Escape

Chapter 1 Up, Up, Up

My eyes fluttered and opened to see the morning sun pouring into my bedroom, filling the air with flecks of silver and gold. I heard the hoes of the workers hitting the Louisiana earth and the swallow chirruping a tune as it's wings cut silently through the air. The breeze lifted the lacey curtains from the windowsills, making the room look soft and airy; as if I were still in the dream, I had had the night before.

"Up yet, darlin?" asked Nan. The African woman must have snuck into the room while I was taking in the new day.

"Not quite," I replied. Nan's truthful eyes sparkled and the sun rays bounced of her chocolate skin. Nan had been my nursery maid, nanny, caretaker, friend and almost mother since before I could walk. She knew all of my secrets and beliefs and fears. She was one of the best storytellers yet and I spent many nights listening to her tell me endless stories of her life. Nan was different than most women. She didn't keep secrets from anyone. When someone asked her age, she would say her age, and not scold them like any other women would. She would say, "Everyone knows I'm alive and living on this Earth, so why not know how long I've been on the Lord's land." She believed that all humans were equal and if God had wanted blacks to be less important than whites, he would have made them slaves and slave owners from the start, but since whites enslaved blacks, God must not have wanted it to be this way. Now of course, "Nan" was a just simple a nickname that I had given her when I was all of two, but it stuck and she liked it. Nan had taught me life lessons that no tutor of mine ever could. She spoke up for me when I was in need and cared for me when my own mother never did. With my mother planning galas and balls and parties, she almost had no time for her eleven, almost twelve, year-old daughter.

As for my father, he must be the most feared politician and plantation owner of them all. Between his politics and his prized cotton, I don't talk to him much. My father is a funny man and I love talking to him, but he is just too busy. Countless times I had stacks of letters pile up at our door, all or most of them addressed to Sir Robert William Killington. Nevertheless, I had Nan and Nan had me. But, at least I had my older brother William, Nan had no one, her children and husband had been sold to different masters before she had come to this plantation. . She called me her darling daisy. It was a nickname her mother had called her and she was planning to call her daughter, but since Nan had only sons, I was her darling daisy. I had asked her about the name once and she had said, "'Cause you are the most beautiful flower in the field and I want to see you bloom and grow into the most gorgeous young women this side of the Mississippi has ever seen." I had that quote written down and the piece of notebook paper stored in a drawer of my night stand, but I kept the paper secret because if my tutor found out that I had "wasted" a piece of "precious" notebook paper, he would probably faint.

"Now up, up, up Miss Savannah Grace. You have big day ahead of you, so pick up the pace." called Nan as she pulled a light green, lacey, summer dress from my closet.

"You say that every morning," I laughed as I undid the buttons on my nightgown.

"I know, but today really is a big day, you have forgotten have you?" she retorted as she handed me the dress and ushered me toward the changing room.

"It's Saturday, May eighth, nothing ever happens on Saturdays except for Mother's weekend parties, but even so, those are held at night, and furthermore I don't care for them and there is never much to prepare for." I reasoned, now fully dressed.

"Only one week until school is released for summer retreat and my tutor, Mr. Clark, comes tomorrow" I added. Oh, how I longed for the fifth grade to come to an end.

"So you have forgotten, Darling Daisy!" Nan sounded alarmed.

"Today is the day your father is to take you to town. You'll run errands for your mother, buy a new gown for yourself for tonight, go to your first slave auction and then meet your mother at the train station to meet your brother who is coming home from the army!" Nan exclaimed.