MULATTO (Iyila) (Editing)

chapter thirty two ~

Iyila quietly sobbed as she lay still on her mattress in the complete darkness of the room. The other negroes were lightly snoring and fast asleep. The day had just begun and from a hole in the window she could see the darkness slowly giving way to morning light.

She could hear the sound of horses galloping on the road and a distant crow of a rooster. She couldn't sleep. She had not been able to get a good sleep since Dede disappeared. Iyila never knew the loss of Dede could hurt more than the constant disdain and contempt that she had received from the Whites. She never had thought it could be more painful than loosing Mary, Rose, her family and all the important people that had been close to her.

It was almost a week since Dede and the others left without a word, yet Iyila still sort solace in denial. Unlike her, Deila had shown strength and quick recovery over the loss of Burns as though there paths had never crossed. Iyila had been shocked to see Deila laughing as usual, as if she had come to agree with the truth that Negroes didn't deserve the right to happiness.

But Iyila couldn't accept Dede's departure. Every day, she looked at the road with the hope that he would appear in a wagon and come to her, but he never did. And at night she shut her eyes so tight and hoped that morning would come with a realisation that she had been dreaming all along, but she woke up every morning; a slave still, and Gabriel's maid. A slave to a man whose behaviour never ceased to amaze her. She woke up every morning to clean the obscure man's room and to listen to his persistent questions about this and that. Admist her grief, Iyila couldn't fathom his display of care, concern, and respect for her. He had saved her, had lied on her behalf, and hid her secret from every member of his family.

If she didn't know Whites too well, she could have considered him different but she knew them too well. Iyila knew that sooner or later he could pull off his pretentious cloak and wear the clothing of a slave owner. Sometimes she tried not to stutter when he spoke to her but his intense gaze always left her unbalanced. She wasn't used to conversing with a White. None had said more than commands to her. Yet as the days rolled by without Gabriel turning a different colour, she wondered if she should tell him about Dede.

Perhaps he could help just as he usually said. However a part of her kept rejecting this notion. He was a son of her planter, the fiance of the beautiful Anne. She was sure he didn't care about her problem.

When the rooster crowed again, Iyila got up from her mattress to prepare for service. It was a dreadful sunday, again!

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Gabriel didn't accompany the members of his family to church. Neither Collete's plea nor Susan's rebuke made him change his opinion. They all fell on barren ground. Even John had questioned his decision but Gabriel only replied with a shrug. He didn't go down to have breakfast with them, rather he stayed in his room and buried himself in a book until he heared their carriage scurry off before he went down to have something to eat.

Gabriel had been amazed to hear that his father had also accompanied the rest to service, which according to Susan was nowadays one of his rare routines. But Gabriel's main reason had been because of the priest at the church. He hadn't for once liked the man since he was a good friend of his father and never bothered to make it his duty to caution his father about the manner which he employed to tame his negroes. Next week he had planned to tell his mother that he was sick in case she questioned him again. He planned to keep up an act until he left Charleston.

He finished his breakfast, thanked the negro that served him and scurried up to his room to continue his writing. He was just a minute into the book when he heared a crowd murmuring at the back yard. Quickly, Gabriel rushed to his window and there he saw a crowd of negroes listening to a stout man who was on a podium. The man held a bible and continued to make ridiculous gestures as he addressed them. Curiosity grabbed him and without a second thought he flew to the door and rushed out to the arena.