“One day I will grow tired of you and our arrangement, George. The only reason I continue to go along with it is because it serves me purpose as well.”
“But I love you, Sarah, and I aim to marry you someday.”
“Please spare me lies. I’m no fool! Your love for me is your love of money. As for marriage, the only reason you would even consider it is because you think it would win you favor with my father. The truth is, my father despises you and everything you stand for. You are the last man on earth that he would give my hand in marriage to. Yet you speak to me about marriage as if I would even consider having you.”
Sarah was right. What she represented to me was good business. With her father being the constable and all, she provided me with the information I needed to keep my opium business running smooth without suspicion from the law. My suppliers and I could transport with little concern of our shipments being harassed.
“Now that you have served your purpose, get dressed and be on your way.”
“Sure, no problem. Um, any word on what interests your father is pursuing at the moment?”
“Don’t worry, he has his hands full trying to keep the peace between former slave owners and the nigger uprising. There has been three lynchings in the past month. I heard recently that some niggers killed a white family, even the dog. Damn savages! Your shipments should have safe passage for at least another month.”
“Thanks, doll, that’s what I needed to know.”
Our encounters were business for me and pleasure for her. Not the kind of pleasure one might think, though. I won’t dare lie to myself and think that sex with me was the satisfaction that drove her motives. You see, Sarah Larraine Russell was indeed the constable’s daughter, and it would seem that she got some perverse satisfaction by rebelling against her father’s wishes as well as his position. It would be safe to say that the information that she provided me was just another act of defiance against her father. If one were to dig a little deeper, they would find that she actually blamed him for driving her mother away.
As constable, Norville Russell was best served by his insatiable desire for justice. He was a poster child and do-gooder. The story goes that one day he arrested his father-in-law for buying stolen property. Although he did not steal the goods himself, Norville viewed the knowledge of the goods being stolen and willingness to support the criminal enterprise of the robbers made the offense just as serious as if he had participated in the robberies firsthand. While in custody awaiting trial, his father-in-law was so embarrassed and ashamed he hung himself in his cell. Norville’s wife was so distraught and heartbroken over her father’s suicide that she left town vowing to never again look upon the face of the man who caused her father to take his own life bring humiliation to her family. A few years later, Mrs. Russell died from complications of the flu, having never seen her husband or daughter again. Sarah was thirteen years old then, and after twenty years, she still blames her father for her mother’s death. Knowing all this would help a person better understand her behavior and disdain for her father.
Now that my business with Sarah was done, I focused on what really mattered most to me in this town. After the war, so many soldiers were shot up, body parts blown off, or just mentally suffered. From all they had been through that opium became a way to escape their pain, whether mental or physical. Some doctors had used opium in the treatment of some of the wounded to dull their lingering pain. The problem was that after they left the hospital, most were unable to cope without the drugs. In all this I saw a prime opportunity to make darn good money.
A shipment of my opium was due to arrive, and I had to ensure that the proper arrangements were made to receive it. Old man Gilcrest owned the general store here in town. For a small fee, he allowed me to use his supply shipments to smuggle my drugs. He never bothered to ask me what I was shipping so long as I paid him on time. As I approached the store, I saw the constable and my former slaves, the Abbott brothers, standing out front having what appeared to be an intense conversation.
“Good day to you, Constable!” I spoke and tipped my cap.
“Hello, George,” the constable replied with what appeared to be irritation.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Wright!” the three niggers spoke in unison, all three looking reasonably pleased with themselves.
“Well, I don’t mean to interrupt. I was just on my way to see old man Gilcrest about some supplies. You fellas carry on, don’t mind me at all.”
“Hold on a moment there, George.” The constable motioned for me to come back in his direction. “I have heard tales that you are the main supplier of the opium that’s being spread around town. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Them niggers are a lying bunch! If you know like I know, you wouldn’t place weight on a word they say. Hell one of ’em run away some five years back, the big one is just a dumb brute, and the little one thinks he’s smart and entitled because he can damn near pass for white. Constable, take it from me as a good Christian white man, there is no truth to nothing they say to you. My advice to you is to trust your own instincts, not the word of three uppity niggers. Whateva they done told you, they probably made up in hopes that getting me in trouble with the law would relieve their debt obligation to me. You see, they owe me five hundred dollars and this is their way of getting out of paying.”
“Well, George, if you insist, I will disregard all they have told me. It should please you to hear that I did not believe a word of their story, no matter how hard they tried to convince me.”
“Yes, sir, that pleases me rightly!” Dumb, niggers, you can’t outsmart a white man.
“However, you may not be so pleased to hear that they are not the ones who accused you of the drugs. Actually for the past two hours they have been pleading with me to believe that you have been earning your newfound fortune as a honest businessman. They informed me of their debt to you as well as the sum. They said you have turned the emancipation in your favor by creating a partnership of sorts. They described to me how you have established an enterprise as a financer, in that you help the former slaves with loans that they pay back with interest through services, money, and goods. Now my first thought was that this didn’t sound like you at all. I could not imagine George Wright coming up with such an idea not to mention working with former slaves. I originally figured you put them up to it, throw me off your trail, but they nearly had me convinced until you came along proclaiming them to be liars. Now I don’t know what to believe which is cause for me to dig a little deeper.”
“Wha’, what do you mean ‘dig deeper’?” My heart was in my throat, knowing that I had just put my foot in my mouth.
“Well, George, I know that you come here a couple times a week to pick up a shipment from the general store. Let’s say we have a look at that shipment. If everything checks out, I will believe these boys’ story and I won’t bother you again.”
The walk back to old man Gilcrest’s storage room felt like I was being ushered to witness my own execution. I guess in a manner of speaking I was. Unless I could come up with some way to get the constable to say he didn’t need to see the shipment, my goose, as they say, was cooked.
“All right, George, which crates are yours?” the constable questioned.
I reluctantly pointed out the shipping crates. I can’t believe I’ve been doubled-crossed by these shifty niggers.
“C’mon, Constable, is this absolutely necessary?” My last ditch effort to throw him off my trail. He acted as if I hadn’t said a word and kept his focus on opening the crates. As soon as he popped the lid on the first one, I knew my run was over.
“George Wright by the authority given to me by the good state of Georgia, I hereby place you under arrest and charge you with possession of illegal substances with the intent to distribute!”
“You niggers are going to pay for this! I swear by it on my father’s name! I know you had something to do with this. Buck, I know you set this whole thing up!”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mr. Wright, but I only returned to claim my brothers.” The constable handcuffed George Wright and took him away. He blamed and cursed me and my brothers every step of the way until he was gone from sight. I have little doubt he would ever believe that we were not the ones who gave him up. In fact, we didn’t know anything at all about his drug business until that morning when my brothers came to talk to Mr. Gilcrest about possibly getting a record for the supplies that they had bought from Mr. Wright. Their inquiry turned out to be quite the news to Mr. Gilcrest. It seemed that old double-dealing George Wright was at it again. He was buying supplies from Mr. Gilcrest and selling them to the Negros for two and three times the cost. He figured Mr. Gilcrest would never be the wiser because he wouldn’t sell to the colored, so they never came to his store. So, when Mr. Gilcrest found out about Mr. Wright’s side hustle, he was more than happy to settle my brother’s debt and also gain the patronage of the other Negros with a little help from us in exchange for the information about the opium. Unbeknownst to Mr. Wright, Mr. Gilcrest had long ago found out what was in those creates when he mistakenly opened the wrong one. Since he was being taken advantage of by Mr. Wright, he felt this was the perfect opportunity to share his discovery with the constable. Unfortunately for Mr. Wright, he picked the wrong old man to double-cross.
Now that we are no longer bound by any obligations to Mr. Wright, my brothers and I headed to plan our next move. On the trip back, we discussed several options and really couldn’t agree on much. The one thing we all could agree on was that by the end of the week we would leave the Wright Plantation behind forever.