puppyowner
Magistrate
The rumours had been spreading for years now about a land to the south were the white man was not only free but an equal to the Blackman, where he didn’t toil in the fields all day for his master but could earn money for his labours and could dress in finery instead of being kept naked and often in chains, of a land where he could own property, maybe if he worked hard and saved even by a house or a piece of land and work for himself, a land where menfolk and the women mixed and not just when the master chose to put a buck with a doe for the night to gain more property if it worked, where the baby wasn’t taken away straight after birth to the estate nursery where it would be raised it to work on the estate or for sale, and the mother sent straight back to the fields where you didn’t eat every meal sitting on the floor from a tin plates, they had places called restaurants where someone served you at a table, and it was just as likely to be a black woman as a white and she’d offer you water or coffee something they had heard about but never tasted, and when you left she’d say “have a good day” instead of raising a whip and saying get back to work you lazy bastards, that when you arrived in ‘the south’ they gave you clothes, a little money and papers meaning you could never be taken back.
He hadn’t planned to run; he’d been working with fifty other men clearing stones and tree stumps clearing another couple of acres for planting and walk to the edge of the field to pee, something he should have done standing where he was and kept on walking. Once inside the tree line he stopped and looked back, the overseer was shouting at someone as usual and didn’t notice he was gone, although he knew they all looked the same to the blacks to oversaw them, he wouldn’t be missed till Sunday and the count was done; and he just started running, he had been told to run not through water but along it to hide his scent, to smear his feet and legs with dung if he found anything to throw off the dogs he knew would be coming. But he was young and healthy and strong and could run all day if need be.
It was dark when he first heard the distant baying of the hounds and picked up his speed and wondered how long they would search at night and from the moon he guessed it had been a couple of hours until they gave up, but he knew they would be back at first light, he climbed a tree to rest but sleep wouldn’t come and he started on his journey again. The next day at sun up he thought he heard the dogs, but they were far away and seeming to get quieter maybe they had lost the scent and searching the wrong area, by the third day he long longer heard the dogs and turned he had to head south now before he had been heading deeper in to the north, and knew it best to take a long looping route and try to avoid farms and towns, people would turn him in for the reward in a heartbeat. It had been about ten days later when he heard a branch snap in the woods and froze listening for the direction, then he heard footsteps heading away and through the trees caught a glimpse of a white woman as naked as him stepping in to a pond,
which raised questions, had she been brought here by someone and if so where were they he didn’t see a car or even a horse, he knew the best thing he could do was walk away she could have been set out as a trap for him, but it soon became apparent she was on her own, and could only mean one thing she was a runaway as well, and still he knew he should leave her and go on alone, instead he walked to the pond and when she saw him she almost screamed in fright while he said platitudes like “no, no don’t worry I won’t hurt you, and I’m a runaway as well” and finally she emerged from the pond and they sat talking, discussing their shared experiences and plans, and their hopes and dreams and agreed to travel on as a pair, maybe there was safety in numbers.
The seasons changed as they wended their way to the south, they were both becoming adept at hunting and fishing and she’d worked in the kitchens of the big house and knew some of the plants that were edible, it was almost idyllic, if they could have built a house in the woods and lived out their lives they would have, but two runaway slaves with a price on their heads couldn’t settle anywhere, except in the south and that was if the stories they had heard were true.
And finally they saw the border fence from the trees and a bridge to freedom, as they watched and waited they saw a few cars go by, and knew they were going to have to make a run for it sometime, if they had looked a quarter of a mile to their right they might have noticed the police car hidden in the trees. And when they started their run across the open ground the police saw them almost immediately but let them carry on, they wanted them well out in the open before they moved and gave them a chance to return to the tree line and escape.
They heard the engine of the car approaching and looked towards the noise then to the bridge they might just make it. As their feet hit the bridge a few seconds later the car screeched to a halt followed shortly but someone shouting “stop or I shoot” followed by the sound of a shotgun and the same voice shouting “first and last warning” but they were so close, almost halfway at that point they would be in the south and free and they couldn’t shoot them so close to freedom they could taste it
He hadn’t planned to run; he’d been working with fifty other men clearing stones and tree stumps clearing another couple of acres for planting and walk to the edge of the field to pee, something he should have done standing where he was and kept on walking. Once inside the tree line he stopped and looked back, the overseer was shouting at someone as usual and didn’t notice he was gone, although he knew they all looked the same to the blacks to oversaw them, he wouldn’t be missed till Sunday and the count was done; and he just started running, he had been told to run not through water but along it to hide his scent, to smear his feet and legs with dung if he found anything to throw off the dogs he knew would be coming. But he was young and healthy and strong and could run all day if need be.
It was dark when he first heard the distant baying of the hounds and picked up his speed and wondered how long they would search at night and from the moon he guessed it had been a couple of hours until they gave up, but he knew they would be back at first light, he climbed a tree to rest but sleep wouldn’t come and he started on his journey again. The next day at sun up he thought he heard the dogs, but they were far away and seeming to get quieter maybe they had lost the scent and searching the wrong area, by the third day he long longer heard the dogs and turned he had to head south now before he had been heading deeper in to the north, and knew it best to take a long looping route and try to avoid farms and towns, people would turn him in for the reward in a heartbeat. It had been about ten days later when he heard a branch snap in the woods and froze listening for the direction, then he heard footsteps heading away and through the trees caught a glimpse of a white woman as naked as him stepping in to a pond,
which raised questions, had she been brought here by someone and if so where were they he didn’t see a car or even a horse, he knew the best thing he could do was walk away she could have been set out as a trap for him, but it soon became apparent she was on her own, and could only mean one thing she was a runaway as well, and still he knew he should leave her and go on alone, instead he walked to the pond and when she saw him she almost screamed in fright while he said platitudes like “no, no don’t worry I won’t hurt you, and I’m a runaway as well” and finally she emerged from the pond and they sat talking, discussing their shared experiences and plans, and their hopes and dreams and agreed to travel on as a pair, maybe there was safety in numbers.
The seasons changed as they wended their way to the south, they were both becoming adept at hunting and fishing and she’d worked in the kitchens of the big house and knew some of the plants that were edible, it was almost idyllic, if they could have built a house in the woods and lived out their lives they would have, but two runaway slaves with a price on their heads couldn’t settle anywhere, except in the south and that was if the stories they had heard were true.
And finally they saw the border fence from the trees and a bridge to freedom, as they watched and waited they saw a few cars go by, and knew they were going to have to make a run for it sometime, if they had looked a quarter of a mile to their right they might have noticed the police car hidden in the trees. And when they started their run across the open ground the police saw them almost immediately but let them carry on, they wanted them well out in the open before they moved and gave them a chance to return to the tree line and escape.
They heard the engine of the car approaching and looked towards the noise then to the bridge they might just make it. As their feet hit the bridge a few seconds later the car screeched to a halt followed shortly but someone shouting “stop or I shoot” followed by the sound of a shotgun and the same voice shouting “first and last warning” but they were so close, almost halfway at that point they would be in the south and free and they couldn’t shoot them so close to freedom they could taste it
