*Author’s Note- Please keep in mind that this story is about the consequences of their relationship and how their relationship grows, not as much about how they get together. If you are able to see that they are going to get together, that’s great for you, but that’s not the point. Thank You.
Will walks up to his sister, hands in pockets, and takes a look at the young black woman behind her, arms crossed, looking at him with a mean look. They were about the same age, a young twenty- one. Will’s sister was four years older.
He looks at his sister, Elizabeth, as she writes something down on a piece of parchment in ink. Then, he looks at the black lady behind her, who’s looking at the ground now. William examines her. She’s his age, with fairly light skin, a color like the hard candy of caramel. She has curly black hair, pulled into a curled, twisted braid on the back of her head. She wears a pale, pink dress, a tad dirty. Sandals are on her feet, and her hands look rough.
William turns his attention from the woman back to his sister, or more importantly, to what she’s writing.
I, Elizabeth Katarina Barnes, wife of the late John Barnes, hereby gives this property by the name Adaeze…
“She isn’t property!” William snaps to his sister. Her writing falters and she looks up at him, a scowl on his face.
“What now, Will? Why does it matter? She’s nothing more than an African. She’s nothing,” Elizabeth responds, and hands William the paper. He seethes inside, but says nothing.
William looks at the African behind Elizabeth, who is shooting daggers with her eyes at her.
“Okay. She’s yours. I’m not sure why you’d want her as useful as she is. She has a bad attitude,” Elizabeth reaches behind her, and shoves the girl towards William, who catches her, and gently pushes her aside.
“And she has a name,” Will snarls. Elizabeth just laughs.
William was never one that particularly favored slavery. But his family did… and they lived in Georgia. He’d thought at a young age, when he’d first me the girl with no name, that it wasn’t fair, that just because his family was too lazy to do things on their own, that just because this nameless girl had a darker skin tone, that all of these people had a darker skin tone, they be treated as slaves. It wasn’t fair.
That was when he was twelve that he’d seen the nameless girl. Or, at least, he’d never known her name. He’d asked, but she wouldn’t speak to him because he was part of the Green family.
Now, it was years later, and he was staring at the face of this same girl… that’d grown up to be…
He turns away from her, and they both exit the house of the wicked woman who was William’s sister… and she laughs behind them.
They walk to a black stallion, which was tied to a tree. It stands up at the sight of William, and neighs rather rudely at the sight of who was with him.
“This is Jude,” he says, untying Jude’s rope. William saddles her up. “She’s the finest stallion you can find out here. And she’s quite the beauty,” he turns to the girl with her arms crossed.
“Why did you defend me?” She asks suddenly. William looks up, his face showing surprise at the smooth, accented voice. He shrugs.
“Africans are human beings, nonetheless. They’re like everybody else. They don’t deserve to be treated as property.”
“Then why did you buy me?” That was a good question, William though. It was.
“My sister is a cruel woman,” he says slowly, measuring his words. “I believe that you should stay and work with someone who was better than that.” After strapping on the saddle of the horse, gets on, and then holds out his hand for the girl. She looks at it, carefully. “I don’t bite,” he grins, displaying white teeth. Her pink lips twitch, trying to keep from smiling also as she takes his hand.
