The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Author:Maurice Carlos Ruffin [Ruffin, Maurice Carlos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

That night, the priest went on his way. Ady wouldn’t return to the Mockingbird for several days, when du Marche took his leave again. The day he left, she followed his carriage a good distance toward the edge of the city. When she was satisfied that he wouldn’t turn around, she walked in the direction of the inn.

“Did you lose your way?” Lenore asked as Ady walked in. Ady hesitated. She rubbed her foot on the floor.

“No, ma’am.” Ady called her ma’am that way sometimes. She felt Lenore deserved respect that perhaps she didn’t get enough of.

One of the young men who worked in the inn walked over to ask Lenore a question. But she barked at him. “Not now, Darrow!” The young man frowned and stormed off. He slammed the door to the courtyard on his way out. Lenore turned her attention back to Ady.

“It’s no mean feat running this establishment. Employees often disappear as quickly as they come on. Some of them are shiftless and on no account by nature. Others are unreliable due to circumstance. People often assume that someone else is the proprietor. Some older gentleman with a curled mustache. Not an unmarried woman who just turned twenty. The Mockingbird cannot succeed if you’re not willing to be accountable.” Lenore stopped. Ady’s face felt as though the sun were shining on it at full force. She had let Lenore down, which suddenly seemed the greatest possible betrayal.

Lenore inhaled and turned away. “I appreciate you hearing my thoughts on the matter. I must tend to the books. You’ll assist Alabama.” She went into the office and closed the door solidly.

Ady glanced at Alabama. Alabama smirked and picked up a wooden tray.

“Oh, don’t cry and don’t mind her none. She gets extra proper when she’s worried.”

“I’m not crying!” Ady said more loudly than she anticipated. She readjusted, “I was surprised. I didn’t know she could be that way.”

“She was terrified that a slaver carried you off.”

Ady inhaled sharply, taking in the thought. She assumed that Lenore might be cross at her unexplained absence, but she didn’t think the woman cared about her, at least not deep enough to worry over her. Ady realized that she didn’t think anyone cared about her. Not since her mother died.

“Our friend’s disappearance the other day”—Alabama pointed upstairs—“has the local gunslingers in a tizzy. But never you mind that. Of course, she imagines all of us will get carried off. Me, especially.”

“Why you?”

“Listen, I’m sorry for how I was treating you before. I guess I was jealous.”

“Jealous of me?”

“I’m a runaway. When I see someone like yourself who is free but shy as a kitten, I get mad. Like you don’t know who you are. There’s pride in freedom. And you should own that pride.”

“But I—I,” Ady said. Ady couldn’t take Alabama believing that she was free, but Alabama kept talking.

“I was on a plantation up ’round Natchez. My folks didn’t want to leave, but I ran as soon as I could hold my breath underwater for six minutes.

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