by Donnie Light
Master Richards nodded.
“She will have to be dealt with,” he said. “I will have no slave conduct herself in a manner such as that while on this plantation.”
Tobias interpreted this as meaning that Martha was in for a beating. He sensed Richards was in a mood that would prove dangerous to any disobedient slaves.
“Master,” Tobias said, “she was jus’ upset about what you said.” He looked at Richards, pleading on his wife’s behalf. “You done give away our boys.”
“And justly so!” Richards countered. “I have every right to do with the twins as I see fit!” He began to pace again, his face reddening as his anger increased.
“They’re our property,” Raymond said, backing up his father.
“Master, them boys mean the world to Martha and me, and we’ve been good workers for y’all for a long time. Couldn’t ya’ give Miss Mary somebody else?”
“And give in to Martha?” he shouted. “Absolutely not! I will not give in to her just because it causes her grief! I would be a laughing stock if I let my slaves tell me what to do! Miss Mary has grown fond of the twins and they shall be hers!
Tobias began to feel he was doing more harm to Martha than good, so he turned the attention to himself.
“Masta Richards, please, don’t take my boys from me. I loves ’em too much to see ’em go. Please Masta, have mercy on me.”
“That has nothing to do with anything!” Richards screamed. Raymond found a place to sit down, not wanting to miss anything should his father get really angry.
“Tobias, you’re a slave! Do you know what that means?”
His face was reddening more and the veins at his temples pulsated with anger.
“You will do as I say,” Richards shouted. “You will do as I say and you will not question me about my decisions. If you do, you will suffer the consequences!”
Tobias’ heart sank as Master Richards lifted a whip off the wall of the stable. He felt his muscles tighten, and then quiver with fear.
He looked at Tobias. “You, come with me!” he shouted.
Raymond almost tripped over himself as he scurried behind them, staying close to the action.
Tobias braced himself for a beating. He had not seen Master Richards this worked up for a long time.
They walked silently to a small group of shacks. There were four slave camps set up on the plantation and Tobias lived in the one closest to the big house. After the twins had been born, Tobias and Martha had gotten a shack of their own.
Tobias followed Richards to his shack where they found Martha, eyes swollen from the crying, hunkered down in a corner on a straw bed.
Raymond hung back a bit, not wanting to get into his father’s way. He walked over to the shack, and peeked into the window.
The inside of the shack contained no furniture of any kind, save a small table, and was dimly lit by the glow of an oil lamp.
Richards ignored Tobias and looked directly at Martha. “Get your dress off,” he told her in no uncertain terms. She looked at him, surprised, and began to crawl into the corner. “Masta, please, no,” she muttered.
“Now!” Richards screamed.
Raymond readied himself to see some action and the shapely nude body of the slave. He often peeked in on the slave women, and had had several serve him sexually in the past. They dared not say a word to anyone about it and they all cringed at the sight of him.
Martha jumped to her feet when Richards shouted at her, understanding he was in no mood to be talked to. “Please Masta,” she pleaded. “I’m sorry for what I did!”
“Too late,” Richards shouted. “Lift it off and put your hands on the wall”
Sobbing uncontrollably in anticipation of the forthcoming licks, Martha struggled with the simple dress she had worn to the wedding. She lifted it up over her head and dropped it to the floor. She continued to beg for mercy but to no avail. Richards’ jaw was locked in determination. He swept a strand of hair from his face.
“Masta, please, beat me instead,” Tobias said, tears swelling in his eyes. “I’ll make sure she don’t do no more wrong,” he said.
“I’m quite capable of that myself!” Richards screamed. “Now you shut up,” he told Tobias. He then turned back to Martha. “And you get against the wall. Now!”
Tobias watched in horror as the wickedly thin end of the whip slashed a whelp across her back. Richards ignored Tobias as he continued to plead for mercy.
Martha screamed with the landing of each blow.
“Do you understand what you are?” Richards screamed. “You’re a slave, and you will show respect for me when I address you.”
He laid on another lick and Martha shrieked. Richards acted like a crazy man. His eyes were wild in the frenzy of handing out pain. He drew back again and let the whip fly.
“I am the master, you are the slave!” he howled.
Tobias, openly crying for his wife, watched as the last crack of the whip opened a bloodless gash from the small of her back to the top of her buttocks. As if in slow motion, he watched as the blood began to ooze into the gaping wound.
“I own you and will do with you as I see fit,” he yelled as he gathered the whip for another lick.
Richards drew back, ready to release the leather beast again.
Tobias, his love for his wife overriding his fear of his Master, grabbed Richards’ upheld hand. He held it steady in his powerful grip.
Raymond was still watching from the window. Rather than confront the slave himself, he ran for the house.
Richards looked at Tobias with astonishment. “How dare you!” he screamed, sweat running down his brow. He drooled from the corner of his mouth. “You take your filthy hands off of me at once.” Richards struggled hopelessly against the strength of the slave. His anger grew into full fury as he grappled for release.
Tobias held fast, not knowing what else to do now that he had gone this far. He hoped Richards would cool off and regain his temperament if held for a moment.
It would prove to be a fatal mistake.
Frederick stormed into the shack, with Raymond close behind. He had his pistol in one hand and grabbed Tobias around the neck from behind. Frederick put the business end of the pistol to Tobias’ head.
“Are you alright?” he asked Richards.
Richards ignored the question. “You bastard!” he shrieked. He stared unbelievingly at Tobias.
Richards had gone mad. Tobias could see the flames of Hell in his eyes. His hair was strewn about his face and spit flew from his lips as he screamed.
“You dirty, disgusting, nigger!” he howled.
Martha had since collapsed to the floor, moaning and rolling slowly about.
Richards looked back at Tobias, held fast from behind by Frederick. An evil grin spread across Richards’ face.
“You will learn,” he shouted. “If it’s the last thing I do, you will regret having ever touched me. I own you. You belong to me. If I want to beat you, I can. If I want you to eat pig shit, you will, or you will deal with the punishment!”
His eyes bulged with fury as he took the pistol from Frederick.
Richards looked into Tobias’ eyes, their noses almost touching. “The punishment is for me to decide,” he said in a low, deliberate voice. His lowered voice was even scarier than his shouting. The grin widened as he motioned Frederick to let the slave go. Tobias stood still as Richards placed the muzzle of the pistol against his forehead. “For me to decide.” He chuckled wildly.
Martha lay face-down on the floor, whimpering, barely conscious.
Richards cocked the single shot pistol.
Frederick and Raymond, their faces drained of color, backed against the wall near the door.
Tobias closed his eyes and held his breath.
Tobias felt the barrel of the gun leave his head and he opened his eyes. Richards held the gun down, toward the floor, where Martha lay, still face down.
“Nooooo!” Tobias screamed, as the shot rang in his ears.
– Chapter 7 –
Audra drove north on Willow River Road. Galen sat quietly holding the blood-soaked bandages around his injured hand. At the intersection of route 72, Audra stopped the car.
“Where to?” she asked.
“Hell, I don’t know,” Galen responded.
“We’re going to have to get that hand looked at sooner or later.”
Audra looked at him and he shrugged.
“Hey, I’m not real keen on having that thing show up at the hospital while I’m sitting there waiting,” Galen said. He looked to Audra for a response.
She nodded affirmation, a tight-lipped resolution of reality - if you could call this reality.
“I mean, I don’t know what the Hell that thing is, or what it’ll do, or why the Hell it’s pissed off at us!” Galen said. “What if we get to the hospital and the damned thing comes rippin’ its way into the ER?”
Audra considered this then turned right toward Rockford anyway. “We have to do something; we can’t just drive all night.” She looked toward Galen, whose face was a study of concentration, his brows almost touching in the center of his forehead. His light-brown hair was disheveled and his face was paler than usual. “Do you think that thing could get all the way to Rockford?” she asked.
“How should I know?” he asked. “It got all the way to my house from Al’s…” Galen became quiet, his thoughts turning in a different direction. He asked Audra, “how long would you say we were at my house?”
“About twenty minutes or so. Why?”
“I was just thinkin’, he said. “I live about six miles from Al’s place…” Galen did a quick calculation in his head, “which means the ball-thing was moving at about 18 miles per hour.”
“You mean you think it’s following us?” she asked.
“I don’t know!” he shouted. “How the Hell am I supposed to know?”
Audra became silent and tears welled up in her eyes. Galen had yelled more out of frustration than anything else but had not meant to take it out on her. He sensed her fear and pain and quickly apologized.
“I’m sorry, Audra. I just don’t know what to think.” He hit himself lightly in the center of his forehead with the heel of his right hand. She caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and looked at him.
“I don’t either, Galen. What should we do?”
He thought for a moment.
“Take the next road going north,” he said. “I’ve got an idea, if you’re game.”
She hung a left at the next intersection. “What are you thinking,” she asked.
“I’d like to know if it’s following us,” he said. “And we should try to find out if it is. Maybe we should get out into the open and just watch for it.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little risky?” she asked with concern heavy in her voice.
“Well, yeah, but we could find a place where we could have advanced warning. Someplace where we could see it coming, or hear it, or something. What do ya’ think?”
“That’s one idea, assuming that it does travel. What if it just…”
Galen looked at her, trying to understand.
She was making motions with her free hand as if looking for a word.”Poof,” she said. “What if it just kind of ‘poofs’, and it’s there?”
Galen chuckled, then hesitated a second. “Then at least we’d know that it ‘poofs’ here and there instead of hopping or flying or taking a bus.”
Hearing Galen say it made it sound funny. He was being so serious, but she laughed despite his seriousness.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, cracking a smile.
She shook her head and the laugh dwindled to a snicker.
“Poof,” she said, and laughed again. “Just sounds so funny hearing two adults talk like this.”
He eyed her suspiciously, but continued to smile. “What if it does just ‘poof’, like you suggest?”
“Like you said, then we’d know.”
They drove north for a while and Galen spotted something.
“Hey, hold it,” he said, pointing out the window. “Pull in there.”
Audra turned the car into a large parking lot. A few semi-truck trailers lined one side and at the far end, a small metal building sat darkly, showing no signs of activity. The sun had set below the horizon but there was adequate light to see.
“What is this place?” Audra asked.
“A trucking company owns it,” Galen said. “They park their rigs and stuff here on weekends.”
A tall chain-link fence surrounded the lot, with a gate at each end. The gates were open, only locked on the weekends when the lot was full to help prevent vandalism.
“Just park in the middle,” Galen said, “but leave the motor running.”
Audra shifted the Mustang into neutral and coasted to a stop. She turned off the radio that neither of them had noticed was on, and then turned to Galen.
“Should we stay in the car, or get out?” she asked.
“I guess we could just open the doors and stand outside,” he said.
He opened his door and stepped into the evening air. Audra also got out and they looked at each other over the top of the car. Galen laid his injured hand on the hood and began to fiddle with the bandages.
Corn and soybean fields surrounded them. A farmer’s co-op market was across the road from them, but there were no cars in the parking lot. A dairy farm lay about a half-mile north of them and Audra watched the peaceful Holsteins graze in the pasture. She looked back to Galen.
“How is it?” she asked.
“The pain’s easing up a little,” he said as he reached into the back seat for Audra’s med kit.
He opened it up on the hood and retrieved a roll of tape. He began trying to tape the bandages into place - a struggle with only one hand.
Audra walked to the other side of the car and took the tape from him.
“Here, let me do it,” she said as she stripped off some of the tape. The hand had stopped bleeding, but may still need stitches.
“Hurry up,” Galen said. “I want to be able to get out of here quick if that thing shows up.”
Audra finished the wrap and placed the tape and the med kit back into the car.
“Thanks,” Galen said, as he looked around. He glanced at his watch. He then began counting on the fingers of his good hand, touching the tip of each finger to his thumb as he counted silently.
“What are you doing?” Audra asked.
“Just trying to figure out how far we came and how long it will take that thing to get here. If it travels at the same speed it did in town—and if it doesn’t just ‘poof’ itself here.”
It was not as funny this time, sitting here in the open waiting to see if the thing showed up and hoping it would not.
“How long do you figure?” Audra asked, consulting her own watch.
“Well, we came about fifteen miles from The Willows,” he said. “And at 18 miles per hour it should take a little less than an hour for the thing to travel this far. It also took us about fifteen minutes to get here, so deduct that and I’d say about… a half-hour or so.”
Local people called the Village of Willow River, The Willows. Audra looked over the roof of the car at Galen. His face looked worried and his eyes kept a keen watch on their surroundings.
Audra caught herself mindlessly staring at him, wondering what he was like after you got to know him better. So many people were so much different than you thought they were after you got to know them.
Audra’s older sister, Sharon, had found out all about that. Her husband had changed dramatically after they got married. Audra had been a senior in high school when they had started dating. She had envied her sister at the time, so in love with a boy named Jack. They had dated for three years before being married and seemed to be happy the whole time. Now, after five years of marriage, Sharon was married to a monster. Yes, people do change.
Audra pictured Galen as being a little shy, but fun to be
around. She wondered if he liked kids and pictured herself and Galen as a couple. They could go to movies together, visit friends, and attend local functions arm in arm. Her eyes glazed over in a daydream. What would Galen be like after, say, three years? Galen’s voice snapped her out of the trance when he spoke.
“You got a staring problem?” he asked, looking at her, seemingly embarrassed.
“Oh…no,” she said. “I was just thinking about what that thing might be,” she lied. “Did Al ever mention anything like this in any of your conversations?”
He reached into his shirt pocket, and pulled out a cigarette. “No, we talked about a lot of weird things, but a ticked-off-glowing-ball that chases people and chews through walls, wasn’t one of them.”
He lit the cigarette and the sudden flicker of light caused her to realize how dark it was getting. She was just about to say something about his smoking and how bad it was for him, but decided he already knew that and now wasn’t the appropriate time. She would work on that some other time.
“Keep an eye out in all directions,” he said, as he exhaled the blue-gray smoke. After a moment of silence, Galen said, “Al was into a lot of different stuff. Not ‘into’, like he did it as a hobby, but he studied all kinds of things. People from all over the world would send him stuff and he would try to tell them what it was, or where it came from, or what kind of people made it.”
He took another drag on the cigarette, exhaling the smoke through his nose. Audra watched him and her nose began to tickle, thinking how the smoke must feel coming through his nose like that. She began to rub her nose, unaware that she was even doing it.
“The thing could be from anywhere,” he said, “and could be anything, knowing Al.”
“If the thing shows up, we should call the guy that Al wanted us to send it to,” Audra said. “Maybe he knows something about it, or maybe he sent it to Al in the first place.”
Galen nodded his head then looked at his watch. He dropped the cigarette to the ground and crushed it out with the heel of his Nike.
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” he said as he glanced around.
