam blinked with the sudden change of subject. \"A prostitute? I wonder if Captain Leahy knows he's got one on the ship plying her trade.\"\n\nA prostitute! No wonder Laura had been so wary about the woman.\n\n\"Well, that's something. From what I know Mary Stiles was never a prostitute and with all the money she stole I doubt she would turn to the profession now.\"\n\nSam reached for the door.\n\n\"Don't forget what I said. I can help you.\"\n\nSam left the room."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 44", "text": "\"A hat,\" Manny said slowly, eyeing Sam. \"You saved the man from drownin' and he gave you a hat?\"\n\n\"It's a nice hat,\" Gid offered. It was evening time. The sun was gone for the night, and all their labor wrapped up. Manny and Sam had their bedrolls out alongside Benji, Sol, and Gid. The latter two had decided it was better sleeping on the lower deck with them than on the upper deck by themselves. Amos, apparently, had to sleep near the hot boiler. \"I thought it made you look... different.\"\n\nFree, Sam thought. He had never noticed it before, but most men wore hats. Slaves didn't. Or at least he never had.\n\nManny huffed next to him. No doubt, he wanted a hat. But Sam was not sharing this time. \"Save a white man's life. Get a hat. Don't that just beat all?\"\n\n\"What's our next stop?\" Sam asked, hoping to change the subject.\n\n\"Indiana,\" Gid said with a sigh.\n\n\"We done with Kentucky?\" Manny asked.\n\n\"Nope. Back to Kentucky after Indiana, but that is the final and last stop of Kentucky,\" Gid said, raising his fists in the air in excitement.\n\n\"Least we're movin',\" Benji said, though his voice was a grumble.\n\n\"Ain't that the truth,\" an unfamiliar voice said, walking past them.\n\n\"Sam, this is Willie,\" Manny said as the man came and sat down alongside them. \"He got on at the last stop.\"\n\nWillie was a young, thin, dark-skinned man. He had former slave written all over him. Sam could see it in the way he walked, in the clothes he wore, in his small, quick glances. And now he suddenly wanted very much for Adam to teach him how to look free.\n\n\"You travelin' by yourself?\" Sam asked politely.\n\n\"Nope. Got my sister Birdie on here. She's up the stairs though.\" Willie leaned against the railing with a sigh. \"It's so good to be on this boat,\" he said quietly. \"Ya'll just don't know.\"\n\nSam and Manny exchanged a quick glance and Sam saw Laura's brothers do the same. And just when he thought the night was going to stay quiet, Willie opened his mouth and started singing. \"I'm just a poor, wayfarin' stranger. Travellin' through this world of woe.\" His voice was clear and strong and rang out all over the lower deck, completely belying his thin, scrawny frame. \"Where there's no sickness, toil, or danger, and that bright world to which I go. I'm goin' home to be with Jesus. I'm goin' home no more to roam. I'm just a poor wayfarin' stranger, a travellin' through this world of woe.\"\n\nThe lyrics were unfamiliar, but the sentiment was one Sam knew deep down in his bones. He had to blink when Willie started singing again, this time with a guitar that had struck up to accompany him.\n\n\"I know dark clouds will gather round me, I know my way is hard and steep... I'm goin' there to meet my mother, she said she'd meet me when I come. I'm just goin' over Jordan, I'm just goin' over home.\"\n\nThe last line had Sam swallowing hard. And by the large sniff next to him, coming from Gid, he could tell he wasn't the only one. He had long reconciled himself to the fact that he wouldn't see his mama again until heaven, but still, the thought hurt something fierce every now and then.\n\nCaught up in the words and the mood such as he was, Sam almost missed Baldwin and a woman talking in the corner. Excusing himself under the pretense of relieving himself, Sam walked towards them quietly and carefully. This time he was gonna see the woman. If it was the prostitute in room twelve, well, then there was nothing to say. But if it was Mary Stiles...\n\nAnd yet, careful as Sam was, even he heard the wood creak beneath his foot. Both Baldwin and the woman froze. The woman said something quickly and then turned to leave. In that moment, the moon seemed to shine bright, and while he couldn't see the woman's face. He could see her hair. It was red. Bright red."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 45", "text": "\"And oh, my landsakes, I had never seen such a thing before!\"\n\nThe new girl, Birdie, talked a lot. Too much, in Laura's opinion. She reminded Laura of a girl at Salis named Verity who forever had something to say. Prince had always said that anyone who talked that much just plain couldn't be trusted. His scowl had always been fierce when Verity was within five feet of him. Even Mama would roll her eyes and sigh when Verity entered a room. And none of their feelings were over-exaggerated. Verity had gotten more than one person in trouble with Miss Martha cause she just talked too much. No one had been surprised when she had been sent to work in the salt mines after saying just one thing too much.\n\n\"What about you, Laura?\" Birdie asked. She was young. Younger than Laura and prettier. And she seemed kind. Maybe in another place or another time they could have been friends. But this simply wasn't the moment. Laura was of like mind with her brother. Slaves who talked too much weren't nothing but trouble. And it was clear as day Birdie had been a slave. It was in the way she bowed her head, her threadbare dress, her bare feet, the way she talked. She wasn't just a slave, she was a runaway. Laura would be kind. But Laura would be distant.\n\n\"No,\" Laura said carefully, slowly. \"I've never seen anythin' like the boiler room before either.\"\n\n\"Boiler room,\" the young woman mouthed to herself. \"I didn't know it was called that. That sound just 'bout made me jump out of my skin. One time, when I was a small girl...\"\n\nNellie, who was at the stove stirring a pot of soup, stopped and stared at the girl. Laura could tell that she too didn't understand all this chatter, but she didn't say anything cause Birdie worked hard. Laura had thought she could move fast in the kitchen. Birdie moved like she was born to it, as efficient if not more so than Annie. She had only been in there with them one day, and Nellie was already letting the girl stir and add stuff to the pots.\n\n\"Maybe you can show me 'round if we get us some free time?\" Birdie asked, tossing the question Laura's way.\n\nLaura's first reaction was a hard no. After all, what was there to show around? The steamboat only had three floors and each one was shorter than the last. But then she thought on what Sam had said, about faith being more than just a belief but an action. And for the first time ever, she wondered what Jesus would have her to do about Birdie. She always knew what Prince and Mama would do. They were her measuring stick for everything. Jesus was always somewhere there in the background.\n\n\"Maybe,\" Laura murmured, but she said it kindly. That much, she knew Jesus would have her do. She gave Nellie a nod and left the kitchen. The three of them had served breakfast together that morning, but now that Birdie was there, Nellie didn't need Laura in the kitchen to help prepare the afternoon meal. Laura walked down the small hallway to the laundry. Upon entering, she saw Maureen ironing and Emma sewing in the corner.\n\n\"Good day to you,\" Emma said softly, sending her a small smile. They were nice, Laura had decided. She returned the smile.\n\n\"Good mornin',\" Laura replied as she gathered the clothes needed for Daphne, Lucinda, Mrs. Hartford, Mrs. Jameson, Mrs. McRae. Mrs. Potter had gotten off and been replaced with Mrs. Bauner and her daughter Gerta. They were two of the strangest women Laura had ever seen with all their brown hair and old looking clothes. They didn't look like they could afford the Texas deck, but it made no nevermind. They had asked her to wash some skirts and she had. She reached for them now, pausing only for a moment at the sight of Sam's now clean and folded clothes in the corner. She had found them balled up and wet on the floor when she had come back the night before. She had washed them along with the towel and hung them to dry all night. She made a quick decision to bring them to him as soon as she was done waiting on the ladies. And with that thought, she was out of the door.\n\nShe grabbed dirty laundry, she helped ladies into dresses, she sewed up small tears. They entered the port in Evansville, Indiana, left it, and she was still on her feet.\n\n\"Settle an argument for us, Laura,\" Daphne said when Laura entered the room for the third time that day. Daphne was on her knees rifling through her trunk.\n\n\"Oh, leave Laura out of this,\" Lucinda said, sending Daphne a look of anger and something else... Laura stopped herself from shaking her head. Their disagreements were apparently worse than she had thought them. \"Help me out of this, Laura,\" Lucinda said and gave Laura her back. The two girls had gotten off in Indiana and gone for a walk. Now that the steamer was up and going again, they had decided on an afternoon nap. \"What's our next stop?\" Lucinda asked as Laura began undoing the many buttons down her back.\n\n\"I believe it's Mount Vernon, Indiana.\"\n\n\"And then Tennessee?\" Daphne asked, coming to her feet. She had several papers in her hand.\n\n\"And then Kentucky.\"\n\nDaphne made a face not unlike one Laura wanted to make. \"Mama says after the Indiana stop we'll really be stuck on the boat then. No stops for near upon three days!\"\n\n\"That's what I heard,\" Laura said, making quick work of Lucinda's stays.\n\n\"And we'll still be in Kentucky at the end,\" she said with a shake of her head. \"Now, tell me, Laura,\" Daphne said, holding out sketches. \"If you were trying to get someone's attention would you wear this dress or this dress?\"\n\n\"I told you I don't need anyone else's opinion! I think I'm grown enough to make up my own mind.\" Lucinda's words were said through clenched teeth.\n\n\"Fine,\" Daphne said and tossed the papers on her bed. \"You're right, with the way you dress, sometimes I forget how old you truly are.\"\n\nLucinda growled something under her breath as she stepped out of her garments. \"Come back and dress us for supper, Laura.\"\n\n\"Yes ma'am,\" Laura said and left the room. She heaved a loud sigh upon leaving. Then she went to her last patron, Mrs. Hartford.\n\nThe visit to Mrs. Hartford's room was uneventful and soon Laura found herself headed down to the lower deck with Sam's clothes tucked under her arm. It would be good to see him... even if she had seen him just yesterday. She reached the bottom of the steps when she heard her name.\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\nLaura turned at the sound of Benji's voice. He was standing in the opposite direction that she wished to turn. Sam probably wasn't on the boiler room side of the ship, but she walked over to him anyway.\n\n\"Pa was askin' 'bout you,\" Benji said when she got within a foot of him. As usual, his expression was surly and his words curt. \"You might want to remember you got a pa in between takin' care of all them fancy ladies.\"\n\nLaura, careful to keep her face blank, though she did mentally wince a bit, just stared at Benji for a moment until his eyes dropped. \"And a good afternoon to you too.\" She walked past him and headed to the boiler room.\n\nIt wasn't that she was avoiding Papa. It was just that she was used to doing without him. As she walked the few feet to where she assumed Papa must be, she found herself waving to the familiar faces of the crew. In some ways, it felt like she had been on the boat forever.\n\nShe found Papa sitting on the floor of the lower deck, his back against the wall that hid the boiler room.\n\n\"There's my girl,\" he said, his grin wide in his tired face.\n\nLaura walked over to him and crouched down. \"Are you hungry, Papa?\" she asked as she reached into her pocket where she had stuffed an extra bread roll. It had been for Sam. But really, Papa came first.\n\n\"Sit,\" he said as he took the roll from her.\n\nShe sat, placing her back against the wall and stretching out her legs before her.\n\n\"We 'bout to head to Missouri.\"\n\n\"I heard.\"\n\n\"Jest 'bout seven or eight more stops 'til we get where we're goin'.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Laura said as a cool breeze wafted over them. Though she no longer felt as awkward as she usually did in his presence, she didn't have anything to say.\n\n\"I think it's gonna be hard,\" he finally said, filling the silence.\n\n\"What's goin' to be hard?\"\n\n\"Bein' free,\" he said simply.\n\nLaura glanced over at his face, but he was staring straight ahead at the railing and the water before them. People were walking past at different paces, often stopping to talk to whomever they were passing.\n\n\"It's not easy makin' decisions all on your own, but I find that I am ready for the challenge.\"\n\nShe had never thought about it quite like that. Being free would present its own set of challenges. But she didn't quite feel free just yet. Not with Adam Ward in the background and knowing he could call for bounty hunters at any time.\n\n\"What's the one thing you've always wanted to do but couldn't?\" Papa's voice was wistful, almost young.\n\n\"I don't know...\" She hadn't thought about it truthfully... had never considered that she would ever do anything other than serve.\n\n\"Sleep in? That's what your mama would always say. She said she wanted one day when she could sleep in till noon like Miss Charlotte.\"\n\nLaura hummed, a smile tickling her lips. That sounded like Mama. Except she could never picture Mama sleeping in.\n\n\"Me? I just want my own. My own home, my own family. Somethin' no one can take from me,\" he said quietly.\n\n\"I want to wear a red ball gown.\" The words slipped out unhindered, surprising even Laura. And she felt foolish the moment she realized what she had said.\n\nPapa turned and looked at her then. \"Tired of seein' your makins on other folks?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she said quickly, glancing away. Of all the things a free woman could want or do and she said the one thing that would probably never happen.\n\nHe reached over and patted her hand. \"No sense why it can't happen baby girl.\"\n\nLaura grunted.\n\n\"Dream big. And don't ever stop. The moment you've stopped is the moment they've really made a slave of you.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 46", "text": "After sitting with Papa for nigh unto a half hour, Laura began to feel silly at the thought of wondering around the boat looking for Sam. She would just give him his clothes later, she decided. Not to mention that she was probably needed back upstairs in the kitchen or in the laundry.\n\nAnd then she ran into Manny.\n\n\"Hello, Laura,\" he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his feet and looking for all the world like they had secrets to share. Which they didn't.\n\n\"Hello,\" a dark skinned, thin man said from next to Manny.\n\n\"Will, this is my good friend or should I say my brother's good friend, Laura. Laura, this is Will.\"\n\nLaura made sure that the look she gave Manny was withering, which of course made him grin broadly. \"If you'll excuse me, I'm needed upstairs.\"\n\n\"Don't go, Laura. Will, give me a minute,\" Manny said and Will walked past them, but not before shooting Laura an assessing look. She hadn't been looked at like that in quite some time. Not even by Sam and she and Sam... well...\n\nLaura tossed Sam's clothes at Manny so quickly, he jerked back, startled. \"Sam left those upstairs.\" She made to move for the stairs, but Manny moved just as quickly, taking a step and blocking her way.\n\nMaking sure they were making eye contact, Manny raised Sam's shirt to his nose. Sniffed. \"Smells like roses.\"\n\n\"It does not.\" The cleaning soap was not scented with roses.\n\n\"Listen. Laura,\" Manny said, his tone almost serious as he lowered his brother's clothes. \"My brother is a very nice person.\"\n\n\"I know that, Manny,\" Laura said and then made to move around him, but he moved to, continuing to block her exit.\n\n\"No. You don't understand. He's nice to everyone. He jumped in the water to save some white person he doesn't know.\" Well. How interesting. Sam hadn't shared anything about Adam Ward with his brother.\n\n\"Alright\u2014,\"\n\n\"Basically, what I'm sayin' is. You're nothin' special.\" Laura stopped, folded her arms over chest, stared at him. Manny shrugged as though to say that he couldn't be responsible for the truth.\n\n\"Lots of girls mistake his kindness for somethin' else. Just tryin' to help you out is all.\"\n\nLaura tilted her head back, raising her face to the sky. She was not going to give Manny whatfor.\n\n\"Manny. Get out of my way.\"\n\nHe slid to the side, letting her walk past him and just when she thought he was done, he spoke again. \"Because really, Laura, if it were somethin' more and you hurt him, you really wouldn't like the consequences.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 47", "text": "\"Bright red hair?\" Adam repeated. They were in his room again. Adam was sitting at his desk, but facing Sam who stood before him, hat in hand, telling him all he had seen. \"Mrs. Hartford is a redhead,\" Adam said slowly to himself. Sam watched as Adam brought a hand up to his chin, rubbing the lower of half of his face and clearly thinking deeply.\n\nWell, good then. Seemed like Adam Ward had his answer. Sam slipped his hat on, shuffled his feet a bit. He slowly made his way to the door.\n\n\"Sam,\" Adam said and Sam turned around quickly, waiting to hear anything, everything he needed so he could be a free man. He watched as Adam went to his trunk, dug around a bit. Then he pulled out something shiny and metal. A gun. Sam instinctively took a step back.\n\nAdam glanced over at him, and then making sure Sam was watching, set the gun very slowly on his desk.\n\n\"Go ahead. Pick it up. It's empty.\"\n\nSam placed his hands on his waist, his eyes narrowing as they darted from the gun to Adam. He had expected some kind of a lesson or a word of advice. He didn't know what this was.\n\n\"Listen,\" Adam said, spreading his hands before him. \"Slaves can't touch guns, but free Negros can. With a permit. In the United States. But you're not a slave, Sam Rivers,\" Adam said slowly, still meeting Sam's gaze. \"And where you're going is a territory, if I'm right. Not a state. You're going to need a gun... out there in Indian Territory.\"\n\nSam swallowed, staring hard at the gun for a second. It shouldn't have been that hard to reach over and pick it up. For crying out loud, he had run away. But this... he took a slow step forward, his heart racing so hard he was sure Adam could hear it. And then he picked it up. It was both heavier and lighter than he expected. He remembered Sly with his gun and how at ease he had been at using it. That would be him, Sam decided. He was going to learn this thing too. He turned it slowly, taking it in. The butt of the gun appeared to be made of wood while the rest of it was made of metal.\n\n\"That right there is the best gun out. A Colt 1851 Navy. Six round .36 caliber. It's lighter than then the '47 and a near perfect sidearm. Here, let me show you.\"\n\nSam handed the gun to Adam. Adam did some maneuvering with it and opened it up so Sam could see its guts. \"See,\" Adam started, pointing at something. Sam listened intently as Adam explained to him the mechanics of the gun, tucking every word, every piece of instruction in his mind so he wouldn't forget. \"This is how you clean it.\"\n\nSam watched as Adam showed him how to dissemble the gun and pointed out where to check for fouling and powder in the chambers. Adam went to his trunk and pulled out a cloth. Sam watched him clean every piece of the Colt. Then, he put it back together and handed it to Sam.\n\nSam took it, hefting it in his hand again, pulling on all of his reserves to keep from smiling.\n\n\"I want you to keep it.\"\n\n\"Keep it?\" Sam said quickly, unable for once to hide the emotion in his voice.\n\n\"I've got another one. You keep this one, learn its insides and outs. If anyone sees you with it, tell them I asked you to keep my gun clean.\"\n\nDid that mean it was his? Or was it just a loan? Sam didn't care either way. He was holding a gun in his hand. He fought the urge to straighten out his arm and aim, just like he had seen white men do. Manny was gonna love this. He was going to forget all about the hat that Adam had given him. And Sam didn't care one lick that the gun was empty and for all intents and purposes useless. A gun. Sam, a slave, had a gun. It was a picture of himself he had never seen before. And now he would never be able to unsee it. Sam felt dizzy with the excitement of it all. Adam had been right. He could teach him how to be free.\n\n\"Sam?\" Sam glanced over at Adam who was eyeing him with a funny expression on his face. Sam quickly made his face blank.\n\n\"Where you're going,\" Adam said, still eyeing Sam curiously. \"You probably won't really need a six shooter. Six shooters are for killing men. And the last thing you need is to be killing men. You'll need a rifle or a shotgun. Their barrels are longer and better for accuracy and range. But I've got neither. Fact of the matter is, you've got to learn about guns and this is as a good a place as any to start. You don't have the right belt for the gun, but you've got a pocket?\"\n\nSam nodded and slipped the empty gun into the side pocket of his pants. He took the cleaning cloth and slipped it in the other pocket on the side of his pants. He was trying to be careful to keep his emotions in check, but all Adam had to do was look at Sam's shaking fingers to know how much the gun meant to him. Manny was going to just about pass out when he saw it. Sam wanted to run and find him now. He wasn't sure of anything Adam said after that, but Sam just gave him a nod and left his room.\n\nHe was almost to the top of the stairs when he remembered his clothes. Turning back around, he went to the laundry room, tapping on the door lightly.\n\n\"Come in!\" The voice was young, high-pitched and unfamiliar.\n\nSam took a step back. And then the door was opened by a girl younger than him and the color of peat soil. \"Hello,\" she said, blinking up at him with bright eyes and a small smile tugging on her lips.\n\n\"Is Laura here?\" Sam asked, ignoring the friendly gaze she was shooting him.\n\n\"No, but I can get her. I'm Birdie, by the way.\"\n\nSam gave her a quick nod, careful not to meet her gaze. \"You don't have to do that. I'll find her later.\"\n\n\"You'll find who later,\" he heard from behind him. Laura was standing just off to the side, her arms filled with clothes.\n\n\"Let me help you,\" Sam said, taking a step forward and easing her load.\n\n\"They're clothes, Sam. Hardly heavy,\" Laura said dryly but she didn't fight him.\n\n\"Is this your friend?\" Birdie asked Laura, a wide smile on her face. Before Laura could respond, the girl walked out the door. \"I'll give you two a minute. Never say that Birdie doesn't know when it's best for her to go!\"\n\nSam glanced over at Laura who was looking at him. Once they were in the laundry room and the door was closed, Laura made a face and said, \"I don't trust happy slaves.\"\n\nSam hummed. \"You sure she's a slave?\"\n\n\"Uh huh. Runaway.\" Like them. It was becoming quite clear to Sam that there was a distinct something about slaves. Something that surpassed even skin color. And he needed to shed it fast. \"Content slaves, yes. Happy ones, no.\"\n\n\"Manny would agree with you there.\" Manny said happy slaves were either too dumb to realize they were slaves or too plain close to the massa. It was a sentiment that Sam had found more often than not to be true.\n\nLaura sent him a look he didn't understand. \"Don't talk to me about Manny. Set those clothes over there for me, please.\"\n\nSam did as he was told, thinking. \"What did he do?\"\n\n\"You mean what did he say?\" Laura asked, her voice so light that Sam knew his brother had said something rude. Laura came alongside him, bending down and sorting the clothes into various piles. \"I gave your clothes to your brother this mornin'.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry about that,\" Sam said, feeling suddenly embarrassed. \"I meant to come and get them last night.\"\n\nShe stood up, arms filled with sheets. \"No worries, Sam.\"\n\n\"I didn't leave them here expectin' you to clean 'em.\"\n\n\"I know, Sam. If you had, I wouldn't have touched them,\" she said and shot him a wry smile as she tossed the sheets into another corner.\n\n\"What did he say?\"\n\nLaura shrugged. \"It wasn't important.\" She made to move past him, but he reached out, grabbing her arm, and pulling her to a stop so that they were only inches apart. There was something about the woman that always made him want to shrink the space between them. His grip on her arm tightened, and though her gown was long sleeved he could tell she was slight, and soft... and somehow fragile. He had never thought of Negro women as fragile. Sturdy? Yes. Hard-working? Obviously. Robust? Definitely. They had to be. He could remember his own mother, slight as she was, lifting things bigger and heavier than him. He had never really thought of Negro women as feminine exactly. Not like white women who couldn't lift a flower without fainting dead.\n\nBut with his hand on her arm, he realized she was all of those things, fierce and tender, strong and elegant. He wished with a suddenness that he could court her as she deserved to be courted, however that was to be. Cause he was sure if there were any rules to courting, Laura knew them all. And he knew none of them. And well, even if he did, he didn't have a thing to offer her. Fact to business was, he could be captured at any time, finding himself a slave again in a tobacco field. With that thought, he let her go.\n\n\"What did he say?\" he repeated. He might not know all the ways to treat her as a lady, but he sure wasn't going to let his brother treat her as less than.\n\nLaura sent him a sly glance. But when she spoke next, it had nothing to do with his brother. \"Did you just finish meetin' with Mr. Ward?\"\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\n\"The day I can't handle Manny is the day I'll come to you.\" The look in her eyes told him that was a day that was never going to come. Well. He would just have to talk to his brother himself.\n\n\"Saw Baldwin talkin' to a woman with red hair last night so I told him that this mornin'.\" And that was when Sam remembered the gun. He reached for his pocket.\n\n\"A redhead?\" Laura asked, a frown on her face.\n\n\"I think he said it might be a woman called Mrs. Hart...\"\n\n\"Mrs. Hartford,\" Laura supplied, her arms now folded across her chest.\n\n\"Yes. Anyway, look what he gave me.\" Sam brandished the gun before her.\n\nHer eyes darted to his. \"Sam.\"\n\n\"Free men have guns,\" he said simply, even though he couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face. \"It's got no bullets in it. You can touch it.\"\n\nLaura's eyes flickered to his once more before she slowly, tentatively took the gun from him. \"I've never touched a gun before.\"\n\n\"It was my first time too,\" Sam admitted.\n\n\"My brother Prince has. Massa Richard took him huntin' plenty of times,\" she said.\n\n\"This brother of yours sounds like somethin' else.\"\n\n\"Oh, he is,\" she said softly, a hint of longing in her voice.\n\nAnd Sam found himself mentally cursing slavery. Again. The evil beast that had taken his mama and Laura's, obviously, beloved brother. He couldn't imagine being parted from Manny. No matter how much of an idiot he was sometimes. Before he could stop himself, he placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. She looked over at him, meeting his gaze and though they said nothing, something was shared.\n\n\"Why did Mr. Ward give you the gun?\" she asked, breaking the tension. Sam removed his hand from her shoulder, leaving it loose at his side.\n\n\"He said that if I help him with Baldwin and that woman, he would teach me to be free. It's a part of that lesson.\"\n\n\"He's not threatenin' to turn us in to bounty hunters no more?\" Laura asked, sounding skeptical.\n\n\"I'm not sayin' I trust him. I don't. But I don't think he's plannin' on turnin' us in before he finds out what he needs to find out. Figure I may as well learn what I can from him. Ain't like no other white man volunteerin' to help.\"\n\nHe watched Laura bite her lower lip. \"And so he gave you a gun.\"\n\n\"And this hat,\" he said, tipping the brim of it to her.\n\n\"Huh. I'll admit it, Sam. I'm very curious about what he'll do next when we provide him proof that Mrs. Hartford is Mary Stiles.\"\n\n\"We?\" Sam asked, eyeing her.\n\n\"Yes. We. We're a team. You and I. And besides, it's my family whose bounties he's holdin'.\"\n\nSam rocked on the back of his feet, a sudden knot of fear tightening in his belly. \"You just be careful. I don't care how much you snuck in and out of white folks' rooms in that big house you worked in. This here is different. These white folks done already killed a white man.\"\n\n\"Don't worry about me, Sam,\" Laura said, grimacing as though only now realizing they were dealing with hardened killers. \"I'll be just as careful as you.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 48", "text": "Threatened. Threatened! Laura still couldn't believe Manny had threatened her. But she couldn't even be angry, she thought as she pulled and tugged on Lucinda's stays in an effort to make the girl's waist smaller. It wasn't quite working. The girls had sent for her to help them get dressed for supper that night. Daphne was already dressed and just picking over ribbons to possibly add to her hair. Lucinda, as always, had needed the most help.\n\n\"Pink or blue?\" she heard Daphne ask Lucinda from behind her. Tuning out Lucinda's response, her thoughts went right back to Manny. And Sam. No, she couldn't be angry at Manny. Because she understood. There was something about Sam that inspired... fidelity. He was... genuine in a world that often seemed filled with actors. And she had never seen the likes before. At least not in a man. Not that she had much experience with men. She had always been so busy in Salis House that she had not been as free as other girls her age to start something with a boy. Which had been something of a mixed blessing. Like most girls her age she wanted a home of her own, with her own man and her own babies. At the same time, Laura hadn't known how she could do it all. Mama had barely managed it when she was alive and even then the family seemed divided with Papa, Benji, Sol, and Gid on one side and her, Prince, and Mama on the other.\n\nThen there was the added fact that Annie\u2014being her best friend and all\u2014would have rather pulled out her own teeth than try to get some male attention or even talk about male attention. And she couldn't forget Prince. There was nothing quite like the talk of romance to curl Prince's lip. But that hadn't stopped him from having an opinion. Prince, who had told her if she couldn't marry someone who was better off than she was, there wasn't any sense in marrying at all. For Prince, marrying up was a Negro who was free or a Negro with a trade. If he could read or write, well then, that was perfect. She knew what Prince would think about Sam, a field slave with no book learning and no trade. But she found that she didn't care. If she could ever have introduced the two of them to each other, she had a feeling Sam could hold his own just fine against her brother. And quite frankly, now that she thought about it, she didn't give one hoot what Prince thought of Sam.\n\nBut then her fingers slowed a bit as they traveled up the buttons of Lucinda's dress. Sam would never have taken in consideration of what everyone else thought. No. Instinctively, she knew only one opinion mattered when it came to Sam and that was God's. Did God think she should get married? What a thought; that the God who had created the whole earth would be concerned about Laura and her possible, future family. But how comforting it would be to know His thoughts on the matter. Not that there was anything to think about Sam. What she should be focused on was getting off this boat and making a future with her family in Oklahoma.\n\n\"Are you really wearing the silk?\" Daphne's voice held more than a little judgment in it.\n\n\"I wouldn't have had it made if I wasn't going to wear it,\" Lucinda said to her reflection as Laura carefully spread the rose-colored skirt of her gown over her crinoline petticoat.\n\n\"Hmph. Well, I know why you're really wearing it.\"\n\n\"Do tell,\" Lucinda said, her voice dry as she stared at herself in the mirror before them. Laura watched as she rolled her eyes.\n\n\"You're trying to get a husband.\"\n\n\"Aren't we all?\"\n\n\"Yes, but Mr. Cronwall\u2014,\"\n\nLucinda huffed. \"Don't you ever mind your own business?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\nLaura rolled her own eyes as the girls bickered and after helping Daphne tie a blue ribbon in her hair, she slipped out of the room.\n\nWithout running, but not quite walking either, Laura made her way to the kitchen to help with fixing and serving supper. The room was bustling with energy. Shad and Birdie were at the stove each managing two pans of food while Emma was chopping up vegetables with a skill that only accrued from having performed the same service for so long. Piping hot plates filled with meat were cooling on the side table. She grabbed an apron from a basket and pinned it on.\n\nThe door that connected the dining room to the kitchen swung open and Laura watched as several of the Negro servers loaded up a dumbwaiter with food and left to serve both on the Texas deck and on the Hurricane deck.\n\n\"Behind you,\" Shad said. Laura ducked out of the way as he placed a glazed and still sizzling ham in front of her. \"Slice it and plate it,\" he instructed and returned to his station at the stove. Laura grabbed two sharp knives and began the task of slicing the meat. Splatters of fat and juice hit her fingers and she fought the urge to grab a piece and taste it. Tasting was for later. When it was sliced to perfection, she didn't wait for anymore directions from Shad. She grabbed a heavy porcelain plate and transferred the sliced meat onto it. Then she lifted it and headed straight for the dining room. She paused for a second, taking in all of the people gathered at the long table. The ladies were decked out in all of their finery, most of which Laura had labored over that afternoon, ironing or repairing loose seams. There were ice blue gowns, red gowns, emerald gowns, violet gowns. Gowns made of silk, taffeta, linen. Very nice gowns. But nothing quite on the scale that compared to the ones Laura had sewn and seen in Salis House.\n\nA two-finger wave caught Laura's attention and she walked over to one of the waiters handing him the large plate of ham. In return, he handed her an empty bowl.\n\n\"We're out of butter beans,\" he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He was an older man, probably older than Papa. Laura had watched him serve before. He did it as though he had done it for years. He probably had.\n\nLaura gave him a nod and then did one sweep around the room with her eyes. She was there for a reason and it wasn't to compare gowns. She wanted to see all of the women who had red hair or some variation thereof. And unless they were sick, every woman on the Texas deck would be at supper. Mrs. Hartford had, of course, been the most obvious woman to fill the role since her hair was the color of a red-hot flame. But Sam hadn't been raised around white women and she didn't quite trust his judgment on the color red. Though to be fair, Sam had never said it was Mrs. Hartford. Adam Ward had. Which begged the question of what Adam Ward knew or thought he knew about Mrs. Hartford.\n\nTaking note of no less than five women who could have been considered to have red hair, Laura went back into the kitchen, refilled the butter bean bowl and returned to the dining room. This time, she made a more thorough inspection of the redheaded women. And that was when she realized how Adam Ward had come to his conclusion. Two of them were of an age that even Sam would have noted. These two ladies were either wearing some kind of hair piece or had hidden their gray hair with dye. The other two were married and had small children. This Laura knew from cleaning their cabins, doing their laundry, and just plain running into them on the upper deck. They were not hardly likely to be killing a man one day and shuffling a baby around the next. Only one redheaded woman sat at the table that was both relatively young and unattached: Mrs. Hartford.\n\nWalking over to another waiter and picking up an empty plate, she glanced around the table again and spotted Adam Ward talking quietly to the woman on his right. As always her mind followed his clothing first. He was a man dressed in the first stare of fashion, wearing something that even Prince would have admired. A detective? She had never heard of the like and she wondered where his money really came from. Walking slowly back to the kitchen, she noted Daphne laughing and Lucinda batting her eyes at a man at least thirty years her senior. She also caught sight of Baldwin, smiling and talking quietly to the woman on his right. He didn't look like a killer. But then again, a lot of men didn't.\n\nMaking her way back into the kitchen, she placed the empty platter that had once contained chicken onto the table.\n\n\"I'll refill it,\" Shad called out. \"I need to check on some things. You come over here and finish this dough. Emma, go on and get me another chicken. If we don't need it today, we'll use it tomorrow.\"\n\nIn seconds, the kitchen was empty except for Laura and Birdie, who stood over the stove cooking down fruit for the filling that would go into the pie dough Laura had started working.\n\n\"I've never cooked for so large a group of people before,\" Birdie began. Laura paused from rolling the dough and exhaled. \"Have you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she said simply. And she had. Whenever there was a ball at Salis House, Annie had always recruited her for help in the kitchen.\n\n\"I also never had nobody to work with in the kitchen. It was always jest me. Massa, he had near 'bout ten slaves,\" Birdie said, sending Laura a sidelong glance as though ten slaves were a lot.\n\nSalis House had around two hundred slaves. There were more than ten slaves that served inside Salis House alone. But Laura said none of these things. The least said about Salis, the better.\n\n\"Did you buy your freedom, then?\" Laura asked, even though she already knew the answer to the question.\n\nBirdie flinched and returned her gaze back to the pot in front of her. She mumbled something under her breath and Laura didn't bother to try and decipher it. She had nothing against the girl, but talking about the past was just about one of the stupidest things a runaway could do.\n\n\"I come here with my brother, Will.\"\n\n\"I think I met him,\" Laura said in a conciliatory tone, feeling a little bit of guilt.\n\n\"He's tall and thin as a bean pole, but he sure can sing. You'd never guess it from the looks of him, though. You got any kin on board?\"\n\nLaura picked up the dough, sprinkling it with more flour before draping it over the pie pan. She hoped she was supposed to be adding more flour. She could never remember the small details. She had never had to before. Annie remembered them for her.\n\n\"Fillin'?\" Laura asked, ignoring Birdie's question though if the girl was on the steamer long enough it would soon become evident as to whom Laura was related to.\n\n\"That boy I saw you with, the real good-lookin' one. He your beau?\"\n\n\"Sam?\" Laura asked as Birdie handed her the pot of cooked cherries. They must have been preserves then. Laura did know that you didn't need to hardly touch fresh cherries.\n\n\"Is that his name?\" The girl had an expression on her face that made Laura blink a few times. It also made Laura feel less guilty about reminding Birdie that she was still a slave.\n\n\"Are you his woman, then?\"\n\n\"What's that bubblin' in that pot?\" Laura asked. The door swung open and Shad entered, cutting off their conversation, though not cutting off Birdie entirely cause the girl was still talking. Was she his woman? No. She wasn't, she thought as she began to lattice the dough. And further, Sam wasn't about to get any woman any time soon because he was focused on making it to Oklahoma first. And Manny wouldn't let him.\n\n\"Hurry up on them pies! I only have two cooked!\"\n\nLaura stayed in the kitchen until every dish was washed and put away. Though she was exhausted, she still found herself going out to the railing to look over the side of the steamer. Anything to feel a cool breeze. Her hair had sweated some fierce and no doubt smelled of everything they had cooked in that small kitchen. It would behoove her to get up early to wash it and pull it back into a tight bun. And it would have to be really, really early. She walked in the direction of the laundry room. Maureen had been the only one doing laundry that evening but she was a fast worker. If she had gotten through most of it, then maybe Laura could snatch a few extra minutes of sleep. But Laura didn't make it to the laundry room because standing outside of Mrs. Hartford's room was Mrs. Hartford and Baldwin."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 49", "text": "\"Let me see it again,\" Manny's voice was demanding and entitled. Sam watched from his seat on the lower deck, a smirk on his face as Benji, very reluctantly, handed the gun back to Manny. It was evening time and they had all eaten their simple supper of bread and meat. Bread and meat, Manny and Benji had purchased when they actually left the steamer that afternoon when it stopped in Indiana. They had had no choice. Their food supply was quickly running out and it was cheaper to buy in town than to pay for a meal on the steamer. They had been quick and efficient, careful to get in town and back on the steamer in good time. Sam had asked Manny what Indiana was like, but Manny had just shrugged and rolled his eyes. And now here they were, sitting in the near dark on the unmoving steamer. Sam had been told that Captain Leahy was still waffling about whether to continue on in the dark. Until they moved, there was nothing for them to do. So, they had gathered together and Sam had pulled out Adam's gun.\n\n\"You ever seen the like, Pa?\"\n\nWhen Benji had caught sight of the gun, he had thought it was worth waking Amos up to see. Amos had agreed. He too had held the gun in his hand, hefting it slowly and turning it this way and that.\n\n\"Not up close... which is probably for the best,\" Amos said with a low, humorless laugh.\n\nManny opened the gun up for what had to be the hundredth time, revealing its six empty chambers. Again. \"So, you saved the man's life and he gave you a hat and the right to clean his gun.\" His voice was neutral as though he was still weighing whether a hat and a new chore was worth a man's life. Course the new chore was something no slave Sam had ever known, unless he was really trusted, had ever been given before.\n\n\"Sl\u2014Negros ain't supposed to touch guns,\" Gid said defensively. It was the six of them gathered together in a spot on the deck: Amos, Benji, Sol, Gid, Manny, and Sam. It felt odd including others in on information he had learned. He was used to whispering his knowledge to Manny over the tops of tobacco plants or deep in the night when they were sure no one else was listening. But this family\u2014the Altans\u2014Gid had told Sam just the other day, knew stuff that he didn't. And if it was one thing he and Manny understood it was the importance of learning all you can when you can. Besides, they were always introducing Sam and Manny to new things. It felt good to be able to show them something they hadn't seen before.\n\n\"They can if they have a permit,\" Sam said, sharing this new fact with them. He hadn't known free Negros could sometimes own a gun.\n\n\"Like some kind of pass?\" Benji asked, wrinkling his nose. \"Free Negroes need a pass sayin' they free, a pass sayin' they can work, a pass when they bowels move sayin' they can take a\u2014,\"\n\nAmos cuffed him on the back of his head. \"Watch yourself.\"\n\nManny snorted next to Sam, extending and contracting his arm with the gun in his hand, though low enough that only the six of them could see it. \"Maybe it's best we ain't goin' up north. No passes.\"\n\n\"Course if you can read and write, you can make your own passes,\" Benji said, his voice dry. Sam watched as the Altans exchanged quick glances. No doubt they were thinking of their own fake passes.\n\n\"Amos?\" Sam waited until the large man was looking at him. \"Between Benji, Gid, and Sol, Manny and I have been learning to read, tell time, and do math.\"\n\n\"Basic. Math,\" Gid said forcefully.\n\nSam smiled, but continued. \"Anythin' else you think we ought to be learnin'?\"\n\nAmos exhaled and pulled in one of his outstretched legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around it. It made him seem younger and Sam wondered for a moment just how many years Amos had seen. \"I'm not sure I'm the one to ask.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" Manny said, rolling his empty hand in a loose circle. \"Laura is the one we need to ask, but she's not a man.\" His words came out quickly to cutoff any and all objections. But Sam levelled him with a look. A look Manny avoided. He could see that they were going to have to have a talk. \"What do we need to know as men?\"\n\n\"Are we men, though?\" Sol's voice was barely above a whisper, but they all heard it. More than that, they felt it... that hole on the inside that desired to be filled with respect. Sam felt his jaw clenching as he stared straight ahead. The boy didn't say much, but when he did...\n\nFinally, Amos spoke. \"Only thing that matters is what God thinks of us.\"\n\nBenji sighed. Gid and Sol hummed. Manny huffed. \"And the white man,\" he said lightly, though his voice held no humor. \"I'm glad God thinks I'm a man, but does it matter if no one else does too?\"\n\n\"What is a man, really?\" Sol threw out as he stretched out and leaned back on his arms.\n\n\"Would somebody shut this boy up?\" Benji muttered to himself.\n\n\"No,\" Amos said firmly. \"It's a good question. A man, I think, is someone who is fully grown and can take of his business.\"\n\n\"Guess we're all out then,\" Manny said dryly and Sam heard the note of grief in his words. None of them knew the first thing after all, about taking care of their own business. For good or for ill, they had all been taken care of.\n\n\"We're tryin'. That's the important thing,\" Amos countered. \"And one day, we will be handlin' our own business. And by business, I mean ownin' your own and takin' care of your family. I don't mean smart. I done met some real stupid white men. And last time I checked, they still counted as men.\"\n\nManny let out a little laugh, and then they were all laughing.\n\n\"Any ideas?\" Sam asked, reminding Amos of his original question. And then he wondered why, exactly, it mattered. Because he trusted Amos, he realized. And that part of him, that small, infinitesimal part of him that had always longed for a father, was starting to latch onto Amos. Which was fraught with its own problems. Problems he would think about later.\n\n\"Let me think on it some. But Laura really is the one to ask. I've only seen one side of white men. Laura's seen 'em all. She understands all the things you need to know to live in their world.\"\n\n\"Like not only ownin' a gun,\" Sol said quietly. \"But knowin' how to shoot it.\"\n\n\"She doesn't know how to shoot a gun,\" Benji said forcefully.\n\n\"I bet she knows more than you,\" Gid said, defending his sister.\n\n\"That's not what I meant!\" Sol said, sending both of his brothers a frown. \"I meant that the difference between a white man and Negro man is the how-to.\" He pointed at the gun that was still in Manny's hand. \"He can hold it, but he don't know how it works. Not really. It's things like that what makes us different.\"\n\n\"Maybe he'll teach you,\" Gid said, his eyes staring hard at the gun.\n\n\"What are you talkin' 'bout?\" Manny asked, his eyes too on the gun.\n\n\"Maybe the man, Mr. Ward, will teach Sam how to shoot the gun.\"\n\nThere was silence for a moment.\n\n\"He would never\u2014,\"\n\n\"Boy, you ain't got the sense God gave a goose.\"\n\n\"And where's he goin' to do that at exactly? All these white men on this boat just gone stand 'round and let a Negro shot a gun?\"\n\nIt was Sam's turn to eye the gun. And why couldn't Adam teach him how to shoot it? He had been letting Adam decide what to teach him, but what if he had his own ideas? Sam leaned his head back against the railing as the others talked. He would have to come across something valuable first to barter with. \"It's not a bad idea, Gideon,\" Sam said softly and the others quieted. \"Maybe I'll ask.\"\n\n\"You never will,\" Manny asked, his gaze fierce on Sam's. \"That's fool kind of talk, Sam. He might... don't you do that. You hear?\"\n\nMost white men probably would get offended, but...\n\n\"Sam.\" It was Finn's voice in the darkness. \"Captain's gonna keep on movin'. I need you to light the torch baskets.\"\n\nSam stood up, brushed off his backside. He wasn't the only one to stand. Amos did too. If they were moving, then Amos had to go back to feeding coal to the steamer. \"Keep an eye on the gun for me, Manny?\"\n\nManny grunted as though he was being put upon, but Sam also watched his grip on the gun's handle get a bit tighter.\n\nSam walked around the steamer, carefully placing oil-soaked scraps into the metal baskets that someone had already set up about the boat. Using the pocket tinderbox that Finn had given him, Sam got a small fire going in each basket, illuminating the deck and the water below. He felt the sudden, small jerk, heard the sound of things in the boiler room picking up, and soon felt the movement of the boat beneath his feet. The steamer was starting to become very familiar to him. But since he also felt like a fish in a barrel, he still couldn't wait to get off.\n\nAs he made his trek around the deck, Sam caught sight of Baldwin again, standing in his usual spot, smoking. But this time he was not talking to a woman but to an older man. Sam watched the two, steadily moving closer in hopes that he could hear their conversation. If he heard something real good, maybe Adam would teach him how to shoot. And wouldn't that surprise his brother?\n\nHe was almost within a foot of the two men, ducking and hiding behind large cargo and long pillars, when he heard his name whispered.\n\n\"Sam!\"\n\nSam glanced behind him quickly. It was Laura. And what was she doing down here anyway?\n\nHe turned, but not before tossing one more glance at Baldwin and the other man. They were still talking, neither one of them, apparently, having heard her. Laura was standing next to one of the torch baskets, rubbing her hands up and down her arms in an effort to ward off the cold. Her apron was gone, stray hairs of hers that had escaped the confines of her braids were swaying with the cool breeze of the night. She looked tired and done in. Yet here she was. Something must have happened.\n\n\"Somethin' the matter?\" He asked as he got closer to her, not that she looked upset or shaken in anyway. No. He would have to say that if anything, she looked determined. Looking around them, he caught a few glances from the men who had claimed sleeping spots on the lower deck. He grabbed her arm, pulling her in a bit closer so that their conversation wasn't overheard.\n\n\"I know what we have to do, next.\" By the way her lips were pursed, Sam knew exactly what she was talking about.\n\nLeaning in close, so that his lips were barely an inch from her ear, he jerked his thumb behind him. \"We could listen in on that conversation between Baldwin and that man.\"\n\nLaura, stood on her tiptoes, and moved a bit to look over his shoulder. \"He sure is a busy man. I swear I just saw him talkin' to Mrs. Hartford up above by the stairs.\"\n\n\"You sure?\" Sam asked, raising a brow. \"He's been there for a minute.\"\n\nLaura shrugged. \"I don't know how long he's been down here, but I do know he was talkin' to Mrs. Hartford. You go on and listen to their conversation if you can, but I'm goin' go to Mrs. Hartford's room tomorrow and search it so we can know for once and for all if she's Mary Stiles, tell Adam Ward, and be done with the man entirely.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 50", "text": "Sam didn't seem none too pleased with her suggestion if the intense frown on his face was any indication. \"Why stop there,\" he said, his voice laced with uncharacteristic sarcasm. \"Why not run up to Baldwin's room right now, since we know he's done here and search it for whatever it is that Adam needs?\"\n\nIt wasn't a bad idea.\n\n\"That was not an actual suggestion!\" Sam's voice was low and fierce and his grip on Laura's arm tightened so much she feared the blood had stopped flowing.\n\n\"If I actually knew what I was lookin' for...\"\n\n\"Laura\u2014,\"\n\n\"I know what I would be lookin' for in Mrs. Hartford's room. Somethin' that would link her directly to Mary Stiles. Then Mr. Ward would at least have that information for certain. It's a good idea, Sam.\"\n\n\"It's a fool idea.\"\n\n\"You sound like Manny.\"\n\n\"I feel like him, too,\" Sam muttered under his breath before lifting his hat and running one hand over the top of his scalp. He replaced it with a sigh. In the dim lighting of the steamer, he looked tired. They didn't do the same kind of work at all, but they still spent most of their time working from sunup til sundown. And apparently, solving a mystery.\n\n\"Don't you want to be free of this?\" Laura asked as she reached out a hand, setting it on his arm.\n\n\"Not at the expense of anyone gettin' hurt.\"\n\n\"We don't have the luxury of makin' that kind of choice, Sam. We've got to solve this thing, the sooner the better.\"\n\nLaura watched as Sam's lips pressed together tightly, forming a thin line. \"When do you aim to search the woman's room?\"\n\nLaura closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. \"Durin' the noon meal.\"\n\n\"Then, I'll be there if I can. To watch your back.\"\n\n\"You don't have to\u2014,\"\n\n\"I know,\" he said quickly, cutting off the rest of her words. \"You've got a safety plan already hatched. Nevertheless, I'll be there. I'll have your back.\"\n\nLaura ignored the small thrill his words gave her. Because Manny was right. Had she been anyone else, Sam\u2014kind, compassionate, thoughtful Sam\u2014would have their back too.\n\n\"Meet me in the laundry room, then,\" she said and took a step back, removing her hand from his arm. It took him a few seconds longer to take his hand off her arm.\n\n\"Don't you do anythin' until then.\" His whisper was low and fervent.\n\n\"Alright, Sam. You have a good night.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 51", "text": "\"I hear tell we gone be on this here boat for several days without stoppin'!\" Birdie declared to Laura. They were ensconced in the laundry room, Birdie repairing seams and sewing on buttons while Laura ironed out wrinkles on shirts, pants, and dresses. And listened to Birdie's chatter about nonsense.\n\n\"Yes. This mornin's stop was the last stop for a minute.\"\n\n\"Can you imagine? Why, if we crash into somethin' or if somethin' happens in the boiler room there won't be a single person to help us.\"\n\n\"We're not passin' any ports. It doesn't mean there's no people on land.\" Laura bit off the rest of her words. She was not going to be rude. Even if she desperately wanted to.\n\n\"I s'pose you right. You sure is smart, Laura. I was tellin' my brother, Will, that you know just about everythin' there is to know about anythin'. He was tellin' me how he spects he ought to meet you then.\"\n\nLaura had zero interest in talking to Birdie's brother, Will. If he was anything like his sister, her patience might meet its limit. But since Birdie seemed to be waiting for a response, Laura made a humming sound in the back of her throat. By the way Birdie's face lit up, that was all she needed.\n\n\"Can you read?\" Birdie asked. Laura raised the iron and set it on the stove. She stared the girl down for a full minute. Yes, they had told Sam and Manny they could read, but that was because there had been something there that told them they could be trusted. There was nothing there that indicated that Laura could trust Birdie. The girl had the good graces to look away. \"I was just thinkin' is all 'bout how nice it would be to know things.\" And this time Laura had the good grace to feel ashamed. When the girl put it like that... life had not been easy for Laura, but she could not imagine how odd it would feel without words. Without knowledge. Without knowhow.\n\nThe laundry door opened up and for a second Laura straightened, thinking it was Sam. But it wasn't. It was Maureen, her arms filled full with bedsheets. Besides, she told herself as she reached for the iron behind her. It wasn't yet noon.\n\n\"Laura, the girls in room six are looking for you,\" Maureen said in that sing song voice of hers. \"I'll finish the ironing if you want.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Laura said, setting the iron back on the stove. \"When I get back, I'll finish the washin'.\"\n\n\"It's just sheets in this pile,\" Maureen said, unusually chatty as she tossed the dirty laundry onto the ground. \"Do you know who's an odd duck? The man in room three. Never lets me in, just hands me his load like he's hiding a dead body in his room or something.\"\n\nLaura stared down at the shirt before her. What room was Baldwin in anyway? Perhaps... perhaps a quick search of his room would be just the thing. \"What man is in room three?\"\n\n\"Can't say I know his name. I'll tell you who else is strange. Mrs. Lacy. And Mrs. McRae with all her perfumes. And Mr. Barrons.\"\n\nLaura sighed and walked around the table she was using to iron the clothes. Maureen was right. There was more than one odd duck on this steamer.\n\n\"See you round, Laura!\" Birdie called to Laura's back. Laura paused, gave the girl a quick wave and left.\n\nBy the time Laura left an arguing Lucinda and Daphne again\u2014this time over the merits of marrying a man three times one's age\u2014it was time for the noon meal. And she didn't have to look at a clock to know it. The smells of roasting chickens and a glazed ham lingered in the air outside of the salon doors. The food to a degree was monotonous. But Shad and Miz Nellie knew how to turn a chicken and a ham. The other big clue that it was midday was that Birdie, Maureen, and Emma were gone. Hopefully, long enough for her to meet with Sam before they noticed him.\n\nIn an effort to make time go by faster, Laura began sorting the piles of wash so that when she came back, she would be able to move faster. It wasn't until she found herself returning to the same pile for the third time that she realized something. She was nervous. And she blamed Sam for all of his cautioning. She had been entering white folks' private domains since she was nigh unto a duck. Some things made her afraid. This was not one of them.\n\nThere was a gentle knocking on the door. Sam. She didn't wait for him to open it, but met him at the door. His eyes were hidden under the cap of his hat, but she could see the tension in his body from the way he stood firm with one hand gripping his other arm.\n\n\"You're makin' me nervous, Sam.\"\n\n\"You should be. Laura.\"\n\nShe stared up at him for a second. \"Trust me on this, Sam.\"\n\n\"I am. Doesn't mean I have to like it.\" He leaned in closer, smelling like sun, earth, and wind. Not an altogether unpleasant smell on Sam. \"If someone comes, I'll whistle. Like a warbler.\"\n\n\"It's alright, you know. If I get caught,\" Laura said, her gaze flicking to his. \"I can handle myself.\"\n\n\"Why should you if I'm here?\"\n\nShe saw his eyes now, deep brown, worried, and a bit flinty. It would be easy, too easy to rely on Sam. But theirs was a life of hard times and torn relationships. Until they made it off this boat and somewhere safe, she would do well to keep her distance from Sam. Even if he did look more handsome when he was fierce.\n\nHe took a step back, letting her pass. She moved calmly down the boat, not too quick, not too slow until she reached Mrs. Hartford's door. She raised a hand to knock, but then eyed Sam for a minute.\n\n\"I know how to look busy,\" he said as he pulled out what seemed to be torn ropes from his back pocket.\n\nLaura gave him a single nod before knocking on the door. When she got no response, she pressed an ear to it. Again, nothing. She tried the knob, but it was locked. She had thought it might be. She reached into the pocket of her apron, pulling out her lock pick.\n\n\"Laura!\" Sam's whisper behind her was both low and shocked. \"You house slaves got it so easy, you make it hard,\" she heard him mutter behind her.\n\nFor the first time she could remember, she sent him an annoyed look. \"I told you about this already. We. Need. Information.\"\n\n\"I suppose Prince taught you this too,\" Sam said, shaking his head in judgment. She rolled her eyes so he could see it. \"I'm just not sure this of God.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure the whole institution of slavery is of God. And yet here we are. And for the record,\" she hissed. \"Benji taught me. Now. Go. Away.\"\n\nField hands. They always thought they knew everything. Sam opened his mouth, closed it. His eyes darting to the side as though afraid someone would come up on them at any second. But what he didn't know was that Laura's ears had been trained to hear the first heeled footsteps several feet away. She wasn't worried. Yet.\n\nShe turned back to the lock. \"Not so easy,\" she muttered to herself. \"Bein' in the House comes with its own set of problems.\" Like Mama and Prince, Annie and her boys, and dozens of others who had not been quick enough to please Massa Richard and Miss Martha.\n\nThe door clicked and loosened. She slipped into the room before Sam could say another word, closing the door behind her. The small cabin was dark and smelled of the scented lavender water that Laura had come to associate with Mrs. Hartford. The bed was already made and tidy, evidence that Emma had already been in to clean.\n\nBut that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was finding something that would directly link Mary Stiles to Lavinia Hartford. There was the obvious trunk in the middle of the room. Most folks kept what was important in their trunks not to mention that Laura had seen Mrs. Hartford's letters in there before. But, a woman with something to hide was not usually so obvious.\n\nShe went to the small chest of drawers first. She ran her hands along the bottom of the drawers both inside and out. Drawers had always been the first place Missy Charlotte hid her love letters from Mister Louis Dupree. There had been nothing to hide in Laura's estimation. Louis Dupree was a poor beau indeed. In spirit if not in pocket. There was nothing there. She went to the trunk next and found the letters she had seen previously. Opening the most recent one, she read quickly. Paused. And then read again. As before, she noted that neither the person who had written the letter nor the person to whom the letter was addressed was Lavinia Hartford.\n\nAlso, it became quite clear that Thomas Andrew Carter, the writer, was the brother of Marianne, the receiver. All very proper and nothing in them to indicate why someone would steal them. She skimmed all of the letters looking for the name Mary Stiles but didn't find it. It wasn't until she was on her tenth one when she realized that Mary Stiles itself could just be a pseudonym. With a long sigh, she replaced the letters and went to the closet. Surely there had to be something in this room that would help identify Mrs. Hartford.\n\nShe went into the closet which was slightly cluttered with parasols and hanging garments. There was nothing on the ground, but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be something up top. She pulled the lone chair into the closet and stood on it. And there was a box. It was locked and in need of a key. Laura slipped the thin pieces of metal into the small cavity and fiddled with it until she heard a small pop. She lifted the lid slowly. It was a jewelry box, but if the box was anything like Missy Charlotte's the first layer was just that\u2014the first. And sure enough there was something on the bottom... a sheet of paper. And when she read it, she knew. Mrs. Hartford was not Mary Stiles."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 52", "text": "Hours later, Sam was once again cleaning the deck and still marveling over the absolute risks that Laura took. He supposed it might be different for a female slave than a male slave. Not easier, necessarily, just different. She had probably never been whipped, he decided. He knew Benji, Sol, and Amos had. Though Gid had not. It was probably why there was still such an innocence to the boy. Nothing like having yourself stripped and bared and beaten before the world to realize that life was filled with a lot of not-so-great-moments. It also did something to the spirit. He and Laura had continued their disagreement about sneaking around white folks rooms until Laura said that they would just have to agree to disagree. It wasn't that he thought Laura was entirely wrong. He understood. Knowledge was power. He did not understand all the planning to be so shifty. And yet, he was also beginning to see when dealing with Adam Ward that it paid to be a bit a shifty. If you knew how someone was going to react first, then you could better prepare yourself.\n\nHe could see he was annoying Laura, but honestly he had enjoyed the discussion. They did not have to agree on everything for him to still enjoy her presence. He moved around the deck slowly taking his time as he came up on the animal pen. Having spent most of his time inhaling fresh air from the other side of the steamer, the smell of enclosed pigs, chickens, cows, and horses, made his nose wrinkle. But he supposed that was what he was there for as he scooped up manure, moving it to the side.\n\n\"Hey, Sam.\"\n\nSam looked up from the floor he was cleaning to see Adam standing a few feet away, patting one of the horses with affection.\n\n\"I thought I saw Baldwin come down here,\" he said as he fed the black horse in front of him a piece of an apple, patting it gently.\n\n\"I haven't seen him,\" Sam said quietly, glancing around. But no one seemed to be paying them any attention as they went about their various duties on the steamer. Not to mention that the animals weren't just standing or sitting quietly. It was like a veritable symphony of honks, clucks, mooing, and snickers.\n\n\"Sam, come meet my horse, Rex,\" Adam said fondly. Sam would never understand how some men treated their animals with such affection. He walked over so that he was on the other side of Rex. \"This is a Morgan. Morgan horses are hardy, strong, and fast.\" Pride reigned in Adam's voice as he ran a hand down the horse's neck. Sam stared at the horse but said nothing as Adam began to slowly describe and point out the differences between his horse and the others in the pen next to it.\n\n\"Sam,\" Adam said after a moment. \"I get the feeling you know all this already.\" Sam shrugged, his face blank. He did not know everything there was to know about horses. But neither was he a complete idiot. Adam blinked at him a few times.\n\n\"Didn't know it was a Morgan,\" Sam finally said, careful only to meet Adam's eyes for a second before looking back at the ground.\n\n\"Well, can you ride?\"\n\nSam raised his head sharply. Shook his head once. \"Never been on a horse.\"\n\nAdam gave a decisive nod. \"When we stop in Paducah, Kentucky, we'll both get off. I'll take Rex and rent you a horse. A man who goes out west ought to know how to ride.\"\n\nSam felt several emotions warring through him. He hadn't realized it until that moment, but he very much did want to know how to ride. But more than that, he wanted to know how to shoot. And good gracious, how in the world were they still in Kentucky?\n\n\"Got somethin' for you,\" Sam said slowly, and then pulled out the small sheet of paper Laura had taken from Mrs. Hartford's room. She won't miss it, Laura had said. He handed it to Adam, and watched several expressions cross his face. \"Says she's an actress, up in New York. Hartford is her stage name. She was acting in some... play,\" Sam couldn't remember the name of it though it had been very familiar to Laura.\n\n\"As You Like It by Shakespeare,\" Adam said slowly, staring at the billing in almost disbelief. His eyes flickered to Sam's. \"Where did you get this? How did you get this?\"\n\nSam shrugged, careful to keep his eyes averted.\n\nFinally, Adam said, still staring at the sheet in his hand, \"I'm beginning to think I've underestimated you, Sam. Thought they said darkies weren't much smarter than puppies,\" Adam murmured to himself. Sam kept his flinched internalized. Most talk like that washed over him like water over a duck's back. But in that moment he realized he had thought Adam saw him as a bit more than a prop to hang one's coat. \"I mean,\" Adam continued, still talking to himself. \"There is the occasional smart one. Like Frederick Douglass. I heard him speak once.\"\n\nSam continued to keep his face neutral. Frederick Douglas? He had never heard of him. He would ask Laura and see if she knew who he was.\n\nAdam folded the small sheet of paper and stuck it in a small pocket in his vest. \"I thought you couldn't read?\"\n\nSam shrugged again. He couldn't read. Not really. But he was getting much better at recognizing letters and following along with words. He met with Gid every day to practice with the different words that were written on things throughout the steamer. He recognized the word 'property' now. One day though, soon, he would be able to read the newspaper cover to cover. For now, he was trusting entirely on Laura's mind. \"Mr. Ward,\" he said quickly. He had had a reason for giving him that paper. \"I would rather you taught me how to shoot than ride.\"\n\nAdam frowned. \"I was planning on doing both. When we get off the steamer.\" Sam bit his lip in an effort to stem the tide of emotion he felt rising in his chest. \"If you're free, I can give you some pointers now.\"\n\nSam didn't need to be told twice. He set the broom he was holding to the side. So long as he was with a white man, any white man, it was highly unlikely he would get taken to task. \"I've got some time.\"\n\nThey walked to the very front of the steamer, finding an empty spot against the rails. Sam looked down watching as the boat cut through the water. He had heard the sailors talking. When they finally reached the Mississippi\u2014and oh what a happy day that would be\u2014the river would get narrower. Sam couldn't wait to see that.\n\n\"Do you have the gun on you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Sam said, reaching into the pocket in his trousers and producing the weapon. He handed it to Adam. But Adam took a step back, refusing to take it. \"Show me what you've learned so far. Dissemble it and put it back together.\" Sam did as requested in seconds. \"You have been practicing.\" Sam fought the urge to say, obviously. \"Sam, how did you get that billing on Mrs. Hartford?\" Sam looked away. \"Because I think I need to get into Baldwin's room and any particular skills you have...\"\n\nAdam's voice trailed off as Sam shook his head. \"Can't do that.\"\n\nAdam turned to face the water, though Sam felt him gazing at him out of the side of his eye. \"What if I break in? Could you keep watch?\"\n\nSam gave one quick nod.\n\n\"In fact, Baldwin never misses a meal.\" Adam pulled out a pocket watch, flipping it open and checking the time. Sam resisted the urge to ask if he could figure out the time. \"Supper will be in a few hours. Meet me outside his room just before,\" Adam said, going on to mention which room that was. Also,...\" Adam stopped talking once again, but this time it was because he was looking past Sam. Sam turned to his side and saw Manny standing one foot away, watching them with his arms folded across his chest. His expression was probably emotionless to Adam. But to Sam, there was a variety of emotions on his brother's face, the main one being sharp curiosity.\n\nManny, realizing that Adam was looking at him, walked up to Sam, so that they were inches apart and placed a hand on the railing. And waited.\n\n\"My brother, Manny,\" Sam said with a nod. Adam smiled a very slow smile.\n\n\"I didn't know you had a brother, Sam. I... you look... are you identical twins?\" The question was asked very hesitantly as though Adam were afraid to cause offense. Which was absolutely ridiculous considering everything he had ever said to Sam. \"And Sam, if you answer that question by shrugging at me, I swear I'm going to push you over the side of this boat myself.\"\n\nSam felt his brother tense next to him, and he moved his hand on the railing down so that his hand touched Manny's. It was a motion that did not go unnoticed by Adam. \"There is a just a lot I don't know,\" Adam said so quietly, Sam was certain he was talking to himself again. \"It's nice to meet you Manny Rivers. I'm Adam Ward.\"\n\nSam could not bring himself to make eye contact with Manny in that moment. He had forgotten that he had told Adam that his last name was Rivers.\n\n\"Mr. Ward,\" Manny finally said after a moment.\n\n\"I was just going through the motions here and teaching your brother how to aim and shoot a gun. When we get to our next stop, I aim to teach him how to fire a gun.\"\n\nThis time Sam did turn and quirk a brow at Manny. Manny just blinked back at him. Sam knew if he wanted to, he could knock his brother over with a feather right about now.\n\n\"Mind if I stay?\" Manny asked, leaning forward.\n\n\"Not at all.\"\n\nManny stayed during the whole demonstration, watching and listening as Adam explained how the gun worked, how a man should stand when aiming, and the best way to aim. After some time passed, Adam slapped a hand against Sam's shoulder. \"I've got to go. But I'll see you around. Maybe this evening,\" Adam said, meeting Sam's gaze. And Sam knew he was referring to sneaking around Baldwin's room.\n\nManny waited until Adam was clear away from them. \"Rivers? Rivers, Sam? I thought we were goin' to choose a second name together?\"\n\n\"He asked me what my full name was and we on a river and I could hear the water... ,\" Sam said, lifting his shoulders in an embarrassed shrug.\n\nHe felt Manny's intense stare, but ignored it. \"I guess I ought to be thankful you wasn't hearin' a bird cacaw. We could be Sam and Manny Warbler.\"\n\n\"It's not like it has to stay Rivers.\"\n\n\"Hey,\" Benji said, coming along Sam's other side, where Adam had been only moments before. \"What was goin' on with that fella?\"\n\n\"That's the man Sam rescued,\" Manny said, answering before Sam could. \"He was tryin' to teach Sam how to shoot without teachin' Sam how to shoot.\" The bottom of Benji's mouth dropped to his chest in disbelief. \"That's not even the crazy part. The crazy part is where Sam told him our last name was Rivers because he was hearing the river when Mr. Ward asked him his name.\"\n\nSam gave his brother a look while a slow smile crossed Benji's face. \"Could have been worse.\"\n\n\"And don't I know it!\"\n\n\"Let's see you come with a second name on the fly,\" Sam muttered.\n\n\"Surname,\" Benji said, correcting. \"Least that's the proper way to say or so Laura says,\" Benji muttered before clearing his throat. \"Pa made a big deal out of choosin' our last name, but I really don't think it matters much. 'Sides, you can always change it. Not like it's legal anyway,\" he said under his breath.\n\n\"I don't want to be Manny Rivers, Sam,\" Manny said succinctly. Sam rolled his eyes to the heavens.\n\n\"I had no clue, brother. I had no clue.\"\n\n\"I'm gonna choose our surname,\" he said, enunciating the last word. \"And it's not gonna be no river or no tree or no rock.\"\n\n\"Just make it short cause we cain't read.\"\n\nSam moved quickly to avoid Manny's bony elbow to his side while Benji laughed at the both of them.\n\n\"Benji,\" Sam said. Benji raised an eyebrow in question. \"Just what were you thinkin' exactly, teachin' your sister how to break into locks?\"\n\nA confused expression crossed Benji's face for a second before light dawned. \"I didn't realize she still remembered that.\"\n\n\"Was the all knowin' Laura breakin' into locks?\"\n\nSam ignored Manny. \"She told me today that you taught her that. She said it's a skill she used up at the big house all the time.\"\n\n\"It was?!\" Benji asked, looking surprised and more than a little prideful. Sam had known it would please the boy to know that his sister had valued his knowledge all this time.\n\n\"Yeah. Apparently, that's all they do all day in them big houses. Just break in and out of rooms.\"\n\n\"Politics, Papa said,\" Benji offered, slipping his hands into his pockets. \"He said Mama and them played politics but it was a dangerous game to play cause they didn't really have no power.\"\n\n\"What are we talkin' about?\" Manny asked, his eyes darting between Benji and Sam.\n\n\"Salis House and house slaves. You know, stuff that no longer matters cause we is free.\"\n\n\"Yes, we are. Free. Which is why I, the smart brother, have to think of a proper surname.\"\n\nWith a roll of his eyes, Sam left the two of them talking and went back to get the broom to finish cleaning up manure. He worked quietly on the first deck, took orders from Finn, and generally prayed quietly to himself. Mostly, he liked being on the steamer, but it didn't negate the fact that he was still in these United States. Thinking about it made the inside of his stomach twist with anxiety and he knew how the good Lord felt about having anxious thoughts when He was there to go before you. Thus, Sam spent a lot of time praying to change his worried reflections. Eventually he noticed the slow fall of the sun and the emptiness of the first deck. Supper time.\n\nSam grabbed a piece of stale bread and hard meat from his sack, stuffed it quickly in his mouth, and headed up the stairs to find Adam. But Adam was waiting for him, leaning against the railing, and looking out over the water just a few feet from Baldwin's room.\n\n\"Good,\" Adam said, his gaze still on the river. \"I just saw Baldwin pass by not ten minutes ago for supper. If I hurry, that should give us a good ten minutes in his room.\"\n\nSam gave a small nod, taking Adam's place on the railing as Adam took a few steps back and glanced around. Their part of the deck was completely empty. \"If he comes back, cause a ruckus.\" Sam hummed. Adam sighed. \"Or not. Just make sure I get out in time,\" Adam said, shaking his head.\n\nSam leaned further across the railing. This sneaking around business was just plain not for him and here he was on watch for the second time in one day. Cause a ruckus? And get himself thrown off the ship for sure. With Laura he could whistle cause he knew she would be listening for it. There was something about her sneaking that gave him a whole lot more faith.\n\nBehind him, he heard Adam knock gently at Baldwin's door. He turned for a second to see Adam pulling out similar small pieces of metal that Laura had had when all of a second the door swung open, and Baldwin stood there glaring at Adam."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 53", "text": "They only had four stops left until they reached Arkansas. Laura shook her head slowly as she continued to knead the ball of dough in front of her for the supper meal. That was it, four stops. Only problem was the stops were days apart. They had their last stop in Kentucky tomorrow, then Missouri, two days on the river before they reached Tennessee. Then two more days after that for another stop. Then Arkansas. She had found a copy of the schedule when she had been cleaning Mr. Ward's room earlier that day.\n\nAfter leaving Mrs. Hartford's room and handing Sam that advertisement, she had gone right to Mr. Ward's room to clean and snoop because if Mrs. Hartford wasn't Mary Stiles that put them back to almost the beginning when they had nothing. And Laura didn't know how Adam Ward was when he had nothing. Sure and he was a whole lot nicer to Sam, but she didn't trust the man. Or rather, she trusted the first version of the man, not the second one. It had never been her experience that folks got nicer when the irons got hot. So, when she went to Adam Ward's room to clean, she also went to see if he had sent any telegrams.\n\nShe remade his bed, folded his clothes, straightened his things and went digging. She found the papers again with her and the boys and Papa's description. She went through the papers on his desk and saw that he had sent and received several telegrams. None of them had mentioned any slaves as far as she could tell. She had found a copy of the steamer's schedule copied in his own hand and marveled at the fact that they had still yet another week on the river. She had been in the middle of digging through his closet when his door had opened.\n\n\"Oh,\" Mr. Ward said slowly as Laura had stepped out of the closet. She watched his chest sink with relief and a small, tight smile cross his thin lips. \"I didn't realize you were in here.\"\n\n\"Your suits have been cleaned, Mr. Ward,\" Laura said slowly and distinctly, clasping her hands in front of her and ignoring the silent question in his words. Her heart was pounding fast, but she stilled her face and paid no attention to her emotions.\n\n\"Thank you, Lolly,\" Adam Ward said with a sigh as he took off his jacket and tossed it across the back of the lone chair in the room. It was a move he never would have made if she had been a white girl. But then, if she was a white girl, she would never have been there in the first place.\n\n\"Is there anythin' else you need, Mr. Ward?\" Laura asked, making sure her voice was low, soothing.\n\n\"No, Lolly.\" She started for the door. Her hand had just touched the knob when Adam Ward spoke again. \"Well, actually... Lolly, you're free right?\"\n\n\"Suh?\" She felt the blood in her body start pumping, the pace slowly picking up speed.\n\n\"I mean... can you read?\"\n\nShe turned her face so he could see the expression on it. She made her eyebrows furrow, made sure her eyes were cast down as though in shame. \"Read, suh?\" She saw his grimace out of the corner of his eye.\n\n\"I don't suppose you know a Negro man by the name of Sam? That's here on this steamer?\"\n\n\"I know, Sam. Suh.\" Her eyes were blank now as she blinked at him.\n\nHe grimaced again. \"Nevermind, Lolly. I\u2014nevermind.\"\n\nShe left his room with a roll of her eyes. What did he expect? That she would pour her heart out to him?\n\nShe had next gone to the laundry room to wash sheets before heading first to Mrs. Hartford's room and then to Lucinda and Daphne's room.\n\nMrs. Hartford had been waiting for her, sighing over her choice of dresses for the evening. \"Laura, you choose. You have such a good eye for color.\" Without hesitation, Laura had chosen a green taffeta gown. She helped Mrs. Hartford with her petticoat and corset before covering them with the evening dress. Mrs. Hartford stood before the mirror as Laura brushed and pulled and tucked to make the dress look just right.\n\n\"I can't wait until we arrive in New Orleans, Laura. I look so nice and it's all wasted. There's not a single man of interest on this boat.\" Laura said nothing as she continued to straighten out the dress. Her only thought was how much she wished Mrs. Hartford had been Mary Stiles. \"And then, well, Laura, I'm an actress,\" Mrs. Hartford said with a dejected sigh. Laura guided her to the chair in front of the vanity and quickly began to dress her hair. It would be nothing so elaborate as what she done for Missy Charlotte on more than one occasion, but it would do. \"And some men have a tendency to think that that must mean that I'm easy with my favors. Why one man\u2014I can barely remember his name\u2014but I told him I was not interested in his romantic favors. And then he came back the second day as though we hadn't talked at all the day before. I had to slap him! I told him if he didn't stay away I would talk to Captain Leahy personally.\"\n\nLaura paused in brushing off Mrs. Hartford's shoulders and mentally sighed. If they had only had this conversation a day earlier it would have saved her and Sam some time. She listened to Mrs. Hartford bare her complaints for another fifteen minutes before presenting her with gloves and a matching stole.\n\nThen she had raced down to Daphne and Lucinda's room, knocking as she pushed open the door. She came to a stop when she saw a black-haired woman standing in the center of the room.\n\n\"Oh, Laura, you gave me a fright,\" Daphne said, turning around. She reached up and pulled the black-haired wig off her head. \"Isn't this the most ridiculous thing?\" Laura stared. \"It's Lucinda's. She has a whole box filled with different color wigs. You would think she was balding. She's out for a stroll with Mr. Cronwall,\" Daphne said, wrinkling her nose. Laura took this to mean the old, rich man that Lucinda was trying to marry. Laura went to the closet for Daphne's evening dress as Daphne went to Lucinda's trunk and tossed the wig back inside. \"She said to tell you not to leave until she gets here cause she's still going to need your help.\"\n\nLaura had been stuck in that room with first Daphne and then Lucinda for well over an hour. And now, here she was, kneading bread for supper and wondering how she could find Sam. Alone. It would be easy enough to find him, but Manny might be with him or her own brothers. Though she supposed it wouldn't be so bad to visit with all of them. They just wouldn't be able to talk about Baldwin and Mary Stiles.\n\n\"I think that's good and ready,\" Birdie said, coming alongside her.\n\n\"Oh,\" Laura said and let Birdie take it from her so that the bread would have a chance to rise.\n\n\"You know the food on this here steamer ain't so bad, but I could sure go for a mess o' greens, right about now,\" Birdie said with a grin.\n\n\"Cooked with salt pork or some ham hock and some fresh corn bread on the side,\" Laura added as she began to flour her station again in anticipation of making a fresh batch of dough.\n\n\"Oh, my yes,\" Birdie said and they shared a smile and a laugh. \"You ever cooked up some ox tail stew?\"\n\n\"Every other Sunday when Mama was alive.\" Laura closed her eyes, remembering those few times when all of them\u2014except Prince\u2014had gotten together and enjoyed Sunday supper. The last time had been a year or so ago, but the sweetness of those memories made her ache.\n\n\"And a pot of black eyed peas on New Years'?\"\n\n\"With salt pork and onions after soakin' 'em over night? Yes, indeed.\" Laura was no great cook, but she knew good food like Annie's which always tasted like there was something extra in her pot that made you want to keep dipping. She wondered if Sam had ever had collard greens and ox tail stew, or a plate of black eyed peas. When they got off this steamer, when they got good and settled, she would cook for him. And for the first time the thought of seeing Sam in the future didn't feel so strange. Why wouldn't their families stick together in Oklahoma?\n\n\"Yes, chile,\" Birdie said with a laugh, pulling Laura back to their conversation. \"We not so different, me and you.\" Though she made a statement, Laura could see the question, the hesitance in her eyes.\n\nLaura sent her a small smile. Shook her head. \"No, we not so different.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 54", "text": "She found them gathered in a spot on the lower deck, stretched out, and talking.\n\n\"Laura, is that you?\" Gid asked, straightening from laying his head on Benji's shoulder.\n\n\"Yes, it's me,\" Laura said as she took in Manny and Sam, sitting close together with Benji, Gid, and Sol sitting across from them. When she was a few feet away, music started not too far away from her causing her to startle.\n\n\"Oh, that's just Will and his friends,\" Gid said just as Will's tenor filled the air.\n\n\"The river is up and the channel is deep, the wind is steady and strong,\" Will sang out clear and soulful. Someone's fiddle filled the air, slowly accompanying his words.\n\n\"It's just singin,' don't let it scare you none,\" Manny called out.\n\nLaura shot him a look of exasperation as she took a seat next to Sol. She wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in for a short side hug. His arm went around her waist giving her a gentle squeeze.\n\n\"What are you doin' down here?\" Benji's voice was short and abrupt, his view on her visit quite clear.\n\n\"I, for one,\" Gid started before Laura could respond, \"am happy to see you.\" He said as though he didn't see her every day. He, Sol, and Levi were constantly running between floors running errands for passengers and sailors alike.\n\n\"Brought fresh bread,\" Laura said, reaching into the deep pockets of her apron. She would just ignore Benji's rudeness, like she did most days. She pulled out several rolls, handing two to Sol. \"Give that to Papa next time you see him.\" He was the only brother she trusted to actually do as he was told. He gave her a short nod and slipped the extra roll in one of his pockets before taking a small bite out of his own, savoring the flavor. \"Here,\" she said, handing one to Manny and Sam.\n\n\"Us too? Are we... does that make us... family?\" Manny's voice was filled with false sweetness.\n\n\"Man, shut it and be thankful,\" Sam said, his voice low. He gave Laura a nod. \"Thank you for thinkin' of us.\"\n\n\"So what do y'all usually talk about?\" Laura asked as she pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. It was not a fitting position for a young lady. But her legs were covered and well...\n\n\"You,\" Manny said, his smile wolfish.\n\n\"Ignore him,\" Sam muttered over her brothers' small snorts.\n\n\"That man Sam saved is goin' to teach him how to shoot a gun,\" Sol offered, his voice serious as he continued to take tiny bites out of his roll.\n\nWithout thinking, Laura turned to Sam. \"Adam is goin' to teach you how to shoot?\" She had never heard of the like. Oh, Master Richard had taught Prince how to shoot but he had taught Prince how to read and do maths too.\n\n\"Whoa,\" Manny said, holding up one hand, his eyes now darting between her and Sam. In that moment she realized that whatever Manny was, no matter that he could barely read and probably couldn't write, he wasn't stupid. \"Adam?\"\n\nLaura winced as Sam placed a hand over his mouth, thinking.\n\nGid leaned forward. \"Yes, do tell us about... Adam.\"\n\n\"He's a detective,\" Sam said quietly.\n\n\"A what?\" Manny's voice was sharp, irritated, and was that hurt she heard there too?\n\n\"He solves mysteries. If someone is murdered or somethin' is stolen, he's hired to find out,\" Laura explained.\n\n\"Like a paddy roller?\"\n\n\"Paddy rollers are mostly for slaves, but the idea is the same,\" Laura said, her voice just barely above a whisper. \"'Cept detectives are for white folks.\"\n\n\"He's tryin' to find some bad... white person?\" Gid asked confusion in his voice.\n\n\"Somebody start from the beginnin' cause none of this is makin' a lick of sense.\" Manny's voice was harder now, his jaw tighter as he stared at Sam. Laura watched as Sam's whole chest sank with a sigh. When he finished telling them very quickly what he and Laura had been up to and why, the whole group of them fell silent.\n\nLaura, still holding her knees to her chest, noticed the tight anger in Manny's face and the stricken looks on her brothers' faces... and Sam hadn't even told them that it was only her family that Adam knew for certain were escaped slaves. Not Sam and Manny.\n\n\"Why are we still on this boat?\" Manny's question was quiet, but filled with emotion.\n\nBut Sam had been ready for the question because his response flew right off his tongue. \"Every day, every inch of water we go is one step further than from where we came. What's our other option? Escapin' by land? We'd be caught within a week.\"\n\n\"Every time we stop in a port, we're at risk,\" Manny countered.\n\n\"We're always at risk.\" It was the first time since Laura had met Sam that she heard anger in his voice. \"You may not like it, you may not want it, but at this point in our lives we've got nothin' to trust but God's leadin'. When he tells me to get off this boat, we'll get off this boat. Until then, we're stayin'.\"\n\nThere was trusting God and then there was trusting God. And Laura realized in that moment that she had never really trusted God. She had trusted her Mama, Prince, and everything she had ever been taught. And while she hadn't totally put God in a box and left him on a shelf, she had not exactly lived side by side with Him neither. Out of the side of her eye, she glanced at her brothers. Gid's mouth was still slightly open, Sol was staring hard at Sam, and Benji still had that stricken look from earlier... only now it was more pronounced.\n\n\"We'll help,\" Gid's voice seemed very high and childish in that moment. \"We'll help you help that detective guy.\"\n\n\"We'll have to be more vigilant,\" Benji said irritably. As though they weren't vigilant enough. Sometimes Laura felt she couldn't breathe from being so vigilant.\n\nManny huffed. Sam smiled humorlessly. \"Just be careful. If need be, we can get off this boat.\"\n\n\"Bein' careful,\" Sol said slowly, \"that's our whole life.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 55", "text": "\"Alright, are you ready for your history lesson?\" Gid asked as he pulled himself up on the lower rung of the railing so that more than half of his body was leaning over the water.\n\nSam placed his hands under the boy's armpits, got a grasp, and pulled Gid from behind setting him back on the deck. \"Don't need you fallin' over,\" was all he said.\n\n\"Why do we need to know history?\" Manny asked, his response dry. But his responses had all been dry since last night when he had listened to Sam and Laura's explanation about Adam Ward. It wasn't the first time Manny had gone to bed really and truly angry with him, but it was one of the top five. He still wasn't technically talking to him.\n\n\"Foundation, blah, blah, blah. You know how I feel about questions,\" Gid said, turning to face them.\n\nThey didn't have much time, but Gid always tried to find some time to squeeze in a quick lesson about something. And Sam had learned there was always something to learn.\n\n\"Right. So. Yesterday, we talked about how the Indians were here first, the white man showed up and sent them packin'. After that happened, Americans got in a fight with the British.\"\n\n\"Who are the British?\" Sam asked quietly, though he didn't know why. There were so many names and explanations and divisions and unifications. He was pretty sure he wasn't retaining most of it.\n\n\"Other white folks. They talk funny and they live on the other side of the water. I know. One visited Salis House before and I had to feed his horse. Anyway... no... wait, Americans were British first or something. Listen, the white people here came from somewhere, ok? The white folks who settled here got in a fight with the ones settled in the old land.\"\n\n\"I know,\" Manny drawled, \"we not supposed to ask questions, we just supposed to learn, but I feel like we're missin' a few facts.\"\n\n\"Probably are,\" Gid said with a shrug and then made a face as though to ask Manny, now what was he going to do about it?\n\n\"Alright,\" Manny said after a few minutes of trying to stare the boy down and losing. \"The Americans got in a fight with the British.\"\n\n\"Twice. Americans won both times. Once in the 1700s and then again in the 1800s.\"\n\n\"We're in the 1800s,\" Sam said, his finger pointing down.\n\n\"Yes, we are. What year?\"\n\n\"1855,\" Sam replied, allowing a small smile to cross his face. He had known that fact before he had met the Altan family. He just hadn't quite known what it meant.\n\n\"Good,\" Gid said with a quick nod. \"This other fight was way back, like 1805 or 1810 or somethin' back then. Doesn't matter, British lost.\"\n\n\"What were they fightin' over?\"\n\n\"Freedom,\" Gid said, giving them both a look.\n\n\"From what?\" Manny asked, skepticism lacing his tone.\n\n\"Somethin' to do with taxes. But we don't have to worry about taxes cause we ain't free,\" Gid said, the last word just a puff of air.\n\n\"What do taxes do?\"\n\n\"That's tomorrow's lesson,\" Gid said quickly and Sam knew that probably meant he was going to ask Laura first.\n\nThe steamer whistle blew loud, the sound carrying to them quickly. Each of them had a place to go and it was not there trying to get a botched history lesson.\n\n\"Sam, when you go on land can you buy me a piece of candy? A peppermint stick? Or a caramel? Either one is fine. I'm not particular.\" Gid asked, handing him a small coin.\n\n\"Where did you get this?\" Sam asked, slipping the coin into his pocket with his other coins. He had been tasked with buying bread and meat for all of them.\n\n\"I got a tip!\" Gid's eyes danced with amusement and slight astonishment. \"Sol got one too. He's savin' his for both of us and I'm spendin' mine for both of us. We're like you two. We do everythin' together... 'cept we don't look the exact same.\"\n\n\"What's candy?\" Manny asked, leaning against the railing and smiling slightly at Gid's chatter. They had gotten tips before. A lifetime ago. Though they had never spent the money on anything. They had been saving. To buy themselves.\n\nGid, who had been backing away stopped and stared at the both of them.\n\n\"We've had candy before,\" Sam said quickly, feeling about as dumb as a bag of rocks. \"Remember that sweet stuff Reverend brung us that one time?\"\n\n\"Oh,\" Manny said, nodding, though Sam could see he didn't understand. \"Right. The sweet stuff.\" When Gid left, Manny turned to him. \"Molasses?\"\n\n\"Yeah. I think that's candy.\"\n\n\"That boy said peppermint. Caramel.\"\n\n\"At this point, is it really a surprise that the candy we had was different than the one he had?\"\n\n\"Good Lord we're ignorant, Sam.\"\n\nHe guessed his brother was talking to him now. \"We knew that already, Manny.\"\n\n\"Doesn't make the medicine any easier to swallow, brother. I mean, taxes, British, wars? All these things happenin' and we pickin' tobacco plants and runnin' around a farm like ignorant puppies.\"\n\n\"Sam!\" The voice was Adam's. He was only a few feet away and had Rex's reins in his hand.\n\n\"Gotta go,\" Sam said, tipping his hat at his brother.\n\n\"That no good\u2014,\"\n\nManny's opinion had greatly soured on Adam Ward. And he had been quite put out with Sam for saving him.\n\n\"If he gets back on this ship alone...\"\n\nSam walked away, quietly praying. Cause first off, he did not want to go back to bein' a slave. Gid might have been a poor teacher, and his learning might have been slow as molasses, but he could not go back to what he was. He would rather die first. It was a grim thought, but a true one. He would rather die. And secondly, his brother didn't make idle threats. If Adam came back on this ship without him, Manny would kill him. Didn't need book learning to know how to do that.\n\nSam walked over to Adam. It was the first he had seen of Adam since Baldwin had caught Adam trying to sneak into his room. With Sam pretending to be far, far away from the two men, Adam had claimed that he was there in hopes of inviting Baldwin to another poker game. Baldwin had merely stared at Adam before muttering something about not playing with men who couldn't swim with the sharks and then slammed the door in Adam's face. They had both agreed that it had not gone well. Sam had no clue what Adam was going to do now.\n\nAdam handed him Rex's reins. \"I want you to take him off the steamer. I'm going to rent another horse for you to ride and then we'll head out of town for some lessons. We've only got two hours though, so we have to make it quick.\" Sam said nothing as Adam gave him directions as to where to go when he got on land. And then Adam was gone.\n\nThe horse made a small sound, shaking his head from side to side and Sam reached up to pat him, hoping it would calm the animal. He had cleaned horses' stalls and fed them. He had a general understanding of how they worked, but he had never had a need to interact with one.\n\n\"Sam.\" The voice was deep and gravelly and could belong only to one man.\n\nSam turned. \"Amos.\" He gave the older man a quick nod as Amos came to stand next to him. The steamer jerked once, quick. They were in port.\n\n\"My boys told me about what you've been doin', tryin' to help that white man,\" Amos said simply. He didn't finish the rest of the story. He didn't need to. \"You should have told me.\" His tone didn't change, but Sam could hear the censure in his voice.\n\n\"We've all got enough worries. No sense in addin' to 'em.\"\n\nAmos bowed his head in acknowledgement. \"Nevertheless, that's a worry I would have liked to have known. Especially since my baby girl's involved.\"\n\nSam winced slightly at the rebuke, but didn't think it was justified. \"Fair enough, Amos. But if it's one thing I've learned about your baby girl it's that she makes her own decisions.\" This time, Amos winced.\n\nAnd Sam thought about what he had said. \"I just mean when it comes to stuff like that. I don't mean as a woman.\"\n\nAmos' head gave a sharp turn in his direction. And Sam knew that that had sounded even worse. \"I mean\u2014,\"\n\n\"I know what you mean,\" Amos said quickly.\n\nSam felt his face filling with color. How could Amos know what he meant? He didn't know what he meant.\n\nThe whistle blew again. \"The boys gave me some money to get ya'll some victuals.\"\n\n\"Stay focused out there, son.\" Sam felt a small bubble of... something rise in his chest that he immediately squelched. Just cause the man called him son, didn't mean he actually thought of Sam as a son. It was probably a slip of the tongue. After all, the man already had four sons.\n\nSam gave him a small nod and led Rex off the steamer. The first thing he noticed was that earth felt different after eating, sleeping, and walking around the steamer for nigh until eleven days. And he missed it. The river life was for somebody. That somebody wasn't him. But he and Rex didn't have a minute to waste on Sam's philosophizing, so he pulled his cap low over his eyes, tugged on the horse's reins, and made his way towards town. He didn't want to walk through it, necessarily, but he had to know where to buy the victuals at.\n\nHe felt a few stares, no doubt cause of the fine horse he was escorting, but he kept on moving past the stores, the smithy, the saloon, until he saw the town's church. It was where Adam had said they would meet.\n\nHe was already there with a brown horse.\n\n\"Let's switch,\" Adam said, tossing the brown horse's reins at Sam. \"You know how to get on?\" Adam asked as he pulled himself onto Rex's saddle.\n\n\"I've seen it done a few times,\" Sam said as he placed one foot into the stirrup and then slowly pulled himself up. He couldn't stop the small grin from escaping as he settled himself on the horse. He gripped the reins tightly as the horse beneath him moved slightly. It was... a very strange sensation. He wished his brother was there.\n\n\"Alright,\" Adam and Rex came over to him and Adam reached over, giving him instructions as to how to guide the horse. It was both a lot to take in and yet familiar. \"Just give her a gentle kick, Sam. We should get out of town.\" And with that Adam was off. Sam did as he was told, slapping his feet against the belly of the horse and was more than a little surprised when she actually moved.\n\n\"You sit in the saddle well, Sam. Breathe deep... move with the horse... keep sitting straight... ,\" Adam made continuous corrections as they moved further and further out of town. And Sam didn't mind one bit. He was riding a horse. He, Sam, born of Virginia, son of Lucilla, was riding a horse. He bit his lip hard to keep from grinning. \"We're going to pick up the pace a bit Sam. Watch.\"\n\nThey rode for quite some time, and Sam could feel the strange pull in his muscles that he sometimes got when he hadn't been using them for a while. Only this time they were in his thighs. But the small pain felt good. He wouldn't have traded it for anything.\n\nThey got to a small clearing and Sam watched as Adam dismounted from Rex. \"How did you know about this spot?\"\n\n\"Asked when I got that horse,\" Adam said with a nod towards the horse Sam was sitting on. Carefully, slowly, he dismounted, keeping in the forefront of his mind all the times he had ever seen someone else do it before. \"You brought the gun?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Sam said, stumbling a bit as he gave the horse a few thankful pats for going along with everything. Horse riding was something a man needed to get used to. But he could do it. Sam walked over to Adam who had pulled out a cartridge of bullets.\n\n\"We're just going to target the trees, today.\"\n\n\"Sounds good to me.\"\n\nAdam looked up from the bullets he was counting to look at Sam. Sam took a moment to make his face emotionless. Adam glanced away for a second before handing Sam the bullets. \"Load it up.\" Sam quickly pulled out the empty chambers and filled them. \"You don't have to do that, you know.\"\n\n\"Do what?\" Sam asked as he snapped the chambers back into the gun.\n\n\"Hide your expressions.\" Sam tilted his head to the side once. \"I already know you're far smarter than you pretend to be.\"\n\n\"Am I?\" Sam asked, his voice neutral\n\nAdam huffed. \"Find you a target.\"\n\n\"That tree,\" Sam said, pointing towards a tree that was ten feet away from him with his hand.\n\n\"Good job, pointing with your finger and not the gun.\"\n\n\"I've heard some things,\" Sam murmured, bouncing lightly on the back of his feet. If his face was going to be blank, then he guessed his body was going to carry his excitement.\n\n\"Sam, I have a feeling you hear a lot of things.\"\n\n\"Same,\" Sam said, feeling a bit brave in that moment. \"I have a feelin' you hear a lot of things too. Which is why I am at a loss as to why you haven't solved your mystery,\" Sam said and then without waiting for instruction, fired the gun at the tree. He didn't stop the grin that spread across his face when the bullet sank into it. It had been so fast; nothing, and then the kick of something in his hand and the echo of the gun firing filling his ears. He didn't even notice Adam staring at him for a full minute. \"Can I try again?\"\n\nAdam, still staring at him, blinked. \"Yes.\"\n\nThey were out there for just above an hour, or so Adam said when they mounted their horses and headed back to town. Sam dismounted a little less than half a mile before they reached town and left to buy food from the store while Adam left with Rex to return the horse he had rented.\n\nIt had been one of the best days of Sam's life. He was sure of it. Careful to keep his eyes lowered and his hat low, Sam walked into the mercantile. He knew better than to touch anything, but he made note of the bread and the jerky meat. He could really go for some fresh squirrel right about now, and if all went well, in less than a week, that would be an option. At least Laura had brought them some fresh bread the night before. It had tasted like nothing Sam could ever remember eating before. It had been sweet and filled with flavor. It had taken him almost two hours to eat it cause he had savored every tiny bite.\n\n\"You there, boy. What you need?\" the store owner called out after helping everyone else in the store. Sam pointed to the food items he needed.\n\n\"Do you have any candy? Peppermint or Caramel?\" He would get Gid's candy, but he would get him and Manny some too.\n\n\"You comin' in from off the steamer?\"\n\n\"Yes, suh,\" Sam said, keeping his eyes on the few coins in his hand.\n\n\"That's got to be some kind of livin',\" the man said as he picked up two jars. \"Got both. Peppermint and caramel.\" Gid's coin got him one of each so Sam gave the man another coin so he and his brother could share one of each. He was just finishing wrapping his food in the cloth he had brought when he heard a familiar voice behind him.\n\n\"You won't regret it, Mr. Cronwall. Railroads are the future. It's the next big thing connecting the West to the East.\"\n\n\"I'm sure you're right, Mr. Baldwin.\"\n\n\"I know I'm right. I've been in the railroad business for over ten years. Just you see, Mr. Cronwall. Your little investment is going to set you up for life.\"\n\n\"And you need the money now?\"\n\n\"Least before we get to New Orleans.\"\n\n\"Well, I keep a little something with me. Though not in my rooms. Not quite safe.\"\n\n\"Oh, don't I know it. You can't trust anybody these days. I keep my funds with Captain Leahy. He's got a special safe.\"\n\nSam, not wanting to linger exactly in the same state he was still running away from, grabbed his things, and slipped out the door as Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Cronwall placed several items for purchase before the store owner.\n\nInvestments. Railroads. Special safes. Sam was fairly certain he didn't understand all the nuances of what was just said, but he was also sure that he had some idea as to what was going down and whatever game was being played, Mr. Cronwall was 'bout to lose big."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 56", "text": "\"I realize that you ain't no little girl, but Laura I would have liked to have known.\"\n\nPapa had, for the first time since they had gotten on the steamer, sought her out. She had been ironing and folding clothes when Gid came bursting in the laundry room telling her Papa had to speak to her right now. She had dropped what she was doing and rushed right to the boiler room. There had been no need to rush.\n\n\"There was already plenty to worry about.\" And there was nothing he could do about it. That was what she didn't say, but when he looked away, his jaw tight, she knew he had heard the unspoken words. But unlike before, it wasn't something that she meant. At least not unkindly.\n\n\"Papa\u2014,\"\n\n\"That's what he said.\"\n\n\"He?\"\n\n\"Sam.\"\n\n\"You talked to Sam?\" Why had her voice gone high like that? She looked away when she felt Papa's dark gaze settle on her face.\n\n\"I talk to Sam every now and then,\" his voice was quiet even though they were the only two people in the small boiler room. It was hot. The boiler might not have been going, but the heat it gave off filled the small room still. Because they were stopped in Kentucky, all of them as usual were keeping to enclosed places.\n\n\"Am I 'bout to lose you before I ever had you?\" He laughed, but there was no humor in his voice.\n\n\"Papa, Sam and I are not... anythin',\" Laura said slowly, feeling more than a little flushed.\n\n\"Yet.\" His voice was dry and matter of fact. \"Listen, Laura, you pay careful attention to that white man, that Alex\u2014,\"\n\n\"Adam. And I am. Every other day I go through his things.\"\n\n\"Alright. Stay sharp. Stay alert. We didn't get this far to have to go back now.\"\n\n\"Papa?\"\n\n\"Yes?\"\n\n\"I'm assumin' you've prayed on this. All of it... the escapin' and everythin'?\n\n\"Yes,\" he said, giving her a wary look.\n\n\"Then until the Lord tells us otherwise, sufficient for today is the evil thereof. We'll just pray that he provides us with a warnin' if need be and leave it at that.\" The words came out of her mouth, but really they were Sam's words. She felt Papa's gaze on her and she glanced up at him. She shrugged when he continued to stare. \"What?\"\n\n\"Nothin'. Sound like your mama, though,\" he said. His voice gruff with emotion. And when he wouldn't meet her eyes, she felt her own get blurry. \"You've always been very independent,\" he said, his voice sounding almost hoarse.\n\n\"No,\" Laura said with a shake of her head. \"I've always relied on others to do my thinkin' for me. Figured I would try to rely on God this time.\"\n\nLaura left the overheated boiler room a few minutes later but was waylaid before she reached the stairs by a familiar grip on her arm. \"Sam.\" She said his name with a smile before turning around.\n\n\"Not Sam.\" Manny said, pulling her under the stairs.\n\n\"What do you want?\" The question was rude, but it was Manny, so Laura did not care.\n\n\"I'm worried about Sam.\" There was no humor in Manny's voice.\n\nLaura felt her heart begin to race. \"Has somethin' happened?\"\n\nManny stopped talking, blinked at her.\n\n\"So, nothin' has happened then?\" Laura jerked her arm out of his hand. \"Don't you worry about Sam. I'm lookin' after him.\" She made for the stairs again, giving Manny her back.\n\n\"Laura.\" Manny's voice was quiet. Polite. She paused. \"For my brother, I am askin' that you be... you.\"\n\n\"Me?\"\n\n\"Know everythin' there is to know about everythin'.\"\n\n\"I am tryin',\" Laura said with a sigh. \"But we're really just goin' to have to trust God with all of this, Man.\"\n\n\"My name is Manny. And if I had wanted preachin' to, I would be talkin' to Sam.\"\n\nLaura turned to face him, wrinkled her nose. \"It's the only answer I have for you, Manny. I'll do my best. You can trust me on that. But I can't be everywhere at all times. 'Sides, Sam is many things, stupid ain't one of 'em.\"\n\nManny raised an eyebrow and Laura was struck anew by how handsome he was. How handsome Sam was. \"My brother is a... what's the word for a saint dyin'?\"\n\n\"Martyr?\" Laura said the word, slowly, unsure if that was what he was shooting for.\n\n\"That. That's what he is. Anythin' can happen when you live with a saint destined for saintliness. You don't know what it's like. You think it's easy bein' with Sam. Why, this one time\u2014,\" Manny cut off as singing filled the air.\n\n\"Crossin' over River Jordan,\" the words were sung strong and low. And familiar. \"Hey, Manny. Hey, Laura.\"\n\nIt was Will. He shot both Laura and Manny a brilliant smile of slightly yellow teeth.\n\nLaura gave him a small wave as he passed by them. \"I can't believe you're such good friends with a man who sings all the time.\"\n\n\"It is a surprise to me too. If I think about it too much, I have to fight the urge to strangle him. And then I want to say, 'let's see if you can sing now, Will.'\"\n\nLaura sighed. \"Manny.\"\n\n\"Keep an eye on him for me, Laura. If he looks to be preparin' to do somethin' stupid, come and get me.\"\n\nLaura couldn't help but point to herself. \"You trust me?\"\n\nManny looked away, scratching at his neck. \"I trust how you feel about him. I don't think it's real. But I think you think it's real.\"\n\n\"Bye. Man.\" She made sure to emphasize the shortened name.\n\n\"Have a good day now, Laura.\" It was the polite way he said it that made Laura grin widely and roll her eyes though she was careful not to let him see it.\n\nLaura returned to the laundry room leaving once and only once and that was when the steamer had started again headed, finally, towards Tennessee. She had gone to find one of her brothers, Sol this time, and made him make sure that Sam was back on the steamer. Sol had returned with half a piece of peppermint in his mouth.\n\n\"Sam bought you that?\" Laura had asked, nodding towards his mouth.\n\nSol slowly shook his head. And then nodded. \"Well, yes. But Gid and I gave him the coin for it.\"\n\n\"The money,\" Laura gently corrected. \"How much money?\"\n\nSol eyed her for a second. And then shrugged. She had tried to teach him and Gid the differences in coin money but it was a bit difficult when she only had access to pennies. It wasn't like it was safe to pull out anything bigger on the boat.\n\n\"We should have brung you a piece.\"\n\n\"Brought me a piece. And why should you? It's your money. Ya'll earned it.\"\n\n\"You're always bringin' us stuff, though,\" Sol had muttered.\n\n\"Sol.\" She had reached out, squeezed his shoulder. And then leaned down, whispering in his ear. \"I don't like peppermint.\" He had given her a look then. Shook his head as though she lied. \"I once stole a whole bowl full off of Master Richard's desk. Prince told on me and I got the beaten' of my life.\"\n\nSol's nose wrinkled then. \"Prince told?\" To be fair, Prince had caught her the same time as Master Richard. She had been about eight and he about eleven. He had tossed her into the fire in an effort to make himself look better compared to her. The little monster. Knowing that she would never see him again in this life had made her glamorize Prince, but there had been reasons why she spent most of her days avoiding him if she could. \"They string you up?\" His question was quiet, and a strain of fear ran through it.\n\n\"No. Miss Martha beat me with the broom.\" Until she couldn't get up if she tried. Mama had had to come and get her. \"I don't eat peppermint. Now or ever.\"\n\n\"Laura.\"\n\nLaura looked up now, dazed and confused and for a second lost in her memories. She blinked. She was in the laundry room. On the Thomas Paine. \"Birdie.\"\n\nBirdie entered the room with a pile of sheets. They did not wash everyone's bedsheets every day, but somehow the sheet washing never ended. Birdie started talking, filling the space with words that Laura was not paying any attention to. She shook her head slowly, letting go past bygones. Staying there would only leave her paralyzed in more ways than one. No. She needed to focus on the here and now. The long and short of it was, she needed to figure out who this Mary Stiles woman was. Sam couldn't do it. He didn't have access to white women the way she did. Lord, she prayed quietly, what would you do? But nothing came to her. All she knew was what Miss Martha would have done. And Miss Martha was the smartest woman Laura knew. Miss Martha would make a list of all the female passengers and go through their names one by one. She didn't know where she could get paper without stealing it. She didn't think it was stealing if she took from Salis House. But she did think it was stealing if she took from the passengers on the steamer. What to do?\n\n\"What's got you sighin' so deeply over there? Don't tell me,\" Birdie said quickly. \"It's Sam.\"\n\n\"Sam?\"\n\n\"He sure is somethin'. Him and his brother. I never know which one to look at whenever I'm with the both of them. Sam's got that jaw, but Manny looks so handsome with that beard. Though I would be lyin' if I didn't say Manny is a bit frightenin' sometimes. I never know if he's havin' a laugh at me or not.\"\n\n\"He probably is,\" Laura muttered under her breath.\n\n\"But that Sam.\" Birdie shook her head, a small smile on her face and Laura bit down on her tongue to keep from saying something cutting. She just couldn't win with the girl. \"He puts me in mind of a verse from the good book Miss Bessie used to quote to me. \"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. That verse makes me think of Sam. And you, Laura. You're both quiet and strong.\"\n\nLaura opened her mouth. Closed it. And settled on finally saying a very quiet, \"Thank you, Birdie, though I think it applies more to Sam than me.\"\n\n\"No,\" she said with a shake of her head. \"You too.\"\n\nLaura didn't believe that was true for one moment as it related to her. But as to Sam? Truer words had never been spoken. She stood up abruptly.\n\n\"I've got to go get several ladies dressed for supper.\"\n\nLaura left the laundry room, passed one of the staterooms, and paused. She couldn't write a list but she did know by now who was in what room. She could cross them off or leave them as a possibility that way. First thing tomorrow, she would take personal inventory. After all, a few ladies had left since she had first gotten on the steamer in Ohio and since been replaced. It couldn't be that hard to find a woman who had been on since at least Ohio and was essentially, alone. Mrs. Hartford was not the only one.\n\nWith that thought buoying her steps, Laura helped Mrs. Hartford dress for supper and then went to Daphne and Lucinda's room.\n\n\"Papa says the Compromise isn't going to work. He thinks we'll go to war before long.\"\n\n\"Papa this, Papa that. Don't you ever stop for one second and use the brain God gave you?\"\n\nFor once, the girls were bickering about something interesting, Laura thought as she went to their closet and pulled out the two dresses they had asked her to iron that morning.\n\n\"I also read the papers!\"\n\n\"I asked you to help me think of something smart to say at supper and you say to talk about slavery? Why not bring up religion too while I'm at it?\"\n\nDaphne sent Lucinda a cutting look that even Laura couldn't miss as she helped Lucinda step into her taffeta gown.\n\n\"If you don't want my opinion Lucinda Mary Stillwood, don't ask for it.\"\n\nLaura's fingers froze in the act of stringing up Lucinda's corset. No. It couldn't be that easy. But Lucinda had gotten on the boat in Ohio, same as Laura.\n\n\"Is something wrong, Laura?\" Lucinda asked. Or was she Mary? Mary Stiles.\n\n\"Nothin's wrong. Sorry, ma'am,\" she said, her fingers returning to the familiar pattern even as her brain continued racing.\n\nLucinda Mary Stillwood. Mary Stiles. Was it possible?"}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 57", "text": "\"How many times did he let you fire the gun?\" Sam and Manny were tucked in a corner of the steamer, sitting on the lower deck unraveling knots in a rope that might later be needed. And eating the caramel. It had been quite the burst of flavor in Sam's mouth: rich, creamy, sugary. This was what freedom tasted like. He couldn't wait to taste the peppermint.\n\n\"Too many times to count,\" Sam said unable to keep the grin off his face. \"He just kept loadin' it up until I was able to hit the target.\" The last target had been an empty bottle that Adam had produced from somewhere. It had taken a few shots and Sam couldn't deny that a powerful part of him was nervous about shooting in front of Adam; that part of him that was always slightly fearful that if he didn't do what he was supposed to do the way he was supposed to do it he would be strung up yet again. But then Adam had pulled out a small notebook and pencil and when Sam was certain his thoughts were elsewhere, his shooting had gotten better.\n\n\"Was it hard?\"\n\n\"At first. A bit. But then, not so hard.\" Like most things in life. Sam was sure that if he could practice regular-like, he would be a first-rate shooter. \"I'll teach you. When we make it to Oklahoma.\"\n\n\"Been thinkin' 'bout that.\" Sam said nothing, just moved the piece of caramel around in his mouth, savoring it. \"Don't want to farm, Sam. I don't want to bend over and be at the mercy of the hot sun. I don't.\" Manny's voice was quiet, but firm.\n\n\"Same. Though it might be different if it were our own farm.\"\n\nManny nodded slowly. \"It would be different. But. Benji was talkin' to me about his and Amos's smithy. And I... well... maybe we could open a store or somethin'? Folks always need stuff and we've got enough money to buy some land and build a place. This hard labor? That's for the birds, Sam.\"\n\n\"It's a fine idea, Manny.\" And it was. But the thought of never working out in the sun was almost too hard for Sam to contemplate. He would pull those thoughts out and think about them when it made sense too. Like when they were off the steamer. It shamed him a bit that he had a relationship with Jesus and could hardly dare to think good things about his future. It was one thing\u2014and it had been hard then\u2014when the future was just 'one day,' it was quite another when the future was almost within his grasp. Sam knew himself well enough to know when he falling into one of his moods where in spite of life happening around him, everything still looked dark. The candy melting in his mouth was starting to not taste as sweet. Lord, help my unbelief.\n\n\"When we learn to read better, we could order stock and no one would know we was Negro. So, they wouldn't deny us. That's what I was thinkin'. Specially if we learn to write.\" Sam just gave a small nod. Manny's words were small, tight and Sam realized it was hard too for him to think that big. \"I understand.\"\n\nManny gave him a small nod. They wouldn't talk about it no more. But at least they now had a bit of a plan. \"While you were out playin' around I did some serious thinkin'.\" Sam thought thinking about their future was serious thinking.\n\n\"'Bout?\"\n\n\"Our last name. We ain't gonna be no river, no lake, no grass.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I figured that one,\" Sam said dryly, rolling his eyes. Manny never just let anything go.\n\n\"Day.\"\n\n\"Day, what?\"\n\n\"That's our name. You're Samuel Day and I'm Manning Lucas Day.\" Day. As in a day in a week. It was very simple and practically meaningless. Which wasn't exactly a bad thing. He didn't love it, but Sam was not unaware that his recent actions had very much stressed his brother out. If Manny had found some relief in picking their last name, Sam wasn't about to fight him on it. Even if Day, in his mind, was just another thing like River. And since when did Manny have a third name?\n\n\"Lucas for mama? Cause her name is Lucilla?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Then I'm Samuel Lucian Day.\" He'd heard that name somewhere before: Lucian.\n\nManny stuck out a hand and they shook on it. And you would think a little thing like adding on to your name wouldn't have much of an effect. Except it did. Sam felt like he knew who he was now. He wasn't Sam from Kentucky of a tobacco farm. He was Samuel Lucian Day. And he even had a birthday. Then Manny stood up. \"I've got to go check on that cargo they just loaded. I heard tell they might move it around cause of its weight or somethin'. Mississippi gettin' smaller. We'll eat the peppermint candy tomorrow.\"\n\nSam gave his brother a quick nod and went back to the rope, tangled in his thoughts, which were darker than usual in spite of the fact that his future seemed like a good one. He unraveled three ropes before he realized what it was. He could lose it. All of it. In a split second. And be hauled right back to the never-ending tobacco plants. He recognized the thoughts for what they were: fear, anxiety, doubt... gifts from ole Satan himself. But he couldn't seem to shake them. Lord, help. The prayer didn't pass his lips but was no less poignant. He was now replaiting the ropes, paying no mind to the cuts inflicted on his fingers from the coarse fibers when Laura came and plopped down, right next to him. He watched as she pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She didn't say anything right away, so he took the time to take her in as she gazed out over the water even as his fingers continued to work. Her dark hair was pulled back as it so often was though little curly tendrils that had escaped her pinning danced in the wind. She held herself straight, unmoving, and yet there was that natural grace there that had first caught Sam's eye.\n\nShe turned her head, faced him, her eyes searching his for something though he didn't know what.\n\n\"Birdie told me a Bible verse today that I think sums you up perfectly. Almost as if God was thinkin' 'bout you himself when he wrote the words.\"\n\n\"Is that right?\" Sam had to hear this. He wasn't sure what God thought about him. He knew in his mind that God loved him. He had sent his son to die for him. But it was a truth that he had to remind himself of often. There were days when it was an easy thing to remember and there were times like this when it was like holding a fish fresh out of the water.\n\n\"I can't remember the beginnin', but it said somethin' like in trust and quietness is your strength.\"\n\nSam felt himself deflate a little. Had it been anyone else, he would have known they were having fun at his expense, but the fact that it was Laura, made him think she didn't really know him at all. Which was even more disappointing. \"There's very little that's strong about me.\" His words came out with more bitterness than he thought he had in him. But it was the truth. Sure and he was physically strong, but he had learned a long time ago that strength, real strength had nothing to do with the physical.\n\n\"Sam.\" He felt Laura turn her body towards him quickly.\n\n\"A man likes to think that if there's a problem, he can fix it, if there's somethin' comin' at him and his, he can face it and... ,\" Sam licked his lips, swallowed. He made sure he met Laura's eyes though it was hard to put himself down before a woman whose admiration he wanted. \"I can't do any of those things for anyone that I love. I never have been.\" All he could do, all he had ever been able to do, was stand there. Like he had done when they took his mama away and that's all he would be able to do if they came for Manny. Or Laura.\n\nHe watched Laura blink a few times. \"I hear what you're sayin' but your faith in God in the midst of everythin' is the strongest thing I've ever seen in my life.\" Laura's eyes had taken on a sheen, but she didn't look away from him. \"And that is what makes you the strongest man I know.\"\n\n\"I have no control\u2014,\"\n\n\"Nobody does, Sam. They like to think they do, but they don't. Only God is in control. Where is this comin' from? Why are you, you of all people doubtin'?\"\n\nWhy was he doubting? Because everything he wanted was almost within his grasp. But Laura was right. He wasn't in control. He never would be.\n\n\"We just have to trust the one who is in control, Sam,\" her words were whispered and heartfelt. He wasn't the only person who felt like they were at the mercy of others. He raised his hand, cupped her cheek, and wiped the few tears that trickled down away. She sniffed, but didn't move back. Instead, she leaned into his hand. \"It's the hardest thing in this life, turnin' to God for direction, for answers, for safety. There's a psalm, I don't know which one, but it says He is our hiding place. We just have to believe He's our hiding place, Sam.\" Her voice broke then. Sam set aside the rope and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. She wrapped her arms around his waist, her face buried in his chest. Sam leaned down touching the top of his head to hers.\n\nBut she wasn't finished yet. \"I mean Sam, think about all the times you've prayed, all the times you've felt assurances in your heart that you were goin' the right place and doin' the right thing. Could you have imagined yourself here even a month ago? It's... we've just got to trust. And you'll probably have to remind me of this conversation in a few days, but that's fine so long as when we're down, one of us lifts the other up.\"\n\nSam's arms around her tightened. He was so used to being alone in his walk of faith. He loved his brother with every fiber of his being. But it got exhausting sometimes, being the spiritually strong one. \"I think I needed to hear that,\" he said finally.\n\n\"Aw, Sam. You mean you're human?\" He heard laughter in her voice.\n\n\"I don't think I ever said I wasn't,\" he replied, feeling more than a little indignant. He was all too human.\n\nShe lifted her head off his chest, pulling back so she could see his eyes. This time she raised her hand to his face, sliding it down his jaw to the back of his neck, and his heart, which was already racing, picked up even more speed. \"You've always been pretty amazin' to me, Sam.\" Sam could hardly breathe, her words making him feel... like a man. They could have stayed like that forever, probably would have, if the steamer hadn't momentarily snagged on something tossing them a foot across the deck.\n\nMen started yelling, people started moving.\n\nSam stood up, reached down, and helped Laura stand. He didn't let her hand go even when she got her bearing. \"I better get back upstairs, but I wanted to tell you that. About the verse. I've been tryin' to hold onto those words all day so I wouldn't forget them. So I can look 'em up the next time I get my hands on a Bible.\"\n\n\"I've got one.\" The words came out quickly.\n\n\"You've got one what?\"\n\n\"I've got a Bible. Me and Manny. We found it, kept it.\"\n\nLaura gave him a look. \"All this time on this boat and you never said anythin'?\"\n\nSam shrugged, a small smile on his face. \"Not like we can read it. We just hold onto it. We're used to keepin' it a secret.\" Because boat or no boat, Negroes reading was a dangerous thing.\n\n\"You'll show it to me when we get off?\" Laura sounded exasperated, but there was a light in her eyes, and he noticed the slight twitching of her fingers where she hid her excitement.\n\nSam nodded, his smile growing. \"And you can read it to me.\"\n\n\"I'm goin' to find that Bible verse about the quiet strength.\"\n\n\"Sounds like Isaiah.\" She sent him another look. \"There was a reverend near the plantation I worked who read aloud from the Bible every Sunday morning for an hour. He was partial to Isaiah.\" Sam shrugged again. \"I could be wrong though.\" Though he thought he had heard those words before.\n\nLaura looked away for a second. This time she was smiling and then the smile left her face. She reached out, gripped his arm. \"There was somethin' else I came to tell you. I think I found Mary Stiles, but Sam I need more information so that we can confirm it.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 58", "text": "\"Mary Stiles is Lucinda Stillwood?\"\n\nAdam said the words slowly, disbelieving. But apparently he knew who the woman was. Sam sure didn't.\n\n\"That's what I think,\" Sam said. He was in Adam's stateroom, his back against the wall while Adam sat at his desk next to Sam. \"And that's not all.\"\n\n\"There's more?\" Adam's eyes were wide and blinking.\n\n\"I heard Baldwin talkin' to that older man, that Mr. Cronwall.\" Sam told him quickly what he had overheard.\n\nAdam leaned back in his chair, ran a hand through his hair. \"Sam,\" Adam said with a slow exhale, before crossing his arms over his chest. \"How?\"\n\nSam pressed his lips together. \"I just told you. I overheard them talkin' in the store.\"\n\n\"I mean, about Lucinda... about...\"\n\n\"You have your secrets. I have mine.\" It was the boldest thing Sam had ever said to a white man. Sam was very limited in how he could protect Laura. But he could protect her in this way by leaving her name out of it and he would.\n\nAdam nodded thoughtfully. \"Toss those clothes off that chair and bring it over here so we can talk.\" Sam looked across the small room at the other wooden chair that was covered in jackets. He looked back at Adam. \"Yes, Sam. Sit. Let's talk. You and I need to talk.\"\n\nSam walked over to the chair, cleared it, and set it next to the desk. But he hadn't been the only one moving things. The desk was clean now, except for a stack of cards.\n\n\"Can you play?\" Adam asked, tapping the deck with his finger. Sam shook his head before glancing up at him once in question. \"I'm going to teach you how to play poker, Sam. I think you'd be good at it. You've already got the poker face down pat.\"\n\n\"Poker face?\" Sam asked as Adam lifted the deck of cards.\n\n\"An ability to hide your emotions. Poker is all about keeping your secrets to yourself and getting the other guy to talk first. There are four decks in a stack of cards...\"\n\nSam listened intently as Adam explained first the cards themselves, and then the game of poker.\n\n\"The first game won't be a real game. We'll just play so you get a feel for it,\" Adam said, slowly dealing the cards.\n\nAdam had been right, Sam thought, as he picked up his cards. There were things besides learning to read and write that made a body feel like a man. It was in the small things that you became a real person.\n\n\"What are we bettin'?\" Sam asked to show he had been paying attention. And also feeling largely uncomfortable, asking a white man a question.\n\n\"Nothing of value,\" Adam said as he opened the drawer of the desk and pulled out a few buttons. He placed several in front of Sam and then a few in front of himself. \"Wait, forgot something,\" Adam said and reached into his pocket. He pulled out what Sam recognized to be two thin cigarettes. Sam watched him clip both ends. \"I'm assuming you've never smoked before?\" Sam shook his head slowly as Adam pulled out a match, lit both, and handed one to Sam. He wasn't hardly going to deny the thing. \"Don't inhale. Just fill your mouth with smoke and blow it out. Get it burning on its own.\"\n\nIt took a few minutes, and Sam found himself coughing a few times, but then white smoke started rising from the other end of the cigarette. Like Adam's. \"Take it slow. Taste the tobacco. Savor it in your mouth.\"\n\nFor a second, Sam closed his eyes, taking his mind off of smoking to the flavor of the tobacco itself. He had nibbled on the tobacco plant, had gotten the scent of it on his clothes, on his fingers, felt it seeping into his skin. The earthy, grassy scent was one he had been familiar with for a long time. And for a second the taste in his mouth went sour. He would finish this cigarette, but he would never smoke again.\n\n\"Now, we can play,\" Adam said, setting his cigarette in a small tray and picking up his two cards. Sam did the same. They played in silence at first, Sam playing slowly, hesitantly. \"How old are you, Sam?\"\n\nSam looked up from his cards at Adam, but Adam's gaze stayed on the cards before him. \"Twenty-one.\" Give or take a year.\n\nAdam turned his head thoughtfully. \"I thought you were older. I'm twenty-four.\"\n\nSam pressed his lips together, pushed a button to the center of the table. He could care less how old Adam was. Not when there were far more interesting things to find out. \"Why are you doin' this alone?\"\n\nAdam looked at him then. \"You mean solving this case?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"I had a partner. He was supposed to get on with me back in Ohio but got sick the night before. Ate something bad. I wasn't going to let that stop me.\" Adam dealt three cards. \"Do you have a family? I never thought to ask until I met your brother.\"\n\nSam said nothing for a minute, allowing silence to fill the room. Then, \"My brother is my family.\"\n\n\"Mother and father?\"\n\nSam felt his lips twist to the side. \"Never met my pa. Haven't seen my... mother in nigh unto ten years.\"\n\n\"What happened?\"\n\nWhat did Adam think happened? Sam kept his gaze directly on his cards. \"She was sold. You don't seem very good at this.\"\n\n\"Poker?\"\n\n\"Detectin'.\" He shouldn't have said it. But Adam shouldn't have brought up his mama. He saw Adam wince. \"You seem smarter is all and yet... ,\" he said, feeling a bit of anxiety at that sight of that wince.\n\n\"I'm finding out that just cause you can put two and two together doesn't mean you're good with people. And part of detecting is people. I thought I was going to get on this boat, be the best poker player, and learn all I need to know. Instead I had my... rear end handed to me on a silver platter and most folks step around me. It hasn't been pleasant. That's for sure. Someone is helping you, am I right?\"\n\nTo this question, Sam shrugged.\n\nAdam huffed out a laugh. Sam added another button to the pile. He rather liked this game.\n\n\"Oh, I've got something that'll break you. What is the difference between stabbing a man and killing a hog?\"\n\nSam flicked his gaze to Adam for a second, but said nothing.\n\n\"One is assaulting with intent to kill; the other is killing with intent to salt. Do you get it?\"\n\nThey played two more games that day. And a few more over the next couple days. Sam learned more than he wanted to about Adam. Adam was the youngest of three children, the only son. His father was an attorney. Adam had had to explain to Sam what an attorney was. Adam hoped to have a job that allowed him to travel and used his brain. Hence, the Pinkertons. Sam was also exposed to a series of jokes because Adam wanted to see him 'break character'. They were mostly not funny and Sam never laughed. That didn't stop Sam from sharing with Manny the few ones he remembered. Then, and only then did he allow himself to snicker a bit.\n\nSam lost most of the poker games they played though he was certain it was cause he lacked Adam's experience and not cause he couldn't play. But he won the game with the questions, cause while he never lied to Adam, he never told him anything that wasn't specific to a hundred slaves.\n\nMeanwhile, Adam had a conversation with Captain Leahy about the safes on the steamer and what they stored, explaining something of the situation to him. He started, as he called it, paying court to Lucinda Stillwood, and he and Sam made plans to try to breakin to Baldwin's room upon reaching Missouri. Except Baldwin didn't get off at Missouri.\n\n\"If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all.\" Sam ignored Adam's statement as he swept up manure in the horse pen. \"Why is he still on this steamer? Why?\"\n\nSam ignored Adam and continued on about his duties. In the past few days amidst their poker playing, Sam had learned Adam liked the sound of his own voice. Sam's was often not required. The steamer whistled.\n\n\"That's the return whistle. We're pulling out in ten minutes.\" Adam huffed, kicked at the small fence surrounding the pen. But Sam was more than a little relived that Baldwin hadn't gotten off the boat and sent the Lord a 'thank you' prayer. After all, he was supposed to be the one breaking into Baldwin's room this time while Adam made sure Baldwin was occupied in Missouri. He had agreed to it cause he was sure Adam would repay him by teaching him something else new. But since Baldwin never left the steamer for Missouri... well, Sam, wasn't hardly going to complain.\n\n\"Alright then. Change of plans. Here's what\u2014,\"\n\nAdam's voice suddenly cut off and Sam stopped sweeping, looked up.\n\n\"Sam?\" Adam's voice was low, calm. Something was wrong.\n\n\"Yes?\"\n\n\"Who has keys to the closet where they keep the supplies? Finn?\" Adam asked. It didn't surprise Sam that Adam knew Finn. Life on a steamer was small. Everyone at least knew of everyone else.\n\n\"Mr. Finn. Mr. Clark. I think\u2014,\" it was Sam's turn to stop talking as Adam walked over to Finn, bumped into him, apologized and came back.\n\nSam started to ask what that was about when he heard loud shouting near the entrance of the steamer where they had lowered the gangplank.\n\n\"Sam, I need you to show me something in the closet.\"\n\nAdam's voice was cool, demanding, and the part of Sam that was used to instantly obeying started moving before his brain caught up. \"Mr. Ward,\" Sam said slowly as they made their way to the closet. Adam opened the door and motioned for Sam to go in first. \"What is it that you\u2014.\" The door slammed shut. Sam's heart started racing as he heard the key turning in the knob. \"Mr. Ward?\"\n\n\"Hide behind something, Sam. It's bounty hunters.\"\n\nThe words were like a dousing of ice water. Sam let go of the broom in his hand and knocked on the door. \"Mr. Ward,\" his voice was low, but fervent.\n\n\"No more knocking, Sam. I have to go find your brother.\"\n\n\"Mr. Ward.\" Sam reached for the door handle even though he had heard Adam lock it. He slammed the palm of his hand against the door. There was relief that Adam would find Manny, but Laura. His heart thudded painfully at the thought of her being taken back. Gid, Sol, Benji. Amos... they had become like family to him. Somewhere along the way, his heart had made room for them all.\n\nHe rattled the doorknob again and then stopped as he heard an unfamiliar voice call out a command to search the steamer.\n\nLord God. He was suddenly hot, sweat forming everywhere on his body. To keep messing with the door was to give himself away. And he would do it in a second if it meant that someone else would be saved by his efforts. But he had no way of knowing.\n\n\"There! That one!\"\n\nSam fought the urge to vomit. He would rather than die than go back. But he didn't see how he could keep on living if Manny was taken. Or Laura. His stomach flipped again, but he swallowed the rising bile and with it the notion of assistance. Biting his lip so hard he could taste blood, he hid himself in the far back behind a box, crouching down low, making sure no part of him could be seen should the door open. When you weak, then you be strong. His mama's words always came to him in his worst moments. He had never known what that really meant except maybe that when there was nothing else he could do, then there was strength in relying on God. In quietness and trust was his strength. He folded into himself, and held onto the words tight through the worst of the screams that followed."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 59", "text": "\"So, this is where you spend your time?\" Benji's words and his face held his familiar sneer as he stood in the doorway of the laundry room. And Laura was just done with it. How dare he think he could belittle her just cause she spent most of her time indoors? She ate better, she was able to read more and learn more, but actually spending day in and day out with white folks was not without its own drawbacks.\n\n\"Why are you here?\" She made sure she let him know exactly how much she wished he would go away.\n\nBenji stepped further into the room when it became evident that no one else was in the laundry with her. Emma and Maureen were acting as maids. Birdie was in her usual spot in the kitchen talking and cooking with Nellie. Laura was in the laundry room repairing a hem on a red silk gown. And thinking about Sam. He had been rather busy for the past few days, holed up with Adam Ward.\n\nShe had even asked Manny about it. After giving her a dirty look, he had admitted that Adam was teaching Sam to play cards.\n\n\"Are you jealous?\" Laura had asked, genuinely curious.\n\nManny had blinked at her. \"Jealous? Of my brother? Why should I be? What he learns is what we learn. I do think he's playin' with fire with this Adam Ward. But what do I know? I've only been a slave to the white man my whole life.\"\n\nShe had walked away from the conversation smiling. Manny was irritating, but he sure could make life more colorful.\n\n\"Sol asked me to meet him here,\" Benji said, breaking Laura from her thoughts.\n\n\"Oh?\"\n\n\"He and Gid went to the mercantile this time. Pa thought it might be a bit safe since we out of Kentucky. They took their papers though. Just in case.\"\n\nAnd wasn't that a blessing? After this stop, they had but one more in Tennessee. The end was almost in sight. And then what? Setting up house with her brothers and Papa? Starting a whole new life? It didn't bear thinking upon.\n\n\"I don't know how you do it, always findin' the coziest jobs.\"\n\n\"Benjamin!\" Laura huffed out air, glaring at him from over the top of the dress. She would like to see him spend hours on end sewing until his eyes got tired and his fingers developed callouses from the points of the needles.\n\n\"Papa always talks like he cain't get on without you.\"\n\nLaura stopped sewing. \"It's nice to know that should somethin' happen, you would be happy to leave me behind.\"\n\nBenji stiffened. \"That's not what I said at all.\"\n\nThe door opened and they both froze. But it was only Sol. In his hand were two caramel candies. \"I bet ya'll thought I forgot about ya'll again, but I didn't,\" Sol said as he walked over first to Benji to hand him his piece and then to Laura.\n\nShe slipped the candy in the pocket of her apron \"Thanks, Sol. Where's Gid?\"\n\n\"Went to find Papa.\"\n\n\"I'm not sayin' I want you gone, I'm just sayin' you don't bring to the table nearly as much as you think you do. That's all.\"\n\nThis time, even Sol sent Benji a look of long-suffering.\n\n\"Your problem is not with me,\" Laura finally said. She flicked her gaze to the door. \"You can leave.\" Mama had always despaired that she and Benji had never gotten along. But it wasn't her fault. She had tried. He hadn't. Such was life.\n\nBenji's face hardened. \"You don't know what it's like, livin' up at Salis House while we work ourselves half to death. The things I've seen\u2014,\"\n\n\"I've heard about,\" Laura said, coming to her feet. She ignored the pained expression on Sol's face; the one that said he wished he could be anywhere but here.\n\n\"Just because my time at Salis was different doesn't make it any less painful. Who are you that you get to decide whose time as a slave was worse? Your experience has been nothin' like Sam's or Manny's who, I think we both agree, had it harder than the both of us and they don't complain near as much as you do. Get over yourself, Benjamin.\"\n\nInstead of Benji leaving, his eyes narrowed as though he were preparing to dig in. Except the sound of yelling from below reached their ears.\n\nBenji shot her a look before turning to open the door and peek out.\n\nLaura turned to Sol. Sol shrugged. \"He'll outgrow it. Least that's what Pa always says.\"\n\nThe door slammed shut and Laura looked up. There was stark terror on Benji's face. \"Paddy rollers.\"\n\nLaura dropped the dress in her hand. Swallowed. Looked around.\n\n\"We've got to hide.\"\n\n\"Gid. Pa,\" Sol said, making his way to the door.\n\n\"No,\" Benji said, grabbing his arm before he could reach it.\n\n\"Let me go,\" Sol said, trying to pull his arm out of Benji's grasp but failing. \"I've got to warn Pa and Gid.\"\n\n\"If we know, they know. Pa wouldn't want you to try.\"\n\nLaura ignored their exchange, her eyes swerving around the room and landing on the only closet in it. A closet would be the first place a paddy roller would look... unless they didn't know it was there. Laura ran to the door, opened it. It was filled with clean napkins and tablecloths.\n\n\"Can we all fit in there?\" Benji asked, he was right behind her and his grip tight on Sol's arm.\n\n\"Let. Me. Go.\" Sol's voice was a growl and with his other hand he tried to pick at Benji's fingers on his arm.\n\n\"The shelves\u2014,\"\n\n\"Hold him,\" Benji said, tossing Sol at her. She wrapped her arms around the boy's chest as tight as she could, holding him in place and ignoring the pain as he stomped on her foot.\n\n\"Sol, stop. Calm down.\" Laura made sure her voice was calm. Like Mama's was when Sol got worked up. It was a rare happening. But every now and then, things set him off. But unlike Mama, her calm speaking didn't work. He struggled in her arms.\n\n\"Papa. Gid.\"\n\nLaura swallowed. She couldn't think about them right now. If she did, she was sure she would pass out. Benji, after tugging on the shelves for a second, ripped them down and toss them out of the closet. He grabbed a kicking Sol, dragging him into the closet. \"Come on!\" he hissed when she didn't enter right away.\n\nBut she couldn't. Not yet. She ran back to the silk dress, folding it neatly then she fixed the shelving Benji had tossed aside, making it look like it had always been there. She reached into her other pocket and crouched down before the door of the linen closet.\n\n\"Laura!\"\n\n\"Be quiet!\"\n\nWith shaking hands, she unscrewed the door handle catching the knob on the outside. The door handle on the inside was loose, but still sticking. Then she slid into the closet and pulled the door behind her, enshrouding them in darkness. It was a temporary solution, one that might not even work, but she had to try. She clutched her stomach, bringing her knees to her chest in the small space. She felt Benji's shoulder in the small of her back, just behind her. He was holding Sol just in front of him.\n\n\"I need to get Pa. I need to get Gid,\" Sol's voice was strained.\n\nBenji reached down and swatted him hard on his thigh. \"You stop it. Right now. You want us to get caught?\"\n\nBut neither Benji's words nor his roughness got through to Sol. If anything, his words got louder.\n\n\"Sol!\" Benji's whisper was frantic. And then Sol kicked the wall. Benji swore. \"He's lost his mind.\"\n\n\"We'll have to sit on him, to keep him still,\" Laura said, scrambling to do just that.\n\n\"He won't stop,\" Benji said and placed a hand over Sol's mouth. When Benji swore again, she knew Sol had bit him. \"Sol!\" Benji hissed. \"Do you want us to get caught?\" Benji repeated. \"Do you want to go back?\"\n\nBut wherever Sol was, he was past words. \"Papa!\" He cried out.\n\n\"Here,\" she tossed Benji one of the cloths she was sitting on that had fallen when Benji removed the shelving. She didn't need to explain. In a rare moment of being on the same page, Benji took the cloth, a napkin, and stuffed part of it in Sol's mouth and used the remainder to wrap it around his face. Sol's words cutoff in a terrified silence. His frantic hands went to the cloth to remove it, but Benji had already tied a tight knot. In seconds, he had Sol flipped over onto his belly, sending Laura careening in the small space towards the door and then diving back onto Sol's moving feet. Bending his legs at the knee, she moved so that she was sitting next to Benji. Sol, in front of them, moved. She grabbed Sol's legs, to keep him from kicking the wall, held them pressed against her chest while Benji held Sol's arms and pushed the boy's chest into the floor of the closet so that he mimicked the position of a hog-tied pig. It could not have been comfortable for either of them. For the first time in a long time, she was grateful for Benji.\n\n\"I didn't want to hurt him,\" Benji said, his voice just above a whisper. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder with Sol's body shaking in front of them. She didn't respond, just turned and tucked her face into his shoulder. It wasn't just Sol who was shaking. After a moment, Benji leaned his head on top of hers. She felt wetness on her face and realized after a moment, that they were his tears. Then he straightened and she did the same. In the silence she had time to think. Sam, Papa, Gid, Manny.\n\nAnd then the laundry room door opened.\n\n\"They said she might be in here.\" The voice was loud, brash, Virginian.\n\nLaura felt Benji's body tense up next to hers. She took a breath, held it. Sol's feet in her hand stilled.\n\n\"Looks like no one is in here.\" A second voice called out.\n\n\"Is there any place to hide?\"\n\nOh, God. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. Trust, trust. The prayer had no specific requests. No cohesive thoughts. Just words.\n\n\"You sure we ain't lookin' in the wrong place?\"\n\n\"They said she would be up here.\"\n\n\"Hey!\" The new voice sounded far away. \"I think I found her!\"\n\nThe sound of footsteps leaving the laundry room brought Laura such relief she was almost dizzy with it. And then she heard the scream.\n\n\"No! No!\"\n\nLaura recognized the screamer. Birdie.\n\n\"No! No!\"\n\nHer screams were loud and chilling. Sol started moving again fighting against her and Benji. The bounty hunters weren't there for them, but if they found three Negroes hiding in a closet, well...\n\n\"Look at that one! That one's runnin'. Get him!\"\n\nSol moaned beneath Laura and Benji.\n\n\"Girl, shut up!\" Laura heard the sound of flesh being hit. And then Birdie let out a keening sound, one Laura had heard only a few times, but was still familiar, deep down to her soul.\n\nLaura sniffed, her cheeks tingling as tears left their mark.\n\n\"Get him, I said. Get him!\"\n\nNext to her, Benji shifted, pressing his shoulder into her and that was why she felt his body jerk when they heard the gunshot fill the air.\n\nBirdie's screams filled the air once more.\n\nOh, God. Oh, God. She felt sick. Dizzy.\n\n\"Breathe,\" Benji's whisper was faint. \"Breathe, Laura.\" She inhaled so quickly she almost choked.\n\nBeneath her, Sol was making small, hiccupping noises, his chest rising and falling in quick spasms.\n\nThere was a splash. And then another gunshot.\n\n\"Got him!\"\n\nNext to her, Benji took in a ragged breath and Sol started to moan into the cloth again. They heard the men dragging a distraught Birdie off the steamer because the ship, in all of the happenings, also appeared to have gone eerily silent. Usually, there was always an undercurrent of voices talking and animals rattling. But now there appeared to be nothing. Laura heard when the paddy rollers left, she heard when the gangplank went up, and she heard when the boiler room got started going again.\n\nBut the three of them still didn't move until the sounds of the steamer started to become familiar again. And then Benji let Sol's arms go. He pushed open the linen closet door. Laura gently set Sol's legs down. Light filled the room. But, Sol didn't move.\n\n\"Sol,\" Benji shook Sol, but the boy still didn't move.\n\n\"Sol,\" Laura said, reaching for the handkerchief around his mouth. She removed it. It was soaked wet and she didn't know if the wetness was from his saliva or his tears. But still he didn't move. He was utterly silent now, even as he closed his mouth and swallowed. \"Sol, sweetheart.\" But as soon as the words left her mouth, Sol turned, faced them, and speared them both with a look of hatred before returning back to his place on the floor.\n\nBenji looked over at Laura and she looked at him. His face was covered in tear streaks, his eyes red. \"I'm not goin' to say sorry,\" his words were belligerent as he hauled up the angry Sol into his lap. Laura wrapped her arms around both her brothers, her silent tears melding with their own."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 60", "text": "\"Sam?\" The voice was Adam's. Sam heard the closet door open slowly. \"They're gone now.\"\n\nThis, Sam knew. Trapped as he was, he felt like he had heard everything. He stood up slowly, not facing Adam and aware that he had only been in the closet for no more than ten minutes. It had felt like hours. He took his hat off, ran a hand over the top of his hair, and then replaced it.\n\n\"It wasn't Manny.\"\n\nThis, Sam also knew. He didn't know how he knew cause whoever the man was they killed had been silent. But he knew. \"Who was it?\" Sam's voice was hoarse from holding back all of his emotions because he wouldn't let himself cry. Aside from tears of pain when he was whipped, Sam didn't cry. Sam hadn't cried since he had lost his mama so long ago.\n\n\"Someone named Will, I think. The one they say was always singing at night.\"\n\nSam flinched. And yet felt an overwhelming sense of shame when he also felt relieved. \"They kill him?\" He asked, but he already knew the answer.\n\nAdam hesitated. \"Yeah,\" he said softly. Sam nodded. He had figured as much. He turned around slowly. \"You know I wouldn't have... I wouldn't have let them take you like that. I would have bought you first or something.\" Sam sighed, straightened his shirt, gave Adam a nod without meeting his gaze. \"I didn't know it was like that, Sam. That was the most awful thing I've ever seen.\" Sam nodded again. Will was lucky. His death had been quick. Which was probably why he had jumped in the river in the first place. Better than that then being flayed open. As for the woman screaming...\n\n\"The girl?\"\n\n\"His sister.\"\n\nSo, Birdie than. Sam closed his eyes for a second. Sighed. \"I need to get back to work, suh.\"\n\nHe felt Adam's gaze, but didn't look at him. Finally, Adam sighed. \"Fine. Alright. We'll talk later, Sam.\" And then Adam left.\n\nSam found his brother first when really he had an urge to run upstairs and find Laura. If they had gotten Birdie, he was mighty curious how they missed her. Manny was behind several crates, moving them in no order Sam could follow. \"Manny.\"\n\n\"Sam.\" Manny's voice was clipped as he stacked one box atop another. Sam waited for his brother to speak, but when Manny said nothing, he took one step back. If Manny needed time, he would give him time. \"And, where were you?\"\n\nHe didn't need time. \"Locked in the closet. By Adam Ward.\"\n\nManny's mouth opened and closed for a second. He held up a finger. \"I should have guessed that.\"\n\n\"Where were you?\"\n\n\"Hidin'. Right there. Where your friend Adam Ward shoved me. He stood right in front of me the whole time.\" Manny said, pointing to a spot that was behind several crates. \"I saw it all.\"\n\nSam paused, scratched at his face. They never knew what to say to each other in hard times. \"I'm sorry,\" Sam said slowly, \"'bout Will.\"\n\n\"Why should you be sorry? Why should anyone be sorry? It was my mistake,\" Manny said, restacking the same boxes. \"My mistake for makin' a friend. You know what happens to people you care 'bout, Sam? You lose 'em.\" Manny made a fist, tapped it against the cargo in front of him. \"You lose 'em,\" he repeated and leaned forward, touching his forehead to the box in front of him. Sam came alongside Manny so that his shoulder touched his brother's, but said nothing. Manny would find no peace until he said it all. Manny's voice got quiet, just above a whisper. \"There I was, in a corner, hidin' like a rat while Will was hunted like a possum. I said nothin', I did nothin', just prayed it wouldn't be me or you. When I think about it, Sam, sometimes, I just cain't breathe.\"\n\nSam pulled his hat off, twisting the thing in different directions. \"'Cept that you have to... keep on breathin' that is, for Will, for Mama, for everyone else we ever knew. We got to keep breathin'.\" Times like these he wished he could offer his brother the comfort of Jesus. But Sam knew well enough to mention Jesus right now might just spark a fire he wasn't in the mood to put out. Besides, his own spirit was a bit bruised. What he needed was to be around someone with some faith. Someone like Laura.\n\n\"What are you doin' with Laura?\"\n\n\"What?\" The mention of her name, just when he had been thinking about her had him jumping like a coon catching sight of a coon dog.\n\nManny straightened. Moved another box. \"You heard me, Sam. Should I be worried?\"\n\n\"Worried,\" Sam stretched out the word. \"About what?\n\nManny looked at him out the side of his eye. \"You take on a woman, Sam, you takin' on a whole host of worries. Losin' Will... Birdie... losin' Laura would be like losin' Mama all over again. There's a part of you that would never recover.\"\n\n\"And what if nothin' happens? What if I marry Laura and we live out a full life? Faith works both ways.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Manny hissed, his eyes narrowed. \"'Cept I've never seen that happen. I've never seen no happy Negroes livin' a full life. I have seen families broken a part. Mama sold, daddy sold, children sold. So, forgive me if my believin' is only in one direction.\"\n\nSam swallowed, exhaled slowly, knowing his brother's anger was not directed at him. \"I don't have all the answers, Manny. All I know is it's not really livin' if every decision we make is rooted in fear.\" Sam didn't know where the words came from, but he felt the truth of them. \"We free, Manny. And part of bein' free is livin' free.\"\n\n\"Sam!\"\n\nSam turned at the sound of Laura's voice. She was making her way towards them in that graceful, determined walk of hers.\n\n\"That girl thinks she knows everythin', Sam. It'll be like bein' married to a... to a... I don't know what, but whatever it is, it ain't good.\"\n\nSam ignored him, slipped his hat back on, and moved forward to meet her. He reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a shadowy spot behind some cargo. He put his arm around her waist, tugging her close, and holding her tightly.\n\n\"Oh, Sam,\" she whispered, her breath warm against his neck as she reached up, placing her arms around his neck. Sam felt for the first time since the paddy rollers came on the ship, at peace. He gave her one more squeeze and then pulled away though his hands lingered at her waist. \"Did they see you?\"\n\n\"We hid in the closet in the laundry room,\" Laura said, her eyes searching his, still red from crying.\n\n\"We?\"\n\n\"Me, Benji, and Sol. Sol was... it was bad. We had to practically sit on him, he was so worried 'bout Papa and Gid.\"\n\n\"It's like that, for some people...\" He had seen that firsthand, people making poor, frantic decisions in times of stress that made no sense.\n\n\"Sam. Birdie...\"\n\nOne of his hands moved from her waist to her cheek, and he wished with everything in him that he could take her fear, her grief away. But only God could do that. \"I know...\"\n\n\"I wasn't very kind to her,\" her voice broke. \"And now she's gone.\"\n\nRubbing his thumb against the softness of her cheek, he made sure to meet her gaze. \"How you treated her had nothin' to do with what just happened.\"\n\n\"I could have been kinder,\" she said stubbornly, looking away.\n\n\"Then treat it as a lesson learned and move on.\"\n\nShe nodded, a tear sliding down her face. \"I was so scared. My prayer for you, for the boys... there weren't even words.\"\n\n\"Same. I just had to trust that God loves you more than I do.\" He blinked for a long second. He hadn't meant to say that. To admit out loud that he loved her. That was something he had hoped to keep to himself for a bit. He felt her hands fists into the sides of his shirt, her gaze bright and fierce on his. \"You love me, Sam?\"\n\n\"I do, Laura,\" he said softly, tugging her closer. \"I do.\"\n\n\"Oh. My. God.\" Manny's low voice was like thunder on a blue-sky day. Sam felt Laura stiffen in his arms, but he didn't let her let go.\n\n\"Manny, go away,\" Sam said, not even looking at his brother. He didn't know what it meant exactly that he loved Laura. He didn't know what his future held. He just knew she would be in it.\n\n\"I think that I should have been given a warnin' that this was more serious than it looked. I mean, Sam's makin' friends with white men, solvin' mysteries, and courtin' ladies. You think you know a person...\"\n\n\"Man.\" Sam's voice was hard. Tired.\n\n\"I'm just goin' to leave you two alone. Got work to do. This boat ride ain't free.\"\n\nLaura reached out, placing a hand on Manny's arm before he moved. \"I have no words about Will.\"\n\nManny shrugged off her hand, slipped his own into his pocket. \"It is what it is. Welcome to the family, Laura. By the way, our last name is Day.\"\n\n\"Change is hard for him,\" Sam said as he watched his brother walk away. \"But when he gets settled, he'll be just fine.\"\n\n\"Is there a change that's goin' to be made?\" Laura asked, her gaze fully on him.\n\n\"I hope so,\" he said, feeling more than a bit shy. He met her gaze though. \"I'd like to kiss you, but it'd only be fair to warn you, I ain't done it before.\" He felt his face warm. Manny had told him it took lots of practice and skill to be a good kisser. But Sam had never just wanted to try it for the sake of trying it. And so he had never done it.\n\n\"Aw,\" Laura said, her gaze darting away. \"Guess we're in the same boat, then.\"\n\nAnd with that, he leaned down and kissed her."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 61", "text": "The next day, Sam was in the animal pens, cleaning manure and spreading fresh hay. And listening to Finn talk.\n\n\"I'm tellin' you, Sam, we're bout to enter Indian Territory. Folks be afeared of the boiler room explodin' but they don't be thinkin' bout the Injuns attackin'. Why I heard this one story...\"\n\nMost of Finn's words were drowned out by the sheet of rain that surrounded the steamboat. The day was warm, humid, wet, and it smelled bad. But Sam wasn't about to complain, the boat was moving and so long as it kept on moving, that was all that mattered.\n\n\"And then\u2014,\" thunder pounded and lightening cracked against the sky, and Sam paused taking it all in. It seemed fitting really, all the rain. The night before had been hard to get through. Neither he nor Manny nor the Altan men had much to say. Amos had even joined them, holding Gid under one arm and Sol under the other. And it had been a silent night. Without Will, and quite frankly the way in which Will left the boat, no one had felt inclined to make music.\n\nWith Amos there, Manny had been sure to nudge Sam several times to speak on Laura, but Sam hadn't. He would speak to Amos at a time of his choosing and not when Manny was there to listen in. After the third nudge, Sam had made sure to elbow Manny in the soft parts of his side eliciting a grunt from his brother. Manny had left him alone after that.\n\n\"Sam,\" Adam's voice pulled Sam out of his thoughts.\n\n\"Suh?\" Sam asked, straightening with the broom in his hand. Adam was dressed in his usual dark suit, leaning against one of the poles of the steamboat. He nodded toward an empty spot at the steamboat rail.\n\nSam set the broom aside and exited the cow pen. He followed Adam over to the wet railing.\n\nAdam didn't speak when he got close. Instead, he stared out at the rain. Sam folded his arms over his chest, rocked on the back of his feet. \"How are you doing?\" Sam raised an eyebrow. \"You know... with yesterday...\"\n\n\"Fine.\" Sam's voice was clipped, short.\n\nAdam sighed, pounded a fist against the railing in front of him. \"I need to get into Baldwin's room tonight. Can you keep watch again? This time I'll make sure he's out of the room.\"\n\nSam gave a quick nod.\n\n\"We'll meet up just before the supper bell.\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\nAdam sighed again, but left.\n\n\"What did he want this time?\" Manny asked as he sidled up to Sam.\n\n\"Where were you at?\"\n\n\"Does it matter?\" Sam rolled his eyes. If there was an easy way to answer, Manny always chose the hard way. Sam told him quickly what Adam had wanted. \"You've done this before?\"\n\n\"Yes. Adam thought the man was at supper but he wasn't. He's pretty slippery, Baldwin. Never where you expect him to be.\"\n\n\"Maybe he has a twin,\" Manny said, laughing to himself. \"Remember how we used to pretend to be one person?\"\n\n\"Till Molloy whipped us both,\" Sam said slowly. They had done it when they had first arrived in Kentucky. To protect themselves. What a failure that had been.\n\n\"Yeah, well it took him months to figure it out. Him and everybody else. Everyone always actin' like they can tell us apart. I'm tellin' you, Sam. If I wanted to, I could be you in a second. All nice and savin' people, and prayin'. And you could be me. It would be a hardship, you're not as funny as I am\u2014,\"\n\nSam left.\n\n\"Sam!\"\n\n\"Be right back,\" Sam hollered over his shoulder. He needed to find Adam before he reached the stairs."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 62", "text": "\"Twins!\" Laura whispered to Sam. They were tucked in the shadow of the stairs on the second deck, leaning against the wall, shoulder to shoulder, watching it rain.\n\n\"Yes, Manny made me think of it,\" Sam said, a rueful smile on his lips. Really, all Laura wanted to do was kiss those lips. She didn't want to think about Baldwin or his murdering twin or Mary Stiles. \"When I left Adam, he was tryin' to figure out a way to lure the second one out.\"\n\nWould it be too forward if she asked him to hold her? They were planning to marry after all. At least that was what she thought they were planning to do. A man didn't talk about a future with a woman unless he was speaking of marriage. But they weren't married yet. She casted her mind back to Missy Charlotte's courting. Had there been any holding? Now that she thought on it, there hadn't been. Working in Salis House like she had done, she could barely remember if her own parents liked to be close. She had usually seen one without the other. She exhaled. Focused. \"Write a note.\"\n\n\"Hmm?\"\n\n\"Tell Adam to write a note to Baldwin and slip it under the door after the first one leaves. Make it from someone he wouldn't say no to.\" Sam frowned and then glanced at her out of the side of his eye. \"What? My brother did it once when he wanted access to a room. To this day, Miss Martha has no clue who wanted to meet her out in the barn just before supper.\"\n\nSam blinked a few times. \"You're a very... smart woman.\" Laura wasn't fooled. She was sure he wanted to use another word like sneaky or devious. But she would take smart.\n\n\"We all have our talents,\" Laura said, giving him a cheeky grin. And this time she couldn't resist. This time she turned towards him and placed both hands on his cheeks, framing his face. His hands drifted to her waist, making her smile.\n\n\"Hey, Laura... ,\" the sound of Gid's voice made her flinch. Laura looked away from Sam, saw her youngest brother standing there staring up at them like they were the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. She moved her hands from Sam's face to his shoulders. She noticed that while Sam's fingers on her waist twitched for a second, they didn't move. Didn't he know that Gid was going to tell everyone there was to tell that he had caught them together?\n\n\"Yes?\" She was surprised by how calm her voice sounded when she spoke.\n\n\"Nothin'.\" He still didn't move. Just blinked owlishly up at them.\n\nSam laughed, pressed a lingering kiss to Laura's cheek that made her close her eyes and forget about everything but him for a moment. \"I better go,\" he said and slipped away.\n\n\"Does Pa know\u2014,\"\n\n\"I'm gonna go tell him right now. You stay. Don't move.\"\n\n\"I have to move!\" Gid called to her back, but she ignored him.\n\nIf Papa was going to find out about her and Sam then it was going to come from her first. And that was exactly where she was headed when she saw Lucinda (Mary?) turn a corner on the hurricane deck. There was nothing wrong with Lucinda walking on the hurricane deck. Small as the boat was, most everyone found themselves on one floor or another regardless of where they bunked. No. It was the way she looked over her shoulder that had made Laura's hackles rise. Cause it reminded her of herself.\n\nWith a muffled groan, she gave up talking to Papa and followed Lucinda instead.\n\nWith another quick glance over her shoulder, Lucinda headed for the front of the ship. Laura followed quietly behind, ducking behind poles and hiding in shadows careful not to be spotted by the girl. If any of the other passengers caught sight of her, she would send a small smile and a wave. Let them think her strange so long as Lucinda didn't see her.\n\nShe trailed after Lucinda until Lucinda reached the railing of the ship. And that was when Laura noticed that she had something in her hand. A box? The girl took a step forward. And Laura stepped out of the darkness.\n\n\"Miss Lucinda?\"\n\nLucinda took a step back, so startled she clutched the box to her chest.\n\n\"Ma'am,\" Laura said quietly, pretending not to see the fright that lingered in the girl's face. \"Can I help you with somethin'?\" Laura asked and nodded towards the box.\n\n\"Oh, Laura,\" Lucinda said breathlessly as she looked down at the brown box in her hands. She spread a hand on the front. \"I was just getting rid of somethings...\"\n\n\"Ma'am, it's best not to toss things in the river. It can get caught in somethin', maybe even the wheel of the ship or wash up on shore.\" Lucinda's face blanched. \"I hear the Mississippi is mercurial. One day it's land, the next day it's river. If you're aimin' to get rid of it, I can toss it in the furnace in the boiler room. The fire is fierce in there.\"\n\nLucinda looked down at the box, her grip tight on it. Laura watched as the girl swallowed, but more than that, Laura saw what she had missed by not paying any attention. Lucinda was no girl. She was old. Not elderly, but not the girl Laura had initially thought her to be. She had to at least be in her thirties. Laura could see evidence of the pearl powder on the woman's face, the subtle eye paint, and the beeswax on the woman's lips. She had never cared to look so closely, but now Lucinda's age glared out at her. Whether the woman was Mary Stiles or not, she was hiding something.\n\nSlowly, so slowly, she handed the box to Laura. \"Yes. Burn it. That's a good idea. I'll come too and watch it.\"\n\nThink of something, think of something, Laura told herself. Careful to keep her gaze guileless and a little stupid, Laura said, \"Ma'am, it would be best if you didn't go down to the boiler room. It's not a place for a lady. There are lots of men around.\"\n\nLucinda huffed, her lower lip protruding in a pout. Then her face lightened. \"I'll watch you then.\"\n\n\"That sounds right fine,\" Laura said, her grip on the box tightening. She would just have to set it someplace in the boiler room until Lucinda was gone. Laura started for the stairs, feeling Lucinda's gaze right in the center of her back. She went down the flight and then glanced up. Lucinda was at the railing of the hurricane deck, still watching. Laura turned the corner and went to the boiler room. She felt the heat before she saw it.\n\nOne of the men who worked in the boiler room, a dark-skinned man, stepped out, saw her, and then called back to the room. \"It's one of yours, Amos!\"\n\nLaura sent the man a tight smile of thanks before dipping into the overheated room. She found a spot in the way back, careful not to get in anyone's way.\n\n\"Laura,\" Papa said, sending her a quick look just before shoveling coal into the large furnace. He set his shovel along the side and took several steps back, meeting her. \"Let's step out.\"\n\n\"I can't. I told one of the ladies I would burn this in the furnace for her,\" Laura said, even as she gripped the box tightly to her chest. \"But I'm not goin' to.\"\n\nPapa gave her a look. \"This have anythin' to do with that stuff you and Sam...\" Laura gave a small nod. \"Speakin' of Sam...\" Laura closed her eyes for a second. Gid had beat her down. \"He came and talked to me this mornin' bout the two of you,\" Papa said, averting his gaze.\n\nSweat began to form at the top of her forehead and started gathering under her arms. Laura wasn't entirely sure it was cause of where she was standing. \"He did?\"\n\n\"Said somethin' bout marryin' up with you one day.\" Papa's voice was gruff, he stared down at his hands.\n\n\"Yes.\" Laura bit the bottom of her lip. \"But I don't see us leavin' ya'll.\" She hadn't asked Sam. They hadn't quite talked that much about their future. But family was important to Sam. She didn't see him leaving her family behind either. \"You'll still have me.\"\n\nPapa huffed, placed his hands on his waist. \"He's a good man. I like Sam. I like Sam for you and if you're right, maybe there's still time for you and me to get on with each other.\"\n\nIt was Laura's turn to look away. She swallowed, her throat dry as dirt, \"I'd like that.\"\n\n\"You best get on out of here, now.\"\n\n\"Here,\" Laura said, handing him the box and taking the papers out. \"Toss this in the fire.\" It was one of Prince's rules. Never tell a complete lie to a white man or woman. At least part of it had to be true. \"Is there some place I can leave the rest?\" she asked as she rolled the papers up. She looked around for some string, found a strand of hemp that was hanging off a bag of partially opened coal, broke it off, and wrapped it tight around the bundle.\n\n\"Give it here.\"\n\nLaura handed the wrapped papers to Papa and watched as he tossed the empty box into the furnace. She stepped out of the hot room and glanced up. Sure enough Lucinda was still there. She spread her hands, to show that they were empty and Lucinda smiled.\n\nAn hour later she went back for the papers. With a quick nod at Papa, and after making sure he and all the other men were facing the boiler, she slipped the papers into a small garter she had attached to her upper calf. After fixing her skirts, she left the room, went up both flights of steps, and when she saw the laundry room was empty, she pulled out the papers and read them. Twice. If Prince were here, he would make copies. But there wasn't time for that. They were arriving in Tennessee soon and then the next stop was Arkansas. Adam needed to see the papers now. She rolled up the papers and kneeled on the floor to return the papers to her garter. Except she went flying instead, the papers slinging out across the room. The boat made a horrible, groaning noise beneath her as she scrambled forward to grab the papers. Were they sinking? Were they stuck?\n\nShe heard men's voices, yelling, fussing. She slipped the papers into her garter and left the laundry room.\n\nEmma ran towards her, coming up the stairs from the hurricane deck. \"We've run aground.\"\n\nLaura moved passed the girl and towards the railing. Men, like ants, scrambled below with poles in hand. Captain Leahy and several of the sailors were calling out orders and scrambling. Now was not the time to go to Sam. She would just have to go to Adam Ward herself.\n\n\"Man overboard!\"\n\nLaura ignored the chaos of the ship and headed towards Adam's room.\n\n\"I am not paying for another ship to tow us out. Get down there, now!\"\n\nFeeling like she was walking almost sideways, Laura made her way to the door. It was only when she got there that she realized that Adam too might be down there helping.\n\n\"Pump the bilge!\"\n\nShe knocked on Adam's door. There was no answer and his door was locked. Using her picks, she unlocked the door and entered. Reaching under her gown, she grabbed the papers and set them on his desk. She picked up a paperweight, set it on top. Her work was done here. It was up to Adam now."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 63", "text": "Getting the steamer out of the sandbar or whatever it was, was more entertaining than it ought to have been. With every sailor, roustabout, and hired man on the boat helping, it didn't take too long to get them back into the water again.\n\n\"That's the Mississippi for you,\" Finn declared loudly. Several men agreed with him. \"Ain't a thing predictable about the ole girl.\"\n\nSam was just glad to hear the paddlewheel going again. He was not too keen on running aground in Tennessee.\n\n\"Sam!\"\n\nSam turned around to see Adam walking towards him, shaking some papers in his hand. \"Did you get these?\"\n\n\"Get what?\"\n\n\"These papers.\" Adam looked around, noticed he was drawing a crowd and pulled Sam over to the railing. \"I went to my room and found these on my desk. They're James Alexander Sherringhouse's papers. From his safe. The one that Mary Stiles and Henry Baldwin broke into. And if the papers are here on this boat than that means one or both of them are here on the boat.\"\n\n\"I thought we knew that already.\"\n\n\"Yes, but this is proof!\" Adam said excitedly. \"I knew it! They wouldn't listen to me, Sam. But I knew it. How did you get them?\"\n\n\"I didn't.\" It must have been Laura, Sam thought. That girl was something.\n\n\"But...\"\n\n\"Does it matter how they got there?\"\n\n\"Sort of,\" Adam said, sending him a look of expectation. When Sam said nothing, Adam sighed. \"Alright. Don't tell me. But I think you know how they got there. I also tweaked the plan a bit. I'm going to send a note to both Baldwin and Lucinda. See what happens when they meet each other on the ship.\"\n\n\"Durin' supper time?\"\n\n\"Yes. I want you to keep an eye on the Baldwin at the supper table. I'll follow the one who meets Lucinda. If for whatever reason, the Baldwin who goes to supper gets up and leaves, create a disturbance of some kind. Don't let him come to the lower deck. Understand?\"\n\nSam nodded slowly. Make a disturbance. He certainly understood, though he was still unsure of what that would actually look like.\n\n\"What if I'm wrong? What if it's not two of them?\"\n\nAdam shrugged. \"Then we'll still get Mary Stiles. That's how I'll address the note, to Mary. And don't forget, I saw Baldwin murder Vance whose body was recovered by the way.\"\n\n\"Oh.\"\n\n\"Yeah. Sent a telegram right after. Like you I don't have until New Orleans to wrap this thing up. I've got Pinkertons waiting for me in Tennessee.\"\n\nIt was the way he said it, that made Sam ask, \"In trouble?\"\n\n\"Not as much if I deliver the murderers.\" Adam slapped his arm. \"See you at supper.\"\n\nSam spent all day thinking about the kind of distraction he could create that wouldn't set other people into panic, cause him to be thrown off the ship or worse, and force Baldwin to stop what he was doing enough to care.\n\nIn the end, he finally resorted to talking to Gid and Sol. He didn't want to get Manny involved. And he figured the boys would have something safe to run with. Besides, the both of them had been working in service the entire time they had been on the steamer. He found them sitting on the hurricane deck polishing shoes. Crouching down he presented his problem to them.\n\n\"Pour somethin' on him,\" Gid said confidently as he wiped at a shoe. \"Then he'll have to go change.\"\n\n\"Oh, that is good,\" Sam said, trying to think of a way to pour something on a person whilst making it look like an accident.\n\n\"But what somethin' are you goin' to pour?\" Sol asked. His voice was light, quiet. He hadn't spoken much since Will's death and Birdie's taking. There was a new air of sadness about him that Sam just didn't like.\n\n\"Water's no good,\" Gid said, giving him a pointed look. \"Maybe... spirits?\"\n\n\"You could get Mr. Ward to get you some,\" Sol said softly, not looking up from the shoe he was working on.\n\n\"I knew I was right to talk to ya'll.\"\n\n\"I told Sol you were kissin' my sister.\" Gid said the words almost as though they were the lyrics to a song.\n\nSam let out a huff of laughter. \"Yes. Figure I'll marry her someday.\"\n\nSol stared at him for a long minute. \"We just got her back.\"\n\n\"You're lookin' at this the wrong way,\" Sam said, pushing Sol's shoulder with one finger. \"You're not losin' her. You're gainin' another brother. Two in fact.\"\n\n\"Oh, goody,\" Gid said with a roll of his eyes. Sol snorted, but smiled.\n\n\"You could ask the man for help with somethin',\" Sol said slowly. \"If he's nice, he'll help. If he's mean, he'll fuss. Either way, he'll be distracted.\"\n\n\"Good point.\"\n\nSam stayed with the boys until the evening whistle blew. Then he went to the Texas deck. He had told Finn that Adam had asked him to do him a favor and then run off before Finn could ask what the favor was exactly.\n\nOn the Texas deck, just a few feet away from the door to the dining hall, Sam worked on untangling rope. Using the brightness of the night sky, his fingers slowly made their way down the rope. Outside the door he could hear laughter and conversation. He could smell the roasted pork and vegetables from his spot and he felt his stomach cramp. He had eaten. But after near unto two weeks eatin' bread and meat, his body wanted something different. He found himself wondering if Laura was in there serving or in the laundry room working.\n\nHe had just decided that maybe he would risk it and go find Laura when the door to the dining hall opened revealing two men: the old man that Baldwin was always talking to and Baldwin himself.\n\nSam exhaled sharply. He had planned on slowing down one person. Not two.\n\n\"I'm sorry, Mr. Cronwall. I couldn't hear you in there.\"\n\n\"I think you heard me just fine, young man. I. Am. Not. Interested.\"\n\n\"Mr. Cronwall\u2014,\"\n\n\"I've heard you're a huckster!\"\n\n\"A... Mr. Cronwall, who would say...\"\n\n\"Miss Stillwood, said you are not to be trusted. She said\u2014,\"\n\n\"Miss Stillwood!\"\n\nSam was fairly certain he wasn't the only person who heard the betrayal in Baldwin's voice. Well, at least with this conversation going, Sam wouldn't have to worry about keeping the man from going down to the hurricane deck.\n\n\"Yes. Lucinda Stillwood said that you swindled her father out of all his money.\"\n\n\"And who is her father?\" Baldwin asked, bitterness in his voice.\n\n\"It doesn't matter. I had you investigated after that! That's right. I sent a telegram when we were in Missouri last and you are not linked to any kind of railroad.\"\n\n\"Mr. Cronwall\u2014,\"\n\n\"Please refrain from saying my name ever again!\"\n\nSam, no longer messing with the rope in his hand, watched as Mr. Cronwall reentered the dining hall. Baldwin stomped past Sam, not even noticing him. Since Baldwin was headed to his room and not to the hurricane deck, Sam neither said nor did a thing. Except follow. He watched Baldwin plod to his room, open the door, and slam it shut behind him.\n\nWell. Sam hoped Adam was getting something accomplished down below. He figured now was as good a time as any to go find Laura.\n\nSam made it almost to the laundry room when he heard pounding footsteps coming up from the hurricane deck. And then voices.\n\n\"You can't get away Baldwin.\" Adam. \"There's nowhere to run on a boat this size.\" So, he had been right. There were two of them.\n\n\"You're making a mistake,\" a woman's shrill voice called out. \"Release me right now or I'll tell the Captain!\"\n\n\"Please do, Miss Stiles.\"\n\nSam found a shadow against a wall and did his best to blend in. In minutes, the door to the dining room opened, diners pouring out to see what all the yelling was about.\n\n\"Stop that man,\" Adam called out. \"Baldwin. He's a murderer and a thief!\"\n\nSam heard gasps, saw people talking. None of them seemed inclined to stop the second Baldwin. Baldwin pushed past them until he ran into one of the hired guns Captain Leahy used to protect his goods. \"I've got him.\"\n\n\"What gives you the authority\u2014,\"\n\nSam tuned out the passenger's voices as Baldwin began to fight the hired gunman. He could see that at the bottom of the stairs, Mary Stiles or Lucinda Stillwood was being detained by one of the sailors down there.\n\n\"Lucinda Stillwood! What in heaven's name is going on?\" A woman called out.\n\n\"Aunt Crissy! It's all a horrible mistake!\"\n\nThe loud noises of more people yelling and fussing filled the air.\n\n\"Now, just what is going on!\" Captain Leahy joined the fray.\n\nSam felt like now was as good a time as any to go back down to the lower deck. He would just see Laura tomorrow. Only thing was, it didn't feel quite right. If his brother had been in trouble... Sam searched the crowd. It took a minute, but Sam knew what direction to look in. Baldwin, the one running from Adam, was now detained, on the ground and being trussed up like a pig. And just behind him was another Baldwin. But this one had a gun.\n\n\"Get down!\" Sam called. \"He's got a weapon!\"\n\nIt was just enough warning that Adam dodged the bullet aimed for him. More fighting, more tussling ensued and Sam slipped down the stairs."}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 64", "text": "\"Sam.\" Sam could hear the smile in Adam's voice as he approached him. Sam was once again cleaning up the animal pens. He set his broom against the wall and walked to meet Adam against the nearest railing. He had only spoken to him briefly that morning. They would be arriving in Tennessee that day. Baldwin and Baldwin and Mary Stiles would be getting off... and so would Adam. \"I wanted to thank you. For yesterday.\"\n\n\"You're welcome,\" Sam said simply. He gave Adam a small nod.\n\n\"What was that, Sam? Was that not a shrug?\" Sam allowed himself to smile a little. \"A smile?\" Adam laughed. And then his face grew serious. \"Listen. Sam. I was thinking. If you tell me who your master is, I could buy you.\" Sam blinked. Looked away. \"Not like that, Sam.\" Adam said quickly. \"I would buy you and then set you free.\"\n\nSam pounded his fist lightly against the rail. \"Thank you. But no.\"\n\n\"Sam. Listen. We work well together. No one even suspected I had a partner. It was perfect. I mean, you have access to stuff and people I never would. Sam. I would pay you.\"\n\nSam bit his lip. Sighed. \"I appreciate the thought.\"\n\nAdam exhaled. \"I could set you free. Your future could be different, Sam.\"\n\n\"My future is not in your hands, Mr. Adam. But, thank you.\"\n\nAdam was silent as he placed his hands on his waist. \"What's keeping you from taking me up on the offer? Your brother? I could find a place for him too.\" Sam grunted. Hadn't he told the man no already? \"It can't be the money. I haven't told you how much yet. Is it the adventure? Is that why you're going out west? Indians are scary people, Sam. Less it's a woman and\u2014,\"\n\nSam had no clue what Adam saw in his face that led him to know there was a woman. Not that Laura was the sole reason he wouldn't take Adam's offer. Fact of the matter was he had already chosen the course of his life. And it wasn't being a detective with Adam Ward. He plain hated everything about all that business.\n\n\"There is a woman.\"\n\n\"Mr. Ward\u2014,\"\n\n\"Mr. Adam is fine. Tell me about this woman. Is she on the steamer?\"\n\n\"Mr. Adam\u2014,\"\n\n\"Are you married, Sam? Why did I never think to ask that?\"\n\n\"Not married.\"\n\n\"Are you looking to be?\"\n\n\"Mr. Adam\u2014,\"\n\n\"When are you planning on getting married? You should do it now with Captain Leahy. You go out there in Indian Territory, assuming she's going with you, and there won't be a preacher for miles. If you get married now, least it'll be legal.\"\n\nSam's lips parted to answer and then he closed them. \"Legal?\"\n\n\"Yes. A captain of a ship can marry a couple. It's almost more legal than a preacher. If you won't go with me, if you won't let me purchase your freedom, then let that be my gift to you Sam. I'll ask Captain Leahy to marry you, papers and everything. But not going to lie, Sam. We'll be in Tennessee before you know it. Better get the girl to agree and to do it quickly.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 65", "text": "\"Marry you? Now?\" Laura's eyes were wide with disbelief, her arms folded over her chest. Sam had raced to the laundry room to find her. When he saw her working with the other girls, he had asked her to step out the room with him for a second.\n\n\"It'll be legal, Laura. On paper and everythin'. Like a real marriage. I know we haven't known each other that long, but we know the important things.\"\n\n\"We do know the important things,\" she said, her lips twisting to the side. \"Like I love you. And you love me.\"\n\n\"And we'll take care of each other,\" Sam said, reaching for her hand. She placed it slowly in his. \"I don't want a slave marriage, Laura. Not when there's a chance for the real thing.\"\n\nShe pressed her lips together for a second, thinking. Then she nodded slowly, meeting his gaze. \"There's no one else for me but you Sam.\"\n\nSam felt water gather in his eyes though he knew well enough not to let them fall. Taking both of her hands in his, sliding his fingers between hers he asked,\"Will you be my friend, my partner, and my wife, Laura Altan?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nThe next person Sam talked to was Amos.\n\n\"What now?\" They were just outside the boiler room, standing against the nearest rail.\n\n\"He can make it legal. The captain.\"\n\nAmos swallowed hard, his Adam's apple dipping into his throat. He nodded. \"I understand. I... just wait here.\" Amos went into the boiler room for a second, came back out. He held out his hand and Sam opened his. A gold band dropped into it. \"Made it for my Phoebe. But she's not here now. She would want Laura to have it.\"\n\n\"I'll take care of her, I promise you that. And we don't aim to be leavin'. Family is important to both of us.\"\n\nAmos nodded, not meeting his gaze. \"Couldn't ask for a better man to become my son.\"\n\nSam cleared his throat, exhaling as he looked out on the river. \"Couldn't ask for a better man to be my father.\"\n\nSam talked to Manny last.\n\n\"Marriage? Now? I thought for sure I had a few months.\" They were tucked behind several large cargo in an effort to find some privacy.\n\n\"Manny.\"\n\n\"There's a part of me that hates the thought of you gettin' married.\"\n\n\"Manny\u2014,\"\n\n\"No,\" Manny said, holding up a hand. \"Let me finish. There's a bigger part of me that likes the thought of us expanding. And Laura would make a good sister. I realize that. And I want you to be happy.\" The last part was said quietly.\n\n\"I am happy. She makes me happy.\"\n\n\"Then that's all that matters, big brother.\" They shared a look, and then a grin.\n\n\"Thanks, Manny.\"\n\n\"Tell Laura I fully expect new clothes from here on out.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 66", "text": "They married in the pilot house. Sam had never been in the room before. It was the highest spot on the steamer and overlooked everything. It was also tiny. The only people in the room were Sam, Laura, the captain, his firstmate, and Adam Ward.\n\n\"Ha. Lolly,\" Adam muttered when he first caught sight of Laura.\n\nSam sent her a curious look. Laura sent him a smile and a shrug. They said their vows quietly, stoically, repeating after Captain Leahy. The only break in Laura's composure was when Sam slipped the ring Amos had made onto her finger. They forewent the kiss, merely squeezing each other's hands at the end. They would save their affection for when they were alone.\n\nBut the best part, other than being announced Mr. and Mrs. Day was when they both signed their names on the marriage certificate to the surprise of everyone else in the room. Sam's attempt was rather clumsy but it wasn't an X and you could read it and that was all that mattered.\n\nAfter the impromptu wedding, with a copy of the wedding certificate still inky and wet in his hand, Sam pulled his wife under the stairs of the Texas deck and kissed her thoroughly. They didn't stay there long. The whistle blew loud below them announcing the entrance to the next port.\n\n\"We should get back to work,\" Laura said, breathing heavy, her face buried in his chest.\n\n\"Yes,\" he said, hugging her tightly back. He kissed the top of her head. \"Let's just watch the boat come in for a few minutes. And then we'll get back to it.\"\n\nHolding his wife's hand, Sam guided her to the railing where they could see people on the ground waving at the passengers on the deck.\n\n\"Sam?\" It was Adam. Sam half-turned as Adam came alongside him and Laura. Laura slid her arm around Sam's waist and he wrapped his around her shoulders. His wife's shoulders. He couldn't hardly believe it.\n\n\"I thought you said your name was Rivers,\" Adam said, grinning.\n\n\"At that time, I thought it was,\" Sam said dryly.\n\n\"And you're Laura,\" Adam said, eyeing Laura shrewdly. The look he sent Sam told him that he knew. He knew not only that Laura was one of the runaways listed on the wanted ads in his keeping but that she had helped him with Baldwin and Mary Stiles. \"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you officially Mrs. Day and I wish you all the best.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Mr. Ward. Samuel and I wish you the best as well,\" she said, her voice as succinct and graceful as any other educated woman's. Sam fairly beamed on the inside when he saw how taken aback Adam was at her response.\n\n\"I've got one last thing for you, Sam.\"\n\n\"You've done enough, Mr. Adam,\" Sam said, meeting his gaze. \"More than enough.\"\n\nAdam Ward stared at him. And then he unbuckled his gun belt. \"You saved my life when it would have been far easier to let me lose it. Don't look at it as a gift... think of it as an apology for having to deal with my headache.\" Sam took the gun belt from him slowly. \"You've already got the gun. Keep it.\" He stuck out his hand. \"Have a good life, Samuel Day.\"\n\nSam hesitated for a few minutes. Gradually, he took his hand off of Laura's shoulders and grabbed Adam's hand. Shook it once. \"Have a good life, Adam Ward.\""}
{"book_title": "", "author": "Embassie Susberry", "genres": ["Salis House Plantation 1"], "tags": [], "chapter_title": "Chapter 67", "text": "Epilogue\n\nsix months later\n\nThey arrived at the mercantile together. Her and Sam, each on their own horse. The town was small and mostly white. They attracted a few stares, but no one said anything. It was the one thing she loved about living out west. No one ever said anything. Papa predicted that that might change but for now life was fairly easy going.\n\n\"You sure about this?\" Her husband asked as he got down from his horse. He seemed a natural rider to her. She had learned to ride. Some. But she felt like everyone else did it much better. Arrow Creek, Oklahoma was an interesting place. Laura was still learning to love it. So much of western living was outside of her comfort zone. She had not realized just how much she was used to town living and cobbled streets until they arrived in a town that was more mud than road and had more trees than houses.\n\nBut she could not complain. Every day with her husband, Papa, and her brothers was a blessing.\n\nSam raised his hands to her, helping her down from the horse. When she placed her feet on the ground, she smoothed down the blue and white striped gown she had just finished sewing the night before and touched the back of her matching bonnet, making sure it was in place. Then she looked up into Sam's laughing eyes. \"You look beautiful, Laura.\"\n\n\"Not as beautiful as you,\" she said, giving him a wink.\n\nSam laughed, but it was true. He was a beautiful man. He always had been and now that she was dressing him, you couldn't miss it. She had bought excellent black fabric for his pants and vest. He wore a white shirt underneath that finally and truly fit him. He also had on Adam Ward's gunbelt slung low on his hips. No one out here had ever said a thing to him about it.\n\nThey did not have abundance exactly. Sam and Manny had their mercantile up and running and Papa had his smithy going. Their only customers were the handful of Negroes who had lived there in Arrow Creek before they arrived and the few Negroes and Indians that passed in and out of town. But it was enough that they could now start affording extra things. She and Sam lived in a small shanty next door to Papa, the boys and Manny. But Laura did all the cooking, the cleaning, the washing, and the sewing for everyone. She joked often that she couldn't wait for one of them to get married.\n\n\"You've got the letter?\" Sam and Manny didn't run a postal service through their store just yet though they planned to in the future. For now, any and all letters had to be brought to the next town over.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"You think he'll come?\"\n\n\"No. But, I have to try.\"\n\nLaura stared at the letter addressed to her former master, Richard Feldan. Prince would see it. And he would know. She doubted he would come. But she had to try."}