Walter Mosley - 47

After some time I came to an open yard. Across from where I stood was a dilapidated cabin. I knew that was where I'd find Mr. Stewart and Tall John. I reached down and picked up a throwing rock that had sharp corners on two sides. I took one step and then someone grabbed me by my arm. I turned to hit that someone with my rock but before I could swing I saw that it was Eighty-four standing there in her worn blue dress.

"What you doin' heah, Forty-seven?" she cried, pulling me from the road.

"I came for John."

"Me too," she said.

"That's the killin' shack," I said.

"I s'pose it is," Eighty-four agreed. "Mr. Stewart is in there right now killin' my baby."

"I guess we got to go in there if'n we wanna save him," I said.

"Yeah," she said.

But neither one of us moved. Faced with the certain death of the killing shack we were frozen. Our entire lives we had been trained to fear Mr. Stewart. Our entire lives we were told that the white overboss had complete power over us. Our fear was like an invisible wall standing in the middle of that yard.

Eighty-four reached out a finger and touched my cheek.

"You cryin'," she said.

It was her touch that pushed me past the line of our fear.

"You git a big stick," I said. "Git a big stick and then we gonna go up on that porch. I'ma go in an' th'ow my rock an' when he chasin' me out the do' you try an' hit 'im on the head."

Eighty-four nodded and looked around for a stick. She found a tree branch that was as big as a club. That was the first time I looked at her as something other than chattel. She was a young woman and beautiful as Tall John had said. She was stronger than many men I knew and the love in her heart for John found a companion in me.

We strode toward the door of the cabin. Eighty-four moved to the side and I pushed the door wide.

When I got into the room I took in everything at once. The first thing that assailed me was the smell. It was as if Mr. Stewart had stored rotted meat in the walls. It stank and burned my eyes. There was a long table in the middle of the floor and John was stretched out across it. The leather bands lashed to his wrists and ankles were attached to

heavy baskets that had cannon balls in them for weight. My friend wasn't screaming but I could see the pain in his face.

Mr. Stewart was standing over the table with his back to me. When I hefted my stone I realized that my strength was waning. I had only one chance to hit Stewart and then run. I doubted that I would have been able to make it across the yard.

I threw the stone. But even as the missile left my hand Stewart must have sensed my presence, because he turned as the rock flew through the air. Everything worked together and my rock met his left eye. Stewart grabbed at his head and then fell to the floor.

I staggered to my friend's side. On a shelf next to the table was a knife. I used this to cut the bonds that held John's hands. I expected the basket connected to his wrists to fall but I was surprised when he was dragged down to the other end of the table. Then I realized that the heavy basket tied to his feet no longer had the counterbalance of the other basket and it pulled my friend to the other end.

John sat up and grabbed his ribcage.

"It hurts," he moaned. "It hurts. So this is what it means to suffer."

"Can you git up?" I asked him.

"Pain," he replied.

I used the knife to cut the bonds around his ankles and then I helped him to the side of the table. He tried to get to his feet but his legs gave out like they were rubber. I got down on my knees to help him but just as I did a shadow fell over us.

"I'll kill botha you niggahs!" Mr. Stewart shouted.

He was there above us, blood coming from his ruined eye.

Before I could do anything he was on me. I felt his hands close around my throat.

"Damn you!" I shouted, thinking that at least I could condemn his evil soul to hell before he killed me.

"Huh!" he exclaimed, and his grip loosened.

I thought that maybe my curse had instant effect. Stewart fell to the side and there above me stood Eighty-four, the club clutched in her hands. She dropped the log and helped both me and John to our feet.

"Take me to my yellow sack," he whispered in my ear as we went through the door.

John could hardly walk and I was weak from the bleeding wounds on my back. Without Eighty-four we would never have made it. She nearly carried John and I supported myself by holding onto her shoulder.

After a long time we came upon the tree where John kept his shiny yellow sack. He opened it up and took out a little red lacquer box. From this he brought out a metal disk that stood upon a spindly tripod. He did something with the legs, and the disk started turning slowly. Then he collapsed.

"We'll be safe for a while," he whispered. "Have to sleep."

He fell unconscious and soon after I followed.

In my dreams I was being chased by a one-eyed monster who was at once one of the Calash and the wounded Mr. Stewart.

"Wake up, boy," someone said. "Wake up."

In my dream I was floating on a square raft down a wide river. The sun was glittering in my eyes and warming my skin with its bright rays. A great she-bear stood on her back legs at the shore and roared me welcome.

"Wake up, boy," a female voice said. She shook me gently but still the wounds on my back felt as if hot coals had been dropped on them.

"Ow!" I cried.

I opened my eyes to see Eighty-four sitting there in the glow of something like lamplight. It was a steady orange radiance emanating from the tripod that John had set up before he passed out. After a moment I realized that it must have been nighttime because out beyond the orange glow was darkness.

"You crazy, Eighty-four? We cain't have no light in the night. They'll see us out here."

"He said no," she whispered. "He said that they cain't see us 'cause'a his little lantern."

She didn't have to say who he was. I knew that John had set up some magic to protect us.

"He bettah?" I asked.

"Not hardly," Eighty-four said. "He crawled off an' said that he had to do sumpin' to make his legs an' arms not be so stretched out. I said that I'd help him but he bade me to stay here wit' you."

I figured that he was probably going to do something so strange that he thought he might scare Eighty-four. Maybe he was going to turn back into a tiny little orange and purple man, I thought. And then I wondered about that. How could I have gotten so far away from a slave's everyday life that I was thinking about magic and defying the white men that owned me? That wasn't me. I bowed my head when white men addressed me. I said yassuh and nawsuh whenever they asked me a question. How did I find myself in the night, half dead, thinking about magic and so deep in trouble that nothing I knew of could save my life.

"I love him," Eighty-four said.

"You do?"

"Uh-huh. He was so sweet to me them days that we picked cotton. He talked to me like he could see right in my heart. An' I know he felt sumpin' fo' me too."

"He said, 'that Eighty-four's a beautiful girl,'" I added.

"He said that?" She seemed amazed.

"Yes, ma'am. He said that you were just as pretty as Miss Eloise. And I do believe he's right."

Eighty-four grinned and leaned over to kiss my brow.

"You a nice boy," she said. "I sorry I was so mean to you that day we pick cotton."

"Shoot," I said. "Pickin' that cotton make a mad daws out of a bunny rabbit."

Eighty-four grinned some more and touched my cheek with her calloused palm.

"Maybe Numbah Twelve and you and me can get away somewhere where they ain't got no slaves," she said. "Maybe him an' me get married and we could raise you as our boy."