Queen of Freedom by Catherine Johnson

Author:Catherine Johnson [Johnson, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782692805
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Hurricane season was late, but Nanny had made sure the town had enough supplies and cattle to get through it. Hester and Phoebe traded some cloth for baskets, and there was an ease to town life Nanny had never felt before. She watched some of the boys practising dances in the town square with Atlas, and Meggy chasing Michele the pig out of the bush and laughing and laughing. Nanny smiled. She had never felt more safe in her whole life.

Then one night, another joyful night when one of Johnny’s cows gave birth to a female calf – a good sign, if one was needed – and Phoebe’s little boy had started walking, Nanny dreamed about Yaw.

In her dream he came towards her, standing upright, ruined, face sad, calling for his pig, Michele. In the dream Nanny took his hand, holding it between both of hers and not being able to look too long at his shot-up face, the blood, the bone. She asked him though, in as still and calm a voice as she could manage, ‘What do you want with us, Yaw? Why aren’t you quiet, safe across the water, home? The British drop like flies, malaria wipe them out before long. You seen us in town, even Michele your pig happy.’

His answer came fast and loud. ‘Nuh-uh.’ He shook his head. ‘Something is happening. Maybe this time even you cannot stop it, Nanny.’

The boy turned back to the bush and Nanny thought that there was something moving, there in the corner of her eye. Yaw was pointing through the trees. A man, small if it was a man, golden-skinned. Running, flashing through the green.

‘There,’ Yaw said and Nanny woke as if a bucket of water had been thrown over her, sitting bolt upright, her heart galloping fast fast time.

Outside it was not yet light, everything was grey and colourless. The whole town still slept.

Nanny stumbled out of her hut and went to her garden and wept. They would never be safe.

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