by Tim Black
Lincoln began to speak. “Slavery was the cause of our Civil War and it must be eliminated to never threaten our nation again. This Amendment is a king’s cure for all the evils. It winds the whole thing up. Let us congratulate the country on its great moral victory”. Then he shouted to the brass band below. “Play the Battle Hymn of the Republic,” he ordered, and Mr. Greene took that as a signal to depart.
“The Serpent is finally dead,” Mr. Greene said cryptically.
“What do you mean, Mr. Greene?” Victor asked.
“Poet John Jay Chapman referred to slavery as the ‘Sleeping Serpent.’ Today the serpent died.”
As they walked back across the White House lawn and returned to the portable, Mr. Greene said, “We followed abolition from its humble beginnings with an odd little Quaker man to its final victory in an Amendment to the United States Constitution. Now, it is time to return to our era.”
Bending over, Minerva surprised Tiny Tesla by kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you for your marvelous invention, Mr. Tesla.”
Victor laughed. The little boy’s face was red with embarrassment, like many an eight-year-old boy who was suddenly kissed by a girl. He shook off Minerva’s hand and ran ahead to Heather and grabbed her. Victor and Minerva fell a bit back of the group so that they could have some privacy.
“What are you doing tomorrow Minerva?”
She smiled. “Are you asking me out, Victor?” she replied.
“Yes. I agreed to go with you on New Year’s Eve for that Yale thing. So how about a regular date with me first?”
Minerva stopped, she threw her arms around him, brought his head down to her level and kissed him. “Alright,” she said as she broke away from the smooch.
They walked after the group, never catching up, and Victor was thinking how funny it was that he had to find his future in the past, because at that moment, Victor Bridges wanted to marry Minerva Messinger.
The End
References and Suggested Readings
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. Catherine Clinton. Back Bay Books, New York, 2004.
John Brown: Abolitionist. David S. Reynolds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2005.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass. The Modern Library, New York, 2000.
Nat Turner, Lightning Rod. Christine Gibson. American Heritage.com, November 11, 2005.
Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Erica Armstrong. Dunbar Atria Books, New York, 2017.
The Beecher Sisters. Barbara A. White. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2003.
The Cave-Dwelling Vegan Who Took on Quaker Slavery and Won. Marcus Rediker. Smithsonian Magazine, September 2017 pages 34-41.
