Niyonga's Journey

Chapter 9

Turns out that I was assigned to the same shack with Narii and two other women. Its been about four days since I got here and its nothing like my village. Everyone is sad and miserable except for the real young kids who dont know whats going on. To be fair, I dont really know whats going on. Narii helps me understand what the white people say so I dont get punished none. Narii's wounds from being whipped have started to swell and scar. I feel so bad that she got whipped because of me. But also I am very thankful because id very much like to never be whipped.

Narii says I've been assigned to the fields. She says I'm supposed to take the cotton off then plants and put it in this big sack the white people gave me. Then, at the end of the day, I'm supposed to bring all that cotton to the people who got assigned to spin the cotton.

Today is my first day doing my job. Im awoken with a loud bang on the door and then a man's voice yelling. Narii was sitting at the little table in front of the fireplace and tells me the voice said 'All of you workin' in the fields, get up! Time to work!'

It is just barely the break of dawn as we are forced awake and brought to the big fields behind the big house. As we approach the long rows of cotton plants, A man of my color is on a horse pointing to the lot of us and then to the field.

'Is he allowed on that horse?! Wont he get in trouble!?' I ask Narii worriedly.

"No, child..." She says. "He is the foreman." She finishes.

'Foremen?' I question. 'Whats a Foreman?' I ask Narii.

'It means hes in charge of all of us when were in the fields. He can punish you, or reward you just like those whites in the big house.' She informs me.

'That seems wrong. Why he get to punish us if hes black like us?' I question.

'Because master trust him more than any of them men over there.' Narii says.

I think to myself 'Why should he be able to tell me what to do? Only person who tells me what to do is my mama...'

I start to tear up again as I think about mama. But i quickly wipe away the tears as the white man who brought me here approaches me.
He starts to speak to me but I have no idea what he is saying. So I look to Narii and she tells me the man said 'Ive decided to put you in the big houses kitchen. You know how to cook?'
I know how to cook some things my mother taught me but not much else.
I tell Narii to tell the man that I know how to.
Narii looks up from me and starts to speak to the man in his language.
I observe her speak to him as she points to me and says, what I imagine, is what i told her to say. As she finishes talking, the man looks at me with a bit of anger as well as confusion on his face. Then he directs his look to Narii and says something stern to her. I could tell ot was stern by the way her face looked when he said it.

'What did he say?' I ask with fright in my voice.

'He say you have a week to prepare for your job and to learn the language...' she pauses and looks up to the sky. It looked like she was about to cry.

"Wh-- why are you upset?' I ask, touching her arm. Then she looks back down at me.

'If you dont learn by next week, master going to "teach you himself..." She finishes.

(I know some of my chapters are a bit short. And also I know that I take 20 years to update but thats because of school and shit. Thanks for reading.)