A CHILD WENT FORTH by Boston Teran

Author:Boston Teran [Teran, Boston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HighTop Publishing
Published: 2018-06-12T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 37

They were led by a silent crone of a black woman on a mule. It was a long day’s ride and by nightfall they were on a dirt road far back from the river. In the distance a few lights among the darker shapes of the trees. The faint impression of two shotgun cottages where a dozen blacks sat soundless watching their approach. A white man appeared in the pooling light of a doorway as the hearse pulled up. The white man waved to Erastus, who nodded and then told Charlie to get down from the wagon seat.

The white man was named Abraham, and he wore the clothes of a well to do. Erastus introduced Mister Abraham to one Charlemagne Griffin, his friend and youthful associate.

Charlie had no idea why they were here. Only that as of this moment the blacks on the porch were being herded into the cottages until there were but two young black men remaining. One of them seemed to be named Jupiter and Erastus asked him, “Are the graves dug yet?”

Jupiter pointed to a path among the trees.

“Charlemagne will stay here and help. Jupe, just tell him what to do.”

Jupiter said to the young black man beside him, “Merc, get a hammer for ‘dis boy.”

Erastus told Charlie, “I’ve got to go off with Mister Abraham. If things go bad, head to the ferry landing. I’ll catch up with you, if I can.”

“What’s all this—”

Erastus didn’t answer. Charlie watched him walk to the hearse and get his pistol from the box seat. Tucking it into his trousers, he followed Mister Abraham along a walking path that traced up past the cottages.

The one called Merc handed Charlie a claw hammer.

“What do I do with it?”

“It’s for res’rectin’ da dead.”

Charlie had no idea what the hell they meant, and didn’t want to ask.

The first thing that had to be done was lug those coffins from the hearse and then labor them down into the woods where Jupiter had pointed.

Making their way in the dark, the smell of summer pine and jasmine in the air, then setting a coffin down beside one large hole, then going to retrieve the next, Charlie got the whole history of these two cousins named Jupiter and Mercury.

It seems their master, who had since passed away and willed them their freedom, had thought up the notion to name all the slaves born on his farm after the planets. And when he ran out of the planets, he went to work on the constellations. He said once he ran through the constellations, he would start to name the babies after the capitol for each of the slave states. It was, he’d said, his way of showing private ownership of the universe.

Mister Abraham had leased the cousins this land, and they were free to hire out or work any profitable trade they cared to. Charlie asked, if they were free, why didn’t they cross the river?

“We got family,” said Jupiter, speaking for both cousins, “and we got good business here.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.