The Thirteenth

Chapter 6

"Wake up!" Overseer Bennet yelled inside the Reds' hut. "Wake up right now!"

The family slowly woke up, wondering why in the world Overseer Bennet had busted in their hut yelling. Anita's heart skipped a beat. At first she thought someone had found out about her and Richard. But was instantly filled with relief when he said, "Who food is this?!"

"Not mine," Theodore said rubbing his eyes to decrease his sleepiness. Everyone else in the room quickly daggered his eyes at him as if to say, "Shut up!". "What?" he asked.

"Well? Y'all gonna tell me or not?!" Overseer Bennet yelled. He put his hand on a whip that sat on his hip as a threat.

"It's mine," Jimmy angrily mumbled sitting on the edge of the bed with his back turned.

"What?" Overseer Bennet asked.

"I says it's mine!" Jimmy shouted.

"Look Negro, this is the THIRD time I caught your plate untouched. Ain't no more second chances comin' yer way. So either you start touchin' this food-,"

"Or what?" Jimmy asked, fearlessly tossing his head over his shoulder.

"Jimmy, hush!" his father commanded.

Jimmy's smart remark made Overseer Bennet extremely angry, which became evident as his face turned a tomato colored red. He rushed over to where Jimmy's food sat and picked it up. "Or this, N*gg*r," Overseer Bennet said grabbing the boy's jaws. He squeezed them tightly then shoved the food down his throat. Every last piece all at once went down his throat in a single instance. Jimmy began to choke and The Overseer moved his hand down to his throat. He began to squeeze Jimmy's throat tightly between his fingers. With his teeth clenched, he said, "You ain't gonna never disrespect me like that again, ya hear?!"

Theodore covered his ears so that he wouldn't hear his brother struggle and turned around to face the wall. Anita watched in terror with tears filling her eyes, and their father sat on the edge of the bed with his back turned to the whole scene as he quietly stared at the ground below him.

 Jimmy didn't respond to The Overseer's threat. Partly because he was getting the breath choked out of him, and partly because he was too stubborn to. "Ya hear?!" Overseer Bennet asked once again. Jimmy remained silent. And the overseer didn't let go of his neck until his eyes started rolling to the back of his head. And then he let go immediately. He stormed out of the hut in angry.

Anita quickly ran over to her dying brother and began to press hard against his chest. "Jimmy!"she yelled. Theodore was in tears by now, and still couldn't turn around to see his brother. "Theo, go get a bucket of water. Now!" Theodore scrambled off the top bunk and ran to the river as fast as he could. Anita continued to press against his chest; more frantically than ever now. "Papa, you just gonna sit there?!" Anita shouted. He sat still.

In seconds, Theodore was back with a bucket of water, along with five other slaves. They all ran to Jimmy and began to dump the water on him, and Anita grabbed Theodore's bucket. She propped Jimmy's head up and gently poured the water into his mouth. He then swallowed it, causing the food to rush down his throat and into stomach. But even after the small amount of food was down, he continued to drink the water.

After seconds of frantic activities, Jimmy was well again, but rapidly gasping for air.

"You okay, Jim?" Anita asked as he began to breathe at a normal pace now.

Jimmy stared into space for awhile, then responded with a gag. Then another one. Anita quickly placed a bucket underneath his mouth, and he throw up all the food that Overseer Bennet had forced down his throat.

A week has passed since that horrible incident, and every since then, Jimmy has eaten every piece of food given to him. But not because he was scared of the overseer, but because he was scared of his own threatening father.

Every since Anita told Richard to forget about her, he's stopped coming to the river to see her every morning. Not seeing him standing by his canoe broke Anita's heart just a little more each and every day. And by now, she was completely convinced that he has truly forgotten about her. Until the morning she went to her usual spot on the river and saw a little brown object standing tall where she usually sits to collect her water.

She hesitantly approached it and sat down in front of it. She cupped it in both hands, and smiled at what she was holding. It was the carving of a house she had started two years ago, but it was different now. It was finished. Completely. And it had come out better than what she had expected. She examined it in awe from top to bottom, and on the bottom were two letters carved into the wood. She recognized the letters as R and W. It took her awhile to realize what the letters meant, but when she finally did, she held the carving close to her heart. The letters stood for 'Richard Wyatt'. And it was evident to both her and Richard that she still cared a lot about him. But was bound by irreversible fear of the 'White Man'.