Slave Sisters

(3) Slave Sisters

 28th July, 1804

I remembered back to a couple of years ago when many people in Cape Town had disappeared without any notice. Many rumours went on about it, such as them running to another place for a different life. At first I did not think that could be true, but eventually believed to think that it was. But remembering about it all now, those rumours I had heard did not seem very realistic. Maybe, they went through the same thing as I was going through and had been through the same feelings and emotions I were currently going through.

Tayla nudged her shoulder against mine, and I followed her gaze to above us where a pale man stood. I had not seen this person before, but was grateful for not having to anyway. There was a permanent frown on his face and his shirt buttons cried out to be undone. Mutters erupted through the air as he made odd hand motions at us all. Questions such as “What is the man doing?” or “Is he unwell?” were asked, and many more that Tayla and I could not understand since they were in a different language to ours. He grumbled a little and hit his thick whip against the wood. Silence filled the air again.

The man did the same motions again, his mouth moving to say odd words I did not know of. People began to murmur again, also puzzled. “He may be telling us to stand up,” a grown woman said. I looked up at the pale man again.

“I agree,” I added in. Soon enough the news spread around and in no time we were all standing. I was so squashed by people that I could not even move my arms about. He wiped at his hairy eyebrow in effort and nodded. The man then walked down the wooden steps and tugged at one person’s chains, pulling her up with him. We followed after them, and after a few minutes all of us were at the top.

“Wow!” Tayla gasped, rubbing at her eyes. The sun burned my eyes and made me feel hotter; as I breathed in the completely fresh air I also blinked a couple of times. Under my feet I could feel the big boat rocking, making me also move a bit as well. More pale men surrounded us with weapons such as guns and whips. I kept quiet, not wanting to get injured by any of the weapons.

For the rest of the afternoon, we spent our time all being forced to ‘dance’ together; whips had been used on us, resulting in our limbs flailing and bodies jerking. The pale men threw back their heads then laughed and chuckled at us in nothing but satisfaction

29th July, 1804

I gulped down my small ration of water along with my second meal of the day being yam and rice. The water did not taste like water, compared to what I had back at home. It tasted of something rotten. Though we were being given good quality food, the quantity of it was stunning. Each day my mouth would water for more and more food.

“I am famished,” Tayla croaked, leaning her chin onto her knees. She weakly coughed to try and clear her throat but ended up into a fit of weak coughs. Recently she had developed a bad throat and which she told me was tickly. It was surprising to see the sudden changes that had shown in her face: the black circles around her eyes, her extremely dehydrated lips, the dull cheeks.

 If she looked that way, I wondered what my appearance was at the moment. I would sometimes, when bored, attempt to look at my face through the manacles, but they were too rusty and un-shiny to actually see anything through them. “Hm, yes . . .  how do I look?” I asked, pretty much ignoring her. She turned to for a moment glance at me with a pained face, but opened her mouth to answer my question.

“You look better than any of us here, it is just your hair is now quite tangled,” a girl possibly around my age interrupted. She looked down at her long fingernails full of grime and let out a small sigh. Tayla quickly shut close her mouth and nodded in agreement. I was a little surprised at her interruption.