6

Soon snow turned to rain. The ice melted, Ashley Falls roared, and the streets were a sea of mud. Then one day the birds began to sing, trees to bud, and the tiny leaves quickly grew to hide the nests of the songsters. With the coming of spring, the mistress had Bett put winter clothes away and unpack new, more colorful ones.

Each day grew longer and warmer, and Bett often managed to disappear to collect roots and leaves that Olubunmi said had healing powers. Her trips were a secret from the mistress. Sometimes Bett returned with her hand darkened by stains that were very hard to remove. She was anxious and did not rest until the stains were hardly noticeable. Nance and I often laughed knowing that the mistress didn’t see them because she never paid attention to us and assumed that anything dark on us was natural. Bett didn’t laugh. She never wanted the mistress to even suspect that she would disobey rules.

The more visits she made to the forest, the more self-assured and independent my sister became. Word was passed along and the men often came to her when they were ill or had wounds that did not easily heal. Slave women came and brought their sick children. I began to fear we could not keep the mistress and master from discovering that Bett’s powers were becoming well known.

Once we were out walking when a very thin, distraught slave woman called to Bett. She talked rapidly as if afraid, her eyes fastened on Bett’s face. I saw the alarmed look on my sister’s face as she said, “No, no. I could never do that sort of thing.”

The woman said with anger, “But dey killin’ us. You kin save us. Do it.”

I could not hear my sister’s answer, but the woman turned away with a scornful look, then fled.

“What did she want?” I asked.

“Poison! Something that Olubunmi would never do, and neither would I.” She said no more but I knew she was undone.

Josiah came around often. Bett and Brom talked a lot about him, but I only learned of Josiah’s intentions to marry Bett when Nance teased her. “Youse glowin’, girl. Say yes to de man and be his wife.”

“I have nothing to say about that. How can we be man and wife when one is free and the other a slave?”

“Maybe the master’ll let ’im buy yo’ freedom.”

“You think Josiah hasn’t asked? The master is willing, but the mistress flatly refuses. She says I was hers before the master married her. She will have the final say.”

That night when we were alone, I asked Bett, “Do you want to be Josiah’s wife?”

“Oh, yes. I think he will make a good husband and father for our children.”

“I’d have a husband but, being a slave, I’d never have children.”

“I’m glad Yaaye and Olubunmi never heard you say that. We were taught to believe that to be barren is a very sad thing.” A woman who can’t have children is like a tree that bears no fruit.

“Well, I believe to give birth to a slave is the worst thing that could happen to me. If children are what you want, then marry. I’m sure Brom will agree.” I could not control my displeasure.

“Yes, marry!” she retorted. “The master stands between me and everything that happens in my life. Where we came from, a man who wanted to marry a woman asked her mother. If the woman liked him, then her parents made plans for the many ceremonies. Here the master decides. He is so busy, what is our happiness to him? He wouldn’t even talk to Brom.”

“Did he talk to Josiah?”

“No. The mistress told Josiah I was not for sale and that she would not give her permission for me to marry. But I’m not worried. Josiah will be my husband and I his wife!”

“Ha! You just gave every reason why slaves shouldn’t bring children into this world. Why don’t we just run away? Live with Olubunmi?”

“Oh, Aissa, Olubunmi is a slave like us. Josiah told me that there are free blacks in a place called Boston, far from here. There, sometimes those free blacks are stolen and sold into slavery. Think of what happens to runaways. Our master is too well known and too rich. He’d get us back and we’d really be in trouble. She’d probably sell you.”

“You have powers, Fatou, use them. Make them sick. Kill them.”

“Aissa, how dare you! I cringe when strangers think I’d do such a thing, but you—oh, Aissa. The powers given to me are for good. I would never use them for anything else.”

“Not even to be free? I’d do anything to be free.”

“No. You wouldn’t do anything even to be free. Would you risk my life? Would you sell me down the river? Think of what you’re saying. Please, don’t let your thoughts leave you with such a cold heart.”

“Then let’s run away. Do something.”

“That’s a great risk. If we had help, yes, but we don’t know anybody out there. You must stop dwelling on the bad things. We must hold on to the best things we have and not let the mistress destroy that.”

“What do we have?”

“We have each other, Tiiagaade!” Suddenly she caught herself and switched to English. “Hold on steady and act and behave as though we are free. Then when freedom comes we will be whole, not sick from hating.”

I turned away from her, wondering how she could say those things. Surely she must have known that the master and mistress cared nothing for us. How could she care whether I hated them or not? I lay in the dark listening to Bett breathing. Soon she was asleep, while I wished for sleep to come.