The Ivory Tower

Intervention

As I left the barn, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to keep that bargain. I had felt so much mercy for this boy that it just came out, better yet as a promise, which was something I always fulfilled. I realized that nothing would truly be the same ever again; nothing would ever be this clear, nothing would be as simple anymore. I would have to go against the only person I have ever revered, to save someone that only I believe deserved the freedom. So even though I wasn’t really sure how, I decided to commit to it, to help Lucas as much as possible, and I would try to do this alone, so no one else would get in trouble.

But sure enough, Mama and Annie gladly volunteered to help when they noticed me taking out food to Lucas. Annie had the idea to hide a soft pillow underneath an extra layer of straw. Mama felt dreadful about the state of his clothes. They were torn all over and smelled terrible; she couldn’t fix them, otherwise Father would notice. Nevertheless, they snuck to him a warm blanket at night, which he would return before he was supposed to wake up, 

This kept up until the second winter month, when it became colder during the first week. As I got up to help Lucas with the chores, as usual, I noticed that Mama was unusually angry. I asked her what had happened, and she said that Father had gone to the slave auction already, with intentions of buying another slave. I realized that the auction would be starting in a few minutes, and knowing Father’s state of mind, he’s bound to bid immensely for the first one, no matter what the condition was and no matter if he could afford it or not. I rushed to the barn, yelling for Lucas to get me a saddle. I saddled up the horse, lifted myself up in an instant, and rushed the horse to get to the square in full gallop.

I made it to the square as the shot was fired for silence. There was a small amount of slaves up for bid, probably because the slaves here were being sold for the purpose of helping around the house, not harsh work. While on the horse, I scanned the crowd for him, but all of their hats and coats made it impossible to distinguish anyone. Then the first man was offered up for bid. All I had to do was wait for someone to bid that sounded like him. 

He sounded like a madman. For every new bid, he almost doubled the offer. People around him began to tense up, but some were accepting it as normal for Father, as he apparently acted weird around some of the already. I tied the horse to the nearest post and ran into the crowd, to stop Father from bidding himself to bankruptcy. We had lost a lot of money from the recent crop when we sold it in the marketplace, so we had avoided buying a new slave until the next harvest. There was no reason for us to buy a new one.

I screamed at him to stop, but he didn’t hear me. So I took a different approach. I snuck around, away from the circle around the podium, to where the slaves were being held; Father was too concentrated on the auction to see me. I approached the slave-keeper, who wasn’t from around here, and asked him to relay a message about someone; if that person bids anything above 400, his bid is null and void. When he asked why, I answered that that’s all he had. As he immediately relayed the message to the auctioneer when the next slave was brought up, I ran to my horse and rushed back home.

Father came home angry enough to blow the house down. He stormed in, past Mama and Annie, eyes hell-bent on making someone pay. I knew who it would be, and I must have been out of my mind. I tried to shield Lucas from him, but he wrestled me off of him, and proceeded to beat him with his belt. I yelled at him to stop, I even called him Papa to knock some sense into him, but he didn’t stop- stopping to push me away from him-until he was done. He stormed out, leaving me on the other side of the room and Lucas bloodied on the floor. Mama and Annie came in after what felt like a forever, he and I silently exchanging looks of fear.