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She’d never stepped foot inside Mr. Marksman’s home before in her life. The closest she’d ever gotten was the dirt right before stepping on the front porch. Her parents kept her from it, and since then, she never wanted to even breathe the paint or the smell of the inside, although she’d known many slaves who had walked through the home because they were called on to do so for a chore or to work on the inside. Shelone was petrified, and before she walked inside with baby Abraham wrapped in her arms and ready to give her life for him, she sneaked a glance back at her children. They still had their heads down like she ordered, but Clance stood up, staring directly at her. She then turned and followed Mrs. Sarah inside.
There was the scent of cooking food, biscuits were one of the smells and meat. She didn’t see from which direction the smell was coming from because the plantation home was so big, and she wasn’t used to looking around more than one room to locate everything. The foyer was vast, and the walls were white as the cotton that was being picked outside. As Shelone looked straight ahead, being taken aback by the huge, winding staircase that led up to the second floor, she was snapped out of her gaze when Mrs. Sarah spoke.
“Clean your feet off over there,” Mrs. Sarah ordered, waving her hand toward a loose towel beside a closet door. “And clean your feet off good, too. There’s some water in a bucket. Don’t just wipe...you wash. And leave your sandals there.”
“Yes ma’am,” Shelone replied, glancing down at Mrs. Sarah’s feet, wondering what she was going to do with all the dirt on the bottom of her shoes as well. She didn’t ask, however, because she knew very well that being asked to wash her feet had nothing to do with dirt but more to do with the color of her skin.
As Shelone walked over to the towel, she noticed that there was nowhere to place her child except for the hard floor. Therefore, she sat down, folded her legs in order to make a small nest for baby Abraham as she placed him down onto the top of her dress. Then, she lifted the towel, placed a portion in the water, lifted the bottom of the dress from around her feet and began to wash while baby Abraham watched. She felt more eyes on her causing her to glance up only to notice Mrs. Sarah’s eyes motionless against her brown skin. It took less than a second for Shelone to return her eyes to her feet, and after she completed washing them, she gathered Abraham into her arms and stood directly up on what Mrs. Sarah considered clean Negro feet.
“You love your children?” Mrs. Sarah asked as she walked ahead of Shelone up the staircase. Shelone didn’t answer the odd question, so Mrs. Sarah stopped her gait. “I take that as a no?”
Shelone quickly responded, afraid of what not answering may cause. “Yes. Yes ma’am, I love my children.”
“I noticed,” she stated, thinking back to how she watched Shelone protect the baby from the naked floor and wash herself at the same time. Then, she began rubbing her pregnant belly. “I never knew how you Negro women do such things, like animals, using your bodies in ways that I never thought to do. Of course, my children never had the option of laying on the floor, now have they? I suppose that’s why I never had to resort to such ideas.”
Shelone didn’t bother listening to anything that came from her mouth. It was a trick that her mother taught her a long time ago, but it took a long time for her to learn it. Her mother said to always “hear but not hear” what the whites say. Never allow it to enter your heart because they don’t mind putting venom into it and watching you slowly die from the inside out. It was their best trick because they knew that “killin’ one of us ain’t othing’ because we ain’t that scared. Done been killed on too long to be scared of somethin’ that’s a part of your family now, death that is.” Therefore, when Mrs. Sarah spoke, calling her an animal, it went in one ear and out the other. It was the only way to keep from yanking her long blond hair backwards and watching her roll back down the stairs that she’d just finished walking up. Instead, she placed Abraham on her breast, covered his head with the linen wrapped around him as to conceal what she was doing, and continued up the staircase until she reached the second floor.
Shelone looked back down from where she came and became frightened at how high up she was. Never in her life had she been up so high. The ground had become her only foundation, and she quickly felt like she needed to slide back down the staircase. It was only when she saw Mrs. Sarah stop at a room did she stand tall once more. Mrs. Sarah opened the door, but Shelone didn’t move.
“This is Lucy. I’m sure you know, but this is your formal introduction. Come see what she looks like, and then I want you to fix her. You can do that, can’t you?” Mrs. Sarah continued to rub her belly while staring at baby Abraham, causing Shelone to become paranoid.
Beads of sweat began to rise up onto Shelone’s forehead. She could feel every gland in her body start to perspire because she hated the fact that Abraham was so close to the whites. At the same time, she was grateful that he couldn’t tell the difference.
“Are you coming inside or not, Shelone?”
“Yes ma’am,” she hesitated, but moved toward the door to see the young girl named Lucy. Shelone remembered when Lucy was born. There was a big feast at the plantation, and they saw all the people coming bringing food and presents just for the baby. Lucy should have been around the same age as Sadie and Seena because they were born months apart.
“Charity!” Mrs. Sarah called. “Charity, come get this Negro baby.”
“Ma’am, I understand how to do this with baby Abraham strapped to me. It’s why I have this sheet here. Take me just one minute to get him on my back there...” Shelone quietly stated with a smile, hoping to win mercy from Mrs. Sarah so she wouldn’t have to give Abraham to her oldest daughter Charity who was just seven years old.
“Nonsense. You’re here to care for mine,” she snapped. “I want her feeling better by tomorrow. Whatever you need, I’ll have it fetched for you, so tell me now. Doctor won’t be here until late tomorrow night, so I don’t have time for that.”
Shelone stared at Lucy and saw that her eyes were weakened, and then she went over to her and felt the top of her head. “I need some pine needles and dandelion fetched, ma’am, and some very cold water ‘long with some honey, onions and garlic.”
“Pine needles?”
“Yes ma’am. The slaves out yonder...they know where to get ‘em unless I can fetch ‘em,” she stated, hoping to have the chance to leave out with Abraham and give him to a fellow slave woman to care for him until she could get back.
“No. I will get them,” she assured Shelone as her daughter Charity ran up with a smile on her face, her arms outstretched for baby Abraham.
“What you call him?”
“I calls him Abraham, Miss Charity. He just ate, so...if he gets hungry, you can bring him here for me if it’s not too much trouble.” Although Shelone continued speaking after revealing her baby’s name, Charity skipped off with her child like he was a real doll baby, except with all the rocking he was bound to throw up all over her. Mrs. Sarah watched Shelone closely as she adjusted Lucy down on the bed, and then began talking.
“I will see to it that you have all you ask to get my child well. I have plenty to do today, so don’t have it be a waste of my time.” She stepped away from the door, and then, turned back into the room. “Remember, Shelone, Mr. Marksman wants that cotton picked...even if you’re in here taking care of Lucy.”
“But Mrs. Sarah,” Shelone called back but she got no answer. She began to panic. Running to the window, she looked out, but she saw no one to call for a fast toss of onions or some warmed up broth. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she knew she only had so much time to get Lucy situated before she would have to break her back to help everyone get the cotton done. She needed to signal Clance.
“Just hold tight there, Lucy. I’ll be right back.” Shelone rushed off to the first floor of the house as fast as she could in order to get the attention of the field hands. Each second that went by felt like she was within seconds of being whipped for Mrs. Sarah catching her not doing what she was told. It was apparent that she didn’t care for the future of Negroes much less any Negro person who she felt like disrespected her or did her unjustly. This was what scared Shelone the most...what Mrs. Sarah would say or have done if she caught her.
She opened the forbidden front door and waved her arm from left to right until she got the attention of anyone. Right away, a slave walking by saw her hand and came running, stunned at the sight of her at the front.
“What you need? Get away from that doe!”
“I need you to tell Bigun and Lily to run through the cotton faster, my children too. Tell them to get two more hands out of the garden. Mrs. Sarah on one of her spells. Go quickly!” Shelone rushed to shut the door, and when she turned around she became stunned at the sight of one of the house slaves staring right at her.
“Mrs. Sarah knows I’m here. Takin’ care of Lucy is all. You can ask her if you like. I’ll be fine.” Then, she hurried back up the stairs to tend to Lucy. It wasn’t twenty minutes later before one of the kitchen hands had already cooked down the onions and garlic in the broth, mixed in with a little bit of honey. Thirty minutes later came the pine needles and dandelions which she sent down to the kitchen to have the house workers do what they did best – cook a tonic. It was understood already. Shelone didn’t have to say much. They knew someone was sick, and it was someone in massah’s house. Not long after, it was Mrs. Sarah who brought the cold water up herself.
“Here you are, Shelone. I see you already have your other items.”
“Yes ma’am. I just wanna cool her down some before I start feedin’ her. There is the tea that should be coming soon after she eats this onion and garlic broth with the honey that kills the sickness inside her. The stomach sickness and the throat, all at the same time. By morning, she should feel better. No hard food though. Just water and broth...with the tea, ma’am.”
“Well, where is this tea you speak of?”
“They’re making it. When you don’t know quite what’s the matter, Mrs. Sarah, we ease off some of the effects with pine needles and dandelion. We keep it made down in the quarters, but for Lucy, they needed to pick some fresh for Miss Lucy.” That was a lie. Shelone knew that instead of cooking all that down, they just brought in the pine needles and dandelion for show. Nobody cooks fresh when there’s already some fresh enough in the pots in the quarters. Mrs. Sarah didn’t know the difference. It all smelled the same when it came into the house, and it was while she stood there that the tea came right up.
“Pardon me, Mrs. Sarah,” the kitchen hand stated. “This here is for Miss Lucy.”
She moved away from the area so that the kitchen hand could pass the tea over to Shelone. From there, Shelone allowed it to cool while Lucy drank the broth.
“Well? Do you know what’s wrong with my child?” Sarah asked nastily as if she couldn’t stand the sight of the person she addressed.
Shelone looked up. “A touch of the ‘fluenza it looks like but I’m not a doctor. You shouldn’t be ‘round her, Mrs. Sarah, with your baby sitting right there in your belly.”
Immediately, Mrs. Sarah placed both her hands around the baby in her womb. Then, she blew a kiss at her child Lucy. “You will get better. Listen to Shelone.” Before stepping out of the room, she stopped at the door. “You can leave out when you’re done, but I expect you back to check on her because no one can expect me to do such with a heavy load on my belly. I have to prepare to give birth any day now, so I must relax myself. Come in through the back door at the kitchen. No more at the front. I expect you to leave that way as well...with that child of yours. Charity is in the next room on the left.”
“Yes ma’am. I sure will.” Before Shelone left the premises, Lucy had already perked up, but she warned her not to leave the house at all, nor the room. It was best to get as much rest as possible because she’d heard Lady Rose say “the fluenza will take all the strength God sent you here with if you let it and lay you in the dirt for good.”
On the way to get baby Abraham, Charity already had him wrapped up in a ball of sheets, so much so that Shelone rushed in to remove her child from the care of a child that knew no better. She quickly unraveled Abraham, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to breathe with how Charity had him encased in the covers. Then, with her thin sheet that Charity tossed over onto the floor, she covered her child neatly away and tucked him into her arms.
“Thank you, Miss Charity,” she said extremely bothered as she exited the room while Charity smiled following her out, directing her to the back door exit.