Dolen Perkins-Valdez - Wench

Mawu did not seem to be expecting them. She cried out when she saw them dismounting the horse, and she waved them into the cabin quickly.

“What’s wrong?” Lizzie asked.

Mawu looked from Lizzie to Glory. “I’m moving on. Got word that the slavecatchers is checking cabins in these part of the woods. I been here long enough.”

“They searched my house,” Glory said. Lizzie looked at her, and it occurred to her that Glory could get in a lot of trouble for what she was doing.

“Where will you go?” Lizzie asked Mawu.

“I don’t know,” Mawu answered, staring evenly at her.

Lizzie took Reenie’s letter out of her dress. “I wanted to give you this. I burned the envelope, but it had new York on it.”

“What is it?” Mawu asked.

“A letter from Reenie.”

Mawu grabbed it from her. She pressed it to her lips.

“What does it say?” Glory asked.

Lizzie recounted the contents of the letter. She knew it nearly by heart.

Mawu looked up and smiled. “She fine. She fine.”

Lizzie would remember that look on Mawu’s face for many years to come. The letter had done exactly what she thought it would.

“And it came from new York,” repeated Lizzie.

Mawu nodded. She went to the wall and removed a plank. Behind it was a cloth folded up into a small square.

“Take this.” Mawu opened the cloth and revealed a thin metal necklace. Birds were carved around the length of its metal links.

“Where did you get this?” Lizzie asked.

“The man what taught me the magic. He say it bring me luck. Now I give it to you.”

Lizzie put the necklace to her lips.

“And this for you, too,” Mawu said, handing her a piece of folded paper.

Lizzie spread the paper out. There was a drawing-squares and triangles and octagons all linked together in a pattern. It wasn’t the prettiest drawing Lizzie had ever seen, but it looked carefully done. It reminded her of a quilt, only irregular, as if the quilter had gotten confused along the way.

“You drew this for me?” Lizzie asked.

Mawu cursed. “Girl, is you always thinking about love? That there’s a map. That’s how you gone find me. I done already remembered it. Now you remember it. Then burn it with Reenie’s letter.”

Lizzie studied it. “What does it all mean?”

Mawu explained that the triangles were houses where she could hide. Stay away from the squares. Circles were transporters, people who would take her to the next station.

Lizzie studied the drawing.

“How do I tell what direction I’m going in? What if I get off track?”

Mawu paused. “Look here.” She refolded the paper and then unfolded it again. She pointed to the crease. “That there’s the ravine. That will point you in the right direction.”

Lizzie looked doubtful.

“Or so they tell me. I ain’t started the journey yet my own self. But I hear tell that the families will point you north. As long as you is going north, you is going up the page like this here.”

“I don’t know,” Lizzie said.

“Is you coming or ain’t you, Lizzie? I ain’t got no more time for you. I is leaving tonight. I’ll be a day ahead of you if you leave tomorrow. Us is safer if us ain’t together. But I is gone leave a message for you with whatever family I meet. I is gone send you signs.”

Lizzie still held the drawing. “I’ve got a sister.”

“That sister done been sold,” Mawu said.

“Lizzie, has God told you what to do?” Glory interjected in a soft voice.

“Shut up.” Mawu grabbed Lizzie’s hand. “I ain’t gone make you. But I’ll be looking over my shoulder for you. You hear?”

Lizzie nodded.

On the way back to the resort, Lizzie did not say a word to Glory.

The indecision paralyzed her. They told her to mop the floor. She did it. They told her to sweep the steps. She did it. They told her to go help in the kitchen. She did it. They told her to go sit in the corner until somebody else told her what to do. She did that too.

After dinner, she helped clear the dishes from the main dining room. But she moved as if she were tied to the ceiling by strings.

The servants in the kitchen were talking. They stopped when they saw Lizzie. Then Clarissa took a look at her and said, “Your friend got caught. They found out where she was hiding.”

Lizzie dropped the plates in her hands. By some miracle they didn’t break, hitting the floor with a loud noise. “What?” she said.

“The one with the African name.”

“They got her?”

That part of her she thought was dead woke back up. She felt her knees give out. It took everything she had to keep standing.

Clarissa nodded.

“How did they find her?”

She shook her shoulders. “Child, I wish I knew. But you know it’s a lot of snakes in these here parts.”

The other women nodded and continued on with their business. Nobody liked to talk about such things. Only Clarissa stayed, holding on to Lizzie’s arm.

Once again, it was Lizzie’s fault. She had not been able to make up her mind, and Mawu had obviously tried to wait for her. And the woman had given her the lucky necklace. Lizzie didn’t believe in superstitions, but she did wonder if she had taken Mawu’s luck. She tried to block out in her mind what Sir would do to her. It hurt too bad to think about. She just hoped Mawu’s strength was real.

“They was all after her,” Clarissa was whispering as she neared close enough to Lizzie to continue working while she talked. “Her master ain’t come back this summer, but he upped the reward money. I suspect it’s the highest reward money I seen in these parts in a while.”

Lizzie asked one of the young women to help her up the stairs because she didn’t think she could make it by herself. Just as they were about to go, an elegant colored woman walked into the kitchen. She was dressed like a white woman, but she was passing through the kitchen door. Her sheer size made her dress seem even grander. There was a man with her who looked just like her. They were both dressed like free colored folks of stature. And from the looks of it, they were brother and sister.

If her mind had not been completely elsewhere, Lizzie might have recognized the face. She might have remembered the girl in the dirty head rag who used to work in the hotel and help her father on occasion when he came to cut the men’s hair. But there was something big sitting on top of Lizzie’s chest. Too big for her to see past.

The pretty colored woman with the smooth skin came right up to her. Lizzie stepped back.

“Lizzie,” she whispered.

Then it came to her. The barber’s daughter. Philip’s wife.

The woman leaned forward as if to say something in Lizzie’s ear. “Philip says for you to meet him by Sweet’s grave under the cover of night. He’ll be waiting for you.”

Then she put a bonnet on her head, her companion took her arm, and they were gone. Lizzie stood there looking after them, turning the words over in her mind.

Did Philip know they were leaving? he knew this was the last summer of the resort. Mawu must have talked to him.

She stood there weighing everything before her: Mawu’s capture, Reenie’s letter, Sweet’s death, Nate and Rabbit, Drayle’s touch, Fran’s admission. With Mawu gone, little seemed to matter anymore. And yet it did. Did Philip know that Mawu had been caught?

Lizzie put her hand on her belly. She wanted to ride Mr. Goodfellow again. She wanted to go back to the days when Drayle brought her gifts. She missed seeing her children throw horseshoes. She thought of Big Mama and how she had taught her to cook using next to nothing.

She made it to her room and took off her dress. She stretched out in the middle of the bed, naked, her belly poking out just beneath the navel. She put both hands on her middle.