The Blue Is Where God Lives by Sharon Sochil Washington

Author:Sharon Sochil Washington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2023-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

9

He’s two klicks away from the oncoming sails on the blue water shimmering in the sunlight.

He’s on a flat, open stretch of ground. To his left and right are sparse piney woods. That is where George would have sent a regiment of soldiers. One regiment for each side. Palmer hears his father’s instructions in his head: Move like a big cat through the woods. Light and quick and without sound. Pounce out of the shadows on your adversary. Let them think the land is easy to be captured. Let them walk into the open plain. Then surround them from all sides, coming out of the woods.

Palmer has led more than fifty rebellions, but he is not leading this one. He came here looking for Rigaud.

Instead, two White men attack Palmer in the saloon for not giving them his seat. He kills them both, which initiates an unscheduled revolt, and so more White men, at least twenty, come into the saloon. Word is sent to the White militia. Within the hour, the town will be swarming with them. They will take Palmer, and because they will blame all Black people, they also will attack and enslave every Black man, woman, and child within fifty miles.

When the group of twenty White men comes in with axes and pistols, another Black man in the saloon moves with a precision that betrays his military training. He nudges a third Black man and the two of them slip behind the group of axe-wielding White men and out the door. He motions for Palmer to leave through the door at the other end of the saloon, where he is greeted by a group of Black men. They bar the doors with large wooden posts that prevent the White men from escaping, and the leader of the Black revolutionaries scrambles up the side of the building to the thatched roof, cuts a hole in it with his axe, and throws a torch inside. More torches come in through the thatched roof, burning parts of the roof as they drop into the saloon. The twenty men burn alive, and their screams tear through the town square.

Some of the White townsfolk bolt their doors. Some run out of the town into the surrounding woods, fearing the same fiery death as the saloon-goers.

The Black men jump onto nearby horses and ride furiously through the town, dumping torches onto the thatched roof of every single building. Some of the men go after the townsfolk who ran into the woods. They slaughter them with swords and guns, capturing and killing women and children and old men and the young. The horsemen continue their ride out of town for twenty miles. Palmer jumps onto a horse and follows them.

When their leader stops, he looks at Palmer. “You have started a shitstorm, my friend. I sure hope you can fight. What is your name?”

“Palmer. And yours?”

“Jeremiah.”

“Mr. Jeremiah, it was not my intention to begin an impromptu fight—”

“Impromptu,” Jeremiah says, mimicking Palmer. “You’re an educated nigger.

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