Zakes Mda - Cion

It occurred to him that on this new farm the only viable crop would be slave children. But unlike his father, who cultivated other cash crops and only dabbled in slave breeding as a sideline, he would go all out to devise new ways of improving production. Slave breeding would be the sole business of the farm, and all arable land would be utilized for cultivating vegetables and cereals only for subsistence. The husbandry of hogs and chickens and cows would only serve to provide meat, eggs and dairy for the family and the slave population. It was important to have strong well-fed slaves who would fetch a good price at the market.

In a few years the place became a prosperous breeding farm. David Fairfield married a literate Appalachian woman who blessed him with acknowledged children and with management skills that benefited the business. He bought more land from neighboring farmers and established an efficient plantation, with rows of cabins for studs, black females, selected mulattos, white slaves and nurseries for the children. The whole machinery was geared for the smooth and fast production of children, who were then sold when they reached fifteen. Only those boys who had the potential of becoming excellent studs and those girls who looked sapid enough to spur the most tired of studs to action were spared the auction block.

The Abyssinian Queen had been one such woman. The Owner first noticed her when she was sent to deliver some vegetables from the gardens to the big house. He immediately harnessed her for duty as a house slave, which was regarded as a promotion. Even though the household was well served by a team of white female indentured workers, who were in practice slaves, she became Mrs. Fairfield’s daytime companion. She won this position because of her storytelling abilities and her great humor. She also became Mr. Fairfield’s nighttime companion. She was their own special pet and was therefore never in any danger of being sold.

Mrs. Fairfield was not unaware that on the nights he was not in the master bedroom he was with the Abyssinian Queen. She totally accepted his infidelity for breeding purposes. It was merely a commercial arrangement as far as she was concerned. In any event it was fashionable to have an African concubine, and many of his friends had one or two and boasted about them in good company.

Pregnancy gave the Abyssinian Queen some respite from his attentions. She was able to spend restful nights without his flabby body heaving on top of hers. Much as he found her particularly toothsome, he knew better than to bother her in her present state and jeopardize the well-being of the baby. It was important that children were born healthy and grew up strong. He survived the nine months of her pregnancy and the months allocated for breastfeeding without much problem. He was spoiled for choice. Not only did he sample mature women of her caliber, he also had a field day with teenagers, many of them mulattos, and some of them undoubtedly the fruit of his own loins. Like his father before him, he never gave incest a second thought.

Abednego was born and, as was customary, he was not acknowledged by the father. The mother was not supposed to acknowledge him either, for like all the other babies who could not be loved he had been whisked away at birth before the mother could even have a good look at him. The baby was taken to the nursery to be brought up by nursemaids. But the Abyssinian Queen commanded respect and influence. The midwives conspired to keep track of her baby. When nursing mothers gathered at the feeding bay four times a day the nursemaids gave the Abyssinian Queen her own baby to breastfeed. She and Abednego got to know each other very well and bonded.

Other mothers suspected that she was receiving preferential treatment — otherwise why was she given the same baby all the time to breastfeed? Yet they did not say anything about it. She was, after all, the Abyssinian Queen. They would know in later years that the midwives did devise ways of keeping track of their babies too, and when it was safe to do so without being betrayed to The Owner, found a way to secretly introduce toddlers to their mothers — thus pissing on The Owner’s compassion.

Abednego was brought up at the nursery with the other children. As The Owner had decreed that all breastfeeding should stop after six months, the Abyssinian Queen saw less of her son after that period. She was not supposed to see the boy at all or to recognize him if she chanced upon him, but once again with the connivance of the nursemaids she was able to creep into the nursery, cuddle the baby quickly, make a few cooing sounds, kiss him once or twice, remove a tear from her eye with the back of her hand, and then sneak back to the big house.

Abednego was about a year old when The Owner renewed his carnal interest in the Abyssinian Queen. In fact, he was seized by a raging desire for her that could not be slaked. To the extent that there were no longer any conjugal visits to the chamber of the lady of the house. Nights were spent with the Abyssinian Queen. All nights. Silly games were played with the Abyssinian Queen. Laughter was shared with the Abyssinian Queen. So was news of business highlights and lowlights. Even Sunday afternoons, previously reserved for visiting neighbors and entertaining friends, were spent with the Abyssinian Queen. To the lady of the house, who previously did not have a jealous bone in her slim body, this was no longer commerce. The black woman must have used some voodoo potions — or whatever black women use — to ensnare the poor man and render him powerless. He became a blithering fool at the whiff of the Abyssinian Queen’s scent.

He took to following her everywhere she went. This was most inconvenient for her, for it meant she could not steal away to see Abednego at the cabins where he was being brought up by those women who had been assigned the task, or to the gardens where children his age were already being acclimatized to the smell of the soil. But the man’s lack of control was an embarrassment to the lady of the house, especially when it became a source of mirth for the house slaves and white maids.

Sometimes a mischievous little devil possessed the Abyssinian Queen and made her play unkind tricks on the poor man. For example, she took to hanging her most intimate garments up in a hickory tree — hidden among the leaves. She was a great tree climber. He surely caught the scent and came sniffing about with his tongue hanging out. He circled the tree, jumping about like a puppy and caressing the trunk. The shred of dignity left in him did not allow him to climb it, though he was clearly tempted to do so. Then in a fit of passion he stripped the scaly bark with his fingers. All the while she was watching him through the window, while darning socks or crocheting a hat for the coming winter.

There were snide whispers in the slave community about all these goings-on. The Abyssinian Queen’s stature was enhanced among her peers: no one ever thought they would see the day when The Owner was reduced to a raving lunatic by his craving for a mere slave.

The lady of the house got wind of her cruel games and reprimanded her strongly. The Abyssinian Queen, of course, was adamant that she had nothing to do with his behavior. She was merely performing the duties that were expected of her.

“I’ll talk to him,” said the lady of the house. “From now I want you to lock your door at all times. I don’t want him spending his nights with you ever again.”

He came at night and tried the door. It was locked. He knew at once it was his wife’s doing. The doors to his concubines’ rooms were never locked, allowing him free access at all hours of the day or night. He knocked and when she refused to open he threatened her with a flogging that she would remember for the rest of her life. She was not swayed by his threats; she was, after all, carrying out the lady’s instructions. He was banging on the door and threatening to break it down when the lady arrived and ordered him to stop making a fool of himself and to go back into the house and get some decent sleep. He submissively followed his wife, but repeated the ruckus for the next three nights. Again and again Mrs. Fairfield came out to drag him back into the main house.