Courage by Ernestine Tito Jones

Author:Ernestine Tito Jones [Jones, Ernestine Tito]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: B. Possible Publishing

Chapter Nine

Hazel’s breath hung in front of her like a little frozen cloud. A chill ran down her spine even though she was in a nice, warm coat. She’d never done anything illegal before, and she wasn’t about to start now. These people couldn’t be the people they were supposed to help. Her grandparents wouldn’t want them to help criminals!

“Excuse me, Ma’am,” she whispered to the leader of the group as she looked around to make sure no one else could hear her. “Did you just say what we’re doing right now is against the law?”

The woman stopped and looked at Hazel like she was crazy. “Some laws,” the woman said, “are meant to be broken. That’s the only way you can change them. The five people you see walking behind us are on the road to freedom. We’re almost there, too. They are escaping slavery, and I’m helping them.”

Bess almost stumbled in the long coat she was wearing. “What’s slavery?” she asked. “And how do we escape it?”

Harriet’s eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “I guess they must not have slavery in the future,” she said, winking like she really didn’t believe Bess’s story about being from the future. “And that’s a good thing. But I’ll tell you what it is right now, here in the year 1849. In some states, like the one we’re in, it’s legal for people to own people. That’s what slavery is. We’re forced to work for someone else but we don’t get paid because we’re owned by them. How would you like to be owned by somebody — sold, rented out, have your family split apart, and treated terribly? Just terribly. And all because the color of your skin is darker.”

“Oh,” Bess said, turning her head to the side. “I’m sorry. That sounds awful.”

“It is. That’s why we’ve got to change the law by going against it.” She started walking again. “And once we get into Pennsylvania where slavery is illegal, we’ll all be safe,” she said.

“How does that work?” Hazel asked. “Just crossing over to another state means you’ll be safe?”

“Right now, it does,” Harriet said. “Once we cross into the Northern states where slavery is illegal, the laws will protect us, and we’ll be free.”

“There’d better be warmth and food soon,” the large man who gave Hazel his coat said. “Or we won’t make it to freedom. How much longer?”

Harriet chuckled. “Oh, it’s just around the bend now.”

“Harriet, you’ve been saying that for days,” the man whisper-yelled. “We’re all starving. We haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

Bess pulled open her bag, and the group stopped walking. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the night. “I just remembered my grandmother made this bread,” she said, handing out loaves. The group eagerly, and thankfully, took the bread and dug in.

Hazel grabbed a piece, too. When she first got to the farmhouse, she hated her grandmother’s homemade cooking, but it sure tasted good now.

“Delicious,” the woman in charge kept saying. “Just what we needed.”

Hazel looked at the woman, and gasped.

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.