Page 38 of Under the Tulip Tree
I took a step toward him. “You make it my business if you come back to this here tent. Understand?”
He only hesitated a moment before he walked out the canvas opening without another word.
“Why you gone and done that, Frankie?” Nell whined after he’d disappeared. “Hank said we gonna marry once we get up North.”
I turned to face her, wondering that a gal could be so addlebrained. “He ain’t gonna marry you, chile. He’s been with half the gals in this camp. The only thing he gonna give you is a sickness in your body if you keep company with the likes of him.”
Nell pouted but wisely remained silent. I stripped the rough blanket off my cot and carried it outside. No telling what varmints that man might have left on it. While I hung it across the rope stretched between our tent and the neighboring tent,a ruckus from across camp reached me. Excited voices, laughter, calls. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I noticed most everyone headed in that direction.
Nell exited the tent. “What do you think all that’s about?”
“How am I to know, girl? Best we see for ourselves.”
We joined the throng of mostly women, children, and old men moving in the direction of the entrance to camp. When we reached the edge of the gathering, all I could tell was two or three covered wagons had arrived. As people shifted for a better view, a white woman in a black dress and bonnet climbed upon one of the wagon seats. But instead of settling in to drive the team of horses, she turned to face us.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Illa Crandle.”
Her strong voice reached me where I stood, and a hush went through the crowd. She wasn’t tall or handsome, but something about her demeanor commanded attention.
“I come from Philadelphia, where many of us have been fighting against slavery for a long time.”
A murmur lifted from those nearby. Like me, they’d probably never heard a white person speak about ending slavery. Not even the Federal soldiers milling around spoke of it. They were simply here to defeat the Confederate Army and bring the Union of states back together.
“We’ve come,” she said, her gaze sweeping those standing near the wagons, although I couldn’t see who she spoke of, “to join arms with thee. We hope to establish schools and churches, and it’s our desire to help prepare thee for life away from slavery. God willing, this war will end soon,bringing with it freedom. Freedom to make thy own choices and to live where thee wishes.”
It took a moment for her words to seep in, but a cheer eventually went up from the crowd. Beside me, Nell hollered and jumped like a tree frog, but I stood unmoving.
Why would I put my trust, my hope, in a white person? Illa Crandle’s speech sounded nice, but I didn’t need a white woman’s help. I didn’t need anyone’s help. As soon as the white man’s war ended, I planned to shake the dust of Nashville off my feet and never look back. Where I would go was still a mystery, but it would be my decision, not some white woman’s.
I turned and headed back to the tent while the crowd pressed forward to hear more of Illa Crandle’s promises. Her words were wasted on me. When I approached the entrance, a rustling noise came from inside. With a jerk, I opened the flap, and my mouth slackened.
There stood Hank, a burlap sack holding my meager possessions in his hands.
“What do you think you’re doin’ in here?” I marched in and snatched the bag from him. “You got no business comin’ in here, rifling through my things.”
Neither Nell nor I owned anything of value, but I still felt violated. Anger rushed through my blood.
“I told you never come to this tent again.” My glare went from the bag in my hand back to him. “Worthless. That’s what you is. While that white woman out there prattles on about freedom and ending slavery, you in here stealing what little we got.”
I turned my back to him. “I guess them Yankees be right glad to hear your leg is all healed up and you can start digging them ditches.”
I hadn’t taken two steps toward the tent opening when I felt his arm snake around my neck and yank me backward. I landed on the dirt floor at his feet, the breath knocked out of me.
“You best shut that mouth o’ yours, woman. Or maybe I’ll shut it for you.” Gone was the even-toothed smile from earlier. Now he snarled at me like a rabid dog.
Although I’d received my share of beatings in the past, I wasn’t prepared when his boot slammed into my jaw. Stars filled my eyes, and I tasted blood. Before I could gain my bearings, he kicked me again and again.
I had one last thought before I blacked out.
I was going to die before I’d truly lived.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
I woke to activity and voices around me, but I couldn’t see a thing.
At first, I thought I’d gone blind, but with a little work I was able to force my eyelids open enough to let in the tiniest hint of light. Pain shot through my head, and I quickly shut my eyes against it.
Was I back on the plantation? Had I received yet another beating?“When are you gonna learn, Frankie?”Mammy used to say. It was a question I still asked myself all these years later.
