Lost Seeds by Teresa Mosley Sebastian

Author:Teresa Mosley Sebastian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dominion Asset Publishing
Published: 2023-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Cost of Desires (1924–1925)

Dub’s and Tim’s lives moved in parallel, each leaving Morriston and Betsey only days apart. The only connection to their departures was a hotel linen laundry bag Mae gifted to Tim for his college travels.

The morning sky cleared after a pouring rain. The air smelled sweet from the petals of flowers torn from their stems emitting their perfume. Birds enjoyed the puddles of water and droplets on the plants. Tim sat on the porch awaiting the sunrise.

His first train ride. Leaving Kate, without even one last look at her in the window. She’d already left town to grow their child in her belly without shame.

Betsey snored inside from another night of intoxication. The loud growls from her throat reminded Tim of a wild animal preparing to attack, like the beatings he’d endured from the broom or whatever weapon was convenient. A brief grin passed his lips, knowing that the growl could be anger that he, Dub, and Zeke had chosen to leave her without a source of income.

Hearing a train in the distance, Tim picked up the laundry bag containing the few clothes and personal items he owned. He tapped his coat pocket. The train ticket bought by Mr. Thomas and the church and the money pouch for the tuition he’d saved stored safely inside. He had thirty minutes to walk to the train station and escape Morriston. His plan remained to one day attend Yale.

After a few hours, and one transfer, he arrived in Talladega, Alabama. A man sat on the platform with a sign that said, “Talladega College.” The school had previously sent a letter providing instructions for travel, and Tim waved to the man and introduced himself.

With the two other new students from the same train, he boarded a bus and rode into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Tim took in the tall trees and nature surrounding the few buildings that made up the campus.

The escort showed him and the others to an auditorium set up for orientation, where they would receive their housing assignments. Tim had not uttered a word since leaving Morriston, other than to introduce himself to the escort. He stood mesmerized in front of the three-story brick structure topped with a gabled roof. A full-height projecting portico, with four fluted columns supporting the gable, dominated its main facade. The cast-iron balconies on the second and third floor that outlined the auditorium ceiling had no resemblance to Saint John’s High School’s single-floor structure and exceeded the architecture of the Morriston library.

Tim smiled with satisfaction while sitting at a student desk as instructed to hear the orientation. A white man walked in and paced the room, tapping an ivory-horsehead-topped cane on the floor, stopping to look each student in the face. Tim clenched the sides of the desk.

“I’m your college president,” the man said, clasping the cane like a horse whip in both hands. “You were handpicked by me to achieve excellence for your race. By the time you leave here, you’ll dispel any stereotypes that my people have of you as descendants of slaves.

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