Queen (38 page)

    his treatment of slaves, and James had hired him at once. A man who used

    the whip as punishment of last resort rather than weapon of first

    defense, he had made some improvements to conditions for the slaves, and

    they, in return, had given a somewhat better productivity. Slaves were

    never sold away now, and were only purchased when absolutely necessary,

    both the Massa and the overseer preferring to train their own people,

    born and bred on the plantation. It was a poor substitute for freedom,

    but it was generally agreed that if you had to be a slave, The Forks was

    one of the better places to be.

    If you had to be a slave. They all had a dream of freedom and prayed for

    a miracle that would somehow deliver them from their bondage, but the

    dreams and the prayers were tempered by the reality of their existence.

    The known was preferable to the unknown, and although the younger men

    talked of running away, they had no clear idea of where they would run

    to, except the vague, distant North, Up South as the slaves called it,

    and between them and any viable sanctuary was a hostile, perilous

    environment that few believed they would survive.

    In the chaos of gossip and hysteria that attended the Nat Turner

    rebellion, one of their number, Samuel, a rash young man, saw cause for

    hope and did run away. It was one of the few times when Mitchell had

    thought it necessary to display

226 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

his authority, and they had been locked in their quarters, even Cap'n Jack

and Easter, the men shackled, until Samuel was returned. Mitchell employed

slave catchers, with instructions that the runaway was not to be unduly

harmed, and after a week they brought him back, hungry and miserable,

bruised and bleeding from the unnecessary beating the catchers had

insisted was necessary for his recapture. Samuel had been chained to a

tree for a week, the time of his absence, through the blazing days of

August, until Mitchell believed his promises that he would never attempt

to escape again.

    Samuel kept his word. For months he would not even talk of his time away,

    but as his wounds of spirit and body healed, he started to brag of it,

    the extent and unlikeliness of his adventures expanding with every

    telling, until they all devoutly wished he would shut up.

    Freedom, then, was a double-edged sword, a longed-for dream and a

    terrifying prospect, and to someone of Tiara's years, not something she

    could easily imagine in her lifetime. But she hugged Isaac to her again,

    and begged sweet Jesus in heaven to make it a reality for him.

A distraction arrived, in the form of Parson Dick.

    Immaculately attired, as always, Parson Dick looked considerably out of

    place in this community of field hands. Although black, he was more of

    an outsider here than the white youth, Jass.

    "Cap'n Jack, the Massa want to see you," he called. "You too, Massa Jass.

    " Duty done, he sniffed the air. "My, Missus Tiara, that pot likker sure

    smell fine-"

    Although his elocution was usually flawless, Parson Dick could fall into

    slave idiom whenever it suited him. He thrived on knowledge, on gossip,

    loved to keep his finger on the pulse of the field slaves' thinking, and

    Tiara, an old sparring partner, was the key to that world.

    Tiara glared at him. "Yo' get yo victuals up the big house, Parson Dick,

    where yo' belong. We ain't good enough fo' house niggers like yo'." But

    she nodded to her daughter, Minnie, who got up and went to the pot with

    a bowl.

    " But you gettin' mighty thin, Parson Dick, on all that white livin',"

    Tiara chortled. "Have some real food, mebbe put a little color back in

    yo' cheeks."

    MERGING 227

    Everyone laughed, although they were never quite sure of Parson Dick. He

    settled comfortably on a log and accepted the bowl of pot likker from

    Minnie. "The Massa waitin'," he told Jass and Cap'n Jack, who now got up

    to leave.

    There was a small silence, which Parson Dick broke, knowing that nothing

    would be teamed from Tiara without something in return. "Be a whole lot

    of stitchin' goin' on," he began. "Gettin' ready for the wedding."

    Tiara nodded. It was the introduction to gossip from the big house, which

    she loved. It was also the last thing Jass heard as he walked away, and

    it reminded him of Easter.

    "I could ask my father," he told Cap'n Jack. "But I don't think he'd

    agree."

    "Mebbe," Cap'n Jack said, and his tone told Jass to say nothing to James.

    "Mebbe."

    Easter, bored with brushing her hair, had not joined the other slaves for

    the evening, as was her habit, because she was still miffed with Jass,

    and the world, and she wanted him to cQme to her. She looked out of the

    window and saw her father walking to the big house with Jass. She prayed

    that Cap'n Jack was telling him about her desire to go to the wedding,

    about which she had poured out her distressed heart to her father for a

    solid hour, and that Jass, being the young Massa, would do something

    about it.

    Just in case God wasn't in a listening mood, she crossed her fingers and

    allowed herself to dream.

    28

Jass loved his father's study. All the other rooms at The Forks

reflected Sally's personality, and although she had been re

sponsible for decorating this room, his father's untidiness pre

vailed. The floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with books, the

clutter of heavy furniture, and the imposing oak desk sug

gested a world where women seldom came-and they seldom

    228 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

did, except as occasional visitors, or as maids, to clean.

    James busied himself with the copious papers on the desk, for he was not

    looking forward to this interview with his son. Cap'n Jack waited near

    the door,

    James looked at Jass, and his spirit failed him slightly. The boy simply

    looked too young to be a serious participant in the conversation James

    had in mind, so he delayed matters by turning his attention to Cap'n

    Jack.

    "Our old friend Alfred is getting married at last," he announced, stating

    what was for everyone, by now, the obvious.

Cap'n Jack was courteous. "Yes, suh, I hear, suh."

    James found the letter he pretended to have been looking for, which had

    never been lost.

    " You'll be coming to Nashville, of course, to valet master Jass and

    myself. But there's more-"

    He held out the letter. Cap'n Jack looked reluctant. Jass smiled to

    himself, for what was being played out was a continuing charade.

    " I cain't read, suh," Cap'n Jack lied reasonably. "Tain't legal."

    James was not in a mood to waste time. "For heaven's sake, you can read

    as well as I-- he began, but knew he was wasting his breath. Whatever the

    truth of the matter, Cap'n Jack would never admit his education, even in

    the confines of this room, where he had no enemies.

    "Oh, very well," James gave in, and glanced at the letter. "The president

    says that Alfred has requested you as his best man. Of course, you have

    my pen-nission."

    Cap'n Jack smiled happily. "Why, that's wonderful news, suh. Will you

    write that I accept?"

    " I already have," James said. "I thought you would like to know. Thank

    you, Cap'n Jack."

    Jass guessed that his father was simply procrastinating, that he had

    something more serious he wanted to discuss, with Jass, but was playing

    for time with Cap'n Jack. Please don't let it be about girls, Jass sent

    up an urgent prayer to heaven. They'd had a brief aimless discussion of

    morality some months ago, which ended with his father's admonition, "You

    know about girls, I'm sure. Don't ever be discourteous, or unmannerly,

    or, damn it, base, toward them," and had left

    MERGING 229

whatever other information his son might need to Cap'n Jack, the men of

the slave quarters, and the other boys at school. Jass had been even more

embarrassed than James by his father's inconsequential ramblings and he

now hoped Cap'n Jack wouldn't leave.

    That part of his prayer was answered, for Cap'n Jack didn't go. He

    hovered by the door, until James, who had returned his attention to the

    papers on his desk, looked up. "What is it?" he asked.

    "My daughter, suh, Easter. Annie's girl. She want so much to go to the

    wedding. Would mean a lot to her."

    "Well, of course she can go," James interrupted, completely aware of the

    not so subtle emotional blackmail that was being used. Any mention of

    Annie stiffed his conscience, reminding him of things he would rather

    forget. Still, some role had to be found for Easter.

    "She can maid Sassy. Angel can teach her." Angel was Sally's maid.

    "Yes, suh, thank you very much, sub. I tell her tomorrow, and she learn

    good." Cap'n Jack was duly grateful, but a slight twinkle of triumphant

    conspiracy passed between him and Jass. "Good night, Massa."

    Jass could hardly conceal the grin of delight that sneaked to his face.

    Cap'n Jack gave the merest wink to Jass before bowing to his master and

    leaving, and somehow Jass understood that the secret was to be kept from

    Easter for a little while at least, and that he would be the one to tell

    her.

"Well," said James, when they were alone. "Would you care for some port?"

    Jass found himself caught in an agony of ambivalence, not for the first

    time that day. His father had never offered him port before, and part of

    Jass was cock-a-hoop that he seemed to have crossed some line of

    demarcation between boyhood and manhood with his father. Another part of

    him groaned inwardly. Almost certainly, this meant they were going to

    talk about girls.

    "Perhaps a small one, sir." He accepted the invitation, and James nodded

    at the decanter on his desk. Jass moved forward to pour himself a glass.

230 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

    In the hall, Sally was fiddling, picking dead buds from flowers in a

    vase, when Cap'n Jack came out of the study. She looked at him and he at

    her. They were old conspirators, and he left the library door slightly

    open, so that Sally could hear the conversation within.

    Then he looked for something equally trivial to do, and began trimming

    candles.

    Jass sipped his port and thought it wonderful. He had seldom drunk any

    alcohol, except at celebrations, and then only watered wine. He loved the

    taste of this sweet, thick liquid, loved the gentle fire that traced

    through his body as the wine did its work, and loved the small sense of

    equality it gave him with his sometimes distant father.

"Do you like it?" James asked.

    "Very much, sir," Jass responded, nodding his head and taking another,

    confirming, sip of port.

There was a tiny silence, and then James took the plunge.

    "It's never been easy for me to discuss personal matters with you, Jass,"

    he began, and, having begun, found it easier than he had expected. "There

    are things I thought I would not have to discuss with you, but because

    of your brother's untimely death-"

    He stopped, momentarily. A.J.'s accident had caused him terrible grief.

    Like Sally, he simply didn't discuss it with anyone, and tried not to

    think about it. It had become easier, of course. Time had healed the

    worst of the pain, although the aching hurt still washed across him in

    unguarded moments, causing, if only for an instant, an overwhelming sense

    of loss and of the unfairness of it. He looked at Jass, and could not,

    in all honesty, see in his eager second son an adequate substitute for

    his first.

    "With A.J. gone," he continued, "you will now inherit all this." The

    vague "all this" implied a considerable fortune. "We have never talked

    about it, and it's time we did."

11 Yes, sir," Jass responded dutifully.

    "It is not easy, Jass," James said, wondering if he should call him

    James, "to be master of such responsibilities as I will leave to you. I

    hope, of course, that I will be with you for many years, and the

    assumption of your eventual role will be gradual. I will ease you into

    it, and you will always be able to come to me for advice and

    consideration."

    MERGING 231

    1 sound so pompous, thought James. Like my own father. What must the boy

    think of me? Why can't I come to the heart of the matter?

    "It is not easy being master," he said again, unnecessarily, and stopped

    again. We're getting nowhere, he thought.

    " But," he said, and knew it had to be now, "I won't always be here. And